Rotary Club of Kyrenia Cosmopolitan second meeting of 2023
Introduction by Chris Elliott….
Over the past few years, my life had become very hectic with CyprusScene publishing and then becoming very remote from the communities due to the Covid period in our lives, so it was with great pleasure as a founder member of the Rotary Club of Kyrenia Cosmopolitan to be invited by the current President, Ayten Kiani Benoit to join them at their latest club meeting and this is what she had to say about it.
“On 25th February 2023 Rotary Club of Kyrenia Cosmopolitan had its second meeting of the month. We were honoured to have international bestselling author and Rotary Club of Kyrenia Cosmopolitan’s member Robin Melhuish as our guest speaker.
The meeting took place at the upstairs meeting room at Ezic Premium and more than 28 people attended. Some were our members, some past members, some potential members and friends as well as the President of Rotary Club Kyrenia Liman, Ozcan Bundak, and President of Rotary Club Nicosia Sarayonu, Memnune Turkan and members from their clubs.
Robin’s talk was about the inspirations behind his books, which comes from many angles. He spoke about the snippets of random information he came across, the curiosity these snippets raised with him to encourage research, and the formation of probable stories which resulted in the books he has written, which are: Anglist; April Fool’s Day; All That Remains ( one of my personal favourites); Finish With Engine; The Quiet Way; Weapons Of Mass Deception ( another one of my personal favourites); Cast Of Shadows and his latest book “The Toothless UN” which he co-wrote with Willy Lindh.
At the end of his talk, Robin asked all participants to write down a life-changing experience we all had and share this with each other. Due to time restrictions, not everybody had the opportunity to share but some very interesting experiences were shared. Below is a brief summary:
I.G – being encouraged to accept an offer as a lecturer at Near East University, although she was initially very reluctant to accept as she didn’t think lecturing and teaching was her strength. Through accepting this challenge she found herself, her self-worth, and her self-confidence.
O.T – while at university was asked to be a host presenter at an event with an audience of nearly 800 people. He was initially very nervous but when the event was over, he gained a new sense of confidence and felt ‘he found his voice’.
G.O – went to a university in China for his bachelor’s degree, and found that in order to socialise, he also needed to learn the Chinese language while studying for his degree. He managed to do both and this achievement gave him the confidence that you can do anything if you set your mind to it.
F.B – obtained a back injury and was in a wheelchair, was advised that he needed to have a spine operation or would end up being paralysed. He went to a chiropractor, and started treatment with him but also did a lot of self-healing. Through sheer determination and focus, he is now walking, running, and dancing and achieved this without an operation.
M.S – ( gave this information written) “ as a cat in her 9th life, there is more than one. Which is most important I cannot say, but maybe the biggest was making the mistake of marrying a Narcissist. Hence I never became the Brunhild my singing teacher hoped for me”.
Thank you Robin for your very interesting and informative talk and the exercise of personal experiences, which enabled us to further connect and get to know more about each other, we are proud to have you as our member.”
Summary: So for me as a guest, it was a very pleasant experience to meet and be with rotary members again because as individual clubs they all do such wonderful things to help others and it was also to good hear of Robin Melhuish’s latest book as we have published a number of reviews of his books in the past.
