This is something of a pre-trip update. The team have just returned home from a weekend in York at the Rotary District 1020 Conference 2009. We were very kindly invited to the conference in order to introduce ourselves to the Rotarians of District 1020. This involved getting up on stage and giving a very short presentation in order to explain who we are, and what we hope to gain from the GSE experience.
However the weekend was far, far more than just this. The conference timetable included talks and presentations by some very interesting, amusing, and often inspiring speakers. We also had many opportunities to talk to Rotarians and perhaps most importantly from the perspective of our trip, to meet two other GSE teams. We met the team from District 1020 who have recently returned from their trip to Colombia, and also the team from District 9320 in South Africa who are currently being hosted in District 1020.
We also welcomed the opportunity to spend some time together as a team for more than a couple of hours, which also gave us a flavour of the experience to come.
There were far too many highlights to mention them all, but certainly high up the list would be the ball on Saturday night, held in the stunning setting of the National Railway Museum. I also thoroughly enjoyed the walk around the city walls of York, although it was raining for most of the time, was a nice way to get some fresh air and spend some quality team time.
The presentations that we saw were all of a very high quality, but if I had to pick some favourites, I would certainly have to mention Pippa Johnstone from CHAS, who spoke with great passion and entusiasm about the past, present and future of such a valuable organisation. Keith Mulhearn gave a fascinating talk on the history of York, and Frederick Guillemont and David Duke spoke with real emotion about the wonderful changes brought about by the Homeless World Cup. The real highlight for me was a very moving presentation by Lorna Beedham, District Governor of District 1060 (West Midlands) about the Rotary Youth Exchange, which is clearly an enourmousely valuable and rewarding program.
The people that we met over the course of the weekend were unfailingly welcoming and friendly, and we received such wonderful hospitality from a variety of sources, that it was almost overwhelming. I'm sure the other team members will have their own individual views on the weekend, but I certainly enjoyed it thoroughly, and am looking forward to our trip all the more for experiencing the sort of warmth and hospitality that Rotary are clearly able to deliver. It was particularly nice to meet the GSE team from South Africa as it made us feel more connected to Rotary in South Africa, and it certianly helped that the South African team are a wonderfully friendly, interesting and engaging group.
It has been a fairly tiring weekend, which is no doubt a flavour of what is to come, and we now have a couple of days to make our final preperations before we depart for South Africa on Wednesday. I can harldy wait.
James.
0 Comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Post a Comment