President's Dinner

A good time was had by all of us this evening at the President’s Dinner hosted by President Peter. We had a number of visitors including Anand Maheshwari, President of the Rotary Club of Dhrangadhra in India, and his wife. We also welcomed a number of our members’ spouses.

As you can see from the accompanying photograph, this was a “black tie” affair, the first we have held since our 90th Anniversary Dinner in 2017. Those who had them wore their Rotary medallions and jewels.

The dinner was held in the Ivy Suite at our usual venue, the Ivy Hill Hotel. Everyone enjoyed the meal and the company. Judging by the noise level, there were a lot of conversations going on around the room! Unfortunately Anand and his wife had to leave soon after the meal finished as they were returning to India the following day.

After a short break Graham and Mary Brace gave us a presentation on the wildlife of Ethiopia and Chile. On their previous visit to the Club they had given a presentation on the wildlife of Tanzania. Very recently they visited Zambia, so we may hear from them about the wildlife there in the future.

They showed us photographs of and spoke about more animals and birds than any of us could hope to remember. They obviously remember them well and sometimes mentioned the occasions on which the photographs were taken. Graham said that, when taking the photograph of one monkey in Ethiopia, he was frustrated by his inability to get it to look directly at him so he could get a better photograph. He realised the reason when Mary told him to move quickly as a crocodile was swimming across the river towards him! He beat a very hasty retreat and survived unharmed to tell the tale.