Club AGM

Following on from our wonderful Ladies Weekend in Cambridge it was back to business tonight at the Club Annual General Meeting. As well as receiving reports from this years committee chairs the Club also approved the appointment of the Committee Chairs who will take post from the 1st July.

To ensure that our Club can provide service to its community, retain members, and grow we have to make sure that we operate efficiently. Our Club committees are charged with carrying out the Club’s long-range and annual goals.

Our congratulations and thanks go to:

• Mike Unwin - Fellowship and Social Chair
• Roger Timbrell - Community Service Chair and Protection Officer
• Chris Kraushar - Money Raising Chair
• Chris Bowyer - Sleigh Committee head
• David Eaton - Programme
• Brian Nicholson - Membership/Retention Chair
• Ivan Hill - Communications Chair
• Izeham Che Dan - Foundation Chair
• Doug Evans - International Chair
• Derek Evans - Youth Activities Chair
• Greg Instone - Attendance Officer
• John Whitten - Sports Officer
• Wasil Buczkowski - Regalia Officer
• Bert Finch & Sammy Chung - Family of Rotary

Ladies Weekend 2011 - Cambridge

Our weekend was rounded off today with a walking tour of Cambridge. Given the quality of much of the architecture we've seen in the City it is truly amazing that so many of the buildings which the various colleges have erected in the last 40 years are in this context nothing short of eyesores - and hanging the skeleton of a dead whale under them does nothing to hide the fact.

Thankfully what was there before more than makes up and after a tour of the grounds of Queens' College we were simply blown away by the splendour of Kings College chapel which definitely was the icing on the cake for us- so familiar through the Christmas Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols but in the flesh so much more imposing.

Blessed with fine weather and good fellowship we'll all take away happy memories of our visit to Cambridge and look forward to our next Ladies Weekend in 2012.

Ladies Weekend 2011 - Dinner

A traditional part of every Ladies Weekend is the Saturday black tie dinner. This year we were based at the University Arms Hotel in Cambridge and our dinner was held in its Newton Rom which overlooks Parker's Piece - its a perfect venue for this type of occasion, the food was good and the staff really took care of us so our thanks to all of them.

The toast to the Ladies was formally proposed by President Jim in recognition of all of the invaluable support which they give to the members during the year - a vital part of this Club's success. The Presidents Lady, Alison, thanked the members for all of the support which they had given to Jim and herself during his year of office and for making it such an enjoyable time before the ladies toasted the members of the Club.

Clearly weekends such as these don't just happen and the success of this Ladies Weekend is due to the hard work of Peter and Pat Maddox who put a tremendous amount of time into preparing the event and selflessly gave of their time during the weekend to make sure that everything ran smoothly. Alison and I, together with the other members attending, are all extremely grateful to them for making such a great weekend and leaving us with such happy memories.

Ladies Weekend 2011 - Ely

A few years ago we had the pleasure of hearing from the Dean of Ely Cathedral who visited our Club as a speaker. Today we were able to return the visit as the Ladies Weekend crowd took the opportunity to tour the Cathedral. Thanks to our most knowledgeable tour guides we were given an insight into the history and architecture of this most beautiful of buildings.

Ely was also home to Oliver Cromwell and the house there is one of only two surviving buildings where the Lord Protector is known to have lived. Whilst our tour guide explained the history of the house, of Cromwell and of the Civil War it was plain that she only found our true level when she let the group loose in the dressing up room.

There is no doubting the beauty of this City and all who visited wished that we could have spent more time there.