Bangers & Mash

Our team debriefing with the district Rotary officers went fast. That Friday night we had around 80 attend our farewell party. It was good to see many of the host families and rotary members who had taken us around to the different sights in the different towns in attendance as well as the Rotary district officers. The meal was bangers & mash....this is sausage and mashed potatoes and mushy peas, with mint sauce. Speeches were made and gifts were given to the team members, and after some hugs, kisses, and a few tears, it was over. The next morning came fast. We left from Birmingham England airport around 10:15am and arrived in Newark, New Jersey approx. 7 hours later. After going through customs, we flew on to Cleveland and then to Charleston, WV. We arrived as scheduled and with all of our luggage in fairly decent shape! I sent an e-mail to Don letting him know that we arrived safely. Many people are asking, "How was your trip?" !!!

Coming To The End!

Tuesday night we had a nice dinner at Leah's host family's house. They really have nice several course, formal dinners here. Wednesday Sept. 29th I had a nice historical walk around the city of Melbourne. We visited a small "Free Trade" shop, the bakery, and the Parish church. The church was built around the year 1120 and has not been altered much since it was built. Alot of historical artifacts are there and it is still used by the town's people. Later that afternoon we moved to our next host famly. My hosts are Tom & Judith Reddings. I am staying at Barton-under-Needwood. We had a nice dinner at their house with some of the team members and their host families on Weds. night. I got to bed by midnight. Thursday we took a tour in Burton on Trent of Marston's brewery which has been there since 1834. We had lunch at a pub called the Vernon Arms in Sudbury, which has been the center of village life for over 300 years.Next we went to Sudbury Hall and Museum of Childhood. The hall is an interesting 17th century family estate, built in the 1660's. It has alot of skillfully made carvings,
into the wood and plasterwork, and alot of fine paintings on the walls and ceilings, and beautifully landscaped gardens. The childhood museum has alot of exhibits of old toys and shows how children grew up in england over hundreds of years. That night we did our last major team performance at the Rotary club of Stapleford and Sandiacre. Around 60 people were in attendance. I was in bed by midnight. Today we will have a debriefing lunch at Seven Wells pub in Etwall with the Distric Governor, and the District GSE/Foundation officers for Rotary. Tonight we have a going away/farewell party at the LaGondola Restaurant in Derby. Tomorrow, Saturday Oct. 2nd we fly home!

Derby --Pronounced Darby

On Monday Sept. 27th we visited the City of Derby. We were given an entire tour of the big city's police headquarters including the jail cell and their 999 (911) call center. The Police Chief & Asst. Chief took time out of their very busy schedules to be with us. The Chief, Tony Hurrell, was a former Rotary GSE team member to India. That afternoon we had lunch with the Rotary Club of Derby. Then some of their members took us to visit the silk mill, which is Derby's museum of industry and history. It had many train, plane and automobile exhibitions, including stuff about Rolls Royce.The museum stands on the site of the world's first modern factory, which was a silk mill built in 1717. That night we visited the Twentieth Charter Anniversary of the Bretby Rotary club. There were over 100 people in attendance for the lamb dinner. The District Governor was also there and he gave a nice talk about the Rotary GSE program. The entertainment was a comedian. After the meeting, just like all of the other meetings,many rotary members and guests wanted to talk with us. We arrived back home by 11:30pm. On Tuesday morning Sept. 28th. we had a team meeting over tea. We were then taken on a tour of the Royal Crown China factory & museum. Royal Crown Derby traces their history back to 1750 which makes them the oldest surviving manufacturer of English porcelain. Their products are beautiful and expensive. We then had lunch at the Rotary Club meeting of Derby South. Each of us on the GSE team, as with other meetings, had a chance to speak at the meeting and then we took some questions. Next we visited the Notingham East Midlands Airport. The fire cheif there is a Rotarian in the Rotary Club of Castle Donington, and we enjoyed the Fire/Emergency tour. We even got to ride in the huge emergency rescue truck.

Farm Out

On Saturday Sept. 25th the Southwell Rotry Club hosted us. First we went on a tour of Southwell Minster Cathedral. This beautiful stone church has a history dating back to Saxon times. It became a cathedral in 1884. Next we attended the Southwell Ploughing Match. This is a large country/agricultural type of county fair with arts & crafts....farming equipment and contests, produce & food exhibitions and contests, horse back competition, etc. It was held on a huge outdoor farm land area. The Rotary Club has an exhibition booth there each year. That evening, Amber & her host went into town for an activity. The rest of the team had dinner at one of the host families home. Mike, Leah, and Julie sang "Green Acres" for us. We arrived back to our families and I was in bed by midnight. Sunday morning we moved to our next town to meet our next host family. I am staying with David & Margaret Hagues. Theyjust arrived late last night from a two week vacation in their vacation home in France. They can order food on the internet and the Tesco (kind of like Wal-mart) truck delivers their groceries. We had a very nice lunch. They live in Kings Newton, which is a small, peaceful English countryside village near Melbourne in Derbyshire. We had a lovely lunch, with alot of french cheeses & other foods. They have a very nice garden. In England they call what we call a yard, as their garden. That afternoon we visited Repton school & church, including the very old crypt in the church dungeon, and also Calke Abbey. Calke Abbey is a family's house that was built in 1704 and is located on a 600 acre estate which is now a park open to the public. It is a remnant of Sherwood Forest. That night we visited and hada wonderful english dinner prerpared for us, with Leah, Julie and their host families. I was in bed back at my host family's home by midnight.

BBC

On Wednesday Sept. 22nd we switched host families. We were given a tour of the giant Capital One office complex. After a nice lunch in their employees cafeterial, we visited and toured the office building of BBC Radio & Television. By the way, a new series of one of my favorite TV classics,Dr. Who, is set to start soon. The new Timelord is Christopher Exxleston and Billie Piper will play his sidekick, Rose Tyler. That evening we did a major presentation at the Rotary Club of West Bridgford. My new host family are Val & Terry of the Sherwood Sunrisers club. Val is the Chairman of the District Foundation committee. On Thursday I was able to take the Tram into town and visited the malls and shops. Terry taught me how to play conckers. That evening we were guests at the Rotary Club of Carlton. On Friday we visited the Lace Market area of the city. This is an area of former factories where lace was made. We visited New College and met with the college president and then took a tour. This college has 40,000 students with 6 campuses and an FTE of 10,000. Next we toured the Nottingham Girls high school. This is a private school for girls. Some of the senior students took us around their campus. That evening we were invited to a birthday party of a friend of my host family. She was 18 years old and they had a costume party at a country club. Terry & I went as the Blues Brothers. Val went as a Seniorita Spanish Armada Lady. All of the costumes there were creative. There was a D.J. and plenty of food.

Robin Hood

On Sunday Sept. 19, we moved to our next set of hosts, the Trent Bridge Rotary Club. We got to visit Sherwood Forest which of course is famous as the legendary home of Robin Hood. Local stories tell about the Merry Men who used the hollow trunk of the Major Oak to hide from the Sheriff of Nottingham. This oak tree is a major landmark of the forest. It is estimated to be over 800 years old and is one of the largest and oldest trees in England. It is very impressive. We also went through the Robin Hood Museum. My new host family was Steve and Sarah in Nottingham. Steve is president of Trent Bridge R.C. On Monday the 20th we visited some major area industries, including the headquarters/campus for Boots, which is similar to our CVS or Rite Aid in the U.S. That evening they took us to a play in the Lace Market Theatre. It is a 118 seat auditorium. They presented "Play It Again, Sam" by Woody Allen. On Tuesday the 21st, we met the mayor and we had tea with the Sheriff of Nottingham and then we toured their Coucil House which is located right in the center of downtown Nottingham. One of their famous Football/Soccer coaches, Brian Clough had died and there was a line of people there to sign the memorial book. to This is a pretty big city and even has their own Tram transportation system which is only 6 months old. That afternoon we visited the Nottingham castle and toured some of the caves/dungeons underneath the city. That evening we were guests at the Trent Bridge Rotary club for a very intersting Duck dinner.

The Pilgrim Trail

In my last post I told you that we visited the Church of St. Mary in Chesterfield. The crooked spire of this church is probably Derbyshire's best known landmark. The oldest part of the church building was built around 1234! It's octagonal spire is 228 feet high and was built in the late 14th century. Chesterfield itself is an interesting city. They were celebrating their festival week which commenorates the fact that it was granted it's market charter 800 years ago by King John.We even saw a Well Dressing there which is a famous traditionwhere they decorate water wells with flowers and leaves and berries, etc. I have some pictures. On Friday the 17th we followed the "Mayflower" or "Pilgrim Trail". This is a circular driving tour of 40 miles visiting the historic site of the Pilgrim Fathers......the original churches where the pilgrims began as they started their trip and of course, took the Mayflower and ended up at Plymouth rock in America! William Brewster and William Bradford may be some familiar names to you. It's very interesting to be in the actual places where it all began. We also toured the Gainsborough Old Hall. This is a magnificent timber framed medieval manor which was built in 1460 as a symbol of wealth and status. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, preached here often to the townsfolk who gathered in this huge hall. That night we had dinner with friends. Saturday morning Sept. 18th we visited the city of Lincoln. We toured the Lincoln Cathedral. It is the grandest cathedral that I have ever seen. It has been a focus of worship for over 900 years.It is very much medieval and was built on top of a hill so it is seen for miles around.There is also a castle and little shops and a larger down town shopping area at the bottom of the hill.

Student Services

While in Manfield I stayed with Donald & Jane Mackenzie. Donald is a former college president. He arranged for me to spend Wednesday Sept. 15th at West Nottinghamshire College. It is a large college with several thousand students and six campuses. I was given a tour that day by the VP for student services. He took me to most of their campuses and they had scheduled blocks of time for me to meet with the counselors, activities directors, faculty and others of their staff and administration. They all had just as many questions for me as I had for them about how we do things at our workplaces. There are some similarities and some differences. At the end of the days activities I was very suprised as they presented me with a lovely tankard engraved with my name and the date of my visit! That evening some of the host families got together and provided a lovely dinner in one of their homes. Each night we seem to be up with activities and talking and I have usually been getting to bed around midnight. The gasoline here costs around $6.50 per gallon!...but the people still drive their cars. Thursday the 16th we moved to our new community in Retford. That morning at 9am we were escourted by members of the Mansfield/Warsop Rotary on a tour of the Chesterfield Royal Hospital. It is a 570 bed huge hospital that employs over 3,000 people. They took us through many of their different departments including x-ray and MRI. We enjoyed talking with the nurses and different department heads. After lunch we visited an old famous church in Chesterfield that is known for its crooked spire. We climbed the winding narrow stone dusty, musty staircase up to the bell tower. This is a story in itself. We then went to the town hall and had tea with the Mayor. That evening we did our major presentation at the Chesterfield Scarsdale Rotary club. Around 9pm we met our new host families at Retford. I even attended a wedding reception that night. My new host family was Linda & Mike Cadman.

Visit To College

On Tuesday Sept. 14th we took a tour of Portland College, which is a kind of like a technical college for disabled students. It is for students who have any of a wide range of physical disabilities and associated learning difficulties. There are about 300 students who attend from all over the U.K. The campus is about 37 acres. After a nice lunch in their snack area, we visited a local Mansfield industry called the Linney group. This is like a huge printing/graphics arts company that has two 8-colour presses. They also do things like direct mail and call center services. Very impressive. That evening we did our major presentation on ourselves & West Virginia at the Mansfield Rotary Club dinner. I believe there were around 90 in attendance.