York Town News
Across the sea: York Rotary Club welcomes counterparts from England
By Virginia L. Woodwell
Members of the York, United Kingdom, Rotary Club joined York's own Rotary Club at its weekly meeting on Friday, Sept. 22, as part of a weekend-long meeting of the minds with an international flair.
Photo by Virginia L. Woodwell
YORK HARBOR - The York Rotary Club played host to some exceptional guests last weekend: seven Rotarians and their spouses visiting from the Rotary Club in York, England.
"We are international today," said York (Maine) Rotary President Ray Bald, standing before a Union Jack as he welcomed the visitors to the local club's weekly breakfast meeting at the York Harbor Inn at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 22.
The English guests, who were all in this country on separate schedules, had been feted together for the first time in York at a reception at the Stage Neck Inn the night before, and would be remaining in town through Sunday. Six of the seven couples would be staying in fellow-Rotarians' homes, while the seventh stayed at the York Harbor Inn. All would be treated to two-plus days of Rotarian-organized sightseeing and wining-and-dining.
"It's an opportunity," said Bald, "for the club to show our fellowship with other
Rotarians from around the world."
At the Friday meeting, former club president and current Rotary Club Chaplain Doug Gray explained that plans for this event had their genesis at a 100th-annniversary celebration of Rotary International in Chicago in 2005. There, he said, he and Dick Santoro of York met their counterparts from York, United Kingdom, for the first time, and there they hatched the idea of the visit. Further contacts between the two clubs were developed throughout 2005, with plans for the visit gelling this year.
Andrew Binger handled those plans for York Rotary on this side of the Atlantic, while George Duddridge handled them for York Rotary on the other side.
Duddridge, present on Friday with his wife, Irene, termed Binger's efforts "superb," and, amid much laughter and good-natured banter (Bald said that the Englishmen liked York, Maine, so much that they decided to name their town after it, while Englishman Mike Miller teased the York residents for having a phone system too "backward" to permit his arranging a conference call with Rotarians at home), representatives of each club exchanged formal gifts.
Following the meeting that morning, the guests would be given a tour of the Old York Historical Society museum buildings by Old York President Scott Stevens; they would then be treated to lunch at Stonewall Kitchen. In the afternoon, they'd leave from Ogunquit for a Finestkind boat ride around the Nubble, followed by a visit to the Ogunquit Museum of American Art. Dinner that night would be at the Metro in Portsmouth, N.H., preceded by a visit to the Portsmouth Brewery.
On Saturday, the guests would have "free time" in the morning, followed by lunch at The Goldenrod and a driving tour of the Seacoast with a visit to Fuller Gardens, capped by an evening lobster bake at Foster's Clambake.
Sunday was scheduled as a day of rest, with the visitors free to resume their own schedules.
At Friday's meeting, several of the visitors revealed that they'd been to this country before, and some to this region.
Ewen Cameron, present with his wife, Sylvia, reported that he'd been sent to Boston, Mass., as a child for safety during World War II - and was teased for having learned and retained a Boston accent there.
Robin Rich, one of four English Rotary Club past presidents who was present, said that he'd been to Florida and California before, but never to New England. He and his wife, Josie, he said, would be spending 28 days traveling through Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. They were, he said, retired from 15 years of running what he called a "care home for the elderly."
He remarked on New England's "very English atmosphere," and on "how easy we find getting on with the people here. … Everybody," he said, "has been very friendly," and his wife said, "You've made us so welcome."
Josie Rich expressed a special interest in Plymouth, Mass., which the couple had already visited that week
"I wanted to see where the Pilgrims had landed," she said, and reported that a video there had revealed to her that, before launching themselves from Holland, the Pilgrims had assembled at a village "only 18 miles from where I was born and raised and lived for 55 years."
Additionally, she said, she was fascinated to learn that some of the Pilgrims' names were those of some of her own family.
Expressions of appreciation for hospitality were echoed by David Impey, who reported that, 30 years ago, he and his wife, Celia, had lived in Redmond, Ore., for one year. Both had been teachers of geography and were then participating in a teacher-exchange program, he explained, adding that he was now retired from 20 years as principal of a 1,400-student high school in Tadcaster, U.K., which he described as "a brewery town outside of York."
On their current trip to the U.S., he reported, in just two days they'd already squeezed in trips to Boston, Cape Cod and the White Mountains.
"We did the Freedom Trail," he said, "and we enjoyed 90 percent of Boston," adding, "but the traffic we weren't too impressed with."
York, Maine, he said, they found "very, very attractive," and with "a very friendly atmosphere here."
Darrell Hind revealed himself as a well-traveled consulting architect who'd lived in Hong Kong for three years while serving as project architect for the building of a railway between Hong Kong and Canton. He'd also been, he said, to California twice, to Florida three times, and to both Nevada and Arizona. On this trip, he reported, he and his wife, Val, had spent a night in Boston, been to Plymouth, Cape Cod, Salem and Bar Harbor, and, on their way back to Boston, had "sneaked a look at York."
His wife, then, he laughed, had spotted the Kittery shopping outlets, where, he said, stopping was "dangerous to your wealth."
They would be spending time, after York, he said, in Portsmouth.
The other English visitors were Judith Miller (wife of Mike Miller), and Joe and Doreen Hardgrave. Serving as drivers and escorts for the English when they were in York were Bald, Binger and Fred Muehl.
Serving as overnight hosts were, in addition to Bald, Don Sweet, Jim Bartlett, John DeStefano, Paul Saltzman, Russell Peterson and Dick Santoro.
