A Breath Of Fresh Ayr: District 1020 Conference, 2013

Seven members with wives arrived in the seaside resort of Ayr on Friday 25th October, we were fortunate enough to reserve all rooms within the Carlton Prestwick Hotel, this only a few minutes ride, within a Dodds of Troon coach laid on by the Rotary organising committee, to the venue at Ayr Race Course.  The Friday evening started off with drinks within the Presidents room, hosted by Eric and Margaret, following the short bus ride we all attended an informal dinner with after dinner speaker, Brian Taylor, (no not our Brian), but Brian the BBC Scotland political affairs correspondent.  His speech was a lighthearted talk on the people of Scotland, the independence debate and he let slip that he was an "Arab", yes to the delight of our Andy Lester it would appear that Brian also hails from bonny Dundee and is a life long Dundee United supporter.  More drinks followed back at the Hotel for those with energy remaining.

 

The conference on Saturday morning  chaired by Kate Keter, District Governor, was well attended.  For added interest a book was opened amongst the Duns Rotarians, this guessing how long the Rotary GB&I Speaker would present.  Optimistic guesses ranged from 8 minutes to 22 minutes but we all lost out as he spoke for 29.5 minutes, President Eric winning as closest guess.  

 

Some presentations followed  on fund raising ideas, such as a duck race, a telephone directory for the town of Lanark and a neighbourhood security scheme to assist those living alone, more details on the district web pages.  The key note speaker was from the Princes Trust and included a talk from a young lad who had been helped by the Trust to get on in life following a disadvantaged beginning, sharing of his experiences was appreciated by the audience, one of the highlights of the morning session. 

 

During the Saturday afternoon vice President David had organised a grand tour of Dumfries House, including a light lunch, all very much enjoyed the trip and informative tour, then all back to the Hotel to prepare for the Grand Ball.  The Hotel advised on the pick up time for the bus and when we all gathered, Dinner suits, Kilts and Evening dresses in the foyer, there was no sign of our Andy and Kate; mobile and land line calls went unanswered, as did texts, even a knock on their room door could not resolve the mystery, so caring Rotarians as we are, we went off to the Ball without them!  It would appear that they were in a different room from that originally noted at reception with little signal on the mobiles, or so we were told....

 

Once all re-united at the venue, we had a great time, dancing to John Carmichael and his Scottish Country Band, the only down side was that were were not all able to fit at one table, spliting the company, however we shared a second table with Rotarians from Linlithgow Grange.

On Sunday morning the some headed for home and the others attended the conference morning and closing sessions where our Club was mentioned for our contribution to the Mary's Meals fund raising efforts during last year.

 

Look out Aviemore for 2014