On the 23rd February 1905, 37-year-old Attorney Paul Harris (right)  began to change the World.  He conceived an Organisation that has now spanned over 100 years.

Rotary is based upon Fellowship amongst Business & Professional men and women. So started the Rotary Club of Chicago.  It was three years before the second Rotary Club in San Francisco was formed, and then other Clubs were started in cities across the United States before, in 1910, Rotary moved into Canada.

It was 1911 when Rotary crossed the Atlantic and moved into Dublin and in the same year the London Rotary Club was created. In 1917 the Cardiff Rotary Club became the first Club in Wales.

Since those humble beginnings Rotary International has become a global network of service volunteers. It is now the World’s largest service organisation for Business and Professional people with some 1,180,000 members across 166 Countries.

Within Great Britain & Ireland (RIBI) there are 59,000 Rotarians within 1835 Clubs helping those in need both locally and internationally and working towards world understanding and peace. Devon Rotary District 1170 has 47 clubs with over 1500 members.

Rotary runs the largest non Government Scholarship Scheme in the World through Rotary Foundation this gives more than £21 million every year to educational and humanitarian programmes that promote international understanding.

Perhaps the greatest testimony to Rotary over the last 100 years is the continuance of its own historic principle that demands membership of Rotary is a privilege, an opportunity and a responsibility which demands honest and efficient service and thoughtfulness to ones fellow men and women around the world.

It is this declaration that will ensure that Rotary continues for another 100 years.

For more information see our Rotary District Website

For the BIDEFORD TARKA ROTARY  click here