Last night at a concert featuring Kingston University Chamber Choir, Chorus and Ensemble entitled, Ancient and Modern, Innovation & Modern: c1656 – 3/5/2013, I made a new friend.
Rotary Composition Competition 2013
The concert had been organised at St. John’s Church, Hampton Wick, to present prizes to three winners of the Music Composition Competition at Kingston University, with prizes given by the Rotary Club of Kingston upon Thames.
I was asked as a Rotarian and member of the organising committee to take photographs of the event, and as an added advantage, I got to hear the concert, plus meet many people.
But I made one special friend, if only for a moment, Oakley.
Oakley is a Labrador guide dog for the blind, and his owner sat infront of me. He lay next to his owner, listening to the music in a deep slumber, as he was off duty.
Then he awoke, stretched, saw me and came and rested his head on my leg, looking me directly in my eyes with his big brown and black eyes.
I was in love. My heart went out to him, and in an instant I had made a friend, perhaps for a short time, but one of trust between the two of us.
Now the evening has gone, the music has stopped, the prizes given, I will probably never meet Oakley again, but that moment will stay with me forever.
We all have those special times when deep friendships are made, perhaps for a few moments, perhaps from a weeks holiday, perhaps over an acquaintance of ten years, perhaps over a near lifetime of togetherness, then we go our separate ways, but that special friendship can never be taken away, neither the memories or feelings can be erased, forever etched into our personality.
It was an honour to be awarded the title of a Freeman of the City of London.
Although the privileges once afforded to those becoming a Freeman, being able to drive sheep not the City of London, being drunk without fear of arrest, and drawing a sword in public, have long gone, I felt proud on the special day.
After my post about the book The Martians Are Coming, and with nothing to do the next afternoon, I jumped on a local train and visited the home town of H G Wells, a place called Woking, Surrey, England.
I endeavour where ever possible, not to take what I am told, given, or learn at face value, unlike the listeners of that radio play by Orson Welles broadcast in 1938 in the USA, which resulted in mass panic, where people thought Martians were invading Earth. I need to dig down, chunk down, to discover more facts, to understand the truth behind what I am being told, what I read, or what I am being fed.
And so it was, after a short journey I left the railway station in Woking. I had read that there was a Martian Fighting Machine described by H G Wells in his book The War Of The Worlds erected in the town center. I walked down a road deserted of shoppers and with not very inspiring shops, having really no idea of which direction to take, only presupposing that any artwork would perhaps be in the town center.
Hawker Hunter Woking
As I rounded a corner my eyes caught sight of a jet fighter mounted on a large metal pole. Why was it mounted in the center of Woking I could not find out from asking local people, only that once it had been a indoor showpiece of the nearby Big Apple family entertainment centre. One window cleaner I talked to, said he had worked and lived in the area for fifteen years and had no idea what it was all about. I have later found out that it is thought to be the very last Hawker Hunter ever built.
Then down the road from the corner of my eye, (thank you Phillip’s Sausage), I saw the Martian Fighting Machine.
With very little information about the sculpture I took my time viewing this work by Michael Condron. Smaller than I imagined, some 7m (23′) tall, the sculpture seemed to be in the wrong place to honour one of Woking’s greatest authors.
A quick tour of the shops and a cup of hot chocolate and I was back on a train home, not knowing much more than when I started my afternoon trip. But now a little seed has been planted to research why the Hawker Hunter has been placed outside a rather seedy looking Big Apple family entertainment centre.
As people who have attended my training courses around the world know, I have one love, and that is the H G Wells story of The War of the Worlds.
Along with story Jeff Wayne long ago created the musical The War of the Worlds, and I can loose myself in masterpiece of music and song wrapped around a fantastic story.
Set in the UK in the late 19th Century, in the area I live in Surrey, H G Wells tells the story of how earth is invaded by Martians. H G Wells weaves his story around his intimate knowledge of the area of Woking and Horsell Common, Leatherhead, Shepperton, Walton, Sheen, and so on.
I get lost in Jeff Wayne‘s two CD musical, with the striking voice of Richard Burton as the voice of the journalist telling the story, mixed in with dramatic song and music.
Durring my many years of listening and reading The War of the Worlds, I had also heard how late one Sunday evening in 1938, mass hysteria swept across America, as a play was acted-out on the then new medium of radio. People fled their homes, telephone switchboards were engulfed with panicked citizens demand to know what they should do to avoid the invasion.
In his book, The Martians Are Coming, Alan Gallop tells the story of the actor Orson Welles had entered into the profession of acting. Orson Welles soon became well known on stage for his voice and acting abilities, for his passion for adapting plays and books into plays that he could produce and often star in.
It was with a theatrical producer, John Housman, that Orson Welles set-up the Mercury Theatre, to stage plays, and this allowed Welles to pursue his acting career, which he did along side his radio work. The pair were approached by a radio company to broadcast a one hour play each week to be heard all over America.
Welles would take a book and adapt it to become a radio play using the actors from the Mercury Theatre On Air group. The programmes were not a roaring success, but they were listened to.
The night before Halloween in October 1938, Orson Welles had decided to broadcast The War of the Worlds, and the now in place writer, Howard Koch, struggled with taking the original work of H G Wells work set in England, and make it relevant to the ears of the American listeners.
It was decided that the scene should be set in the USA, and Koch purchased a map and chose the site of the landing of the first cylinder from Mars to be Wilmuth Farm, Grover’s Mill in New Jersey.
The play was based on the premise that a music program was to be interrupted by news flashes from the scene of the landing, having interviews with professors and politicians, and following the progress of the Martians in their three legged fighting machines through to New York, reeking havoc and death on their way.
Although, an announcement was made at the beginning, at the end and during the play that is was fiction, many listeners tuned-in missing these messages, and those assumed that the USA was being attacked by Martians, and thus spread panic and rumours amongst the population.
Not knowing what was happening outside the CBS radio broadcasting studios, Orson Welles and his fellow actors and musicians continued, reeking more havoc.
This book gives the background and facts to this 1938 happening, showing how human beings can be so influenced, how we can take a little piece of information and this become the truth. How unrelated situations, in this case Hitler and the chance of Germany invading other countries in Europe can be brought in to create panic. (See Cat on the Mat).
It was from here that Steven Spielberg created his film version of The War of the Worlds. NOw, I think a new film version be produced, based truly on the book of H G Wells, in the UK, using the countryside and towns written. For me the original story is far more gripping, and after all, America did not win the war against the Martians.
For some time now I have not posted any blog, any thoughts, any comments, any news.
Why?
I have no idea.
Perhaps I have become lazy. Perhaps I have been distracted. Perhaps I have had other things to do. Perhaps I have no time.
I do not think any of the above is the reason why, but sitting here in Italy, waiting for my next course to start tomorrow on Coaching, I have had time to reflect on what has been happening in my life over the last few months, something I have not done for a long time, and I realised that I had been distracted away from things I liked to do, like writing an article here on my blog.
Often we are distracted from our normal routine, by a family crisis, a work problem, a domestic problem, a person who needs help, and it is right that we should devote time and effort to those distractions, but, there comes a time when those distractions resolve themselves, and we can get back to normality.
Perhaps I can now return to normality as many of my distractions appears to have been resolved.
The annual Senior Youth Speaks Competition, for schools in the Royal Borough, was held in the Methodist Church, New Malden, on the 13th November, and organised by the Rotary Club of Kingston upon Thames.
Pupils, teachers, friends and families of the competing teams, members and friends of the Rotary Club, and The Worshipful Mayor of Kingston upon Thames, Councillor Mary Heathcote, were presented with very high standard and thought provoking speeches by five teams from, Richard Challoner, Coombe Boys, Coombe Girls, Surbiton High and Tolworth Girls schools.
Each team consisted of three members, a chairperson, a speaker, and a vote of thanks, with each being allocated a set time to deliver a speech. Titles of the talks covered many areas, “Time: it’s all relative”, “The Rise and fall of the Dark Night”, “The Olympic Legacy”, “Are We Slaves To Conformity”, and a rather controversial “Duty to our Parents”, where the speaker implied that there could be an answer to the ever increasing grey haired population, euthanasia.
Obviously, a lot of effort and coaching had been put into the preparation for the night, and all credit must be given to the teachers for supporting their teams both before and during the evening, and it was wonderful to witness teams supporting their competing teams.
Three Adjudicators sat marking the teams, June McCullough, Dr, Helen Setright and Dr. David Lawson, and after the talks and as we all helped ourselves to an array of food and drink, mingling and chatting as the Adjudicators deliberated the results.
After the break, The Worshipful Mayor of Kingston upon Thames, Councillor Mary Heathcote and Kingston Rotary Clubs’ President Paul Hickson, presented each team member with a certificate of merit. Then the results were anounced.
Best Speaker Stephen Inns from Coombe Boys School
Best Chairperson Jinal Parekh from Tolworth Girls School
Best Proposer Jordan Agyeman from Coombe Boys School
Special Award for Merit Sam Baxter from Richard Challoner
The winning team which will go forward to the next round of the Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland in March 2013, to represent the Royal Borough was Tolworth Girls School.
The Rotary Club Youth Speaks Competition gives the youth practice and confidence for their future life, both personally and professionally in public speaking, something we all may have to do sometime during our life, with the opportunity to have fun, meet new people, win prizes and a chance to participate in the Rotary Club’s Youth Exchange program, where two teenagers will spend a sponsored week with others in either, France, Germany, Poland or the UK, expanding and understanding others’ cultures.
Eighteen people attended the PhotoReading course in the Golf Residence Hotel, Opera, Milano.Coach4Life
Three wonderful days, where each participant brought into the course five books, each of 300 pages, and during the weekend they got through six books, plus articles, plus ate and slept, plus listen to me.
I think some of them came in on the first day thinking that it would be impossible to absorb such an amount of information, especially from four of their books that they had never read and did not even know the subject.
What a surprise then for many, when on the last afternoon, they gave a presentation to their fellow participants about those four books that they had no knowledge of on the first day.
It was a joy for me to stand back and listen to them talking and answering questions with such authority, and those listening were amazed at the knowledge being shown.
My only problem was my flight that evening was once again delayed leaving Milan’s Linate airport, meaning a late arrival back in the UK. But it was worth it especially as I read this on Facebook :-
“Ecco il gruppo di Photoreading!
18 nuovi Fotolettori che hanno assorbito e “cantato” il contenuto di ben 5 libri….un totale di circa 1500 pagine in 3 giorni. Compliments and greetings to our great trainer Phillip Holt for his performance and hard work!”
or translated
Here is the Group of Photoreading! 18 new Fotolettori that have absorbed and “sang” the contents of as many as 5 books …. a total of approximately 1500 pages in 3 days. Compliments and greetings to our great trainer Phillip Holt for his performance and hard work!
Every year on 5th November, to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day, of as it is also known, Bonfire Night, the British people burn rubbish piled high, and on top of the bonfire, we will have a Guy, or a mannequin or dummy, which is the representation of Guy Fawkes.
During the evening when we light the bonfire we will let of lots of fireworks.
It is also tradition that the children will take the “Guy” into the streets, and ask passers-bye “A penny for the Guy“. As a boy, I would collect enough pennies to buy the fireworks for the night, and have great joy in firstly building the “Guy”, and then seeing him burn on the bonfire.
In 1605, a number of conspirators planned to assassinate the then King, James 1, to restore a Catholic monarch to the throne by blowing-up the House of Lords in the Palace of Westminster.
The Gunpowder plot was discovered, and the conspirators arrested. And, it is this that the British celebrate.
Due to health and safety, the population no-longer having gardens capable of having a bonfire, individual households or small groups getting together is now a rare occurrence to have a bonfire, but in Kingston upon Thames, the Rotary Club and Roundtable, get together and organise a large firework display. Along with the local radio station, Radio Jackie, who provide the commutation and music, the local Royal Borough also support the venture.
Amodest entrance fee is charged, and the many hundreds of people enjoy a superb evening of fireworks, and much money is raised to help the local community.
I have produced a small video of the evening, I hope you enjoy it.
I have a number of courses coming up, and for those that follow me, and those who have asked to be informed about future courses here are two I will be giving in Italy and Turkey.
PhotoReading
In Italy I will hope to be giving a PhotoReading courses in the near future. If you would like to organise participants to take the 2.5 (two and a half day) course, please contact Phillip Holt.
In todays world we are being overwhelmed with written material, perhaps by journals, magazines, manuals, books, emails, and to keep ourselves at the top, with the knowledge needed to compete and exist in our work and social lives.
How can we get through this vast amount of material? By reading more productively.
We can speed up our reading speeds.
We can read more selectively.
We can read only that information that is relevant to our needs or purpose.
On the course I will teach you all the above and more.
Normal reading, we can expect to read at approximately 180 Words Per Minute (WPM) with 60% comprehension.
With speed-reading it is said we can achieve 800 WPM with 60% comprehension.
With PhotoReading we can achieve 20,000 – 30,000 WPM with 80% comprehension for the purpose we are reading for.
Over the two and a half day course we will get through six books, each with 300 pages, so I will ask you to
bring some books with you.
PhotoReading is not reading you have experienced before.
For those who have completed the course before, why not come along to practice and reinforce your learning, it will be fantastic to see you again for a small charge to cover the hire of the room etc. Remember for returning participants, you must have and produce the official Learning Strategies sealed certificate.
Contact the organisers Phillip for more information or email me.
In Istanbul, Turkey, 19-25 March 2016 and 14-20 May 2016, I will be giving a course Licensed by Richard Bandler’s Society of NLP, the NLP Practitioner Course, your first step into obtaining excellence, confidence and change in yourself and others. Also I will give a NLP Master Practitioner in Istanbul 23-31 May 2016.
Learning NLP with Richard Bandler in the early 1990’s and being one of his assistants for many years and becoming a Licensed Trainer with the Society of NLP, I have taught licensed Practitioner and Master Practitioner courses all over the world on a regular basis, especially in Turkey, many people have attended to gain excellence in their life, their work life, their business, their education, their family.
Previous participants have come from wide ranging backgrounds, housewives, doctors, students, princess, unemployed, retired or just interested, all are welcome to attend to this life changing course.
Gain the confidence to make changes in yourself and others, learn how we communicate and how the human brain processes information of change.
Contact NLPGrup in Istanbul for more information or email me.
Many companies and organisations have had in-house courses and seminars designed specifically for their needs, so should your company have requirements for in-house training or consultancy, please contact me for information and discussion.
Yakın dönemde düzenleceğim çeşitli eğitimleri takip edenler ve eğitimlerimle ilgili bilgi almak isteyenler için, yakında İtalya ve Türkiye’de iki eğitim veriyor olacağım.
PhotoReading
İtalya’da 9-11 Kasım tarihleri arasında Milano’daki Golf Residence Otel’inde PhotoReading eğitimi veriyor olacağım.
Günümüz dünyasında gazeteler, dergiler, manüeller, kitaplar, e-postalar tarafından sayısız yazılı materyal bombardımanına uğruyoruz. Bunlara ek olarak iş ve sosyal yaşamımızda var olabilmek ve rekabet edebilmek için gereken bilgileri edinmemiz gerekiyor.
Bu yoğun materyallerin altından nasıl kalkacağız? Daha verimli okuyarak.
Okuma hızımızı artırabiliriz.
Daha seçici okuyabiliriz.
Yalnızca ihtiyaçlarımıza ya da amacımıza uygun olan bilgileri okuyabiliriz.
Normal okumada, dakikada yaklaşık 180 kelimeyi %60 anlama oranıyla okuruz.
Hızlı okumada, dakikada 800 kelimeyi %60 anlama oranıyla okuruz.
PhotoReading ile dakikada 20.000 – 30.000 kelimeyi okuma amacımıza yönelik olarak %80 oranında anlarız.
İki buçuk günlük bu eğitimde, her biri 300 sayfalık altı kitabı tamamlayacağız, dolayısıyla yanınızda kitap getirmenizi isteyeceğim.
PhotoReading, daha önceki okuma deneyimlerinizden tamamen farklı olacak.
Daha önce bu eğitimi almış olanlar, eğitime yeniden katılıp öğrendiklerini pekiştirebilir. İkinci sefer katılacak olan katılımcılarımızı, cüzi bir katılım miktarıyla aramızda görmekten memnuniyet duyarız. Bu katılımcılarımızın Learning Strategies kurumundan kendilerine verilen orjinal sertifikayı yanlarında getirmeleri gerekmektedir.
Daha fazla bilgi için Coach4Life ile irtibata geçin ya da bana e-posta gönderin.
Istanbul, Türkiye’de, 19-25 Mar, 14-20 Mayis, 2016 tarihlerinde, Richarch Bandler’ın Society of NLP kurumundan lisanslı, NLP Practitioner Eğitimi veriyor olacağım. Bu eğitim, mükemmelliğe ve özgüvene ulaşmak, kendinizde ve diğerlerinde değişim gerçekleştirmek için ilk adımınız olacak.
1990’ların başlarında NLP’yi Richard Bandler’dan öğrendikten ve uzun yıllar onun asistanlığını yaptıktan sonra Society of NLP kurumunun lisanslı bir eğitmeni olarak tüm dünyada düzenli olarak lisanslı Practitioner ve Master Practitioner eğitimleri verdim. Dünya genelinde ve özellikle de Türkiye’deki eğitimlere iş ve özel hayatlarında, eğitimlerinde, ailelerinde mükemmellik elde etmek isteyen çok sayıda kişi katıldı.
Katılımcılarımız doktor, öğrenci, ev hanımı, emekli ya da çeşitli mesleklerden kişiler olabildiği gibi yalnızca ilgisini çeken kişiler de olabilmekte.
Kendinizde ve diğerlerinde değişim yaratabilme özgüvenini kazanın, nasıl iletişim kurduğumuzu ve insan beyninin nasıl çalıştığını öğrenin.
Daha fazla bilgi için Istanbul’daki NLPGrup ile iletişime geçiniz ya da bana e-posta gönderebilirsiniz.
İtalya ve Türkiye’den sonra birçok ülkede eğitimler vermeye ve konuşmalar yapmaya devam edeceğim. Eğitim konuları arasında farklı seviyelerde Lisanslı NLP, Tony Buzan’ın Lisanslı Zihin Haritaları, Hafıza Becerileri, Hızlı Okuma, Koçluk, Hipnoz ve Sahne Hipnozu yer alıyor.
Birçok özel firma ve kuruluş için ihtiyaçlarına yönelik olarak şirket işi eğitimler ve seminerler düzenlemekteyiz, şirket içi eğitim ve danışmanlık ihtiyaçlarınız için de benimle irtibata geçebilirsiniz.
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