President's Report, November 2005November has been a particularly busy and interesting month for Ascot Rotarians. Geoff Donovan chaired the first meeting on the 2nd when one of our 'Friends' - Peter Morrisroe gave what I was told was a fascinating talk on the control of aircraft landing slots and information on movements at all the major UK airports. This was a meeting that I had to miss due to representing Ascot Rotary at the Berkshire launch of Life Education Centres. The launch was well attended by its patron Susan Hampshire and its major benefactor John Nike. The launch gave me an insight into just how valuable the initiative is, and the profound effect it makes upon the children between 3 1/2 and 10 years old. Our Friends meeting on the 9th featured Hallam Murray with the second instalment of his cycling adventure down the Andes in South America. In a talk illustrated by his simple camera and aided by recorded sounds from the area, he managed to make many of us feel very inadequate. The 21st running of the Ascot Heat of Rotary Youth Speaks was held on Tuesday 15th. Although only four schools participated this year we enjoyed very high standard of presentations from 13 teams. In order to shorten the evening we ran the Intermediate and Senior competitions concurrently. St Mary's and the Marist schools provided the winning teams for this year, but the star performer was Jack Lynch from Charters who captivated us all. The following evening we ran a book stall at the Victoriana evening in Sunninghill. Although the stall managed to make over £130, the belief of the Rotarians who took part was that the rewards did not match the effort involved. Beverley looked particularly jaded as he tried to maintain the pretence of an estate agent whilst being buried in books. To round this week off, Council endorsed the recommendation to make "Children with Special Needs", Rotary's main focus for the 2006 Golf Day. The business meeting held on the 23rd reflected the huge amount of activity being undertaken by your club. Council members were very pleased to find that the club fully supported all the proposals put forward. David and Hilary Mear, John Morris and Ann Keen and Alan and Margaret Penny joined Maidenhead Thames sponsored evening to welcome the RIBI President Mike Webb on Monday 28th. The event was extremely well attended with it seemed every club in the district represented. Finally on 30th at the joint meeting with our Ladies we were royally entertained by Nick Dawson who spoke on his period of stewardship of Sunningdale School.
Alan Penny |