Skittles and dancing - meeting the GSE team from Turkey

LtoR: Begum, Hilal, Cagil, Yildirim, Kate, Captain Bob

Earlier this month the GSE team from District 2440 in Turkey were hosted by Rotary Club of Chippenham as part of their visit to District 1200. Captain Bob looked after the team as they completed their busy schedule including a trip to Avebury and a tour in the Brewery in Devizes. The team also visited Good Energy, the company I work for, which is based in Chippenham.

I met the team at a skittles evening in the Wellesley Arms in Sutton Benger. I had never played skittles before but ‘Team Turner’ (my husband Will and I) came a very respectable joint first place in the competition! The Turkish GSE team joined in and enjoyed the quintessentially english country evening. It was great to meet Hilal, Begum, Cagil and Yildirim, and chat about their GSE visit so far. Seeing the Turkish team together brought back a lot of memeories from my own GSE trip. The team told me that their vocational visits had been great and that they had enjoyed visiting Bath, whilst seeing Stonehenge was a highlight for Yildirim in particular!

 I was very impressed by the team’s enthusiasm and language skills, if we thought GSE was exhausting, imagine doing it in another language! Rotarian Reha is the team leader for the D2440 team and gave a speech about how GSE had been an amazing experience, not just for his team but for him as well – something I know Captain Bob would agree with. We were treated to some fancy dance moves on the skittle alley too - Reha is a professional dancer ( Adele would have loved it!) It was fantastic to meet the GSE team and see once again what an impact GSE can have.

It was a great evening and good to spend more time with the Rotarians, seeing familiar faces and meeting new ones too. I’m looking forward to being reunited with my own GSE team for our final presentation on Monday!

GSE team from D2440 receiving their certificates from President Rick