The beginning of October has been quite an experience for George and myself. The first weekend we spent in Poland. One of the Rotarians at the Banstead Club was born in Poland and wanted to take folk to show them some of her country. What lovely people the Polish are, very friendly and helpful. We stayed in the Jewish Quarter (Kazimierz) in Cracow. What a fascinating city Cracow is, wonderful architecture, elaborate Churches, and a huge town square (the largest in Europe, I am told). There are parts of the city of course that are still run down, but even they are beginning to have a face-lift. On the Sunday morning we took a coach ride to Auschwitz only forty minutes away. This was a place that I had mixed feelings about visiting, but I am glad that I did. As soon as one entered the gates one had the feeling that something awful had occurred there. No birds sing there and it is very quiet. We had a young Polish Guide, she spoke perfect English and had such a soft voice and caring manner which almost made the experience seem worse, knowing how their people had been so badly treated. I still cannot imagine how any human being can do such cruel acts their fellow human beings or sleep at night afterwards. I think my lasting memory of Auschwitz will be the huge glass case, it covered the whole wall in one of the barracks, full of human hair. This was cut from the prisoners’ heads before they were sent to the gas chambers, then sent back to Germany to be woven into cloth and made into uniforms for the guards to wear back at Auschwitz. How sick was that! There were many quotes on the walls, this one very meaningful, I thought: “We must never let this place be forgotten else it will happen again”. One and a half million people died there.
The following weekend we spent in Bournemouth at the Rotary District Conference. This is a conference that brings about five hundred Rotarians together to listen to speakers from a wide range of Charities and share Rotary business. On this Sunday morning we shared “Songs of Praise”. The hymns were chosen by different clubs and played with great gusto by the Winton Salvation Army Band, we were almost out of breath at the end! The speaker for Sunday morning was Geoff Holt. You may have heard of this young man. When he was eighteen he broke his neck in an accident and has been a quadriplegic ever since. He said he always loved the sea and was a great sailor before his accident, in fact his career would have been at sea. He had this idea, his “personal Everest”, to sail around Gt. Britain single-handed. So after many hours organising sponsors, equipment, etc., in May 2007 he set sail. The trip had many nail-biting moments, but was accomplished with an awful lot of dedication, determination and enthusiasm from Geoff and the members of his support team. His talk and presentation was inspiring and received a standing ovation. One came away feeling very humble and with one’s faith restored in humankind. Two very different weekends and two very different experiences!
Now back to things in Epsom. By now you will have received your letters explaining about the Annual General Meeting on 26th November. Please do think seriously about nominations and make every effort to attend the meeting. At present there is no more to report about our re-development, we now have to wait for planning permission. In the meantime we need to be mindful as to just how we will use the new premises to further God’s word.
Our 320th Birthday is celebrated on 2nd November. The Worship Group hopes that you will enjoy the Service we are planning and will be there to celebrate with us.
October has been quite an experience for George and myself. The first weekend we spent in Poland. One of the Rotarians at the Banstead Club was born in Poland and wanted to take folk to show them some of her country. What lovely people the Polish are, very friendly and helpful. We stayed in the Jewish Quarter (Kazimierz) in Cracow. What a fascinating city Cracow is, wonderful architecture, elaborate Churches, and a huge town square (the largest in Europe, I am told). There are parts of the city of course that are still run down, but even they are beginning to have a face-lift. On the Sunday morning we took a coach ride to Auschwitz only forty minutes away. This was a place that I had mixed feelings about visiting, but I am glad that I did. As soon as one entered the gates one had the feeling that something awful had occurred there. No birds sing there and it is very quiet. We had a young Polish Guide, she spoke perfect English and had such a soft voice and caring manner which almost made the experience seem worse, knowing how their people had been so badly treated. I still cannot imagine how any human being can do such cruel acts their fellow human beings or sleep at night afterwards. I think my lasting memory of Auschwitz will be the huge glass case, it covered the whole wall in one of the barracks, full of human hair. This was cut from the prisoners’ heads before they were sent to the gas chambers, then sent back to Germany to be woven into cloth and made into uniforms for the guards to wear back at Auschwitz. How sick was that! There were many quotes on the walls, this one very meaningful, I thought: “We must never let this place be forgotten else it will happen again”. One and a half million people died there. 