Bruce Wallace is the World President of The International Caravanning Fellowship of Rotarians (ICFR). When not at home on the south coast of England Bruce and his wife Pat are travelling the world via caravan.
On this episode we talk about the community of Rotary Fellowships, the fun of shared interests, recreational vehicles and of course the Caravanning Fellowship.
You can learn more about ICFR on there website at:
https://icfrrotarianscaravanning.com
You can learn more about Rotary Fellowships at:
https://www.rotary.org/en/our-programs/more-fellowships?gclid=Cj0KCQiAubmPBhCyARIsAJWNpiPPxnz6MyDxXrfte1-09OFlq3m5II1eDbYIHotUbLjkshm9KoWmDG0aAs-9EALw_wcB
Bruce Wallace is the World President of The International Caravanning Fellowship of Rotarians (ICFR). When not at home on the south coast of England Bruce and his wife Pat are travelling the world via caravan.
On this episode we talk about the community of Rotary Fellowships, the fun of shared interests, recreational vehicles and of course the Caravanning Fellowship.
You can learn more about ICFR on there website at:
https://icfrrotarianscaravanning.com
You can learn more about Rotary Fellowships at:
https://www.rotary.org/en/our-programs/more-fellowships?gclid=Cj0KCQiAubmPBhCyARIsAJWNpiPPxnz6MyDxXrfte1-09OFlq3m5II1eDbYIHotUbLjkshm9KoWmDG0aAs-9EALw_wcB
Welcome to this episode of talking Rotary. I'm Peter Tonge and I'm a member of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg Charleswood.
Rotary Ad:And i'm Mandy Kwasnica past president and also a member of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg Charleswood We are so happy you have joined us here and I are so excited for this new podcast and thankful to our many listeners. Let's start talking Rotary.
Peter Tonge:Hi, everyone, welcome to another episode of talking Rotary. I am Peter Tonge. And I'm here with Bruce Wallace. Bruce is the world president of the International Caravaning Fellowship of Rotarians. Bruce, welcome.
Bruce Wallace:Good to be with you, Peter.
Peter Tonge:It's great fun to have you first know where are you situated in the world?
Bruce Wallace:Well, where my Rotary club is Billingshurst and District which is in England, okay, it's towards the south coast. So we're about 20 miles from the channel. So on a good day, given nice way that we can actually see France from where I am.
Peter Tonge:Oh, nice. Nice. Now, um, before we get into your particular fellowship, I wonder if you could talk to me more generally about rotary fellowships and what they are because I don't think a lot of our listeners know.
Bruce Wallace:Sure. I think Rotary Fellowships are one of those things that most Rotarians don't know very much about. In club life, we don't tend to come in contact with them, and many Rotarians have never heard of any of them. But there's actually more than 100 fellowships in Rotary. So if you're a beekeeper, or you're interested in beers, or magicians and motorcycling or photographers and public health, or recreational vehicles and rowing, there is a fellowship that might appeal to you. And it's really designed for people in rotary and people that have had connections with Rotary, who have a common interest in something. We happen to be interested in traveling the world, seeing the world. And we have a fellowship of as you say, international caravaning fellowship Rotarians. caravaning implies it's just karavanke but it's actually not. We actually have a lot of motorhomers Okay, but of course, if you think of international Quranic fellowship Rotarians, it's already very long and to stick in motorhomes as well. It's getting a bit too. Yeah, too much. So we just left it at that. But we go all over the world. We have meetings across the world, we've South Africa and Namibia, United States, sometimes we even get to places like Canada. Wow. In the frozen north, where the temperatures can be really, really cold. I mean, I yeah, he says I think it's about minus 30. You said Peter, where you are? Well, we even have frost today and it was minus one.
Peter Tonge:Wow. Yeah.
Bruce Wallace:So caravaning, fellowships, fellowships, and anybody in rotary or connected with Rotary can join the fellowships and do have a look at the list of fellowships. If there are fellowships that you like, generally very easy to join. We have to join us. You would just look us look at our website, international galvanic collapse, fellowship Rotarians worldwide. You will find a link in on Google or chrome or edge whatever browser you use, and the cost of joining us is extremely expensive. We charge 10 English pounds sterling to join us for a year. Now what do you get for your money? Well, we do give you discounts on any site that you travel on. We have an arrangement with the caravan On motorhome fellowships where we get a 20% discount. So, in fact, you will get your money back if you just come and join us for one night. So it's not expensive. It was never designed to be expensive. We just want to meet fellow Rotarians and we have fun. We visit theatres. And of course, very often in a fellowship, if you're going to an area, the local Rotary Club or the local Rotarians will arrange your program for you. So you'll see the very best of an area. I mean, recently, we went to South Africa, and we were hosted by some of the people in the Rotary Club of Cape Town. And they took us all over South Africa. And of course, they took us to the best sites. They arrange things like the motorhomes we hired, I think about 2526 motorhomes, because it's very difficult getting the caravan across the Atlantic. So we obviously have motorhomes. And for us, great because surprisingly, if you hire 25 mo times you get a very good discount on motorhomes. And if you want 50 or 60 plane tickets, they're much much cheaper if you just buy one or two. So as I say, we go all over the world, we've got a trip coming up to Namibia. So if you like sand, I can recommend Namibia very, very sandy. It actually has the largest sand dunes in the entire world even bigger than the snow piles you get in Canada. Wow. So if you there's a fellowship of beekeepers, a fellowship of beer aficionados, magicians, magician, if you like motorcycling photography, public health, in the States, we have a sort of, I would call it maybe a sister company, sister, organization of recreational vehicles. Now, more like Winnebagos, much, much bigger things like mobile homes, we've got nothing of that scale, it is completely different because people can live in those pretty much permanently. But they of course travel as well. And of course, things like rowing as I said, but there's, there's, there's over 100 others. So do look at it and see what fellowship might appeal to you. I recommend them. This is this is a badge of our Rotary fellowship just covers the world.
Peter Tonge:I should say ruse that I will when we're putting the podcast together, I will put the links to your website there so people can find it easily. And I did notice that you had lots of really cool merchandise on your website for those that were into caravan and then and the fellowship. So that's good. Now for the caravan geeks out there in the world. Can you tell me about the setup that you have for your own caravan?
Bruce Wallace:Sure. I drive Oh, I have a Hymer a German van. It's a four berth. Like most caravans, it's completely equipped with all the modern equipment. So we have obviously ovens, we have microwaves. And of course, all the sites we travel on, it's got very good Wi Fi. We've got obviously television and so forth. And, of course, one of the things about the fellowship is that when we travel to an area and we have about 25 rallies or get togethers in a year, so they're very frequent. We can link in them with a local Rotarians. All right, whoa, run a program and show us all about the local area that we're in. I mean, we've been to things like cement works. We've been to, to places to see theaters, we've had guided walks. We've seen different towns and sites that have been his other great historical interest that we would never have even known that we're there. So there's an awful lot that we can do. We've been to places like the British Ironworks, and you might have seen a lot of sculptures made of knives that were collected from gangsters and they've turned them into sculptures, things like that. You'd never even know they existed, unless you'd met one of the local Rotarians.
Peter Tonge:That's pretty interesting. So I did notice, again on the website that you have these rallies. So could you explain to me sort of the idea of a rally and how that works.
Bruce Wallace:Sure. We get together normally for about a week. So we would publicize normally, the back end of the first of this For the following year, we would publicize get togethers all across the world, whether it's, you know, from across Europe or whatever. And we would indicate that people could apply to come and join them, typically for a week, but sometimes as long as a month. And we would show you a program of the things that we aim to do during that program. So we'd have a rally Marshal, someone who would take the lead would arrange the program, typically, someone local in the area, who would know the area particularly well or could give you advice, they would also find the best sites, they would arrange pretty good discounts, because obviously, we're probably 2030. Vans, typically coming to a site, sometimes a lot more, sometimes we can have 100, more or more on the bigger get togethers. So we would arrange the site and they would then arrange the program, show you the program. And then that would probably mean something like a morning coffee together to discuss what we might be doing during the day, for those that are wanting to do their own thing, because there's no requirement to, to come and do every part of the program. So you can come along, just have a morning coffee with us see what's going on. And if you want to join us for the day, we're going off to a beer festival or a winery, whatever, then you can come along. And if you don't fancy that, then that's also fine, you can do your own thing. Typically, then in the evening, we would have some sort of get together, whether it would be theater, perhaps a film, perhaps a craft evening, perhaps just a supper together, perhaps we'd have entertainment, we'd have a magician or a dancer or a choir or musical evening. So very varied program. And then towards the end of the fellowship, that particular rally, we will have a typical final meal together where we would sort of review what's happened, thank everybody. Few presentations for those that have won prizes, whatever, because sometimes we have competitions, people, you know, do you know these local sites, and you fill in the blanks, that sort of thing, just a bit of fun, really. And I think if I was to say one thing about the fellowship that I think affects me most, and my wife, Pat, is the huge friendship we've built up over the years. These are people that are family, friends, we can go many places now in the country, and we have a friend that we can stay with, they come and stay with us. It's fantastic. It's even better, I would say then just the local Rotary Club because the local Rotary Club, you're not allowed to go and stay in someone's home when they're two minutes down the road. If someone's on the other side of the world, and you've just traveled there by plane, Isn't it nice to be able to pop in for a few days? Swap a few stories have a few beers. Wonderful. I'd recommend it. So even if you don't like caravaning or motorhoming, then do look at the rest of the fellowships, and do see if there's something that appeals to you. And I would take a bet there would be something that would really appeal to you. If you look.
Peter Tonge:I'm sure it's interesting, because it's another whole community of common interests, right?
Bruce Wallace:It is it is. And if you say Oh, I'm a very keen, let's say I'm a very keen gardener, and there's not a gardening fellowship. Well, hang on. In which case, why don't you start? Well, you only need 25 members. That's less less than most Rotary Clubs. Just need a couple of countries, a few countries involved. And you can start your own gardening fellowship. And you can have garden tours across the world. Sorted. Great. And I'll join so yeah, I'm a keen gardener. So you only need 24. Now, I'm sure Peter will join. But it's a bit chilly where Peter is he's, he's his plants are probably not going too well at minus
Peter Tonge:Bruce, In the caravan and fellowship at the moment. How many members are there approximately and where are they located?
Bruce Wallace:Right. We have a international directory. We're in several countries across the world. I think at the moment we have active members in about nine countries. We have connections with a lot more countries but active members in about nine were mainly the vast majority are based in the UK. We've got more than 25 members .Many, many times more than 25 members. So if Rotary decides to quadruple, quintuple, or six to pull the numbers, we are absolutely fine. We've got a lot of members.
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Bruce Wallace:We haven't got as far as I can remember. And this is if there's anyone in Canada that's listening, and you are a member of icfr. I send my apologies, I don't think at the moment we have an active member in Canada. And we would love to come to Canada to look at it again. And I'm sure there must be people in Canada who would like to come to England and do some caravan or motorhome in England. But a huge discount. Because obviously, your sites we get massive discounts for 10 pounds. Or what's that in Canadian dollars? About 17 Canadian dollars? Not very good on rates of exchange. I mean, why everyone can't just use British pounds and just have done with it? I don't know. But you speak the same language? Well, roughly, roughly, an alien is can be translated into English and vice versa. Without Google, it is possible to understand each other quite happily. And yeah. Even even even Mounties. And our guards have got the same uniform except for the hat.
Peter Tonge:Yeah, true. That's very true. Bruce now I know in the UK, there's also part of a caravan and culture where rather than having a mobile device people go from parks where they're sort of prefab cottages or home sort of the the caravan cultures any of that included in the fellowship as well.
Bruce Wallace:No, no, we don't have statics, because part of our ethos is otarRy rotating, moving around. So it's only really for people with caravans or motorhomes or people who can rent them. You don't have to have your own one. A lot of people come and join us for a fellowship, and they perhaps rent a van. I mean, if we're going across, we're going across for three weeks over to Northern Ireland, well, we will take our caravan. But some people might rent a motorhome in Northern Ireland, why not? So you don't have to own a vehicle to come and join us. Join us anyway. In fact, some of we have we have some people that are have have joined the fellowship have become so infirm, they're no longer able to drive a motor home or a caravan. And we have an Armineh. And we have lunches in areas. So people have come and become so infirm that they can't drive a motorhome or caravan, they can come and join us for an afternoon meal or a Sunday lunch, etc, etc.
Peter Tonge:That's a very nice extension of the program. It's a nice way to include your members and your former members.
Bruce Wallace:Absolutely. We say that we don't really have any formal members, we just have people that no longer rally. So we do try. And when we go into an area, we do also make the point of looking up people. So to take an example, surely knees, lost her husband a couple of years ago now I think it is and we were up in her part of the world. And surely if you're listening to this, you'll know that when we were up in your neck of the woods, in the north of England, we took we took her out to lunch to catch up with her and the family. And it was lovely to see. So this is something that even if you become infirm, or you lose your partner and can't rally anymore, then you can still be a member. And by the way we don't charge the 10 pounds anymore. So if you have become infirm or lost a partner, you become effectively a life member free of charge.
Peter Tonge:Nice. I think I think that's part of the community building. I think that's that's a really key point. Right? Um, so what, what exciting things in places do you have coming out for those that are now interested in wanting to do more?
Bruce Wallace:Oh, gosh, Peter, I don't know where to start. Well, we're going over to Northern Ireland, we're going down to Namibia. We are going across the continent to France, Germany, Holland. We're going all over the UK from down in Somerset, which is like the boot of England. If you look at the bottom of England, Somerset's on the bottom, and we're going up to places like Liverpool and Northumberland, all the way up to towards Scotland, we have a Scottish contingent. So all over the UK as well. But we're not planning to go to Canada this year. At the moment, because we don't have an active Rotarian who's joined us in Canada. And if you want to join, I'll even pay you 10 pounds for you.
Peter Tonge:Well, I've taken Bruce, that you you've been in Canada before?
Bruce Wallace:Yes. A couple of times, but mainly in the sort of Toronto area. And mainly when the weather wasn't too good. Okay, we actually had Snow in Toronto. And yeah, it was a bit chilly. And as you see, I've I've spent many years getting this special colored hair, which has not been he's taken me many years to grow this hair to get it this college taken years to get it as white as this. Yeah. So I haven't been to Canada for a few years. So I'm looking forward to coming and see. So one whole country,
Peter Tonge:You must find there are really market difference, though, in the distances between what you're used to traveling in the UK and the caravan required. North America?
Bruce Wallace:Yes. I think in England, where we are, we don't really have a concept as to how big Canada is. I had a neighbor who went over to Canada a few weeks ago, to help move his daughter. And I said, How long will it take? He said about a month. And I said a month? Why take a month? Well, he said we pack up in one house. And it takes us two weeks to get to the other house. Two weeks. I mean, most of our house exchanges is that you pick up in the morning, and you move into your new house in the afternoon. And if it takes an hour or an hour and a half, we think that's LHD long way to travel. Whereas in Canada, it can be two weeks. I mean, it's amazing. Yeah, it's a big place.
Peter Tonge:Yeah, apparently. So I when you said that some North Americans will be interested in caravan in the UK. I think that's true, because I think they would revel in the fact that they're traveling for an hour to go to work you're gonna care of Absolutely,
Bruce Wallace:it's all on your doorstep. I mean, we have the so much history. I mean, I wouldn't know where to start. There is so much history in the UK. I would thoroughly recommend it. It's a very interesting place, whether it's from London or and seeing some of the stately homes that we've got. We have the National Trust. We have a lot of very interesting sites.
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Peter Tonge:Now, were you a caravaner before you get into rotary? Or how did this all come together to combine the two?
Bruce Wallace:Gosh, well, I've been a Rotarian and being president of a couple of clubs, so I've been around a long time. I think I was president first in the late 80s or early 90s. Okay, so I've been around a bit, but I didn't hear about fellowships for about 20 years. So I've been a Rotarian for about 20 years before I knew, fellowships existed, and I wasn't an inactive Rotarian, I was a an active Rotarian. So got around a bit, say 20 years and not knowing about them. So, I hope if people watch this podcast and I'm sure they will be with you leaving it, but they'll definitely look up fellowships and even if it's, you know, beekeepers, or whether it's people that are interested in other things, you'll find something that interests you. And I would just thoroughly recommend fellowships to all Rotarians. You should belong to a fellowship that interests you. It really is great fun.
Peter Tonge:Yeah. Sounds like a whole new community and a whole new family around the caravan. Again, that fellowship
Bruce Wallace:is it is and seeing people of course, when we have these meetings, you very often meet the same people that you've known before. So you do build up a community. We probably have several 100 Rotarians who are very keen motorhomers caravanners, and they tend to travel round. So we see them a lot. But of course, there's many people we see only perhaps once a year or once every other year, so you don't have to come to every rally or whatever. And of course, people bring their children or grandchildren. And that's wonderful we have, one of the events that we run is a special event for children. So typically, it's Rotarians tend to be a little bit older. So sometimes it's it's mum and dad and the kids, but very often it's Gran MA and granddad and the grandchildren. And we have competitions, you know, we have games for the children. And when you've got 30 children that are running around, doing things blowing bubbles, and all sorts, it can be very, very funny, or learning to ride bikes, as many children have learned to ride bikes on our rallies, or, of course, how to make pancakes, very important skill for young people.
Peter Tonge:That's a good skill.
Bruce Wallace:I think it's been a good evening. I would, can I just thank you on behalf of icfr for the opportunity to speak to so many more countries. As I say, I think we're currently active in about nine countries. But there's a lot more than nine countries on the planet. And I hope that as a result of this, a few people will come and join us mentioned mentioned the podcast, and I'll look forward to seeing you on your very first rally somewhere in the world, possibly in Canada.
Peter Tonge:I would love that that would bring back my childhood for sure. No, Bruce, we only have one sort of set question that we asked all of our podcast guests. And that is you've been involved with Rotary for many, many years. Why rotary and not something else? What keeps you coming back?
Bruce Wallace:I think you go back to the sort of basic things. Rotary's motto is service above self. And in all honesty, I found in my life, serving and helping others has been extremely rewarding. I've done a lot of things. I've chaired charities. I've worked with the local council. I've worked with peers of the realm. People like Lord young Duke of Richmond, other people to make this place and other places a better place. I currently chair a trust owns a school. So I've got 200 odd little little ones that I'm involved in. I'm the local authority governor for the school and chair the trust, as I say that owns the school. And these children are between four and 11. And wow, just seeing and helping a couple of 100 children and the teachers and the staff and being part of rotary helping others service of ourselves. Wow. What a wonderful thing to do in this life serve others. Well, it's got to be
Peter Tonge:I couldn't agree with you more. That's why I'm here. Thank you, Bruce. This has been fantastic. Thank you for sharing your story and telling us about the international caravanning fellowship. I think I think our listeners are really going to to enjoy this. I appreciate it very, very much.
Bruce Wallace:Been a great blessing meeting you. And I look forward to getting to Canada sometime. Or are you coming to the south coast?
Mandy Kwasnica:Thank you so much for joining us on another great episode of Talking Rotary. We would love to hear from you. Please send us your comments and story ideas and you can share with us easily by sending us an email at feedback at talking rotary.org Let's keep talking Rotary.