Fellowship with Club Members and their Families
Ever since its foundation in 1929 the Club has been renowned for its strong fellowship. It is small enough for members meeting weekly for lunch to get to know each other really well and to share their interests, experiences and hobbies.
Nor is the sense of community limited only to members, as their wives and families are regularly involved in the club’s social and fund raising activities. Chief amongst these is the President’s Annual Weekend, now in its 22nd year, when Rotarians and their wives participate in visits to places of interest in the UK and abroad.
The wives and widows of Rotarians run their own organisation, called “Inner Wheel”, devoted to social and charitable causes.
Our International Contacts
Like most Clubs we are linked to other Rotary Clubs abroad as part of our object to encourage and foster international understanding, goodwill and peace.
Our strong links with a Club in Enghien-Les-Bains near Paris and one at Hameln (the town of Hamelin of Rat Catcher fame) in Germany have lasted for over 50 years and provide the opportunity for annual meetings, each Club acting in turn as host to the members and wives of the other two Clubs.
Children of Rotarians can exchange with those in our linked Clubs, living in their homes for a while to improve their knowledge of the foreign language.
As members of Rotary International, all Rotarians are made welcome at meetings of Rotary Clubs all over the world, a privilege our members frequently enjoy during their travels abroad.
Service to the Community
Important as fellowship and internationalism are, Rotarians have a more serious purpose. The motto of Rotary is “Service above Self” and its primary object is to encourage and foster the ideal of Service. All Rotarians are united in striving to serve their local, national and world-wide communities.
In the Gillingham Club this takes many forms. Each year we raise money by towing Father Christmas round the streets on a float, to delight the Children, and all the money collected in this way (more than £8000 each year) is devoted to the support of worth local charities, which send representatives to our lunches each year to describe how the money will be spent.
We also organise money raising activities amongst our members to give contributions to such international charities as Water Aid and Sightsavers and to Hospices and Hospitals in Kent. Each year we join with our linked clubs in Europe to raise a substantial sum for an international project agreed upon by the three clubs. Our Club also supports each year Rotary Foundation, the largest international charity in the world, which is cooperating with the W.H.O to achieve inter alia the complete eradication of Polio disease from the planet.
As well as raising money, many of our members give personal service to good causes by taking voluntary roles in their local churches, schools, hospitals, youth groups and charities. Much of this important work takes place quietly year by year and goes unreported, but a keen observer will notice how many of the people involved are wearing a Rotary badge in their lapel.
Membership and Organisation.
One of the features of Rotary is that the members of each Club are drawn from a variety of businesses and professions. This means that there are always experts and specialists available in a wide range of subjects to give free advice and help to each other.
Each Club in Rotary is autonomous, electing annually a President, a Council and Officers to run it’s affairs. Clubs are grouped together territorially into Districts with an elected District Governor and a National President.
If the idea of joining the Rotary Club of Gillingham appeals to you, further information and details of membership can be obtained from our Club Secretary by contacting us via our contact page
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