The three Rylarians that the Club sent to this year’s RYLA camp at the end of August described to Club members how they had enjoyed and benefitted from the RYLA experience.
President John and Youth Chairman Peter had visited the RYLA camp on the final night. The Thursday evening is designed to thank Rotary clubs for their generosity in funding 32 places for 16-17 year olds from District 1210. The evening started with a huge meal of chilli, chicken curry and side dishes which was finished off with an assortment of hot and cold desserts. The RYLArians were then presented with their RYLA shirts and certificates by District Governor John Sayer. The 32 participants had been divided into 4 teams of 8 (A,B,C and D). This year Team C won the overall competition – one of our candidates, Ali Shafiq, was in this team.
With the formal part of the evening completed each team provided ten minutes of entertainment ranging from a gymnastic display, a rendition of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody to a Taekwondo demonstration. The Rotary mentors did not escape from providing entertainment and indeed past DG Richard Green could be seen in many guises and numerous accents.
The RYLA course was supervised by Awesome Adventures and their final display of synchronised swimming will be remembered for many years by all who attended. This social evening gave an opportunity for President John Wardle to meet Ashley Maiden, Ali Shafiq and Ross Monachino and get to know our chosen candidates better. Rotary club members departed for home at 21.30 leaving the RYLA candidates to enjoy a disco until the early hours. I have since heard that they were all awakened at 6am the next morning for a 30 min strenuous PE session before starting their day!