District 1150 Conference 2012

Chair and organiser in chief of this year's District Conference in Plymouth was our very own Don Carsley and so it was with even greater anticipation that President John and former Presidents Gareth Rees, Gareth Cheesman, Neville Farthing and Jeff Robinson made the 170 mile trip to the Holiday Inn on Plymouth Hoe for what turned out to be a packed and at times inspiring programme.

Events got under way with a Dinner dance on the Friday evening, entertainment being provided by the "Planet Abba Tribute Band". Fancy Dress was the order of the day and unsurprisingly Abba was the  theme for the competition. Once again we joined forces with Cowbridge and retained the trophy we won last year. Lynda devised our "Dancing Queen" theme and Janet made the costumes. We are very much in our Partners' debt as all the men had to do was turn up and look happy. See photograph for proof!

Very long mornings on Saturday and Sunday saw us get down to business with a vengeance although our partners were able to combine Rotary matters with a little retail therapy and walks on Plymouth Hoe. Past RI President Bill Boyd from New Zealand gave two unscripted presentations which held everyone's attention as he talked about strengthening the Rotary brand and attracting new members to share our passion and perseverance. Rotary GB&I representative Keith Barnard-Jones touched on the Rotary GB&I 5 year plan which will see 29 Districts reduced to 24, but  District 1150 is to remain untouched.

Challenges climatic, cultural and culinary were very much the feature of a beautifully illustrated presentation given by the District 1150 Group Study Exchange Team  which, led by Gareth Cheesman, has recently returned from an inspiring but gruelling tour of the Philippines.

As always it was the presentations from those who had overcome tremendous odds to achieve their goals who inspired the audience, reducing them to tears or laughter. These are just a few of them: Angie Dymott, a Cardiff Paramedic, was dropped into Guatemala City and discovered it was even more challenging than St Mary's Street on a Saturday night. Ben McBean, a soldier who lost an arm and a leg to a Taliban landmine, described his horrific experience and his dramatic recovery to become Rotary's Young Citizen of the Year. Richard Parks charted his record breaking  6 months,11 days,7 hours and 35 minutes climbing the highest summits on 7 continents with the North and South Poles visited for good measure. Becky Palmstrom, a Rotary Peace Scholar and former student at Atlantic College, talked about life in a Kenyan refugee camp and her media work in Burma. Dr Anthony Calland described the urgent need for more organ donors and the Welsh proposal for "opting out" rather than "opting in". He was followed by 23 years old Kirstie Tancock who, after an agonising wait,received a lung transplant when she had only hours to live.

A Gala Dinner on Saturday evening was enhanced by a stunning performance from the "Three Welsh Tenors" and proceedings drew to a close at Midday on Sunday with songs from the Military Wives Choir and with all 300 participants joining together to sing "We'll keep a welcome".

Congratulations to Rotarian Don and his team for organising a first rate Conference. They will be a tough act to beat! Next year's Conference on 4^th, 5^th and 6^th October 2013 will be returning to the Riviera Conference Centre in Torquay.  All aspiring Rotarians should try and attend at least one. They are good value, relatively inexpensive and an opportunity to meet old friends and make some new ones.