Barry, our pony-tailed hero, is almost ready for the AGM and World Conference in Stratford-upon-Avon at the end of this week. National President Steve James and his conference committee have been working tirelessly (so Martin Green says) for the past 3 years to make this a memorable conference for the 450 plus visitors who are now descending on Stratford. 27 countries of 41 INTERNATIONAL together with members of Tangent and Agora are represented and, as I write, the pre-tour is now underway. Over the last couple of months Barry has been very busy travelling. He went to Estonia at the beginning of March for the joint meeting of the 41 INTERNATIONAL Board with RTI and this was followed by a visit to go ice-fishing in Finland, although I think he went to a meeting as well. On to the GB&I conference in Jersey and then just back in time from Denmark and Italy, where he joined Napoli's party when they won the Italian Serie A, for the World Meeting. For those of you who don't kno...
Ending 2023 on a high. We left our pony-tailed hero having finished the half-year meeting in Cyprus and the halfway point of his year as 41 Club International President. His next visit was to Switzerland for their AGM in November. First stop was a visit to stay with Swiss IRO, the irrepressible Noe Zanotta. Noe of course provided wonderful company but also was happy to show Barry around. A trip to one of Noe’s shops was followed by visits to Montreux and a highlight visit to “Barryland”. Yes there really is one, in Martigny, but unfortunately it is not dedicated to the Barry we know but to a very worthwhile cause, that of the Great St. Bernard Dog breed. They then moved on to the beautiful city of Lausanne for the AGM where many friends met for the last International AGM of 2023. The final trip of the year was to be in Merano for the renowned Chestnut Festival. Squeezed in ...
The Half-Way Point After spending 7 weeks touring around Africa, India and Romania Barry returned home, but only for a very short while. Quite clearly he has a phobia about sitting still for even the shortest of time. One could describe it as ants in the pants but even the ants need a rest some time! Barry reminded me that although I mentioned his short visit to Ukraine he hadn’t told me much about it. During his time in Romania he had the opportunity to visit Ukraine (pictured in Cernau). For obvious reasons it was a long way from the war zone but nevertheless an important visit to show support for that ravaged country and its people. Many of you will know that Barry has been part of the Christmas gift transportation for a number of years which goes to Ukraine and other surrounding countries. Barry has regularly travelled to Moldova as part of that. In fact, his two charities are both from that country. If you get an opportunity, please buy a badge or make a donation. Havi...
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