District 1260 Blog

Harpenden Village Rotary Club

Off for meal number two today and a return visit to Harpenden (remember last week, they held Classics on the Common - I was keen to find out the end result!). Harpenden Village RC are just about to relocate from their exisitng venue, so it was a last chance to visit the Conservative Club before it gets 'redeveloped'!

Tonight Rtn Tony Freeman (Hitchin Tilehouse) escorted me. It was good to have some time with Tony and he is a bit of a 'Sage' within our Club. Tony has been in Rotary 'forever', so for us whipper-snappers he's a great source of knowledge and general history...

We arrived in plenty of time and made our way to the bar! There were Rotarians already 'at work'; committee meetings, magazine sorting and the important new member interviews taking place. After a short time, others started arriving and I was really pleased to bump into an old aquaintance Rtn Peter Cox. PDG John Hopkins came and said hello and Tony and I really started to feel at home.

Dinner was good and I really liked the idea of self-service for desert - certainly takes the pressure off when you can just enjoy a small amount; all this fine food is starting to take its toll...!

After dinner we got to the business of the evening; reports were given by the members of the Club detailing the many activities and events (how did the walk go?) and then we heard about the Classics on the Common... it was excellent, such positive feedback, involvement by all members and a community event that was enjoyed not only by Harpenden residents but by those from much further afield (including myself!). It was reported that something in the order of £11,000 would be raised from this one event (final accounts being processed) - what a tremendous effort in support of the Air Ambulance, Shelterbox and Hertfordshire Action on Disability.

President Cedric is planful, and in talking to members of Harpenden Village it is clear to see that they really enjoy everything they are doing. They actively support the activities of our District and have good ideas to keep Rotary fresh enabling them to serve their communities well. Rtn Alec Bull Co-Chairs Friendship Exchange and is busy working on exchange opportunities with Canada at present - look him up in the Directory for more information!

The website for this Club is great - a clean, sharp, 'shop-window', take a look at http://www.hvrc.net/ it has some great photographs showing just what Harpenden Village  RC is all about!