January 2014

From the moment visiting Rotarian Diane Marsh got up to talk to us at our lunch meeting on 27th January, everyone present knew that she believed in the local Foodbank project with a passion. Explaining that a visit to a former Rotarian that had fallen on very hard times had galvanised her resolve to help people in Gravesend that were in a similar predicament. To-date she has got her own club of Gravesend and Meopham to support and assist the Gravesend Foodbank (which is affiliated to the Trussell Trust) but she was looking for further support and assistance from other Rotary clubs in the immediate area. Rotarian Jeff Glover, chairman of our Community Service Committee assured Diane that our club would assist her in providing support to such a worthy cause.

John Dyke

: Speaker, Ashley Davies

: President Adrian as a dragon

As Ashley Davies rose to take the floor, the audience immediately experienced the buzz and colourful excitement as he talked us through the festivals that he initiated with the Chinese community of Medway in recent years (even to the extent of getting President Adrian to operate a festival lion). He then expanded his talk to explain how he had managed to forge links with communities in China. He also arranged exchanges of the most highly skilled lion dancing teams in the UK and China, had taught English at colleges in China during his many trips there, and even managed to teach the audience a greeting in Mandarin. The audience finally went home with a little more knowledge and understanding of the most populated country in the world.

John Dyke