Visit to Orléans

An absolute highlight of my first five months as president has to have been my recent visit to Orléans, one of Dundee’s twin cities, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of their Rotary Club. Invited by President Christophé Empereur, Brenda Dein and I received a most warm welcome.

Whilst the nine hours travelling door to door on Friday and Sunday was fairly brutal, we had a wonderful time with our generous French hosts Odile and Jean Noël who invited us into their home and made our stay very comfortable. We had a very enjoyable day on Saturday visiting a chocolatier, winery and the magnificent Chambord Castle, which was beautifully decorated for Christmas.

We joined with Rotarians from Italy and Germany, and also our friend Gayle Dellinger, from New Orleans. We swapped gifts and pennants during a drinks reception, where I presented the engraved quaich and gave a very short speech in French to pass on our congratulations, before enjoying the celebratory dinner.

On Sunday morning we explored Orléans and had brunch with the other Rotarians before beginning our journey back home to Dundee. I bring greetings from President Christophé and I hope it won’t be too long before we can welcome some of our new friends here in Dundee to repay their kindness and generosity.

The visit demonstrates the power of Rotary to build friendships, peace and understanding on a global scale, alongside opportunities to use our skills to benefit our communities both here in Dundee and around the world.