The 5 clubs impressed all the members with the extent of their work in Alexandria and each club presented a Power Point presentation about the highlights of their projects.  It was impressive indeed.
The Chairman, Mrs. Ashnadelle Hilmy/Mortagy presented an in depth Power Point presentation about the IIW Convention in Malaysia which took our members to Kota Kinabalu to share the highlights of the Convention and the voting procedures as well as the hospitality.

Guided tour of ex-King Farouk’s royal yacht Al Mahroussa

Historical background:  On 23 July 1952, the Free Officers Movement under Muhammad Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser staged a military coup that launched the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. King Farouk, (1920-1965), abdicated, and went into exile in Monaco and Italy where he lived for the rest of his life.
The revolutionary government formally abolished the monarchy, ending 150 years of the Muhammad Ali dynasty's rule, and Egypt was declared a republic.

Departure into exile finally came on Saturday, July 26, 1952 and at 6 o'clock that evening, the king set sail on his royal yacht, Al Mahroussa, for Italy under the protection of the Egyptian army.
On his exile from Egypt, Farouk settled first in Monaco, and later in Rome, Italy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farouk_of_Egypt

SS MAHROUSSA (background) "Guarded"-by God's blessings.

Her greatest claim to historical fame is that, as the Egyptian royal yacht, she was among the first ships leading the procession through the brand new Suez Canal in 1869 with L'Aigle*, imperial yacht of Napoleon III of France. Royal Yacht is in this case a misleading term - Mahroussa was an ocean-going steamer, as big or bigger than many of the liners of its time. She was designed by Oliver Lang (designer of Queen Victoria's first steam yacht, the Victoria and Albert) and built in 1865 at their Poplar works on the Thames by the Samuda Brothers, who were among the pioneers of iron shipbuilding and beginning to specialize in ironclad warships. The original design had paddle wheel propulsion, but the ship was converted in 1905 to turbines and triple screws.

Sometime in the latter 19th century, she was cut in two and had approx. 40' added to her length. She was rebuilt in 1905/6 in Italy and became one of the earliest ships of any size to be fitted with steam turbines. She was refitted and modernized in Italy in the late 1940s/early 1950s.
After the abdication of King Farouk, she was taken over by the Egyptian government for use as a naval training ship, and renamed El Horria (Al Horreyya) and has since served in that role and, off and on, as the presidential yacht. She is considered to be an historical shrine by the Egyptian Navy at Alexandria.
In 1976, at the age of 111 years, she steamed to New York to take part in the US bicentennial celebration. The ship's condition is immaculate, and duty in her is considered a great honor in the Egyptian Naval Forces. El Horria goes to sea about three times a year, usually just for the day.

Footnote The Mahroussa twice escorted Egyptian rulers into Italian exile Khedive Ismail in 1879 and his grandson King Farouk in 1952.