President's Report, June 2008We hit the ground running this quarter, with the District 1090 Conference in Bournemouth the first weekend in April. We had a good turnout from Ascot, some 18 Rotarians and ladies. Chris and I attended the President's lunch on the Saturday for the first and last time, and the speakers and entertainment throughout the weekend were excellent. Conference was quickly followed by a dinner the following week in aid of the Bangladesh Cyclone relief work, organised at a local Indian restaurant, then off to Maidenhead for the Farewell Rally for the visiting GSE team from Romania and the Republic of Moldova. We also bade farewell to our outgoing team who were leaving for Romania the following week. After that a party of us took a coach up to London to see the new musical "Gone With the Wind", and we still had time at the end of the month to host three of the visiting Ambassadorial Scholars to an afternoon at Ascot Racecourse. In the evening, the scholars were our guests for the 5th Wednesday evening, where they gave us an interesting insight into what they had gained through the scholarship scheme. May turned into a month of International events, of which the first was our visit to Ingelheim, hosted by our friends in the Rotary Club there. A packed programme included a tour of Bad Kreuznach, a mediaeval feast, a visit to a floral exhibition, a boat ride down the Rhine, a castle tour, a visit to old Ingelheim, a concert, a fellowship dinner and a walking tour in the local vineyards - we came back exhausted. At the end of the month we were hosted by our twin club St. Nazaire to a weekend based in and around Le Mans, including a guided visit to the old town, lunch at the famous race track, and a backstage tour of the racetrack. We were joined by Rotarian colleagues from Gulpen-Vaals and Würzburg. At the gala dinner we presented the French club president with a dozen bottles of English wine, and the Dutch visitors presented him with a large Dutch cheese. Oh, and I was inducted into the "Brotherhood of the Knights of the Sarthoise Rillettes". In June we enjoyed our fellowship Garden Party in Nigel & Cynthia's garden. A lovely sunny day with a nice meal provided by Linda's Kitchen. And then, in no time at all, it is the date of the handover. I was pleased to be able to announce the appointment of two new Paul Harris Fellowships to Colin Corio and David Jones, before handing over the presidential office to David Marshall for 2008-9. Ian Valentine |