Introduction
There are six Rotary Clubs in our city, including a Satellite Club. In normal times the five traditional Clubs meet weekly, one over breakfast, two over lunch and two in the evening. The Satellite Club meets for an hour over coffee on alternate Saturday mornings. I belong to one of the lunch clubs. Most of our members are retired, which is why they can come to lunchtime meetings. The Club was founded in 1927.
We have both male and female members. Our lunchtime meetings enable us to enjoy a good meal and fellowship with one another. We have visiting speakers most weeks, mainly from local charities. Occasionally one of our own members will give a talk. The first meeting each month is a “business meeting” where the chairmen and chairwomen of our various service committees give their reports. Each Rotarian is expected to belong to at least one committee. I am the Club’s Primary Webmaster and am on the Membership and Youth Service Committees.
We work closely with the other four local Rotary Clubs and sponsor the Interact Club at one of the local schools. Each year, in conjunction with the other Rotary Clubs, we organise the local heats of the RIBI Young Musician and Youth Speaks competitions. We also promote other Rotary youth opportunities, such as the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards and Rotary Youth Exchange.
For some years our Rotary Club had a major project supporting schools in part of Pakistan with which we have links. We are now supporting a hospital in a rural area of Sierra Leone. For the next five years we will also be supporting a local charity providing transport for those who cannot access the public transport system.
For the moment all physical meetings and events are suspended but we are continuing to meet at our usual times online.