The second day of the conference proved equally as inspiring and entertaining as the first.Beginning with Thought for the Day, DAG Mohammad Ali (Rotary Club of Brigg) read “Life on the Train”.  This was in place of the usual religious-type service and proved immensely popular and tear-jerking.RIBI representative this year was the RIBI Secretary Robin Freeman (Rotary Club of Henley in Arden) who brought greetings from RIBI President Peter Offer and gave us information about the RIBI Conference in Bournemouth.  He highlighted the challenges which face Rotary in the future – falling membership, increasing average age, lack of awareness of Rotary amongst the public at large -- and challenged us to overcome the backslide and to put Rotary at the forefront of the public image.

Always with light-hearted humour, he regaled us with a huge variety of accents from all over Britain and the rest of the world.  Being a famous radio actor, few people are probably aware of what he looks like and so do not instantly recognise him when he appears in films alongside Sean Bean. As he plays David Archer with his “normal” accent, you are probably not aware of his other starring roles in voice-overs for some very famous children’s television characters and equally famous adverts.All-in-all this was a superb piece of entertainment and he probably did more for the Institute of Cancer Research during his talk than he would have done had he showed the DVD we all expected.

The conference was summed positively up by the RI representative Carsten Dencker Nielsen and he ended with a super DVD portraying the delights in store for those attending next year’s RI Convention in Salt Lake City.

Watch out for a special forthcoming Rotary event in the Winter Gardens, Cleethorpes.  DG Rolf Sperr will keep you informed of this prestigious event when Timothy Bentinck will entertain us and all proceeds of the event will be donated to the Institute of Cancer Research.