Friends Programme, August 2007At the August Friend’s meeting we were very pleased to welcome back Martin Bell, a Friend of the Rotary Club of Ascot and known to us all, and John Oblein a friend of Martin’s, who ran for the third successive year their fun quiz evening including a high tech laptop/digital presentation of the questions and answers based on topical subjects for all ages – except for the President’s table (including me) that supported the rest by a Country mile – but still there cannot be any cream without the milk to support it!! For the September Friend’s meeting we are pleased to welcome Hugh Gibbons - who spoke to us at an April lunchtime meeting on “Tales of the Unexpected” - and will give a talk on “Thank-you stories from the Tsunami”. In December 2005, Hugh Gibbons visited homes, schools, tents, families, barracks, boats, offices, cafes, beaches, villages and other locations in Banda Aceh in Indonesia – the city raked by the tsunami just after 8am on Boxing Day 2004. His task? To report on some of the humanitarian recovery projects funded by the people of the UK. He met many survivors – and saw at first-hand the work of international and local NGOs. Hugh has since written, broadcast and spoken face-to-face to several thousand people in the UK. He has also had close contact with many others involved - in Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka – including the police, the RAF, and the Royal Navy. His follow-up studies have let him build up some thoughtful lessons about leadership issues to help people in business reflect on your own styles and actions. His focus is on the issues and mindsets of several leaders - civilian and military - in different settings of the tsunami. This highly pictorial talk also explores many aspects of disaster relief, including emotion, resilience, stress, communication and courage.
Peter Short |