Congrès des Isles (2022)

Friday 21 October to Sunday 23 October 2022

Well what a wonderful weekend we have had as we celebrated the 100th anniversary of our first ever meeting that was held on 30th October 1922.

My heartfelt thanks to all of you and our fellow Rotarians, guests and friends for making the occasion so memorable. We have a Club to be very proud of and its times like this when fellowship and friendship are so evident and bring us all close together.

For me there have been so many highlights of the weekend.

We were very pleased to be able to welcome President Richard Romeril and his wife Carolyn and Vice President Madelaine De la Cour from RC Jersey and we also received the warm greetings from our sponsor Club RC Bournemouth. They have confirmed that they will join us at our Charter Night in March.

A very special moment for us was for our Club to receive the kind gift of the cherry tree from Inner Wheel and with the expert help of our longest serving member Jeff Kitts the tree was planted in prime position to enhance the area of the Japanese Fishing Pavilion. Many thanks to President Gill and all in Inner Wheel for this very kind gift that will I am sure flourish for many years to come following its professional planting.

Our time with The National Trust of Guernsey was very rewarding and informative. They are very keen to forge closer relationships with us and some members may even join us. The guided tours by Eric Grimsley and the presentation from Rod Ferbrache resulted in a perfect morning spent in the park.

I was very pleased to be able to welcome Rotarians and all of our guests to our celebratory dinner. These included our Bailiff and Honorary member Richard McMahon, Tom and Wendy Peek and our very entertaining speaker Dennis Burns who in his very light hearted way gave us plenty to laugh about. As the Great Great Grandson of our founder President, Tom was very pleased to be able to represent his family at this memorable time. It was suggested that he may wish to join us to keep the family heritage going!?

The occasion also gave me the opportunity of presenting a very well deserved Paul Harris Fellowship award to Simon Wood who has given so much to our Club over many years. On behalf of us all may I congratulate Simon again for this special recognition. The venue for this presentation was particularly fitting as Paul Harris stayed at The Duke of Richmond Hotel when he visited the island in 1937 and a plaque in his honour remains in place.

We were able to round off the weekend with a very relaxing, informal and enjoyable lunch today as we reflected on the success of the Congres weekend.

My many thanks to Carla for all of her hard work and excellent organisational skills to ensure that the programme worked so well for us all.

It has truly been a great time to reflect on our heritage and to look forward with confidence to the further growth and development of our Club.

Thank you all for making this milestone occasion so special for our Club.

Brian Acton

President

Sunday 23 October 2022

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