Catching Up

We've been so busy that none of us has had time to update the blog, so here is a glimpse of a few of the activities we've been enjoying since March 27th.

Sunday, after breakfast on the waterfront, and lunch at the Arundel Rotary Club president's home, we were taken to an ancient Roman Villa that dates back to 230 AD. It's hard to imagine the degree of Roman culture and architecture that was common all over southern England during this time. We also took a walk along the old roman road at the top of the Downs.

Monday I visited a secondary school. I'm still trying to figure out the educational system here. Public schools are really private, colleges are often for age 16 and up, grammar schools are nearly gone, prep schools are for the younger kids, academies are schools which haven't made the grade and have been re-named and re-tooled, and then there are $20,000 per year boarding schools. All these are driven by a national curriculum, although public (private) schools have more flexibility in how the day-to-day things are done.

We were handed off to the Chichester Harbor Rotary Club for the next few days Monday afternoon, toured some of the area, and relaxed with our host families. I stayed with Sue & Malcom Danks. Sue will lead the District 1250 GSE team that will be coming to our district at the end of April.

Tuesday, I visited Aldingbourne Farm, a facility that assists developmentally challenged adults by helping them run various enterprises. They grow and sell plants, refurbish furniture, sell crafts, recycle wood, and other activities. The place deals with around 90 clients, and has a volunteer staff of 40 part-time people helping out. After lunch at yet another PUB (they are the common place to have drinks and a meal), we were taken for a walking tour of downtown Chichester, which included the marvelous Chichester Cathedral and St, Mary's Hospital (which is really a boarding place now). That evening we gave our presentation to the Rotary Club of Chichester (our hosts that day). About 90 people were in attendance.

Our vocational visits and Arundel

Note: I think my cold addled my brain. Earlier I misspelled one of the Rotarians' names. It's now fixed.

I'll make this short, since I'm nursing a bit of a cold and need to get to bed. We all spent time learning about similar businesses to ours over here in England. I talked to Gary and Theo at the West Sussex County Times, and also spoke to Matt at The Resident, another newspaper in the Horsham area. It was very enlightening and left me with some new ideas and an understanding that newspapers here are struggling just like those in the United States. As a side note, the Times of London announced yesterday they will begin charging readers for access to its content online.

Brad spent a day with a police detachment in West Sussex; Jim went to Lancing College, also in West Sussex; Scott went to a hospital in Brighton; and Cam went to two separate financial services facilities. They'll have to fill you in later about what they learned, but it sounds like they had a wonderful time.

Yesterday we were treated to a tour of sites around Arundel by Rupert Brooks, a local man who wrote a book about pub sites around the area. We got a nice view of the castle (here's me in front of it), but we're looking forward to a better view next week.

We then headed to the St. Mary's Gate Inn, a local pub, and met Rotarians James, Mark, Keith, Tim and Stephanie. We also met James' wife Helen and Keith's wife Sam. Mark's wife Clare was a bit ill and couldn't join us, but since I'm living with them I was able to visit with her yesterday and today. We share a love of Jane Austen and visited Jane's home in Chawton today. It was amazing. Tomorrow we will spend more time with the local Rotarians, we will move on to Chichester on Monday, we'll have more vocational visits on Tuesday, and we'll do our next presentation Wednesday.

Another update — this time with pictures

We've moved on to the city of Arundel, and just left Horsham. But let me catch you up with pictures.

This was our welcoming party in Horsham. From left to right are Gaby (whom I lived with for five days), Janet, Jim, Mary, Brad, Peta, Brian, Scott, Richard and Cam. You can also barely see Geoff behind Scott. Gaby, Brian, Richard and Geoff are members of the Horsham Rotary Club. Jim stayed with Richard and Janet, Scott stayed with Geoff and Mary, and Brad and Cam stayed with Brian and Peta. We've spent a lot of time visiting with them and sharing information about our jobs, our hometowns and Rotary clubs in America and the U.K.

They made us feel SO welcome. We were very sad to say goodbye to all of them last night and today.

This is the bed and breakfast Geoff and Mary own — where Scott stayed — called The Thatched House. It looks exactly like I always imagined a thatched cottage would look.

This is the Church of St. Andrew and St. Cuthman in Steyning. It was built on the site of a church built by St. Cuthman in 750 AD. The story goes something like this: "His legend states he was a shepherd who had to care for his paralysed mother after his father's death. When they fell on hard times and were forced to beg from door to door, he built a one-wheeled cart or wheelbarrow (with a rope from the handles over his shoulders taking part of the weight) in which he moved her around with him. They set out east, towards the rising sun, from his home and, even though the rope broke, he improvised a new one ... deciding that when that rope broke he would accept it as a sign from God to stop at that place and build a church." It broke in Steyning.

And for now I'll end with this story: A worker was fixing a wall in Steyning. Someone in the past had, for some reason known only to him, put a pair of false teeth into the wall. So the worker who was fixing the wall asked for people to bring their false teeth to him. He put a pair he received into the wall. :-)

I'll fill you in tomorrow on our vocational visits and what we toured yesterday and today.

Mid-week Activities

Wow! It's hard to keep up with all the activities we have been doing. Tuesday we met Rotarians from another club who took us to tour the old town of Steyning. Houses in this own date back to the 1200's, and are still lived in. Most structures are of the 14-1500's. A very lovely town with narrow alleys, and winding streets. We then went to see the oldest airfield in England.

The weather was cloudy and cooler, but we had a great timc. I still can't get used to riding on the left side of the road, and when I get in the car, I automatically grab for the steering wheel, which is now in the other side of the car. I have also found myself lifting the toes on my right foot as if to regulate the non-existent gas pedal.

Wednesday was a vocational day, and we were all out to different places of business that match our vocations. I spent time at a youth center created by three different churches, and one that has had a big impact on anti-social behavior in local youth. I then went to Lancing College, a private boarding school for 13-18 year-olds. It looked more like our universities, with a chapel that rivals most big cathedrals here.

We're here and loving it

After about 18 hours either in a plane or an airport, we arrived in London about 1:30 p.m. Sunday (about 6:30 a.m. Wenatchee time). It took us about another hour to get through the line for passport checks and then we were off to Horsham. By the way, we were greeted by the most friendly, wonderful people at the airport - about 10 of them. In Horsham we sat down with all of them for some tea and biscuits. After tea, and dinner at our respective homes, we were a bit tired. :-) So forgive me for not writing before now.

We're getting the Internet thing worked out (I'm using someone else's computer right now), so hopefully updates, pictures and Skype calls home will be coming soon. Today I ate breakfast, met up with the whole group, toured the local district government, ate lunch at a local pub, walked to a local church and by some older homes (as in 17th century kinda old), and then toured items that will be auctioned later this week (ranging from the 17th to 20th centuries).

Now we're resting for a bit before heading to a Rotarian's home for dinner at 7 p.m. So far it's been amazing, and it's only been one day! The people are wonderful, the food is good (and there's plenty of it) and the countryside is absolutely beautiful.

Wanna see where we're going?

We will be traveling throughout Surrey and Sussex, England. Here are the towns we will be visiting:

Horsham, Arundel, Chichester Harbour, Portsmouth, Southsea, Worthing, Burgess Hill, Reigate, Redhill, Farnham, Guildford and London.

These are some of the sites we'll see:
Weald and Downland Museum
Bignor Roman Villa
Arundel Castle
Chichester Cathedral
HMS Victory
Jack and Jill Windmills

Our presentation

GSE Englandpresentation

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