At work, I get all sorts of invitations to official functions of one sort or another and can be reasonably choosey about which ones I go to. The long periods sitting in the sun listening to speeches in French about some subject I know nothing about tend not to be my functions of choice. However, just before Christmas I got an invitation to a dinner in honour of the arrival in Cameroon of the Queen's Baton relay. Nope, I hadn't heard of it either before getting the invitation.
It turned out to be a baton that had started its journey at Buckingham Palace in October 2009 and would be travelling around all the Commonwealth countries in the world (except Rwanda as they joined the Commonwealth after the baton had started its journey and the schedule is tight) arriving in New Delhi in time for the Commonwealth Games there next summer. If you want to know more, look at
Queens Baton Relay. 21st to 24 December was
Cameroon's turn.
The dinner was hosted by the Cameroon Commonwealth Games Committee which also happens to be the Cameroon Olympic Games Committee and is an organisation I need to get to know before London 2012. I also played cricket a couple of weeks ago with the head of the committee so this was a good opportunity to build up our links. The dinner was good and I was at the same table as the Minister for the Commonwealth (who I needed to speak to on a visa/migration issue so that was useful), the Minister for Youth, the Minister for Sports and the Indian Consul General. The Minister for the Commonwealth kept us entertained with some wonderful anecdotes about the Duke of Edinburgh's visit to Cameroon several years ago and the Indian Consul General was a good storyteller too so the evening passed quickly.
All in all it made for a useful as well as interesting evening. It typified some of my work - representing the UK, cultivating contacts and conducting a bit of business.
It turned out to be a baton that had started its journey at Buckingham Palace in October 2009 and would be travelling around all the Commonwealth countries in the world (except Rwanda as they joined the Commonwealth after the baton had started its journey and the schedule is tight) arriving in New Delhi in time for the Commonwealth Games there next summer. If you want to know more, look at Queens Baton Relay. 21st to 24 December was Cameroon's turn.
The dinner was hosted by the Cameroon Commonwealth Games Committee which also happens to be the Cameroon Olympic Games Committee and is an organisation I need to get to know before London 2012. I also played cricket a couple of weeks ago with the head of the committee so this was a good opportunity to build up our links. The dinner was good and I was at the same table as the Minister for the Commonwealth (who I needed to speak to on a visa/migration issue so that was useful), the Minister for Youth, the Minister for Sports and the Indian Consul General. The Minister for the Commonwealth kept us entertained with some wonderful anecdotes about the Duke of Edinburgh's visit to Cameroon several years ago and the Indian Consul General was a good storyteller too so the evening passed quickly.
All in all it made for a useful as well as interesting evening. It typified some of my work - representing the UK, cultivating contacts and conducting a bit of business.
How far did you have to run with the baton? I hope you had a good handover!
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