Redditch’s Rotary Club was founded in 1947 by a number of the town’s leading professional and business men under the leadership of founder President he Rev. Bill Wray, minister of the Congregational Church then situate in Evesham Street. The Club’s meeting place was also in Evesham Street at the Talbot Hotel: later the Club moved its home to the Foxlydiate Hotel (now once again its meeting place) and later to the Southcrest Hotel when it was in local ownership and remained there for some years after that place changed hands and became the Quality Hotel..
Rotary Clubs have a long history and by and large their members tend to be made up of leaders in their local communities who have interests and friendship in common with each other and a sense that they having some success in their lives have a responsibility to give something back to their community and to those less fortunate in other less developed countries. Rotarians are by no means merely dedicated “do gooders” but whilst enjoying mutual fellowship they have in many ways helped the people of their town and those overseas. The Redditch Club for many years provided free holidays in Blackpool in conjunction with Rotarians in that town to pensioners who might otherwise not have had holidays, and similarly they have sent local children whose parents could not have afforded to send their children themselves, on free seaside holidays each year. An annual event much enjoyed by Rotarians participating, as well as the children, is to take a party of children from the PitcheroakSpecialSchool for an entirely free day out at DraytonManorPleasurePark as part of the national “Kids Out” organised by Rotary.
The Rotary Club has taken the lead in seeking to alleviate the worst effects of natural and man made disasters, an example was that together with other service clubs in the district the Club collected vast sums of money and huge quantities of blankets and clothing to send to those dispossessed by the civil disturbances in Bosnia, whilst together with the other local Rotary Club, the Redditch Kingfisher Club, they collected from the wonderfully generous people of the town the magnificent total of over £9,000 in the Kingfisher Centre on New Years Day 2005 following the Tsu Nami disaster in the far East: by the time that the Tsu Nami appeal closed the total sum was well over £10,000!
One of the Redditch Rotarians, the late Doctor Dev Khosla, a much loved local dentist, went back to his homeland of India for six or more weeks annually where as a Rotary Dental Volunteer he gave entirely free dental treatment to literally thousands of poor people who could never have afforded dental treatment at all.
Doctor Khosla also oversaw the provision of piped water systems to two poverty stricken Indian Villages, these systems being funded by the Redditch Rotary Club in conjunction with the local Rotary Club in India. In November 2004 the Club helped to organise a major event for the BBC “Children in Need” when a group of caring local jazz musicians to played non stop for twenty four hours at the Hopwood Motorway Service Station and a total of just under $1.40 was achieved A similar event in the following year but over a much shorter time scale
One of Rotary’s aims is to improve international relations, and as a big contribution to that the Redditch Club together with Rotarians from Droitwich Spa have for many years enjoyed a twinning relationship with the Rotary Club of Emden in Germany. Emden is a major ship building and trading port on the Baltic, and members of its Rotary Club with their wives every two years visit Redditch and Droitwich Rotarians as their guests for a long weekend and in the intervening two years the Redditch and Droitwich Rotarians and their wives pay return visits to Emden as the guests of the German Rotarians. Our understanding of the good people in Germany has confirmed the belief that inhabitants of any nation are very much like ourselves! A similar arrangement existed for many years in the twinning of the Rotary Clubs of Auxerre, which lies about 100 miles South of Paris, and Redditch (Auxerre of course has long been an official twin of the town of Redditch) and that relationship has led to several long lasting international friendships.
Rotary world wide celebrated its one hundredth birthday in 2005 and the Redditch Club joined in the celebration with a grand reunion of past Presidents and members of the Club, whilst the Club had marked its own jubilee by a superb banquet at Ragley Hall attended by Rotarians past and present and a number of visitors including prospective new members.
What of the future? The Club has several events pencilled in the diary, highlights including a river trip from Stratford to Tewkesbury, and a Club Breakfast meeting at Sambourne Church Hall hosted by our next President the Reverend Jim Symonds who has often provided similar events, having catered for a “full English” together with his wife Marie and Sambourne parishioners, whilst a garden party is also being planned. Shoeboxes will be filled with desirable items for poor children overseas (maybe at Mtwara in Zambia, another twin town to Redditch) and whose secondary school the Club has already funded a piped water supply.
Ideas and proposals for future activities would be welcomed by Club members as also would the introduction of extra members to come up with new suggestions aimed at improving fellowship and providing service wherever there is need..
COULD YOU BE ONE OF THOSE FUTURE ROTARIANS?