Rochdale represented at Rotary International

Delegates at the Rotary International Convention.

The President of the Rotary Club of Rochdale joined 20,000 Rotarians from all over the world at the Rotary International 100th Annual Convention in Birmingham last week.

The convention was held at the Birmingham NEC and was opened by Rotary International (RI) President Dong Kurn on Sunday 21 June and lasted until Wednesday 24 June.

Keynote speakers at the event included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Acclaimed Actress and Polio survivor Mia Farrow, Dr Jane Goodall, Douglass Alexander MP, Deepa Willingham and Tom Henderson founder and CEO of ShelterBox.

With plenty of space in the arena the Rotarians were encouraged to meet in the “House of Friendship” where they were entertained by Wardle High School band. There were also several hundred booths, exhibitions and stalls.

John Kay, said: “An RI Convention in this country during my year as President was too good to miss.

“I was very impressed and came away with several good ideas for future projects which we might adopt in Rochdale.

“My highlights were the entertainment from ‘The Little Angels’ a Korean children’s performance group and my lunch with Vladimir Vasilkov, from the Rotary Club of St Petersburg Neva who carried with him a photograph of his meeting with Prince Charles several years ago. It was definitely an event not to miss.”