Rotary Fellowship Exchange with Swedish clubs

Following our exchange in June of this year with Rotary Clubs in Scania, Southern Sweden, we were delighted to renew some previous friendships and to welcome our ten visitors to Leicestershire. They came from seven clubs scattered across southern Sweden in D2395

The host clubs for this part of the exchange were the Market Harborough and Blaby clubs.

Thursday 12th September 2024

After welcoming our visitors at the railway station we stopped off at Louisa’s Place in the centre of town for coffee and other refreshments.

A short walk up Adam and Eve Street to the Symington’s building and the museum so that our visitors could learn about the history of the town and its surrounding area. This included trying on re-created Roman helmets.

From there we walked past the Old Grammar School to St Dionysius Church whose spire dominates the town skyline. Our guests learned about the history of the church, its role during the Civil War and back to the time that it was first built. 

We then went down to the Foxton Locks Inn where we had lunch followed by a walk around the locks, museum and Inclined Plane. Despite the gloomy weather forecast it remained dry and, at times, sunny.

That evening our guests dined with various hosts at home in Blaby and Market Harborough.

Friday 13^th September

That morning, we travelled to Leicester and the Richard III visitor centre. Many of our guests had been advised to watch “The Lost King” film before they came which gave them an insight into the history and discovery of King Richard III’s remains in Leicester after being lost for over 500 years.                                                                                                                            After lunch at the White Boar Café in the centre we made the short walk to Leicester cathedral where we were all treated to a tour by the Project Director of the Cathedral refurbishment and restoration programme, Simon Bentley, including visiting Richard III’s tomb.

Next was a tour of the neighbouring Guildhall which gave a further insight into the history of Leicester.  The main hall was preparing for a wedding ceremony.

A farewell dinner was held at the Waterfront Restaurant in Market Harborough. Our guests made presentations about their projects and activities as we had done when we were visiting them back in June.

Saturday 14^th September

An exciting morning was had hosted by the Blaby Rotary Club at the Rutland Sailing Club on the south shore of Rutland Water. There we engaged with Sailability, reputed to be the largest sailability centre in the UK and probably in Europe with several para-Olympians among its membership.

Our impressive guide Phyllis has been the driving force behind the project over 20 years changing the sceptical nature of the sailing club towards disabled sailors to its whole-hearted support.

With some of our guests coming from the Karlskrona naval port in Sweden they were particularly interested in going out on the jetty and examining the hoists that can lift  people out of their wheelchairs and straight into their boats.

The sailability project there, supported by Blaby Rotary Club, raises £20,000 per annum for its maintenance and activities. There were hundreds of sailing craft at the centre. As mid-day approached we travelled to the village of Rockingham Castle at the Sondes Arms for the handover to our Northampton colleagues who continued with their part of the exchange until Monday, 16th.