Banbury is always a very special occasion in the Rotaract calendar. It’s a chance to meet with Rotaractors from across the country, find out what other clubs have been up to, share ideas, and meet new friends. I’ve met an amazing bunch of people all thanks to the Banbury camping weekend!
The Marquee
The first evening was all about dancing off the long journey and catching up with old friends. A marquee had been set up on the campsite, complete with bar, bbq, DJ, karaoke and disco going on well into the night. The campsite is well set up with a large catering hut (where we enjoyed a wide array of American-themed meals over the weekend), toilets and shower blocks, so we were well fed and refreshed by the time we headed out for Saturday morning’s activities.
We gathered in the marquee (now adorned with benches and screens) for a new addition to the Banbury programme: the mini-conference. It worked well, and was actually a lot more interesting than you might think from the name! We had several speakers, including current RGBI chairman Natasha Last, Helen Dickenson speaking on the subject of Birmingham PHAB- a charity providing holidays for disabled children in the Birmingham area (and incidentally RGBI’s chosen charity this year), and Southampton Rotaract giving a talk on their past year, in which the club had grown from just three members to over 30.
We also heard all about the Rotaract Overseas Project: a chance for Rotaractors to travel and take part in a life-changing project for a community abroad. The previous project was the Go Gambia! trip, which one of our Deben Rotaractors took part in alongside members from across the UK. The focus was on providing clean drinking and washing water for a Gambian village by digging a bore-hole, erecting a water tower, and installing a solar-powered pumping system to distribute the water. You can read the Go Gambia! Team’s diary of the trip here: http://www.rotaract.org.uk/index.php?cat=content&page=cms&CatID=96 Hearing how the project had transformed the village three years on was inspirational, and the announcement of the next Overseas Project in Kenya got us all excited. If you are interested in taking part in the next project, do get in touch!
The conference also included a series of workshops on the subjects of events, leadership and advertising, through the means of charades, jumping around the marquee, and studying the packaging of chocolate very carefully by eating it. The workshops were an interesting addition to the weekend and luckily covered the rainy part of the morning. Then it was back off outside to take part in the Banbury treasure hunt which, thanks to a very lucky guess, team ‘Deben + 1’ won! The prize was a bucketful of American-themed goodies which was soon devoured with help from friends.
‘Deben + 1’ win the treasure hunt!
We dodged between brilliant sunshine and showers for the rest of the Saturday afternoon, wandering between groups of tents to catch up with friends and hurling frisbees and rocket balls at each other. Saturday evening was the fancy dress party, this year with an American theme. We joined cowboys, the Simpsons, gangsters, the Statue of Liberty and many more to party the night away.
Banbury American-themed fancy dress night.
Photo by Andy Dibley
Sufficed to say, not many of us were up early on Sunday, but the glorious sunshine soon drew us all out. Sunday is traditionally the Silly Sports day, and the real Rotaract competitiveness appeared as we set up for the volleyball, tug-o-war, and of course the very important Welly Wanging Championship, interspersed with the tipsiest game of shots Snakes and Ladders that I’ve ever played! BBQs and circus skills filled the wait until the afternoon awards ceremony, where the trophies for outstanding achievements over the past year are awarded to Rotaract clubs.
Huge tents help when it’s raining!
Monday morning came all too soon, as we started to take down the tents and clear up. Moustaches from Saturday night costumes appeared randomly over the course of the day, and probably will do for some time yet. Then there was nothing left to do but say our goodbyes, load up on cheap leftover drinks at the gate, and start looking forward to next year!
Rachel