Six members of the Rotary Club of Patong Beach, President Karen Eidsvik, PP Sam Fauma,
PP/PE Arnaud Verstraete, PP Walter Wyler,
Rtn Roy Devlin and Rtn Stewart Petersen,
attended the annual D3330 District Conference, held in
the Mida Dhavaradi Grande Hotel in Nakhon Pathom over the weekend of 29th-31st March 2019.
Following registration on the Friday evening, over 500 attendees from District 3330 as well as other areas of the world attended the Awards Night ceremony, which was opened with the host, D3330 District Governor Lt General Kanit Jamjuntra, being marched in by a troop of very smart buglers and to one of Johan Strauss’ famous Radetzky marches.
We couldn’t miss the smiling face of our PP Sam Fauma.
PP/PE Arnaud Verstraete honoured Rtn VP Roy Devlin ready for the conference
for his Rotary Foundation donations
During the Chinese style dinner party, DG Lt Gen Kanit presented numerous trophies and awards to the many clubs present, with Rotary Club of Patong Beach receiving a total of four awards.
PP Sam special representative to the District Governor P Karen accepts the award for sponsoring
for establishing RC of Koh Samui Phangan RC of Koh Samui Phangan
It was unanimously agreed this was one, if not the best award night ever. No lengthy opening protocol or addressing VIP’s and guests. The event started as scheduled at 18:30 and the first award was given away (to the Rotary Club of Patong Beach for supporting to found the new Rotary Club in Koh Samui Phangan, was given away 5 minutes later. Before 22:00 the entire award night was closed and all of us could head to the rooftop bar and having a great night.
Saturday saw Day 1 of the conference again hosted by the DG, opening with the Thai, Japanese and Korean National Anthems and a Presidential parade of the flags of the 102 Rotary Clubs represented. This was followed by keynote speeches from the Rotary International representative Frank Yih on behalf of RI President Barry Rassin, on Future Trends, District Designated Funds and report of the Youth Exchange, which saw the students resplendent in their badged jackets on stage.
Following an excellent international buffet lunch, the afternoon session was taken up with further speeches, finance, achievements, management and the introduction of the District Governor Nominee Designated.
The evening party was another opportunity for celebration in the hotel ballroom with more presentations, dancing, and an impromptu version of Frank Sinatra’s My Way sung by 94 year old Past RI President Khun Bichai Rattakul.
It was another interesting and enlightening Rotary weekend and good to see so many representatives from the Rotary Club of Patong Beach present.
District events like this one, or the upcoming District Training Assembly in May in Trang are perfect events for us Rotarians to meet other like-minded people here in Thailand, making new friends and enjoying fellowship and comradery.