I am delighted that you have entered the Rotary International District 1100 website, and I hope that you will visit the site regularly to read of the latest activities in the District.

As many readers will know, there are a multitude of activities planned in the Rotary year 2004-5 by the 64 Clubs in the District and these will support and assist communities at home and overseas.

A profile of District Governor Paul and his wife, Phyllis
Rotary Club of Newent & District

Paul's roots began in the City of Gloucester, where he attended the King's School from the age of 5 and subsequently became a Gloucester Cathedral Chorister. Moving with his parents and brother and sister, he finished his schooling at Palmers Grammar School in Grays, Essex

On leaving school, Paul studied engineering and paper and board making. On completing these qualifications he realised that factory or office life was not for him and returned to College in Gloucestershire to study Agriculture, his real love in life..

Paul then worked in the marketing and nutritional sides of the livestock industry in Gloucestershire, Lancashire and Shropshire before joining the ICI Veterinary Division in Devon. It was during this time that he met Phyllis, a farmer's daughter, who in 1965 becuame his wife and in 1969 they eventually obtained their own small farm in Gloucestershire before moving to a larger farm in 1975 in the Vale of Glamorgan. With two young sons, Mark and Robin, they eventually ran two farms with 250 milking cows, cheese making, potatoes and marketing brewersÕ grains.

However, following a serious back injury rock climbing, Paul had a further serious accident falling off the roof of a combine harvester breaking all the metal pins and bone grafts that held things together, culminating in his giving up full time farming in 1991 and turning to agricultural consultancy and a holiday investment at Finlake, in Devon.

In 1980 Paul was awarded a Nuffield Scholarship to study the Dairy Industry and Agricultural Finance and subsequently honoured with a Fellowship of the Royal Agricultural Society. With two other Nuffield Scholars he established the Nuffield Russia Trust to teach agriculture and to help establish efficient food production and processing industries.

Paul and Phyllis have brought Russian school children to Gloucestershire, helped establish a number of Russian Orphanages and, with Rotary's help, supplied a 4WD mini bus and established a Russian holiday camp for orphan children with 6 Rotary 10 man emergency tents. His latest project in Eastern Europe was to establish 2 Rotary Foundation Child Protection Units in Estonia with the support of 18 Gloucestershire Rotary Clubs.

After Round Table, Paul joined The Bridgend Rotary Club before transferring to Tewkesbury and then Newent on settling on a small farm in Longhope.

Paul and Phyllis led one of the first all lady GSE Teams to Louisiana, arousing his interest in the Rotary Foundation and after being GSE Chairman he became the D1100 Foundation Chairman.