4 October 2012 Doug Maughan - Operation Bushel: Ethiopia 1984

31 members attending the weekly meeting in the Westlands Hotel last Thursday evening.

Before enjoying our usual excellent meal, President Iain Smith asked Jill Adams, who is head of 6th Form at Queen Victoria School, to bring the Club up to date with the progress of the newly formed Interact Club in the School. Interact Clubs are a combined operation between groups of school children and their local Rotary Clubs to work together on local and international projects. Jill told the meeting that there had been a very positive response from the pupils in the School and that they were already requiring extra supplies of 'shoe boxes' to fill in time for Christmas which will be sent to less fortunate children in .

Following the meal, Doug Maughan who is a commercial airline captain, gave an illustrated talk on 'Operation Bushel'. This took place between 1984 and 1986 following John Buerk's report on the BBC News about the famine in . Margaret Thatcher sent an RAF detachment to the country to enable supplies to be delivered to the stricken areas most effectively.

Doug showed us many slides about the delivery of food supplies to the refugee camps and also how they worked with Bob Geldof to implement what we now know as Live Aid.

Nick Rawlings gave a heart-felt vote of thanks after what was an excellent talk that reminded everyone of the need to help others at such times.