RGBI Conference 2005
An almost completely accurate account of Mark and Johns trip to Conference 2005.

It's May bank holiday weekend, Saturday. It's 6am. John and Mark get into a car and head South from Ipswich. Their mission? The Rotaract Great Britain and Ireland Conference 2005. The themed "Heroes and Villains" four day event that was being held in Bristol had been on their calendar for months. The Deben duo had elected to skip the Friday night three legged pub crawl, and arrived in time for the Saturday morning start. Over a hundred Rotaractors, and an additional collection of Rotarians assembled in the Ramada hotel to suffer the appalling amateur videos of the conference crew - Batman, Catwoman, Dr Evil, Hong Kong Phooey and others - in the Big Brother house. These films were going to intersperse the speakers throughout the weekend. Oh well.

Presentations at the Conference The talks covered a range of subjects - charities such as the National Blood Service and Variety Club as well as a brief history of Rotary, a presentation about Bristol, and various success stories of Rotaract around the country. Also scattered between the speakers were the nasty, the evil, the devious pair of sergeant at arms. These two were always on hand, ready to fine anyone for the slightest misdemeanour. Shameless plugging the upcoming Banbury camping rally counted as a misdemeanour, as did losing name badges. Over the weekend a mass theft of badges would occur, resulting in much money raised for the conference charity - Variety Club. Even our friends from Deben were not to escape the clutches of Jaws and his henchman...

But before that, the pair from 1080 (That's Debens district, in case you wondered) joined a couple of the afternoons workshops. For many good and sensible reasons, they attended a session on first aid, learning much of possible use. Next, for less good, and somewhat uncertain reasons, they attended a session on, er, weather forecast presenting. Much to their shame, a video exists of this, and will be available for a small fee to anyone wishing to enjoy their humiliation.

Having forgotten to brings masks to the conference, and not wanting to resort to their usual paper bag approach, the two Debenites take a wander into Bristol to find headgear for the evenings black tie and masked dinner dance. When combined with their tuxedos, they both tidied up to a very smart appearance. Even if John insisted on wearing his mask upside down, and Mark insisted on wearing his Dr Who cufflinks. Many who know him will be surprised, and impressed, by his decision to attend the ball, seeing as Dr Who was on at the same time. In the great tradition of Rotaract Balls, Mark elected to take wine with the other guests (ie. he proposed a toast). Specifically with the other guests who had considered being late to watch the show as well. A few, very few, joined him. Loads of Rotaractors at the masked dinner dance

Having entered the raffle, tempted by the holidays, dvd players and spiderman toys on offer, Mark was delighted to win. So four books richer, Mark thought it a worthwhile cause to spread literacy throughout the world, and started by swapping books for photos with pretty rotaractors. After dinner was the dancing. No more shall be said here about this. So we move our view to the bar, where we find a pair of familiar faces drinking, chatting, and drinking with a number of the other Rotaract folk. Deciding not to stay for the all night party that is the Wide Awake Club, our Ipswich buddies retired for an early night, at around 2am.

Sunday morning continued in a similar vein to Saturday. Interesting speakers - the CLIC Sargent cancer charity, the Rotaract Overseas Project - appalling acting (Catwoman and Poison Ivy are fighting over Batman, and all the housemates have nominated Dr Evil for eviction), fines, and the sale of all the digital cameras that were lost the night before. The pinching of id cards has reached kleptomaniacalproportions.

Mark decides to join in the afternoons sports competitions. When not watching Dr Who, Mark is well known for his devotion to the athletic endevors. His skill with a badminton bat is legendary, and his underwater swimming has been known to keep many a dolphin ammused. None of his previous experiance would help, as the afternoons sports have yet to be accepted in the Olympics. After displaying his natural talent with a space hopper, he cracked under the pressure and was beaten in the egg and spoon race by RIBI president Gordon McInally. It should be noted here that if anyone ever has the oppotunity to prevent Rotary district 1080 govener, Bill Redmayne, from going on a space hopper again, it is their humanitarian duty to do so.

Spiderman Lives!

Following a carvery dinner, the evening was to be a fancy dress party. So, with John in his Dr jekyll (or was it Mr Hyde?) outfit, and Mark fitting snugly into his Spiderman spandex (more photos on the website gallery), our fearless friends entered the main hall, only to discover it was full of a Ladies Circle knitting club. No, I jest, it was the party. And, for once, they didn't look a bit out of place amongst the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the table of nurses (at which they promptly made themselves at home), or the district that had come in Dr Who costumes. Mark looked on enviously. The nurses asked him not to, and the evening progressed.

Following district 1140s Knights of the Round Table giving a short song (firstly, we were all glad it was mercifully short, and secondly - what was Round Table doing at a Rotaract conference anyway?) and the Flintstones rocking on the dance floor, the hotel fire alarm went off. No, really it did. And everyone had to pile out into the car park. The other hotel guests were mildly bemused to stand back and see Superman, Iceman, Spiderman, Batman and Robin too, not too mention a fireman with plastic hose all huddling for warmth under the capes of various vampires. But soon the real heroes arrived and confirmed that it wasn't the Rotaractors fault, so they could go back inside.

Despite the room being full of cops and robbers, gangsters and molls, it was Deben that, later in the evening, got it's first fine. John for wearing his mask upside down. Immediately Mark got fined for criticising his friends facewear while having the poor fashion sense to wear Dr Who cufflinks. Spidy stands up to pay his dues, but discovers he has no pockets and has to borrow the money off John. Later, another fine is read out for Mark not having any pockets and having to borrow money to pay the last fine. He still has no pockets.... this could prove an expensive evening....

Sit-down dancing Rotaractors
Monday morning. The conference is drawing to a close. The housemates are being evicted and the final presentations are taking place - a talk about communication and the oddities of the British as well as more success stories of Rotaract clubs. Further shameless plugs for the upcoming Banbury camping rally, and the awards. These were for competitions concerning best poster, best leaflet, best newsletter and of course... best website. This last being something Deben actually entered, along with 15 other sites. Debens black-backed site was highly commended... and came second. "Next time, Gadget, next time!".

The final event - an auction. A half dozen items, including a giant cuddly shark and fluffy cats were sold to the highest bidder. The last (and therefore the best) lot, was a selection of Dr Who autographs. It was like they knew. "We have a couple of Dr Who fans here don't we?", asked the auctioneer... A moments silence. Mark cries out with delight "Oh, just me then. Excellent. 50p for the bunch!". But alas, it was not to be so easy... as a couple of closet fans bid against him. They didn't like Dr Who, but they loved wardrobes, and just wanted to drive the price up. An unlucky member of the audience sneezed at the wrong moment, and accidentally bought the lot. But was happy to sell them on at a reasonable price. Mark left happy, and another £80+ went into the charity fund (from the whole auction - Marks not that crazy).

Entertained, informed, delighted and exhausted, Mark and John made their goodbyes to their Rotaract friends and got in the car to drive home. "So", one asked the other. "Banbury?".



And you can read about the exciting Banbury Camping weekend here!

For shorter descriptions about some of our past events, click here

For full writeups of some of our other trips, enjoy;



We'd love to hear from you if you are interested in coming to an event, or if you are a local charity or community project and would like our assistance.

We'd also like to hear from you if you have any feedback on the web site.

Deben Rotaract contacts:
Email: enquiries@debenrotaract.org.uk
Call Dan on 07740165109 or Tash on 01473721153


.