Rotary in the UK

It has been fun to visit the local Rotary clubs on our trip, and talk with Rotarians about their fundraisers, social events, projects, membership, etc. Clubs here seem to be doing a good job of community service, with quite a few projects that focus on children. They also have many smaller fundraising events where the money collected goes to specific international projects such as disaster relief, shelter boxes, polio eradication, and club favorites like supporting orphanages, helping AIDS victims, etc.

District 1250 has the same number of clubs as our district (around 61), but fewer members (1850 compared to our 3000), so the clubs are generally smaller in size. I would say from my observations so far, that the average age of the members is higher than clubs in our district, and there are much less women members. Several clubs don't have any women, and we've been told that a few don't care to have any.

There is a strong organization here called Inner Wheel, which his made up of spouses (like the old Rotary Anns). There are some very active groups in this area, and they provide a positive outlet for women who want to be involved in fellowship and service, and at the same time be linked with Rotary in a way.

Some of the clubs here have an interesting concept called "friends of Rotary". I'm trying to find out more, but it seems like people can get involved in Rotary projects, and attend occasional meetings without joining the club. This partial involvement give them a chance to see if Rotary might be for them, and it give the clubs more help with projects. Hmmm, something to think about. There are lots of other great ideas I am gleening from our visit.

Overall, the hospitality shown us has been outstanding. We couldn't ask for better hosts throughout our trip. This Rotary fellowship doesn't surprise me, but I think it has been an eye-opener for the non-Rotarian team members. We can't wait to host the District 1250 team when they come to our area at the end of this month.

Burgess Hill

This is an important place for me, as my mom's maiden name is Burgess. I'm sure my early descendants must have come from this area of England. The weather has been lovely the past couple days, and after meeting our new hosts a couple of us were taken to Wakehurst Place. This is an old estate that is now a trust. They have a large seed bank here, as well as beautiful gardens. It was nice to stroll around and sit outside with no coat.

In the evening we gave our presentation to the Burgess Hill Rotary Club, the best club in the district by their account. They meet at a golf club from 6:00-8:00 or so. It was a fun club, and we got to have fish and chips (coincidentally for the third straight time).

This morning I visited with a teacher at a special needs school. This school has over 100 kids from 4 to 16 years old, who have some type of special need (autism, hearing impairment, behavior concerns, learning disabilities, etc.). The school is one of three in the county that services these types of kids. It is fully funded by the county government. The kids are given access to vocational training, and have opportunities to do work experience with local businesses.

Hello everyone, it smee again.

We just wrapped up our stint in Worthing and had a wonderful time. On our last day we took a day trip down to Brighton and had a fun day. We took a tour around the Royal Pavilion which was a palace that was built by Prince Regent George IV back at the turn of the 19th century. It is an amazing creation in that it was based on the culture and architecture of India and China; it looks very out of place here in England. It is a very extravagant structure, and it’s just fascinating to think what daily life was like back then. Here is the website for the Palace if you want to see more about it:

http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/RoyalPavilion/Pages/home.aspx

After the Palace we walked along the waterfront and then attended the Brighton Rotary lunch meeting for fish and chips. Later that night we had fish and chips again for dinner with the Worthing Rotary club and finished off the night with bowling. As an aside, team North America convincingly beat team British thanks to a few timely strikes and spares by our fearless leader Hutch (we think he’s been bowling more than he says he has as evident by his elegant form and follow through).

Today we said goodbye to our wonderful hosts in Worthing and were introduced to our new hosts for the next leg of our GSE adventure in Burgess Hill. We all gathered and had a cup of tea and refreshments before departing with our appointed hosts.

The weather here has been “brilliant”, very similar to what we would expect back home in the Spring.

Recently I’ve been working on my Cockney accent and trying to learn the lingo (I think I've pretty much mastered my Canadian accent as our Officer Rod Farva can attest to). Cockney apparently refers to the very distinct accent and vocabulary that someone born and raised in London would have acquired. My previous host was one such Cockney, and I had a fascinating time trying to understand what he was saying. True it was English (I think), but the vocabulary and speed at which he talks made for very interesting conversation. They have rhymes and abbreviations for many words and phrases, and originally this slang was developed so two people could carry on a conversation of a somewhat “dodgy” nature in a pub and not have to worry about any wandering ears from the police overhearing their conversations. For example, my last host asked me if I had my “daisies” with me. He could tell by my blank expression that I wasn’t following him so he clarified his previous question. Do I have my daisy roots on me? Still, no idea what he was talking about. Finally giving up he blatantly explained, “Daises... daisy roots... BOOTS!”. It’s a fascinating slang language and I wrote a bunch of it down to confuse the locals back home, I’ll give it to you all when we get back.

Cheers!
-Scott

We've landed in Worthing

Hello all. We just completed our away weekend in Portsmouth. It was a chance to see the sites and bond more as a group. We saw a bunch of sites, went to a comedy club (the comedians were OK, but the conversation between the group was good), wandered the streets and took buses just to see the sites.

Here's me getting cozy with Henry VIII outside the museum for his favorite ship, the Mary Rose. I figured it would be best to appeal to his taste for the ladies, so he wouldn't have me beheaded. :-) Remember the old rhyme: "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived"? I wasn't taking any chances.

Anyway, we also saw the first iron-hulled, armour-plated warship — HMS Warrior 1860 — and Lord Horatio Nelson's ship, HMS Victory. Rotarian David Shannon not only gave us an amazing history lesson about the ship and Nelson, but he gave each of us a signed copy of a book he wrote about Nelson. We're so grateful he took time out of Easter Sunday to spend time with three Americans and two Canadians.

Anyway, here's a shot of Victory in all its restored glory. On board we saw the approximate place where Nelson was shot during the Battle of Trafalgar, and the place where he died below deck. After many viewings of "That Hamilton Woman" over the years, it was all very exciting to me.

At the Battle of Trafalgar, the British Navy, under the command of Nelson, defeated the French and Spanish in 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars. The ship has been restored to how it was at the time of the battle.

This morning we left Portsmouth and Southsea and headed to Worthing. We met Ian, David and Barbara there and then went to Parham House in Storrington.

Speaking earlier of Henry VIII, Parham was built in Henry's daughter Elizabeth I's reign, in 1577. The house has amazing gardens, and the day was perfect to view them. The inside of the house is filled with amazing needlework and antiques, and lots of paintings of British royalty and those who have owned the house and their relatives. It was absolutely breathtaking, so of course I had to buy a guidebook. Ask the guys — I ALWAYS buy a guidebook. :-)

Tomorrow and Wednesday will be busy with vocational visits, a meeting with a local mayor, some Rotary club meetings, and even some bowling, so we probably won't be able to update the blog much. But as soon as we can, we will.

Easter Sunday

I had a great time meeting people at King's Church, where I attended Easter Sunday. It was an Assembly of God affiliation that was alive and joyful today. About 100 people were at the service, which was held in a school gym. They have many college kids, but since they were on spring Easter break, there were fewer of them. Lots of other younger kids. The pastor's wife is from Portland, and one of the members I met has a sister in Seattle. A great way to start the day.

Our group then met up at the HMS Victory, the flagship of Admiral Lord Nelson. He is credited with defeating the combined French and Spanish Navy in 1805, a victory that perhaps allowed England to then expand its empire and rule the seas for many years to come. The ship was awesome. Local Rotarian David Shannon (pictured with the team) gave us a history of the ship and Admiral Nelson. He also gave us signed copies of the book he wrote, "Nelson Remembered".
We then took a bus ride around the larger town, and ended the day with a Mediterranean dinner. Weather was sunny and warmer today. It's starting to look like spring here after their harsh winter. Tomorrow we are picked up and taken to Worthing for the next half of our adventure.

Weekend of Rest???

Well, we finished our time in the Chichester area and were taken to a B&B in Portsmouth for a weekend away. This is a time where we can catch our breath, relax, and get caught up on things like our journals, laundry, and sleep. I'll have to say it has not been too taxing yet, and we probably won't get much rest this weekend because there is so much to see and do here in Portsmouth.

After attending a Good Friday service in Chichester Cathedral (Anglican), one of England's finest (begun in the 11th century), we all had a farewell lunch at my host's home and then were driven to Portsmouth. That afternoon we walked a short distance to the ocean, checked out the area there, and walked into town. After dinner, we went to a comedy club. First time we had seen many younger people on our trip.

Today we took a cab to the newest part of town where we took a harbor tour, went up to the top of the Spiniker Tower, and visited the Mary Rose Museum (one of Henry VIII's prize ships that sunk in 1556), and the first ironclad ship, the HMS Warrior (1860). They also have a HUGE factory outlet there, so we spent some time checking that out. Being Easter weekend, it is a pretty busy place.

I'll try to find a church nearby to attend tomorrow, and then it's off the the aquarium, the D-Day museum, the submarine museum, and a personal tour (local Rotarian) of the HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship in the battle of Trafalger.

Arundel Castle

Today we had great weather and a wonderful visit to a Castle that had it's roots back to about 1066. It is still the home of the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk (the 18th Duke) and their 5 children. We were going to meet them but they were off skiing in Europe. We were given a tour by John Penny, the District 1250 Foundation chairman and member of Arundel Rotary Club. There is a member of the Rotary club that resides on the grounds. 3 of us were hosted by James who runs one of the farms owned by the Duke, the Duke's butler lived next door.

That afternoon we toured Cathedral Works Organization, a stone masonry company that renovates historic buildings. They did the Monument in London, and are currently working on parts of Buckingham Palace. It's quite an art, and we saw small pieces that have taken over 90 hours to do by hand.

We gave our presentation to about 90 people from several area Rotary clubs that evening. It's great to visit with so many Rotarians, and see the great things they are doing in their communities and around the world. As usual, dinner was lovely.