Bald Eagle feathers in his headdress

It's 4:45 in the morning and as usual I'm wide awake at this time.  I think my body clock is still over the Atlantic, approaching New York, and no doubt will arrive in Colorado in time for me to collect it at the airport when I leave on Sunday.


What an absolutely amazing week so far.  The YMCA of the Rockies is in a stunning setting, at an altitude of 8,000 feet with 14,000 foot snowy mountains surrounding the very high quality complex of what is effectively a small town. Definitely a place to return on holiday one day with the family.  Apart from other holiday makers here (capacity over 4,000 people) it has our 1,300 wonderful delegates from over 80 countries, all of whom are friends whom I've either met or are yet to meet. 


This, the 18th World Council, is my 5th such event and is certainly the best ever.  The programme is interesting, offering many opportunities to meet and learn from fellow participants and the experiences are so varied.  For example, I've attended an excellent workshop hosted by YMCA Canada to improve my Governance skills in Board meetings and I will use some ideas for my Board meeting at home next Thursday.  By contrast I had a long discussion with two Native American gentlemen who were part of a family group who demonstrated their drumming and dancing skills and techniques.  One of the men wore jeans, t-shirt and baseball cap whilst the other was in full "Chief" regalia complete with bald eagle feathers in his headdress!  What a wonderful world when it's possible to discuss cow hide stretching techniques for use with their drums and compare them to the Irish bodhran drums that I'm familiar with in my Morris dancing.  Strangely, they seemed to be unfamiliar with Morris dancing.


Oh, and there has been the small matter of the elections to the World YMCA Executive Committee. Almost exactly a year ago, at the YMCA Europe Festival in Prague, Czech Republic, I was approached by a close friend who wanted to propose me as a candidate for the next President of the World YMCA. She was followed by several others within those few days.  My response to all of them was a polite "no" as I had decided that my 20 year stint in the international world of the YMCA was more than enough for one person and it was time to move on.  Clearly my resolve was weak as within a few weeks, YMCA England had kindly agreed to support my nomination to stand in the elections.  Which have just taken place.


More to follow soon . . . .