DG Steve's Travels Around district 1180

Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod

Now i had been really looking forward to this event as i had heard so much about it ! I picked up Debbie and Mike from their hotel and we headed down to the Eisteddfod showground. I was a scorching hot day and our first stop was the Rotary stand where we met with Ollie the Polio bear and the Rotarians who were staffing the stand that day. The stand looked great with lots for both adults and children to do. Rotarians handing out stickers and enticing people in to talk Rotary ! We Met Alan Bodicoat who is President of the Llangollen club who took us on a tour of the showground and we met some of the competitors from all over the world. Also some of the people who put the whole event together, they were superb and all volunteers !! Then off to lunch with the RC Llangollen and a chance to meet Terry Waite. He addressed the gathering and we had a lovely lunch with members and some guests. The afternoon was spent wandering around the showground and also watching some performances in the main arena. Such talent on display. We then took time out on the Rotary stand and prepared ourselves for the evening event.

We were invited to a reception before the evening concert were we met our Rotary International Peace Prize winner Dr Waheed Arian. What an incredible guy he is. We were also joined by Dick Hazelhurst and his wife and Jean and Keith Best, they were the judges for the peace prize.

After a superb first half we then had the peace prize announcements and giving. What a great honour it was. We were all joined on stage by John from westminster Stone who also sponsored the event. Unfortunately Somnath from Typhoo could not be there. Dr Arian gave a superb acceptance speech and received a standing ovation from the large crowd of about 2000 people. Broadcast live on welsh TV is was a bit of a nervous moment but as soon as i got onto the stage i felt fine.

It was a long day and with also all the sunshine and heat we were all exhausted by the end. Some incredible performances rounded off the evening and after dropping Debbie and Mike off at their hotel it was home to bed ! A superb day and one i will remember for a long time.