Convention Day 4 - WOW!!

Well, it's not often I find myself lost for words when looking for ways to describe a Rotary event, but Wednesday's final day at the 101st Rotary International Convention was close. An unexpected opening to the day came from Ontario's Lieutant-Governor, Hon David C Onley. He's a shining example of what can be achieved by one who has the strength of character to work past his disability and work to change the perception of people with disabilities, particularly in the workplace. A polio victim, he spoke passionately of the need for everyone to see ability not disability in those they encounter.

We elected as our President for 2011-2012 Kalyan Banerjee, of the Rotary Club of Vapi, Gujarat, India. He told attendees about his first encounters with Rotary in India. "I loved the way the Rotarians seemed to enjoy meeting friends and enthusing about community service projects to benefit hundreds of people," he said. "I decided then that I must be a Rotarian as soon as I could make it."

Bob Mazzuca, Boy Scouts of America chief scout executive, described himself as the warm-up act for the next guest, of which more later. He set out clearly why Scouting is still an integral part of American culture - without encouraging young people to lead more active lives we stand at risk of this generation being the first where their health and lifespan will be worse than that of their parents.

First real treat of the day was from Dolly Parton. On the face of it an unlikely choice for a staid organisation which just shows how wrong that is on both counts!! The philanthropist and literacy advocate went on to explain her foundation’s Imagination Library , which promotes reading among preschool children by providing them with a free book each month from birth until age five. The programme has grown from its base in her home state of Tennessee, USA, to other communities in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Dolly told us she was inspired by her father, who was illiterate but "one of the smartest people" she knew. "He knew it was a crippling thing not to be able to read and to write, so he was proud when people would call me the 'book lady.'" Opening with "9-5" Dolly also treated us to her unrecorded work inspired by her advocacy "Try".

But all this was just for openers. After this uplifting morning session we took off for a trip up Mont Royal, a park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the late 1800's (he also designed Central Park in New York, amongst many others). Views across Montreal were cloudy but worth the trip - we failed to notice the 5.0 earthquake on our public bus trip back to the city - not sure whether we missed it or it was down to the suspension on the bus.

And back for the finale - would it be worth it? Absolutely!! Our final session opened with a superb perfomance from British tenor Russell Watson who had the 12,000 plus audience on their feet with a mxiture of operatic and show tunes. A rousing start. Outgoing Rotary International President John Kenny rounded out his year with an emotional reflection on his year in office followed by a rallying call from incoming President Ray Klinginsmith. And then, to cap it all, a mesmerising hour-long performance from the incomparable Cirque du Soleil. Impossible to capture the feats of strength and agility in words - you have to see it to believe it's possible - and definitely don't try this at home!

Where to go from there? Well back to a favourite restaurant for dinner - a reprise for Les Pyrenees in Rue St Paul. This time we found ourselves in company with a family of Rotarians from Cornwall, Ont and Victoria, BC - take a bow Chris & Barb, John & Linda Edgell who rounded off our visit to Montreal with true Rotary fellowship. We wish John all the best with his upcoming Presidential year - may it be as fruitful and enjoyable as our past year has been.

And now - well we're off to Toronto, via an enforced stop at Oshawa, Ont - VIA Rail is terminating all services outside Toronto during the G20 period. So we'll let you know how we get on!!

Convention Day 3 - Royalty & Terrific News!

Convention plenary sessions are a mixture of the prosaic formalities of a vast international organisation coupled with addresses from worthy and occasionally stand-out brilliant orators. Today paid tribute to the partnerships that Rotary International has made with other service organisations over decades. Rotary Foundation chair Glenn Estess updated us on the outstanding work of the charity despite economic setbacks - our continuing response to the Haiti earthquake disaster being a notable example and the progress of our fundraising efforts towards the Gates Polio Challenge now top the $133 million mark. Jo Luck, CEO of Heifer International explained how partnership with Rotary is furthering their development work.

We were graced with the presence of Queen Noor of Jordan who spoke of her determination to work for lasting peace in the Middle East and of her work for a nuclear free world.

But the standout highlight of the day for me was Dr. Bruce Aylward, Director, Global Polio Eradication Initiative, World Health Organisation. Bruce was outspoken in his praise for the work of Rotary - highlighted the extraordinary achievements of the last two years, following a period when polio seemed to be fighting back against our efforts. He described how we "have Polio on the run" with no new cases in Uttar Padesh or Bihar in the last six months and those in Nigeria showing a 99% drop in the past year. On the Afghan/Pakistan border there are now permanent immunisation stations to catch all of the children migrating across the border. And the release last year of a new bivalent vaccine which has increased the possibility of permanent immunisation by 50% has further helped our efforts. None of the work of the last two years in West Africa, in Uttar Padesh & Bihar and would have been possible without funds and the time of Rotarians through the Polioplus initiative. We have in thsoe two years fundamentally changed the game in our favour. It's just not possible to stress though how vital it is that we continue - polio continues to fight back - this year has seen more than 300 children paralysed in Tajikistan, with a migrant attack of the polio virus strain recently tamed in Uttar Pradesh. Adults have died, travel has been banned - this vital work must continue.

Dr Aylward closed by saying "Rotary's decision in 1985 challnged the world to change the course of history by eradicating this crippling disease. Rotary is the heart & soul of the largest global health effort in history".

Convention Day 2 – Women & Children First!

Many of the programs of Rotary are focussed, either by design or by inevitability, on improving the lot of children and more prominently women. Whether we are providing safe water or helping with literacy programmes these inevitably tend to beaimed at children as the most vulnerable and on women as the driving force for improvement in communities.

Our day started with breakfast with our RIBI (Rotary in Britain and Ireland) colleagues. Our talk from past Rotary International Bill Boyd drew together the multiple impacts that education can have; raising the hopes of slum children so they can have a better life; the importance of the education of girls & women – more educated mothers have lower incidence of HIV/AIDS, fewer and more healthy children. And yet in the countries at the lower end of the economic scale education rates amongst children of secondary school age is below 30%, with girls below 20% or lower.

The day’s plenary sessions continued the theme – with Fr “Rocky” Evangelista focussed on his work with street children of Manila and Marie-Irene Richmond-Ahoua presenting an award for Rotary’s work in immunising the children of West Africa against polio. Fulbright & Rotary Peace scholar Marios Antoninou set out the role of education in reducing the perpetuation of past conflicts in the minds of today’s children. And finally, award-winning author Greg Mortenson spoke of his work with Afghan villages in building education as a “weapon of peace” Partly as a result of his work, there are 10 times as many Afghan children in education now compared with 10 years ago, although there remains much to be done.

With all this talk of the importance of women in building healthy communities it is shocking to find that Rotary has only one female Director this year and none next year. Seems like something needs to change!

On a lighter note we finished the day off with dinner at Bonaparte in Vieux Montreal (fabulous food – you must go there!) in the company of Irish expatriate John McGuinness, an ex-colleague from the early/mid-90’s at Deloitte where we set about building the consulting practices of the emerging former Soviet-bloc economies. Great company as ever - gift of the gab now available in 7 languages

RI Convention 1st Day Impressions

“The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.”

(Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy)

It's always great to be reminded of the power of the organisation you belong to and when it's an organisation that has as its sole purpose the service of others then you really feel it. Being with 17,000 like-minded souls is good for regeneration. From the more than 200 countries of the Rotary world we've all gathered in Montreal to celebrate our service to those in need.

Rotary International President John Kenny spoke evocatively of his trips during his year seeing the impact we have in the world. To Haiti where we acted impressively quickly in providing immediate needs and will continue to help the rebuilding process. To Bandar Aceh, where more than 250,000 lost their lives in 2005 for the opening of a Rotary built health centre from the ground up. To China where an orphanage cares for the unwanted - too many of them abandoned girls. And to Ramallah in Palestine for the chartering of a brand new Rotary club - opened with the cooperative spirit of Rotarians from Israel and Jordan working together - good news in a region where good news is scarce.

And back at our hotel to an e-mail from our own club - where we've raised more than £3,370 for two local charities - Michael Sobell House Hospice & Grangewood School for children with severe learning disabilities - 1,400 at the Ickenham Festival Gala Night witnessed the drawing of our Meal for Two promotion in co-operation with 18 local restaurants - 18 lucky people now have a voucher for a night out worth at least £90. Thanks to all those who bought tickets and all the restaurants that took part - we're proud to be able to make the contribution to two such worthwhile causes.

Alway good to round of the day with a good meal and today was no exception with a warm welcome at Les Pyrenees in Rue St Paul. Stumbled on it by accident - the next visit later in the week will be by design! Great ambience, great value.

Beginning the Canadian Adventure (en route Toronto - Montreal on VIA train)

So far our Canadian Adventure has gone like a dream. Great flight (thanks Air Canada) – smooth passage through Toronto and out of the airport in our Nissan Sentra in under an hour. Lunch stop at Niagara on the Lake (or NOTL as it’s known), the more genteel mother town of the brash Niagara Falls destination. We can certainly recommend The Grill on King if you’re ever there for a visit, although we reckoned that the Niagara region wines, while generally OK, were overpriced for their quality against our more usual Aussie and Chilean (or South African) favourites. We’d definitely recommend staying in the Marriott Fallsview at the Falls, simply outstanding views of the Falls – what a view to wake up to or come back to or frankly at any time of the day or night.

Friday in the hands of Magnificent Tours for the Full Monty of attractions in and around the falls area – great taking the tour – we went to loads of things that we wouldn’t have gone to on our own – and learnt more facts than we can remember or imagine about the world’s premier waterfalls (not the highest, but definitely moves the most water – equivalent to 1 million bathtubs full every minute. Do the tour if you’re ever in town, things not to miss – Journey behind the Falls, an up close & personal view of the magnificence of the massive waters; the Skylon Tower for an all-round view of the area and over to Buffalo and Toronto; and, of course, the perennial Maid of the Mist voyage for that drenching with fresh water mist.

Excitement on our way to Toronto’s Union Station came in the form of complete road closure of the access to the station – including the rental car return location. Which gave us a personal police car escort through the area – now there’s something that won’t be available next week during the G20. And the train is full of Rotarians from near and far (near being downtown Toronto; far, apart from us, being our closest neighbours in the carriage from Antigua and Grand Cayman)

More from the Convention and Montreal as the week progresses.

Towards the RI Convention

Tomorrow we set off for Canada - first to Niagara for obligatory sightseeing, then by train up to Montreal where we'll be in company (probably) with more than 20,000 Rotarians from around the world. Then to Toronto where it seems we'll be with some rather less desirable company - the G20 leaders and their predicted entourage of denmonstrators. Promises to be an interesting take on sightseeing!

Hoping to get some stuff up here - and maybe some pictures as well - while we're away.

Stay in touch!!

President's Weekend Away 14-17 May 2010

As is our custom and this year was no exception, we trooped off for the weekend on our President’s whim. This year’s whim was to base ourselves in Yeovil and explore the surrounding areas of South Somerset and Dorset, where Joan & I got engaged some 41 years ago!

Our hotel, the Yeovil Court, set just outside the Town Centre on the way to West Coker was ideally placed for our weekend – good accommodation, good food, pleasant staff – highly recommended!After dinner Friday night we sampled some of the local produce – with speaker James Crowden entertaining us on the history and traditions of cider making (produce courtesy of Bridge Farm Cider).

Saturday morning (and the rest of the weekend) saw us in the company of Ron, our extremely patient driver from Taylors Coaches. Firstly to the Fleet Air Arm Museum where our guides led by Keith Saxon enthralled the entire company (yes, the ladies too!) with the history of the air service of the Royal Navy – well worth a trip – could be worth more than the 2 hours or so that we had.We can recommend the food too – we had a splendid buffet within the museum – suffice to say there was ample even for the most determined eaters. An afternoon at Clarks Village at Street satisfied the ardent shoppers – it was actually quite noticeable that there were more purchases by the men in the party than could be considered normal! We took a trip into the country for dinner at the excellent Kings Arms at Charlton Horethorne, where we were well taken care of and extremely well fed and watered – most certainly worth a detour if you’re in the area – they have rooms too.

Sunday began with some drizzle, which definitely hadn’t been ordered.Nevertheless, we set off for Forde Abbey, by which time it had stopped precipitating, where our private guided tour was well worth the trip. The former monastery has been lovingly preserved in private hands – we all agreed that we wouldn’t want a) to cut the grass or b) to pay the heating bill!Lunch – terrific bread and cheese – at the picturesque Haselbury Mill, which boasts a newly constructed tithe barn (we did wonder who pays the tithes these days, but then it is licensed for weddings………). And so to Lyme Regis, where the weather really let us down – just when we could have done with a bit of sunshine the heavens opened for most of our couple of hours – however, if you find yourself in the same position, we recommend the museum, worth a look, and the many coffee and tea houses. We rounded the weekend off with dinner at New Farm Restaurant, a little off the beaten track, but worth seeking out, where Jane & Crispin have tastefully converted this lovely Ham stone building, originally a working farm run by Jane’s family since the late 1800’s, into a delightful restaurant.They’re not normally open on Sundays but nice people that they are they opened up just for us and proceeded to fill us with excellent food and drink – in complete privacy!

All in all, a great weekend, super company, terrific food – we’d all recommend the area and all the places we went to.

Birthday celebrations/President's Night

Each year my Rotary Club (Rotary Club of Elthorne Hillingdon) celebrates our President’s year in office with a function. It’s accepted practice that at this event the President is recognised; and he/she in turn recognises the achievements of the club during the year and is then generally treated to some sort form of gentle digging. This year was no exception with the added twist that the evening also doubled as my 62^nd birthday party. Within the hallowed halls of Northwood Golf Club, decked for the evening with Watford FC banners and featuring a fantastic golf bag birthday cake, Past President Terry Ruby was generous in his acclamation of the way in which I've led the club in this year and I recognised that the considerable strides the club has made are thanks to the sterling efforts of the Club Council and indeed all the membership. And then the fun started! In my younger days I was noted for having a passing resemblance to Benny from Abba (although I insist that as the years have gone on I now look more like Bjorn); I've also been noted for having attention to detail, particularly in matters administrative. It was thus entirely fitting that I was treated to an extraordinary rendition of the never-to-be-repeated (hopefully, Ed!) “Admin King” (to the tune of Abba’s Dancing Queen) by Rotarians Terry Ruby and Mark Grimwade abetted by Jean Heard and Anji Katz.

And then we got on with the professional entertainment. TV regular Dr Richard Wiseman used his professional skills as both a psychologist and magician to bamboozle and educate his audience in the science of Mind Games.

All in all, it was an evening not to be missed, to the delight of the entire assembled company and their slightly overwhelmed President. There are more pictures on the club's website on this page

(Photos by Alex Lakey)

Hands On Rotary (A District Conference Update)

I’ve just come back from a cracking weekend away with my Rotary District for our annual conference – this year in Eastbourne, where the weather could have been better!

Conference emphases change with the direction set by our District Governor for the year and our DG this year, Terry Kenyon, chose to showcase “Hands On Rotary” – with the programme being designed to show what our District (and others) have been doing in their communities and internationally, with particular emphasis on work in Africa. Rotary International President’s Representative Tom Thorfinnson from Minnesota told movingly of his team’s work bringing clean water to 100,000 people in Haiti (before the earthquake) and how the resources of that remote area unaffected by the recent disaster are being stretched by the influx of more than 30,000 internal refugees from the devastated capital.

Ex GMTV workout “girl”, Lizzie Webb showed us how young offenders in the Thames Valley can be turned round by exercise, and Robin Tatler told us of the Homeless World Cup, where football is being used to improve the self-esteem of homeless people from more than 50 countries.

We heard moving stories of how dignity is being provided to people in Malawi building businesses with microcredit schemes; in Kenya, by caring for HIV/AIDS sufferers or their bereaved dependants, young & old and in Uganda by the practical provision of visiting doctors and nurses to a remote hospital, supplemented by supplies of medical equipment unaffordable there.

It wasn’t all that serious, though! We had loads of great fun, terrific entertainment and most importantly the opportunity to meet up with our fellow Rotarians. The particular highlight we (Joan & I) had was to host one of the speakers at the conference, Lisa Morris (pictured). Lisa’s connection with Rotary came through going to South Africa as a Rotary Ambassadorial scholar in 2004-5. She spoke at our District Conference in 2006, her warm Geordie dialect and effervescent personality captivating the audience. After she spoke my wife Joan (a previous President of our club) talked to her and was amazed to find that no one had asked her to join Rotary, a failing which she promptly rectified! At that time Lisa wasn’t able to join, but we signed her up as a “Friend of Rotary” – she’s helped us with collections, been to our social events and become a personal friend. Critically, Lisa plays netball and up to this year her team has always played on Wednesdays, our meeting night, which has not made it possible for her to join us. However, the team has had an outstanding season and will be promoted and thus playing on a different night. Last Friday we received her application to join our club and, all being well, will officially join us on April 7th. Lisa’s dynamism wowed the conference crowd in 2006 and again in 2010 – she’s just the person we need in Rotary and we’re immensely proud to have her with us.

Raising money for Polio Eradication

My Rotary Club (Elthorne Hillingdon - www.hillingdonrotary.org.uk) ran a very special event to raise funds to help meet our commitment to the $200 million challenge set by Bill & Melinda Gates. Rotary in Britain and Ireland (RIBI) used the anniversary of the founding of Rotary (February 23^rd) to hold a week's worth of events (running from February 20^th to February 27^th) specifically with this objective.

On Saturday February 27^th we held a Gala event – three course dinner, plus a one-hour one-woman show, Royal Mistresses, starring Jean Heard, for the extremely reasonable price of £25 per head, with all profits from the ticket price, plus any additional efforts during the evening going towards the Gates Challenge. During the course of the evening we raised a total of £2,100, and our other activities during the week took us to £2,750.

This week, Rotary has been active with the UN & Red Cross in West Africa - targetting the inoculation of 87 million children - we hope this will stamp out this crippling disease from the area and make the whole of Africa polio-free.

Raising Money for Haiti

The last month has seen us very active in raising money. We'd always planned to do a big event if February during "Thanks for Life" Week (celebrating the efforts of Rotary towards Polio eradication), but we were interrupted in our preparations by the disastrous earthquake in Haiti. With a quiz night and concert hastily organised we raised enough for 5 Shelterboxes. Founded by Cornish Rotarian Tom Henderson, ShelterBox responds instantly to disasters all around the world delivering aid as quickly as possible to the people who need it most. At a cost of £500 each, each box contains:

Shelter
At the heart of every ShelterBox is a ten-person tent. It is custom made for ShelterBox by Vango, one of the world's leading tent manufacturers, and is designed to withstand extreme temperatures, high winds and heavy rainfall. Internally, each tent has privacy partitions that allow recipients to divide the space as they see fit.

A smile
Every box contains a children's pack containing drawing books, crayons and pens. For children who have lost most, if not all,their possessions, these small gifts are treasured.

Warmth and protection
In addition to the tent, the boxes contain a range of other survival equipment including thermal blankets and insulated ground sheets, essential in areas where temperatures plummet at nightfall. Where malaria is prevalent mosquito nets are supplied, as well a life saving means of water purification. Water supplies often become contaminated after a major disaster, as infrastructure and sanitation systems are destroyed, this presents a secondary but no less dangerous threat to survivors than the initial disaster itself.

Self sufficiency
A basic tool kit containing a hammer, axe, saw, trenching shovel, hoe head, pliers and wire cutters can be found in every box. These items enable people to improve their immediate environment, by chopping firewood or digging a latrine, for example. Then, when it is possible, to start repairing or rebuilding the home they were forced to leave.

We raised £3,500 in a matter of weeks, to send seven Shelterboxes and help 70 people.With our neighbouring clubs sending a further 13, 200 people in the affected areas have somewhere to shelter from the elements.

“Thanks for Life” - Being on The Radio (Again!)

Time to sing the praises again of the terrific volunteers who run our local radio stations Hillingdon Hospital Radio (www.radiohillingdon.co.uk) and Hayes FM (www.hayesfm.org), our local community station. As part of our Polio Eradication “Thanks for Life” initiative we’re making every effort we can to tell people what we do. So this week I’ve been on Hillingdon Hospital Radio on Tuesday and Hayes FM on Thursday. Thanks to presenters John Stanley and Gordon Baxter respectively for the welcome, the airtime and the very smooth way they handled it all. In case you missed it (and why did you?) the link below will take you to the full interview.

Eradicating Polio – a Work in Progress for 20 years

It’s now more than 20 years since Rotary International teamed up with the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and the US Centre for Disease Control to rid the world of poliomyelitis. This crippling disease, mostly affecting children, at that time claimed almost 1,000 children EVERY DAY. Now thanks to the efforts of 20 years, there are less than 1,600 cases per year and Polio remains endemic in only 4 countries in the world.

How has this been achieved?

In 1955, Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for polio, using deactivated virus. Albert Sabin followed in 1963 with an easy to administer oral active vaccine, which is also highly effective. Routine vaccination for polio is standard in many countries as a result. The last case of natural Polio infection in the UK was found in 1982, and ten years ago the continent of Europe was declared polio-free. But the fight goes on: one of the problems is that diseases don’t recognise land borders, so that even though many countries are no longer endemic, cases do occur as the disease (and carriers) cross boundaries to neighbouring countries, particularly those surrounding Nigeria; the ease of air travel also creates risks as well.

Thus the campaign goes on – despite the investment of more than $6 billion over twenty years ($850 million from Rotarians) we must completely finish the task – otherwise the work of twenty years will have been wasted.

Challenges to polio eradication

Health experts agree that these primary challenges must be overcome in order to reach the goal of polio eradication:

- Halting the spread of the poliovirus in the four remaining endemic countries (Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan), which continue to export it to polio-free areas

- Curbing the intense spread of the poliovirus in northern Nigeria and western Uttar Pradesh, India

- Rapidly stopping polio outbreaks in previously polio-free countries

- Addressing low routine-immunization rates and surveillance gaps in polio-free areas

- Maintaining funding and political commitment to implement the eradication strategies

The Final Push

A key feature of Rotary’s commitment to the cause has been the input of individual Rotarians, giving of their time to travel to countires in needof assistance to help administer polio vaccine. Rotary’s own charity, The Rotary Foundation has been consistently committed to the provision of funds. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have saw for themselves the importance of completing the task of eradicating polio. Over the last 2 years they’ve committed into our care $355 million of their money, if Rotary raises $200 million. In a little over a year we reached $100 million of the target (October 2009).

Rotary in Britain & Ireland (RIBI) has designated one week in February (coincident with Rotary’s anniversary on FEbruray 23^rd) for a national effort to raise the profile of this campaign and to raise funds.

The Rotary Club of Elthorne Hillingdon are running a dedicated event in February 2010, during “Thanks for Life” week (a Rotary in Britain & Ireland event), celebrating the work of Rotary in the effort to eradicate polio and pushing us further down the path of meeting our $200 million challenge. A Gala dinner, together with a one-hour one-woman show – Royal Mistresses starring local actress Jean Heard will be held on Saturday February 27^th. (Sorry, you can’t have a ticket, they’ve all gone!) Also on that day, our Rotarians will be in evidence at larger Tesco stores, distributing information and collecting donations (we’ll be at the Tesco store in Yeading). During the month of February we & the other Rotary Clubs in Hillingdon will also have a poster campaign in vacant shops – look out for our massive spread across the junction in Ruislip Manor if you’re in the area from Saturday 6 February.