U.S. and Canadians praise Taunton Vale Rotary projects:

Rotarians from Washington State and British Columbia have been visiting Taunton and other parts of South West of England.

U.S. Rotarians from Kennewick, Spokane and Walla Walla and Canadians from Cranbrook and Grand Forks were making a return visit Rotary’s District 1200 which covers Somerset, Dorset and West Wiltshire.

While in Taunton the visitors were shown some of the organisations that the Taunton Vale Club has supported recently, including the Neroche Woodlanders camp on the Blackdowns and CHARIS Refugees.

Other outings included a trip to Dunster Castle and village, Somerset Cider Brandy and visits to the Museum of Somerset and Taunton Minster.

Dunster Yarn Market

One of the couples visiting from Washington State wrote: “This trip was one of the highlights of our life. I hope we can create more exchanges visits.   Our compliments on all the (Taunton Vale Rotary) club projects especially the one for immigrants.”

Somerset Cider Brandy

One of the Canadians wrote: “We had such a wonderful time in District 1200 with so many wonderful friendships and memories being made ………. what a great time we had, all the wonderful food and visits we shared, and the sights we saw and projects we helped with.” 

In addition to its humanitarian work, one of the core elements of Rotary International is to promote cultural understanding and peace throughout the world.  Friendship exchanges form an important part of that effort.

Richard Austin, who facilitated the visit to Taunton says: “As a former journalist, it is really interesting to hear how people from other countries view both world affairs and our domestic politics.  They were keen to watch the BBC news and then see how the same events are presented on ITN, GB news and even Al Jaseera.”

Enjoying Traditional Folk Music