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Amherst News
September 2004
Wednesday
Meetings
15 September, Cyclo Sportive Briefing - Bill Brickell
22 September, Speaker Matilda Buckley, CAB
29 September, LADIES EVENING Val Proctor, District Chairman of Inner Wheel
6 October, Business Meeting
Service
and Social Diary
19 September, Cyclo Sportive - our major fund raising event for Marie Curie
Cancer Care
3 October, "Walk for Life" Day
22-24October, District Conference
25 October, Charity Golf Day at Hever Golf Club
6 November, St Julians' Firework Night
19-20 November, Collections in aid of BBC Children in Need Appeal
15 December, Christmas Party
2005
19 February, Rotary Centennial Dinner, Wildernesse
21 May, Ladies Night
GORDON'S REFLECTIONS
The Centenary Year moves on with invitations beginning to flow. After the pomp and pageant of the Last Night of the Proms on Saturday, would you like to see the Bands of the Coldstream Guards and the Scots Guards at the RIBI concert at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday 29 April 2005? The box office is now open and if you want to go let me know.
The Bishop of Dover will be the preacher for the Rotary Centenary service at Canterbury Cathedral on 26 February 2005. Bookings open on 1st October for seating, and lunch, and I gather that seating is limited on first come first served basis.
Carolyn and I recently had dinner with DG Himansu and the Presidents of Clubs in the West Kent and East Sussex Areas, together with their wives; about half attended. This was held at Barnsgate Manor, with Norman Jones as MC and was a very pleasant occasion. Unfortunately this meant that we could not attend Jane and Allan’s BBQ which I understand was, again, a great evening.
Last Saturday Harold organised for a group to visit the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. It is only one of two in England, the other being at Loughborough. We learnt about the metallurgical and musical aspects of bell production and the hanging of them. The market appears to be limited because bells are so strong and do not wear out! England has about 80% of the bells in the world for ringing changes. To judge from all the questions that were asked of our excellent guide, the visit was much enjoyed. Thank you Harold.
Today we see this activity as part of our Vocational service. It is interesting to note that the formal definition of this service is – ‘where members connect the ideals of the organisation – ethics, service, the drive for leadership excellence – with their trade or profession’. This emphasised the early interest of Rotarians to do business together.
We have a busy few weeks ahead of us. The Cyclo Sportive has attracted a record entry for 19 September. Please give Bill and his team all the support they need to ensure we maintain our reputation for organising an excellent event. Roy is preparing to take those interested on our Walk for Life on 3 October. Simon, with the Sevenoaks Club, is organising a new golf day at the Hever Golf Club on 25 October. Please support him in this new venture.
Gordon
MAIN POINTS OF THE SEPTEMBER COUNCIL MEETING
• District Council will discuss at its next meeting on 14 September the way in which future District Governors should be nominated.
• We will not be contributing to a Rotary International time capsule to be opened in 2105.
• Our centenary leaflet will soon be ready for printing and distribution.
• There is still uncertainty over closing some of the accounts for the year 2003-4, but club funds include at least £1265 (general a/c) and £1372 (charity a/c.)
• The Marie Curie cycling weekend will provide our first contact of the new Rotary year with Roubaix Est. We hope to raid one of their Monday meetings before Christmas.
• Arrangements are in hand for Roz Ward's evening with us on 10 November.
• A replacement for Derek, to take over Foundation, is being sought.
• The club will, as usual, be represented at the Remembrance Day parade on 14 November.
• Local businesses
will be invited to sponsor fully a provisionally-booked Rotary Centenary wrap
for Sevenoaks News in Focus (or KM Extra) next February, by taking cut-price
advertising. (Cost: £4000+VAT)
Geoff
The Secretary Reports…
….. that in July he received an e-mail from the District Secretary:
“If the Club Secretary
or other officers continue in post for more than five years, the Club is failing
to abide by the Constitution and By-laws of the Association and therefore would
not be covered by insurance”. Apparently RIBI and our Insurers had confirmed
this view.
It was thought the e-mail might have been a warning shot provoked by our President’s
revelation that he had served as Club Secretary for five years; but in August
Ken received another e-mail:
“RIBI now say ' It is a breach of Standard RIBI Club By Laws if the club
secretary or the club treasurer serve more than five consecutive years but this
will NOT invalidate insurance cover.
It is unfortunate but unavoidable but there will be situations particularly
with small clubs where the secretary or treasurer will serve for more than five
years. It is important for these officers to groom a successor to take over
before then' “.
All clear?
Charity Golf Day
Monday 5th October 2004
This is the text of Simon’s leaflet to the golfing public. Members not passing round copies to their golfing friends, acquaintances or whatever can get copies from Simon.
Your help is needed.
Our objective is to raise funds to build an in-house shop for the elderly within the premises of AGE CONCERN, SEVENOAKS. This project is a joint venture between Sevenoaks' two Rotary Clubs to commemorate Rotary International's centenary.
The venue will be the Hever Golf Club at Hever.
18 holes Betterball Stableford - best 2 of team of 4 to count. Play will be from the 1st & 10th tees.
Additional fund raising activities, team and individual competitions will be run on the day.
Registration, breakfast
and coffee will be from 9:30a.m, teeing times will be from 11:30am.
A 3 course meal will be served at approx 4:00pm along with prize-giving.
Rotary Club members will provide the organisation.
£320 per team of 4 (or pro rata)
Community Service
SAIL TRAINING
As has been announced, our next sponsorship of £500 has been awarded to
Leon Littlechild. Tony has received the following letter.
To Mr T Kemp & The Rotary Club.
I enclose with this letter my £30 cheque and also to say thank you for this one in a lifetime chance for me to show 16 plus and anyone else what it means to do such a thing, I’m really looking forward to the trip and meeting new people and also giving a hand on the ship. This trip helps me to build up my CV. I don’t know the reasons for me being asked to this but I’ve been told it is due to who I am whatever that means. I’d like to think I’m easy to get along with, humorous, enthusiastic, reliable, yeap that sums me up, I feel by going on this trip I’m telling in and out of care that being fostered isn’t the end it is the beginning, and it is up to you to pick ya self up no one else is.
So again, thank you.
Leon Littlechild
Thanks, Leon. We try to help to make a difference.
Membership Services
Dates for the Diary
Club Walk 3 October
Christmas Party 15 December
‘Bar meeting’ 22 December
No meeting 29 December
2005
Centennial Dinner 19 February
Centennial Club Meeting
23 February
RIBI Centennial Concert
Royal Albert Hall 29 April
Ladies’ Night 21 May
We haven’t had one of Harold’s quizzes
for a little while, and here is a very easy one …. Or
is it?
1. How long did the Hundred Years War last?
2. Which country makes Panama hats?
3. From which animal do we get cat gut?
4. When do Russians celebrate the October revolution?
5. What is a camel's hair brush made of?
6. The Canary Islands are named after what animal?
7. What was King George VI’s first name?
8. What colour is a purple finch?
9. Where are Chinese gooseberries from?
10. What is the colour of an aeroplane's black box?
Slightly
despairing note.
Some members didn’t make this year’s Ladies’ Night because
they had made other arrangements before they knew the date. Others, because
the date came out before they had their new diaries……
Telephone
Tricksters Target PCs
From a BT pensioners’ publication, via Harold
You may be aware of the phone scams which hoodwink people into clocking up premium-rate calls. Unscrupulous operators are now pulling the same trick by targeting home Pcs through the internet.
The phone scams work by hoaxing subscribers into connecting to expensive premium-rate numbers. How do they do it? People respond to messages left on an answer phone to call a particular number - usually starting 09 - about a goods delivery. When they get through, the operator at the other end puts them on hold while they conduct a lengthy search for the 'missing' goods.
Every second the line stays connected the unsuspecting callers are clocking up hugely inflated call-charges, although they won't know anything about it until they get their next telephone bill.
Another trick is to telephone someone and pretend they have won a prize. All the subscriber has to do to claim it is key in a special code on their telephone to confirm their identity. In actual fact, the code switches their telephone to a premium rate line and every call they make thereafter is charged at extortionate rates.
More recently these same hoaxers have been targeting computers through the internet. It's become such a big problem that the industry-funded watchdog for premium-rate services ICSTIS (Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services) has appealed to the police for help.
This new scam works by infecting
computers with a 'trojan horse' virus. It changes the normal internet dial-up
code to a premium rate number, so every time a user connects to an internet
webpage or sends an email, the system clocks up an inflated call charge. The
virus only affects computers using analogue or ISDN dial up services. It cannot
corrupt broadband services.
If you suspect you have been a victim of this type of trickery, you can complain
to ICSTIS via its website at www.icstis.org.uk where you will also be able to
check the authenticity of any premium rate number that appears on your telephone
bill.
L’
Etape du Tour 2004
By Graham Waldeck
Scenario
En anglais, L’ Etape du Tour translates as a stage of the Tour de France,
but it is also the brand name of a highly organised cycle sportive.
It is run jointly by the Society of the Tour de France, the organisers of the
three week race won by Mr Armstrong, Mr Armstrong and Mr Armstrong, and Velo
magazine, a leading cycle sports publication.
The event is for amateur racers/riders who have the opportunity to ride one stage, which is decided by the organising bodies. The amateurs’ event is run 2 or 3 days before the Tour riders tackle the stage enabling the “L’Etapers” to see the professionals race “their” stage and maybe one or two other stages as well.
The selected stage is always one of the mountain legs and hitherto it has alternated between stages in the Alps and Pyrenees. This year was the 10th edition of the L’Etape and the course was the 10th stage from Limoges to Saint Flour in the Central Massif area.
This was the longest stage of the 2004 Tour at 237 kms (148 miles) containing nine classified cols, which in total amounted to 3240 metres of height climbing (i.e. 2 miles vertical), and 38 kms (22 miles) of distance up hill. While previous L’Etapes have had higher mountain peaks, this year’s edition was widely reported in cycling magazines to be the hardest yet, based on the distance and relentless profile of climbing and descending.
Even articles in the Daily Telegraph by their reporter Brendan Gallagher (who planned to ride it but injured himself (bottled it?) painted it as a Herculean task.
So why do it? For me there
were a few reasons:
The challenge was almost irresistible,
I was having a neurotic middle age crisis of being 50+ and “better go
for it soon.”
I had ridden the 2000 L’Etape, which finished after climbing Mont Ventoux,
but due to extreme hail and snow I, and a few thousand others, were turned back
by the police on the mountain after several hundred riders had been subject
to hypothermia. So I had some ‘unfinished business’ to complete.
4) I’m an idiot.
Preparation.
There are two routes to enter L’Etape: one can enter as an individual
or book a place with a UK cycling tour company who reserve some two hundred
places. The latter I think is preferable as the company arranges all entries
and the logistics of transportation, accommodation and support, plus you meet
like-minded cycling “nutters” that you can ride and socialise with.
Also the ‘package’ is for a week so there’s a holiday dimension
rather than flying in, riding L’Etape and flying back to the UK the following
day.
A bit of extra training before the event is quite useful as well. While I cycle regularly at weekends, from April onward I endeavoured to fit in a few more rides, e.g. a two hour mid-week evening session, longer weekend rides on hillier roads, a couple of sportive events.
It’s difficult to know if you’ve done enough to get round. My outlook was that I’d do what miles I can, reduce beer consumption to 15 pints a week – but maintaining a bottle of wine per evening – and quit smoking the occasional cigar. I figured that if I could finish the event in a time span of 10 to 12 hours, (12½ hours was the maximum permissible time) then that would be fine. With the benefit of these latest sports science techniques and pure cussedness I hoped it would work out.
The Day.
Up at 04.30 for an early breakfast. Bike prepared, pockets filled with various
food - energy bars, bananas, gel glucose sachets - and then ride into Limoges
for the start at 6.30. 8000-plus riders are in this event and there are barriered
sections in one long line by entry number, e.g. our section was 3000 to 6000
and we are some half a mile away from the first section that contains the first
500 riders who are ‘selected’ riders.
These contain ex pros, top amateurs and known very fit cycling athletes e.g. Alain Prost who is an excellent cyclist. There is no disadvantage in being further back in the queue as each participant’s time is recorded by a transponder strapped to their right ankle that records your time on passing the start point and at three other places during the course, including the finish.
As this huge peloton of riders rolls away, there is a mass surge and some pedal furiously to pass riders in front while others start at a more measured pace, realising there is a long day ahead. The roads are closed to all other traffic, local gendarmes manage each junction on the course and there are motorcycle out-riders accompanying the moving bunch. For as far as you can see there is one long line of cyclists with the formation changing as faster riders overtake and slower ones drop back.
The first 45 miles is relatively easy terrain, a few hills similar to Ide Hill in length. We are very fortunate with the weather. The previous two days had been very wet, but Sunday 11 July was dry, sunny, but not too warm. My strategy was to ride with a sense of purpose, but not to over extend myself for the initial 70 miles to the first feed station. To control the level of exertion I watch my heart rate monitor with the view of keeping it below 160 bpm (beats per minute).
However, I realise I’m falling back …….
(to be continued!)
Curmudgeon’s Corner
President Bush is proud of his Harvard MBA and his rather un-American self-deprecating sense of humour, which drive his liberal-elite opponents mad.
He likes to tell of exercising
them both the time he looked at a document and said "This is
a budget. I can tell - it has numbers in it."
Plenty to be self-deprecating about?