Final note from Colette

I can't believe its almost time to go home on Saturday. This had been such a tremendous visit!

You can see from Bills Blog that we enjoyed Torquay and gained a lot from the district conference!

My hosts Lionel and Mary, stopped by Stratford-upon-Avon on the way home and gave me the Shakespear tour.

We also stopped to see the 14th Century Warick Castle.

But its not only historic sight-seeing. I'm also learning a lot from my vocational visits with more conservation organizations. Today I spent time with RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), a sister organization to the Audubon Society, to learn about restoration of heathlands from non-native woodlands. A highlight was observing a pair of green woodpeckers foraging on the ground (a-typical of the woodpeckers from the US).

District 1070 Assembly : SHOWTIME

Our weekend visit to Torquay on the southern shore of the British Isles became the high point of our GSE adventure. Host families took us on a 6 hour journey, southeast from the Midlands, to the Grand Hotel.

Nearly 1,000 Rotarians convened for the annual event. It was Gov. Iain Vernon’s blow-out celebration and the Rotarians provided a magnificent program in true British fashion. On Saturday, we had 2 morning plenary sessions, a House of Friendship, delicious meals and then, a magnificent banquet that evening. We befriended President DK Lee's personal representative to the conference, Mary Beth Growney Selene, a Yank from Minnesota. She is a past District Governor who shares my passion for mission work in Haiti.

A dance band energized everyone to “strut their stuff” on the dance floor. In another room, a Las Vegas-style gambling venue provided additional entertainment.

Many of our cherished host families came for the celebration. This gave us the opportunity to spend time with those who had immersed us in their genuine British hospitality.

Sunday was Showtime. Our presentation to the District Conference was the culmination our visit to 1070, the most important part of our adventure. I awoke at 4:45 AM. My apprehension made it impossible to sleep. I re-worked my portion of the Powerpoint, to fine tune it.

During the preceding 3 weeks, the team made a priority to amass a large volume of photos, with particular emphasis on funny photos. We have discovered that team member Eric has particular talent with humor.

We shortened our ordinary club presentations, in order to have time in the 30 minute slot, to tell about our GSE experiences and then to showcase our humor. Eric narrated the last portion, and brought the house down.

It had been apparent that many local Rotarians had reservations about the value of the GSE program. When we finished, the applause was loud and long. DG Iain Vernon took the opportunity to explain to the gathering that our presentation made clear how important GSE is to the Foundation and to the Rotary experience.

Afterward, we received high praise from many of the participants. One Brit told us it was the best GSE presentation he had heard in 20 years. I feel that we provided an excellent program for our hosts, and we demonstrated our appreciation for their unparalleled hospitality. When we closed, we offered gifts to Iain and his wife Jo, from the team and from our DG Anne Walker.

The remaining week will be a cake walk with this performance behind us. We will visit with the clubs from Wellingborough Hatton and Brackley. The team returns home next Saturday, Oct. 11. I will remain for 3 days of London sightseeing and return on Tuesday, Oct. 13.

Life in the U.K. is good. Our GSE experience has far exceeded our expectations.

Hello from Northampton

And the journey continues...

After an absolutely terrific time in Stamford, we moved on Monday to Northamptonshire. We so enjoyed our time with the Stamford St. Martin's club, who are a young, very lively club, full of new ideas. We won't soon forget their farewell evening, a dinner full of games and surprises that included Eric dressing up like an 80s rock star and me applying makeup to a poor soul while I was blindfolded!

Monday was fairly low key. We had a pub lunch with our new Rotary hosts and then spent some time walking around the village of North Brington. We walked by Althorp, which was a childhood home of Princess Di's and visited the church that houses her family, the Spencer family's, crypt. That was truly fascinating to see.

Then on Tuesday we spent the first part of the day in court -- no, not for doing anything wrong -- to get a glimpse of the legal system and make some comparisons between ours and theirs. Then in the afternoon we visited their Closed Circuit TV headquarters, because CCTV is quite prevalent in the UK as a means for crime prevention and crime solving.

Wednesday was a vocational day for each of us, and I think we all truly enjoyed ourselves. I spent the day at the Northampton Chronicle & Echo where I talked with a number of folks and racked up some great ideas to take back with me to the States.

Then today, part of our group -- Colette and Eric -- headed with their hosts to Torquay, a coastal city in the southwestern portion of the country. Joe, Bill and I will follow with our hosts tomorrow. Torquay is the site of District 1070's annual conference. Our group will be presenting on Sunday, so please wish us luck!

New color scheme for Myrtle Beach Police Cars

On Wednesday October 1st I spent the day with Northampton Police. I was able to do a ride along, saw the police dogs training, saw the firearms training area (have lots of new ideas) and the police training center. While I was walking around HQ I came up with the thought of, hey why don't our cars in Myrtle Beach look like this? Let me know what you think...

Northampton Police didn't think it was a good idea that I take a bite from one of thier dogs, escpecially after they told me that the Shepard isn't a fan of letting go of the sleeve. But here are a few pics of the dogs at work. (I have some video which I will share when I get home)
This is Sam, one of the female dog handlers and her German Shepard. The dog is playing with his ball just after knocking the other handler to the ground after taking a bite on the sleeve.

See you soon....

Stamford

Some photos of our guided tour of beautiful historic Stamford:

Some tributes

I thought I'd take a moment to make some tributes to recognize a few people/moments in recent days that are worth noting:

Norry Bell, perhaps the most colorful character we've encountered on our travels, was Eric's host in Sleaford. He showed up one night looking like this:

And the Scotsman showed up another time looking like this:

And now, a tribute to the American donut. Poor Eric, our resident police officer, had been feeling the hunger pangs of a donut craving. Fortunately Colette's host Nick was able to help him out.

Stamford St. Martins

1. Yesterday, I had my vocational day at the hospital, "cutting up." I was welcomed by Drs. Linda, Charlie and Chris. Life in the Urology Theatre is much the same as in the U.S.
   
2. Last evening, my hosts Pres. Helen and Martyn Gatehouse offered a home-cooked meal of coq au vin. We then went to the local theatre for a quality production of "The Pirates of Penzance," performed by locals in Stamford.
   
3. Our British friends have been sadly misinformed that the American Bloaks are malnourished. Every time we turn around there is another banquet or trip to the Pub. Southern hospitality could take a lesson from our friends across the Pond. A daily run has become an absolute necessity, to assure that the pants (oops, they call them trousers; pants are underwear) that we brought with us will fit at the end of the trip.
   
   

Tomorrow, we sing our theme song again, by Willie Nelson, "On the Road Again." We are off to Northampton. We look forward to attending the District Conference in scenic Torquay, 6 hours away at the end of the week. I spent my "free day" on the computer, preparing for our presentation that will KNOCK THEIR SOCKS OFF.

Now, we are off to a banquet hosted by Stamford St. Martins. Life is tuff.