The Rotary Club of Barnoldswick & Earby

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The Club's History

The Inaugural Meeting of our club was held at Thornton Manor Hotel, Thornton in Craven on  Monday, 26th of November 1962. There were 26 Founder Members. Our Mother Club was Burnley, and we were fortunate in having Bob Thompson of the Blackpool Club as our District Extension Officer, ably supported by Leonard Simpson of the Burnley Club, both of whom gave us a thorough grounding in Rotary , and to whom we all had the greatest respect and affection .

Our first Charter Dinner was at the Bull and Royal in Preston and since then  many of our  Charter Dinners have been held at either the Coronation Hotel or Stirk House, though now we meet at the Rolls-Royce Leisure Centre. The entrance fee was fixed at 4 guineas and the annual subscription was also 4 guineas.

Several of our members have served with distinction on District Committees but we have yet to produce a District Governor.

Our wives formed an Inner Wheel Club two years after we were Chartered but they meet more informally now.

We have a long standing relationship with the Rotary Club of Mayen in Germany. It started with an exchange of young people and then developed into visits in alternate years of Rotarians and their wives. Initially visitors stayed in hotels but we now stay in each others homes. The Club has always tried to play its full part in Youth Exchange, and in our record  year seventeen young people took part.

Over the years we have raised considerable sums of money for many and various overseas causes, such as Eye Camps, Shelter Box and Water Aid but not forgetting an emphasis on local charities. We have never felt that the primary aim of a Rotary Club was to raise money, but it is rather to give a personal service to the community.