District Conference - Victoria

On Friday 22nd May Eleanor visited the B.C. Archives at the Victoria Museum (a late vocational kindly arranged by Garry) whilst the rest of us went to the Opening Ceremony which involved about 16 Youth Exchange students (the Youth Exchange programme is much bigger here than in the UK) bringing in their country flags and the singing of the US and Canadian Anthems. There were various speakers during the day sessions and a walk in aid of Polio Plus at 4.15pm. I helped Conrad erect his mobile stage and we provided bottles of water to the walkers. This entailed us driving to the Governor's House through Victoria to pick up the stage and I was able to see more of this lovely place. It is a bit of old England, quite village like away from the marina area with an abundance of colour - a beautiful city.
In the evening we were all taken to Government House where we met the Lt Governor Steven Point who hosted a really pleasant evening with lovely food and B.C. wine. The Lt Governor spoke of how Rotary had helped him personally when his daughter became ill whilst abroad and then stayed and met us all. Sally and I joined Darcy and Doug (Sechelt) for a glass of wine in the bar before turning in.
Saturday was our big day for our presentation and at 9.30am we took the stage. We played it straight and after showing the gathering some shots of Thames Valley we all spoke of what we do and what we have gained from our time in British Columbia before thanking everyone for their awesome hospitality throughout our stay. The amount of time that so many different Rotarians have given us has been unbelievable. We have stayed in 13 different venues, usually with Rotary families, and learned so much about life here. The team members have had 10 - 12 vocational visits and will each take different experiences back with them. The photos that we have uploaded tend to major on the cultural and leisure vists more than the vocational (meetings in offices don't make for good photos) but the real balance has been superb.
At lunchtime we met the Canadian GSE team (Sladjana, Jenny, Nick and Don - Rich was ill unfortunately) and they did their presentation in the afternoon which clearly demonstrated that they had been just as bowled over by the hospitality they received in England as we had here. We sat in on various other sessions including a really good Rotaract presentation and enjoyed them. On Saturday evening we attended the Conference dinner/dance (50s/60s theme) and had a great time dancing the night away. It was really good to completely relax having completed our presentations and visits.
Sunday morning was my birthday and the team presented me with a lovely set of pictures from our visit in a 'four photo' frame. They brought in a chocolate cake with candle (I ate this myself, it was extremely tasty), a card from them and also one from Terry which was a lovely surprise. We have got on so well as a team, each looking out for each other, and the birthday moment seemed to epitomise this somehow.
Brunch at 10.30 and we had to slide out of the dining room (the conference has had various speakers during the meals - this time Mark Wong, RI Rep from Indonesia) in order to check out and be taken to the ferry back to Tsawwassen for our final night. The team spent time with Sladjana, Nick and Don (we had said good-bye earlier to Jenny who was staying in Victoria) but I was a bit self-indulgent and just sat on the sun deck and enjoyed the wonderful scenery for 90 minutes.
We are now staying with out hosts in Tsawwassen (just south of Vancouver) until 2pm when we will be flying home with so many memories and experiences. It's been brilliant!