The spectacular & imposing Leeds Town Hall, where the conference was held from 6th-8th March 2009
The fantastical ornate interior
The Conference was officiated by the Lord Mayor of Leeds, the conferance Chairman Ron Bailey and District Governor Tony Parrini.
After Dinner, the team headed back to the Town Hall for an enjoyable evening with performance by the Royal Marines Band Concert. They played classical band favourites ranging from the Marines tunes, to the Big Jazz Band and Pub Songs :)
The happy team w GSE Co-Od Richard Bird
The smiles are hiding the fact that everyone but Richard was worried and anxious about the next day's presentation :)
Day 2 - It's Showtime!
After 4 hours of sleep, the team woke up bright and early and headed over for rehearsals.
Rehearsing on the front steps since the hall wasn't open at 8am :)
DG Tony Parrini introduced the GSE team and welcomed us warmly :)
*performance pictures witheld for security reasons*
The presentation went well *phew* however.... the joget performance........ was...... scary :)
The conference adjourned for the day before lunch and the team set out to wreck havoc in Leeds City!!!!
The evening's Gala Black Tie dinner was held at the Royal Amouries Museum, which was a fabulous place. It felt special to enter such a grand museum after official closing hours.
Battle scences were re-enacted especially for the guests.
Or more for my benefit... ;)
It was magical, exploring the museum at night.
We had to be dragged away from the musuem exhibits as the dinner bell was rung by the 'town crier' (see if you can spot him)
Fellowship
The food, great fellowship and wine brought out the Party Animals!!!
*WARNING- adult content ahead*
A little bit of OK Magazine influence coming right up!!
Tsk tsk tsk...... a scandalous way for a Team Leader and a GSE Co-Od to behave ;) (no names mentioned)
We danced and we partied the night away, or at least until the Museum authorities threw us out and we limped home w very very sore feet.
:)
Day 3
The conference started out w a Multi Faith service of which Jamie was given the priviledge to share a something from a Buddhist quote.
*personal excerp from Jamie*
I am most honored to be given the opportunity to share my faith in Buddhism during the District Rotary Conference of D1190. Personally I find that the session was so beautifully done as it unites 5 of world's great religions i.e. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism but all with the same message. The quote that I shared with the crowd is as follows:-
Quote from Udana Varqa of Buddha saying:
"Jangan Melukai Orang Lain Kelak Nanti Diri Sendiri akan Terluka" (In Malay Language) which means "Hurt not Others with that which Pains Yourself."
One of the speakers that planted seeds of inspiration in the listeners that day was Gary Skyner. Gary is a Motivational and Diversity speaker who uses humour to talk about how he has overcome the challenges presented to him in his life as the second Thalidomide victim in this country.
Congratulations to the organizing committee on a succesful conferance. The team will treasure the weekend in Leeds forever.
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