District Governor 2023-24

Early Years

David Kendrick was born in Coalville. Leicestershire in February 1947 and spent his formative years living at the Plough Inn, Ravenstone, where his father was the landlord.He attended King Edward VII Grammar School in Coalville and subsequently, disenchanted with tertiary education, joined the Royal Air Force as an airman in 1966.

Life in Uniform

In 1971 he was commissioned and sent to train as a computer programmer.During the course of a 34-year career in public service he qualified as an information systems engineer, project management consultant and teacher.He left the Royal Air Force in 2001 having spent the previous 8 years as the Logistics Information Systems Support Director for the organisation. 

During his time in the Royal Air Force he was lucky enough to serve in Aden, Singapore, Germany, Zimbabwe and the USA.

Real Employment

The lure of a lucrative appointment in BAE Systems far outweighed the offer of extension of public service and possible further promotion. On retirement he worked for 11 years for BAE Systems as both an Operations and Business Development Director, finally giving up working for a living in 2012. 

Attempts at Fame

Amongst the highlights of his career was the part he played in the ceremonial laying to rest of Earl Mountbatten. A photograph of him marching in front of Mountbatten’s coffin at Eastleigh Airport made the front page of every national paper except for the Sun where he was relegated (with all his clothes on) to page 3.Unlike many, he recently enjoyed another 15 minutes of fame when he was featured in a BBC TV Look East programme following a charitable donation to a Ukrainian refugee. 

Time in Rotary

Following retirement David followed his brother Victor into Rotary at the ripe old age of 65, joining the local Rushden Chichele Club.    Within 4 years he had twice held the President position and been elected by his area as an Assistant Governor, a position he thoroughly enjoyed for three wonderful years. He was substantially rewarded for his endeavours during this period by his 8 fantastic Clubs each achieving 3 consecutive Rotary citations.  During that time he put himself forward to be District Governor, a position to which he was elected in 2020.   In addition, for the past 3 years David has run the District Quiz as both a face-to-face and on-line competition.  Recently, to ensure that we had a joined up approach to the Ukraine crisis, he was appointed District Resilience Officer.   Finally, his cohort of District Governors Elect nominated him as their representative on the newly created Regional Board, a position that he will hold for three years.

Family Life

Married with two children, Emma (an Actress) and Matt (a writer) he lives with his wife Carol (also a Rotarian) in Stanwick, a Northamptonshire village to which the family moved after he left the RAF and when the children were still boarding at Kimbolton School.  He has played squash and soccer at Representative level and since his loan service in Zimbabwe has become an enthusiastic, albeit somewhat mediocre golfer.    He enjoys cooking, quizzing and puzzles and rarely a day passes without a attempt to complete Killer Sudoku.   Hie real passion, however, is music.   A competent guitarist he spent 20 years as a semi-professional folk musician and has even played on the same bill as the likes of Mike Harding, Barbara Dixon, Jaspar Carrot and Fred Wedlock.