Rtn John Michael (Mick) Brown

Today, a service of thanksgiving for the Life of John Michael (known as Mick) Brown was held at the United Reformed Church in Hucknall.  Mick was called to higher service on 12th April 2013.  Hucknall rotarians, along with many others, gathered together to pay their respects.  I was asked to pay tribute to Mick during the service.  These are the words I spoke:

Rtn Mick Brown 18/9/42- 12/4/13

Mick joined Rotary in 1972, giving over 40 years of 'Service above self.' Mick was the longest -serving member of our club when he was called to higher service.   Being a Rotarian is all about fellowship, fun and service and Mick embodied this.  He was one of those chaps that every group needs, fully quietly and effectively behind the scenes.  He never strived for high office or recognition, Mick wasn't in Rotary for his own advancement - He was in Rotary because he wanted to make a difference to the community in which he lived and worked.   Mick would do anything and be fully involved in all the club's projects.  He was reliable, if Mick say he would be somewhere or do something, he did it.  A lesser man might have given up under the circumstances of his illness, but Mick continued to organise, and help run the town's monthly Arthritis group attending every meeting up to February 2013.  He never wanted to let anyone down.

Mick had a great sense of fun.  for myself, Mick's great warmth of personality and his sense of humour helped me settle into the club.  Mick wanted the best for everyone, I've never hear him speak a bad word about anyone.  Mick's lovely humourous nature could defuse the tensest of meetings.  All manner of items could find their way into your jacket pockets - sometimes Mick would stop and ask you why you were taking condiments or cutlery home with you - other times you'd put your hand into your pocket  and find a salt pot!  You darn't leave anything in the meeting room unattended because it would re-appear elsewhere!

Mick was more than this however.  Nothing was too much trouble.  Any running around and transportation etc, Mick would take care of.  And how many times over the years did Mick play Santa's helper and tow the sleigh around the streets of Hucknall and on carnival night?  Mick still continued to do this when he took ill.  I have a special memory of Mick, like everyone.  17 months ago I went with Santa and Mick to one of our local primary schools.  As  Mick drove us onto the school playground at playtime, all these excited children ran towards the sleigh.  Somehow, Mick managed to avoid any accidents and we had great fun escorting Santa around the different classrooms in the school.  Great times!   mick was always involved in our community projects such as the Over 73's tea.  I have a photo somewhere (I think it appeared in the Hucknall Dispatch) of Mick pouring a cuppa from a giant teapot.  I guess it made a difference to pulling a pint or two!

Mick bore his illness with great dignity, always putting on a brace face, always having a joke to tell, " Have you heard the one about...."  Although very poorly, Mick somehow found the strength each month to get to the Arthritis club meeting, even then putting community service before himself.  Thank you Maureen and Tracey also, for helping and supporting Mick to carry on his involvement with the Arthritis Group, something we know was very close to Mick and your hearts.  Mick's whole life was geared all around community service, in his family, work, interests and Rotary and he has now been called to higher service.  God bless you Mick and thank you for sharing great memories with us all. 

District Assembly

Every April, the local Rotary region (known as a District) starts the formal preparations for the next Rotary year which begins in July by holding a District Assembly.  It’s an opportunity for the incoming District Governor to put his agenda before the clubs in his district and for district committees to disseminate information and provide training.

I’d been asked to lead a seminar on Rotary and the usage of social media.  The assembly was held at the Clifton Campus of Trent University and I had use of the John Clare Lecture Theatre.  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d be lecturing at University!   I’m certainly living the dream through Rotary.

Church Wilne 28th Charter Aniversary

Friday 19^th April was one of those nights when you wished you could be in two places at once as two different Rotary functions were taking place.  One was a charity race night at Southwell races which was raising funds for Rotary’s ongoing (but highly successful) Global Polio eradication project.  Many members of my club attended the race night.

However, it also clashed with the charter of Church Wilne club.  As members of Church Wilne had supported my charter earlier in the year, and I have got to know a few of their members, I felt I wanted to support the Charter.

So myself and Past District Governor Neil Sharman (who has kindly chauffeured me to most Charters) travelled over to Littleover Lodge Hotel to share in the festivities.

A good meal was followed by the usual toast and then we were entertained by London comedian Bob Scott .  The gag I can remember concerned Fred who was telling his mate that he’d been to the doctor but couldn't remember whether he was dyslexic or arthritic.  His mate advises him to get a dictionary and look for dyslexia.  “What good will that do,” says Fred.

“Well,” says his mate, “If you can find it, it means you've got arthritis!”

Membership and Visioning

The latest guest speaker at Hucknall Rotary Club was Rotary's District membership chairman Noel Harrison.   Rotary has certainly become more flexible in recent years in it's approach to recruit and retain new members.  Noel shared with us some of the exciting developments being made and some of the innovative approach clubs are now able to take

I'd also had featured a 'guest column' which I authored in our local newspaper, the Hucknall Dispatch.promoting the club and membership so it was a timely message:

www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/news/guest-columnist-ian-young-president-of-the-rotary-club-of-hucknall-1-5584593/


I have been working quite closely with Noel on Rotary Club Visioning which is something I've previously written about.  Two days after speaking to my club about new membership schemes including Visioning, the District Vision Facilitation team (which Noel chairs) led the first  session to be held in the East Midlands District.

It was a personal challenge for me as I was the Lead Facilitation as we launched the visioning concept at the Rotary Club of Carlton.  I was most fortunate to have a superb team working with me and we found that we needed the team of 5/6 members for the delivery we wanted to make.  We wanted to ensure that we got off to a great start and a fruitful evening was held with Carlton Rotarians casting a wide vision for their club in the next 5 years.   The feedback received was very encouraging but the real measure will be the fulfillment of the vision in 3-5 years time.

RIBI 88th Annual Conference - The live tranmissions

A recent feature of the RIBI annual conference has been the live BBC transmission of Rotary’s Young Citizen Awards.  For the last seven years, BBC News Channel has broadcasted live from the Conference.  Delegates were given clear instructions to be back in their seats after the mid-morning coffee break.  Anyone not adhering to the instructions faced missing out as, with the broadcast going out ‘live’, the auditorium doors were locked so that there was no movement which affected filming.  I’m not too sure how they managed to do a Health and Safety risk assessment.  Just glad that wasn’t my job!

It was truly inspiring to hear the story of the award winners and you can catch up watching the award ceremony here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00b7231

Another first for RIBI was the live transmission via Webcast of the Business meeting section of the conference.  The business meeting is the part of conference when individual Rotarians representing their clubs can have their input into the running and organisation of RIBI.  Each club within RIBI could have one voting delegate, with those clubs not represented at conference being able to register an online vote if they were following the webcast.  Obviously, being there I’m not sure how this was received, but it was evident that there seemed to be a few teething problems.  Still, it was a bold move by RIBI and hopefully will work better next year.

RIBI 88th Annual Conference - The Sessions

As I came out of the first session at the RIBI conference, I was so inspired by all the speakers I heard my first reaction was , “How could they improve on that in the remaining days?”   I relayed these thoughts to a couple nearby as the crowd headed for the exits.  Their answer set me thinking, they said , “Oh yes, it’s always like this.  That’s why we always come to the national conference because we’re guaranteed quality speakers.  We never go to our district conference.”

Having now attended my first national conference I can see how their point of view  has developed.  One would naturally assume that RIBI would have greater resources to call upon for that ‘extra’ bit of excellence.  District conferences are organised on a similar, but smaller scale.  For me, the most enjoyable aspect of a district conference is sharing fellowship with other club members.   Some of the speakers hit the mark, others less so.  Being the only member of my club at the National conference however, met that that aspect of fellowship was missing for me.  I did note that some clubs travelled en masse to the conference, and I do have to say that everyone I spoke to responded in a warm and friendly manner so I didn’t feel alone and felt that I made new Rotarian friends.

A Rotary conference always starts with a welcome from the President, District Governor(s), Civic Leaders.  With the conference in Harrogate, Yorkshire for the first time in eighty years, Gary Verity, CEO of Welcome to Yorkshire addressed conference.  Gary has done a sterling job marketing the county of Yorkshire and increasing its tourist economy to such extent that even the ‘Tour de France’ bicycle race will now have 2 legs of its programme racing through Yorkshire!

Rotary International’s president  for 2012/2013, Sakuji Tanaka was present and spoke.  What struck me most was the president’s humility and humbleness.  He spoke of the impact of growing up in Post-war Japan and being motivated to work for Global Peace.  What most impressed me though, was when this gentleman told how, three years ago, he started to go out into the street where he lived and tidy the street.  Over time, 18 other members of his Rotary club joined him in this activity which clearly demonstrated the rotary motto of “Service above self.”

A re-occurring theme in many of the speakers addresses to the conference was overcoming great affliction to achieve the improbable, or as Dr Bruce Aylward (Assistant Director General, Polio, World Health Organisation) phrased it, “Changing the impossible to the inevitable.”  Simon Weston’s take on it was, “It’s not what happens in life that counts, but what we do with it afterwards”   On a similar line, Simon Weston said, “Don’t want for change, make change happen.” Every person who took to the stage microphone seemed to promote this fitting message to Rotarians.

Time and space doesn’t allow me to give a summary of all speeches.  Therefore I will list the speakers I heard as follows:

• Councillor Robert Windass, Mayor of the Borough of Harrogate 2012/13
• Keith Davison, Host District Governor
• Gary Verity, CE of Welcome to Yorkshire
• Sandra Dineley-Jones, “The Nightmare of Living with a Heroin Addict”
• Helen Lederer, Water Aid celebrity supporter
• Sammy Roberts, Physio First – provided a much-needed  5 minute stretch exercise routine
• Sir Tim Smit, Founder of the Eden Project
• Richard Dowden, African Educational Trust,
• Albert Woods, Vice Chairman British Olympic Association
• Gordon McInally, Hope & Homes for Children, the Ubuntu Project
• The Prostate Girls, Male Cancer Awareness
• Colin Spurway, Project Director BBC World Service Trust from Phnom Penh Cambodia
• Dr Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director General, Polio, WHO
• Dr Shelia Halliday-Pegg, President of the Association of Inner Wheel Clubs
• Simon Weston OBE, Falklands war veteran speaking about ‘Bravery with Dignity.’
• York Arts Academy Concert Band
• Roly Bain, Professional Clown (and Anglican Priest)
• Revd Debbie Hodge and Kevan Baker, representing ‘Wheelpower’
• Natasha Johnson-Last, RGBI Rotaract Chairman
• Eric Knowles, BBC Antiques Road Show on behalf of the Stroke Association
• Maddie Halliday, Stroke Association
• Olivia Giles, The 500 Miles Project
• Paul Boardman, Sports broadcaster and comedian

Prior to attending this year, my intention was to be a delegate in this my club presidential year, but that would be it.  After my experience at this year’s conference, I shall certainly be attending next years which will be held from 11^th to 13^th April 2014 and hosted at the ICC, Birmingham.  I hope to see you there!

RIBI 88th Annual Conference – House of Friendship

A feature of every Rotary Conference, be it national or district is the House of Friendship.  The House of Friendship is an area set aside for the showcasing of charitable projects both rotary and non-rotary.  There were 81 different exhibits at Harrogate, all worthy causes and all promoting ‘service above service’ in some way.  It would be virtually impossible for me to review every organisation so I will just mention two

The first one was Theodora Children’s Trust  http://www.theodora.org.uk/ which brings music, magic, and laughter to children in hospitals through specially trained ‘Giggle Doctors.’  The Giggle Doctors are specialist entertainers, highly trained to work both in the hospital environment and with children with disabilities. They come from a wide range of backgrounds and bring with them a variety of skills (among our team are actors, entertainers, teachers, magicians, musicians and singers).

The training consists of a rigorous schedule of artistic and medical workshops which cover topics such as child development, infection control, child bereavement and the impact of illness and bereavement on families.  Dr Bananas, Dr Wonderpants and their funny friends are also trained to communicate in a variety of ways with children with special needs.  They learn the fundamentals of communication, exploring the elements that come into play: position, movement, mirroring, touching in response, repetition, eye-contact, smiling, trying different things, responding to responses, and most of all having fun and providing opportunities for play.

It was good to come across this charity and I was encouraged to learn of their work which certainly appeals to my inner child.  I even donned one of their clown red noses for the rest of the day.

The second exhibit that made a real impression on me was a Male Cancer Awareness Project initiated by three nurse Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Mawddach.  Known as the Prostate Girls, these three Rotarians have already travelled over 2,500 miles delivering their male cancer awareness presentation.  It was a pleasure to talk to them at their stand and listen as they later spoke in one of the plenary sessions early Saturday morning.  I, myself, have been running some awareness campaigns and as a club, we recently had a speaker highlight the importance of raising awareness to the state of men’s health.

www.facebook.com/pages/Rotary-Club-of-Mawddach/

These were 2 that impacted me as they probably spoke to my own character and personality.  Certainly, there were some great projects there and no doubt Rotarians would have come away from the house of friendship equipped with great ideas to take back to their communities.

Harrogate and the surrounding vicinity

The 88^th Annual Conference for Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland was held at Harrogate.  The first ever Conference of the then British Association of Rotary Clubs choose Harrogate as its inaugural venue in 1920 and the only other conference held there was in 1928 so it was a long overdue visit to North Yorkshire.

I’d not been to a RIBI Conference before, but wanting to make the most of the opportunities my presidential year has afforded me, I booked.  I also had happy memories of previous conferences to Harrogate and this gave me an added incentive to go.

The one previous time I attended Harrogate International Conference Centre was for a Salvation Army Congress weekend.  That weekend was probably the last ‘religious’ high movement I experienced before I left the ministry and my faith took a big knock. 

As I entered the auditorium for the first session, I experienced a flashback to the last time I was in that room.  It had a special time, my personal journey since then has been quite hard and emotional in places, and I did shed a tear or two.

Outside of the Conference, I explored the local vicinity.  Harrogate itself is renowned as a Spa Town with many fine examples of Georgian architecture.

I like to visit places ‘off of the beaten track’ to coin a phrase and spent a couple of hours nearby in a village called Ripley.  This caught my attention because not far from Hucknall is a Derbyshire town bearing the same name.  This Ripley is probably best known for the manufacture of the ‘World-famous Ripley Ice Cream.’  Although it was cold for April I did see people purchasing and eating some.

In the Churchyard was a Grade II listed monument called ‘The Weeping Cross.’ Its origins is unknown but it is thought to have been used by pilgrims and penitents and so has ‘kneeholes’ so that devotes could kneel in prayer at the foot of a cross embedded in stone.  There are no other crosses like it known in England.

The church itself had some interesting features including memorials for the Ingilby family.  Sir Thomas Ingilby was knighted by Edward III after saving the King’s life from a wild boar.  Wild boars  are featured all over the village ( fortunately, there were none at the RIBI conference in Harrogate!).  Sir William Ingilby entertained James I on his journey to London to ascend to the English throne.  During this period of history, the Ingliby family were linked with the failed Gunpowder plot of Guy Fawkes.  Sir William Ingilby’s funeral pennants still hang in the church to this day.  His namesake, another Sir William Ingilby, had been a priest before he inherited the castle and was opposed to alcohol consumption on the Sabbath.  When, in 1919, he ordered that all 3 village landlords close their hostelries on Sundays, they decided to move away as the Sabbath was their most lucrative day.  Ripley was a ‘dry’ village until 1990 when the Ingilby family opened ‘The Boar’s Head Hotel.’

At the centre of this village is Ripley Castle which has been the home of the Ingilby family for 700 years.  The church also bears several interesting features.  A nineteenth century Ingilby tore down the old village, rebuilt it modelling if after an Alsatian village with a hotel de ville style town hall. The castle and the church were not affected by the reconstruction.

As you can tell, this village made quite an impression on me. 

I also visited Ripon the oldest city in England (and fourth smallest city).  The huge cathedral dominates this market town.  I was interested to learn of the tradition of the Wakeman which has carried on unbroken for 900 years until today.  The Wakeman was the official keeper of law and order in Ripon.  This tradition is celebration every night at 9 o’clock when the Wakeman sounds his horn to show that he is on duty and watching over the citizens of Ripon.

A Deep Sleep....

Hucknall Rotarians may have been forgiven had they fallen into a deep sleep at their latest meeting held at the Horse & Groom Pub, Linby, for the meeting’s guest speaker was Hypnotherapist Nicole Huthwaite (www.nicolehuthwaitetherapy.co.uk/).  

Happily, Nicole held everyone’s attention as she gave an excellent presentation about  the history of hypnosis , the development of hypnotherapy and the differences between stage hypnosis and hypnotherapy.  Nicole spoke about the preconceptions that people might have and said that no-one could be hypnotized against their will or do anything that they hadn't agreed to. She said that the difficulty with stage hypnosis was that, although the participant may have given the performer permission, the act may have the potential to unlock hidden memories/areas of the subconscious which could then have a damaging effect on the individual.  

A good and qualified Hypnotherapist explores a client’s medical history to avoid this scenario occurring, and should there be deep-seated issues raised, can help bring resolution through Hypnotherapy.  The use of Hypnotherapy can benefit a person in more ways than you can imagine:  Stop smoking, weight loss, Fears, Stress management, IBS, Anxiety, Tinnitus,  Sleep problems, Pain management.  In fact, the list seems endless.

I was so engrossed in the evening that I completely forgot that the football team I follow were playing that same evening.  Usually, I’d be checking the scoreline every few minutes.