Digital Bulletin No 83

April 2025

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April 2025

From the editor’s desk

My thanks to everyone who contributed to this issue, particularly:

President Francis, for taking time out of his stay in Spain to tell us what he has been up to there and for sending photographs; and
Peter Greene of the Rotary Club of Billericay and Geoff Dickman for photographs.

Words from the President

From Spain

March 8

We docked at Santander early on the morning of 8 March after a very peaceful sailing and were greeted by sunshine, but as we drove south the sky grew gradually darker with progressively more rain. We were breaking our journey with a two-night stay at a Parador which we believed was near to the city of Avila. I put Parador Avila into Google Maps, and we were directed to a very imposing and ancient walled city, a nice place to stay I thought. However, when Jackie went into the Parador, which was located just inside the city walls, she found we had come to the wrong one; we wanted Parador De Gredos which, although in the municipality of Avila, was actually about forty miles away in the Sierra de Gredos, a mountain range to the northwest of Madrid. The revised details were entered into the satnav and we set off along some very quiet country roads, passing through some lovely but remote scenery whose beauty could be appreciated even though it was raining. Many of the surrounding fields were flooded, but fortunately not much of the water had spilled onto the road which was passable with care.

After a while, we began to climb; as we did so the rain turned to snow. We spent about fifteen minutes driving around a village looking for the Parador, before sensibly asking for directions and finding it another mile and a half on and at a much higher altitude. It is fair to say that the lightweight shoes I was wearing were not suited to several trips across a slush-covered car park carrying luggage and they spent the evening on a radiator drying out. The Parador we were staying at was the first of that chain of hotels to be opened, in 1928, by the then King of Spain, and was an impressive building, reminiscent of an old hunting lodge.

March 9

We awoke the following morning to find there had been a heavy fall of snow overnight and having viewed the weather forecast for the next few days, which predicted snow for several days, made me think me should get on our way that day, rather than be snowed in for several days. I needn’t have worried. Perhaps I was thinking about days in Chelmsford when a light dusting brought the then town to a standstill, but soon found the Spanish are better equipped to deal with snow, even though we subsequently learned that this kind of weather in the Sierra de Gredos in March was very unusual. A snowplough was soon on hand to clear the roads and, as it was a lovely sunny day, we were able to get out and enjoy the glorious scenery. The warmth of the sun meant our lack of winter clothing was not a disadvantage, gloves not being necessary to keep the hands warm. It reminded me of a November day in the Yorkshire Dales, when Snow covdred road through pine trees WI left a frost-covered Ribblesdale to climb Pen y Ghent, one of the Three Peaks. When I reached the summit, 2,273 feet above sea level, and was looking down on a cloud of mist floating above the valley it was so warm that people were sunbathing! We were even higher in the Sierra de Gredos, about 3,000 feet above sea level, and the effect was the same.

It is rather rude to listen into other peoples’ conversations in a restaurant, but sometimes they talk so loudly it is impossible not to, and that was the case in the hotel restaurant that evening. The person who shared his conversation so volubly was a retired American banker named Clay, who was with his wife, whose name we never learned, as he constantly referred to her as “She” and a much younger couple who were fluent in both Spanish and English. Clay and his wife lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and also had “a place” across the state line in Mississippi, reached by a mile and a half drive, surrounded by several hundred acres of land purchased by his “grandaddy”, I would guess in the 1930s when US agriculture went through such a crisis. With his braided waistcoat and boots, Clay could have been a character from one of those Hollywood westerns; when the younger couple asked how they dealt with unwelcome visitors to their Mississippi property, Clay pointed to his wife and said, “She meets ‘em with her gun!” Clay, we learned, was a trophy big game hunter, having described the stuffed buffalo he had in his Mississippi house, and subsequent research revealed that the Sierra de Gredos is a place to hunt ibex, so some poor creature is probably in company with the buffalo by now.

March 10

When we left the next morning the scenery was sadly not like this, but very misty, which was a shame, as it was a typically winding road down from the mountains through some more lovely scenery, including at one point a hilltop castle. Our journey south-eastwards took us well clear of Madrid and bypassed the ancient city of Toledo, before turning eastwards past Albacete. At length, the distinctive bluffs of the La Safor range, very similar to the landscape of Monument Valley which featured in so many westerns, came into view, and we knew we were almost at our destination.

And then

The first ten days of our stay were decidedly average, with wet, cold days in the majority, so limited opportunities to get out and about, either on my bike or for a walk with the dog. In past years I have often taken the dog for a walk down to the village and stopped for a coffee at one of the many cafés, but this year Dixie has made it quite clear she doesn’t want to go that way, but instead makes for the car, so she can be taken to an alternative location. A dog in the middle of an unmetalled mountain road This was fine as, when it was a dry day, the temperature wasn’t conducive to sitting outside at a café, so it has been good to find some alternative walks. We have a favourite walk, starting at an old monastery, through woodland and then orange groves, to a super little restaurant, where we can get an excellent two-course meal for around 20 Euros each. What a shame it is too far away for one of our friendship and fellowship meetings!

The poor weather was particularly galling when we heard of sunny days in the UK, but there were plenty of other things to keep me occupied, including Rotary matters. I hosted the latest joint Chelmsford Presidents’ meeting on Zoom on 14 March and on 24 March I joined a District membership forum on Zoom, which included some interesting comment about corporate members. More recently, it has been great to catch up with many of you at the Council and business meetings, and a lovely surprise to see Janice and Phil at the latter.

The weather since has been much better, with sunshine and higher temperatures, so I have returned to my familiar cycling routes among the orange groves. The combination of green trees covered with oranges, surrounded by a horseshoe of mountains, is very appealing, and from a cycling point of view the numerous cami (lane) are virtually free of motorised traffic. Although I have cycled around here for a few years now, there are always new routes to discover and new views to savour, so there are frequent stops to use my camera. My distances are not huge, generally not more than twenty miles, and sometimes less but, although the routes through the orange groves are generally flat, there are quite a few hills as well, particularly the final one of each ride, which takes me through the old part of Villalonga and up the hillside to our house.

One Sunday evening we went with another English friend to the library in Pego, a small town in the shadow of the mountains, about half an hour away by car, to see a screening of “The Freshman”, a silent slapstick comedy starring Harold Lloyd, that is a hundred years old this year. The film was accompanied by a Spanish pianist and the event reminded me of Keith Otter’s President’s Night a few years ago, when we had a pianist accompany Buster Keaton’s “The Electric House”. I read on Wikipedia that Harold Lloyd kept control of his films, and only occasionally released them for screening, as he insisted the accompaniment was by an organ, not a piano. A bike parked in front of fields with mountains in the background W However, I think he might have approved of this, as it was a special score composed by Carl Davis, who wrote a lot of music for classic silent films when Channel 4 screened them back in the 1980s. I am less familiar with the work of Harold Lloyd than some of the other great silent comics, such as Chaplin, Keaton or Laurel and Hardy, but immensely enjoyed “The Freshman”, which made me laugh far more than most modern comedy. Spanish subtitles had thoughtfully been added, and the vast majority of the audience clearly enjoyed the film as much as we did, based on the constant laughter.

The library was an impressive building, with the books arranged around the edges, leaving a large space for events like the one we attended. A lot of the books were by well-known English authors; for example, I saw a whole shelf of Agatha Christies, translated of course into Spanish.

My own reading since our arrival has been varied, as follows:

A Countryman’s Notebook by Adrian Bell (father of Martin, formerly of the BBC)
FDR, a 600 odd page biography of the 32nd president of the USA
Farewell To Cricket by Don Bradman
Red Notice by Bill Browder, a compelling book about the author’s transition from hedge fund manager in Russia to human rights activist

All have been enjoyable in their different ways. Although the Roosevelt biography was a weighty tome, it was very readable. It was fascinating to read of FDR’s successful fight to overcome the effects of contracting polio in 1921, which meant he was paralysed from the waist down, and the obvious similarities between the USA of 100 years ago, and now. On a lighter note, I was amused by the story of Mrs Nesbitt, the housekeeper at the White House during Roosevelt’s presidency, who by all accounts was the worst possible cook imaginable. Ernest Hemingway described a meal he had at the White House as consisting of freshwater soup, rubber squab, a nice wilted salad and a cake, the last obviously made by an admirer, who although willing, was clearly lacking in culinary skills. When King George VI and Queen Elizabeth stayed at the White House and asked for coffee, Mrs Nesbitt sent iced tea instead, saying it was better for them! It was apparently an open secret in Washington that, if you were invited to dine at the White House, it was advisable to have a meal first! Mrs Nesbitt was appointed by Eleanor Roosevelt, and some thought that it was her revenge on her husband for having an affair with her secretary during the First World War.

Another famous British visitor to stay at the White House, during the Second World War, was Winston Churchill. One morning Roosevelt wheeled himself into the Prime Minister’s bedroom for an early morning consultation, to be met by the sight of a totally naked Churchill, who had just emerged from his daily bath. When the President made to leave, Churchill stopped him, saying “The Prime Minister of Great Britain has nothing to conceal from the President of the United States”!

A bike parked next to a rocky outcrop The prominent outcrop of rock my bike is parked in front of is Penya Roja (The Red Rock) and is a favourite view of mine. It is also a favourite of rock climbers, and it is unusual to visit and not hear voices and then spot tiny figures tackling what looks like a very challenging ascent. They are generally in pairs, but sometimes I have seen brave (or foolhardy) climbers.

Cycling through the orange groves provides a sensation of sight, smell and sound. The sight I have already described, but the other two give equal pleasure. The smell comes from the blossom on the orange trees, a truly delightful elixir, while the sound is of an army of bees among the trees, busy at their pollinating work. This not just a quiet buzz, but something much more akin to the famous “Humming Chorus”, by Verdi. Another sound often heard around the orange groves is of croaking frogs, who populate small areas of water, often manmade. One evening recently we were with friends from Belgium, who rent a house on the opposite side of the valley from us, and heard there that familiar croaking, in that case coming from frogs that had taken over the villa’s swimming pool, as it has not yet been emptied and cleaned for when the warmer weather comes.

A road between fields with hills in the background Earlier in the week we took Dixie to the local vets for her first inoculation against lieshmaniasis, a nasty disease spread by sandflies that is becoming more prevalent in Spain. Dixie had to have a blood test to make sure she hadn’t already got the disease (she hadn’t) and we were asked to return to the waiting room to wait for the results. There we saw the next client, a young Spanish lady, holding an empty cat basket. We don’t know how, but the cat had managed to get out and had hidden behind the counter area in reception. We had considerable amusement watching our vet, Miguel, and his assistant and son, also Miguel, try to move the counter and recapture the cat. The cat eventually darted out, and the elder Migual managed to grab it just before it knocked over a window display. Dixie was understandably anxious to join in the chase, but I kept firm hold on her lead! It was very reminiscent of a classic scene from “All Creatures Great And Small” when Tristan unsuccessfully tried to catch Mrs Bond’s belligerent cat Boris and instead knocked over a large dresser stacked with plates!

Meanwhile

March 6

As has become our custom, our business meeting was held via Zoom. Unfortunately one of our members had trouble with his microphone and ended up speaking to the rest of us by telephoning our 1st Vice President, Graham Furnival, who was chairing the meeting, and getting him to hold the telephone to his microphone so we could hear him. The Treasurer’s Report was very short as there had been few transactions on either the Club Account or the Trust Fund Account.

In the absence of Anne Moriaty, currently our District Governor, there was no District Report but Graham mentioned that the District was promoting the Corporate 1000 scheme to gain 1,000 new corporate members of Rotary by the end of this Rotary year. He asked us all to think of organisations that could be invited to become corporate members of our Club.

He said that, while President Francis is away, meetings will be chaired by either him or Anne Moriaty as 1st and 2nd Vice Presidents.

We need to make arrangements for the Fellowship Meetings in April and May. Mo Sadiq told us that, when he visited the Fox and Raven that morning, the manager was enthusiastic about us holding a Club meeting there. It was agreed that we should hold our Fellowship Meeting on 17 April there. Mo and Keith Otter will visit the pub to talk to the manager and make the arrangements.

Alison Moses agreed to approach the Hive to arrange for a return visit there on 15 May.

Our meeting on 27 March will be a joint Fellowship Meeting with the Rotary Club of Billericay. It will be an exchange of news and ideas and we will encourage people to seat themselves so that there are members of both Clubs on each table. Billericay expect 12-13 of their members to attend.

Alison reported that the Danbury Village Hall has been booked for the Jumble Sale on 26 April. The hall management will post a message asking for volunteers but it is not known how many Danbury residents will volunteer. It is therefore important that as many Club members as possible volunteer to help on the day. Bob Booker agreed to provide a float but will have to give it to someone else in advance as he will be away on that date.

We have agreed to hold a quiz for Families in Focuson 16 May. Time and venue are still to be arranged.

The Chapter House has been booked for the Senior Guests’ Summer Party on 26 July. We will give the guests goody bags to take away; last year they contained chocolates. Peter Kemp mentioned that there was work planned on the Chapter House.

It has been suggested that all five Chelmsford Clubs hold a joint Christmas Party this year. This does not stop us holding our own and/or having a Christmas meal at Sanctus if they organise one again.

The recent collection for Marie Curie was so successful, raising over £270, that they want us to collect for them again. Given our reduced membership, it may be more practical to concentrate on such events rather than organise projects of our own.

The project to paint a lady’s flat has been postponed until the summer. She will provide the paint.

The Rotary Club of Halstead is already involved with a project to turn Halstead into a dementia-friendly town. We are thinking of working on a similar project for Chelmsford but need to talk it through with the Halstead Club first. Keith Brownlie is leading their efforts.

March 13

People seated round a long rectangular dinding table Fourteen of us joined John Watkins for fellowship at his house over a sandwich lunch. We gathered in the main reception room, where we could each have a glass of water, orange juice or wine. Once we had all arrived we made our way into the kitchen, where he and Susan had laid out sandwiches ready for us. (There was a plate of cheese and biscuits for our member who always chooses that as his lunch option.)

As you can see from the photograph, we then went into the dining room and enjoyed time just sitting, eating and chatting. There was apple pie or fruit salad for dessert.

We left at around our usual time of 2:15. The number present again showed how popular among members this type of meeting is. Our thanks to John and Susan for their warm welcome and hospitality.

March 20

Two ladies standing in front of pull-up Club banners Anne Maxwell came today to speak to us about the history of Highgate Cemetery and about some of the people buried there.

The plague in the 17th century started the demand for burial sites separate from churchyards. However, it was not until 1836 that work on Highgate Cemetery began. As can be guessed from the name, the cemetery is built around a hill, the highest point being 375 feet above sea level. The original site extended to 17 acres. 15 acres were consecrated for the use of the Church of England and the remaining area set aside for “dissenters”. The landscape gardener David Ramsay was responsible for the planting.

The cemetery was so popular that in 1854 the London Cemetery Company acquired a further 19 acres on the opposite side of Swans Lane. That part is now known as the West Cemetery and the original 17 acres as the East Cemetery.

The West Cemetery was also consecrated. The chapel was in the East Cemetery. At the time regulations prohibited bodies being taken across unconsecrated land once the funeral had taken place. Since Swans Lane was a public road it could not be consecrated, which meant that coffins could not be carried across from the chapel in the East Cemetery to the West Cemetery. The company overcame that by building an underground tunnel connecting the two and having that consecrated.

In the East Cemetery is an “Egyptian Avenue” lined on both sides by mausoleums styled after Egyptian tombs. The decoration on the doors shows a flaming torch upside down, a symbol of death. Some even have keyholes upside down. Each of the 16 mausoleums has twelve spaces but not all are occupied. Some of them contain bats and one is home to rare spiders, found in only one other place in England.

Families can buy plots in the cemetery. Those adjoining the main thoroughfares were sold on the condition that an impressive monument be built on them. Hence there are a number of very impressive monuments. Some even have listed status.

The famous memorial to Karl Marx was built in the 1950s with funds provided by the Communist Party of Great Britain. Among the modern headstones is one an artist designed for his own grave. This has piercings in a stepped pattern that spell out “DEAD”.

March 27

Report by Graham Furnival

Two men wearing chains of office sitting at a dining tablee On Thursday 27 March our Club hosted 17 Members from Billericay Rotary Club to a Fellowship luncheon at the Ivy Hill Hotel. Club President, Patrick Rothon, gave a brief history of the Billericay Club and its association to our own (mother) Club. Patrick said that the Founder President was his late father Felix Rothon MBE JP who oversaw the Club’s First Charter in September 1959. The District Extension officer at the time was Bert Raven JP, a member of the Chelmsford Rotary Club. who was related to Ravens Bakery established in Ingatestone, although he became a successful jeweller in Chelmsford High Street. He said that the Billericay Club badge was designed by Felix and depicts the Mayflower which sailed to America in 1620, a raven in honour of Bert Raven who guided the Club to its formation in 1959 and a bridge taken from the Chelmsford crest at the time and representing the joining of the Billericay and Chelmsford Rotary Clubs.

We exchanged ideas and details of each other’s projects and initiatives. Billericay told us about a project whereby 5,500 children at 10 schools in Embu, Kenya, are benefitting from clean water for drinking, washing and watering their crops. It started with a plea from the head teacher of a primary school in Embu to Rev Margaret Fowler, a member of Billericay Rotary Club and a frequent visitor to Embu. A fund raising exercise within the club raised sufficient funds to dig a well using local labour and support of the Rotary Club of Embu. The success of this project gained international support. Billericay explained their “double triangular” twinning with Beausoleil in France, the Rotary Club of Alba in Italy, Basildon Rotary Club, the Rotary Club of Karlshamn in Sweden, and most recently Ovada del Centenario in Italy. Using crowd funding and Global Giving sufficient funds were raised to dig a further nine wells for schools within the Embu area. A very successful project involving international Rotary Clubs in association with education authorities. Further details can be found on the Billericay Rotary Club website.

On a more local footing our members highlighted our successful involvement with the Rotary Young Musician events and the provision of a summer party and winter pantomime visits for senior citizens in the Chelmsford area. Members will of course recall our own recent international support to a hospital in Sierra Leone and school in Sahiwal, Pakistan, which received a Rotary International award.

A highly successful meeting and Billericay have invited our members to their Club on a future date.

More photographs from this event below.

Random jottings

Claustrophobic people are more productive when they think outside the box.

I bought a vacuum cleaner six months ago. So far it has done nothing but gather dust.

The grass may be greener on the other side but at least you don’t have to mow it.

I had trouble remembering how to throw a boomerang but eventually it came back to me.

If at first you don’t succeed we have a lot in common.

Thoughts for the Day

February 20, John Watkins
The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.
Ernest Hemingway

February 27, John Watkins
Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful day of your life.
Mark Twain

March 20, Peter Kemp
Do not dwell in the past.
Do not dream of the future.
Concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Attributed to the Buddha

March 27, Anne Moriaty
Fellowship isn’t just what we do for each other.
Fellowship is what we do together for the world.
Eric Bryant

Costless donations

A white-haired man with a moustache holding up a container and a clear plastic bag containing discarded ring pulls A reminder that Geoff Dickman is collecting for different charities a variety of items that you might otherwise discard.

These days fewer people are writing letters and some have even stopped sending Christmas cards. Many commercial companies encourage us to accept bills etc online and, when they use envelopes, tend to send them in preprinted envelopes that don’t need stamps.* If you do receive correspondence with real postage stamps, please save them to give to Geoff. They are always welcome. You can imagine them gracing someone’s future collection.

Among the things you might not consider saving are the ring-pulls you get on canned drinks and the like. Any that Geoff collects will be passed on to people who can turn them into useful items for others to buy. Those who attended the most recent Joint Districts’ Conference may remember the items on sale there.

And don’t discard the metal foil frequently used for wrapping chocolate, including the chocolate mints we get at the Ivy Hill. Geoff collects that as well - but please make sure the foil is clean.

*[One of the charities I deal with habitually sends me begging letters in envelopes that look hand written and bear postage stamps. They don’t get any additional money from me as a result. Editor]

Man in a kilt

Geoff Dickman

White haired man with beard wearing a plain light brown kilt Tony Tuckwell’s talk on 27 February about his walk reminded me of my walking days and in particular my walk from Glasgow to Fort William - the 100 mile West Highland Way. I mentioned this to Tony as well as my march in the TA from Ballater to Braemar. We were kilted and left Ballater with fixed bayonets after a review by our Hon. Colonel, the Queen Mother.

A white-haired couple, the man weariong tartan trews, standing in front of a large Rotary banner We don’t have a picture of Geoff in a tartan kilt but here is one of him in tartan trews: