Business Meeting & Dinner - George Hotel/ZOOM

More ”FIRSTS” for Penrith Rotary

Penrith Rotary has been changing the way it operates for some time now and at a recent meeting we achieved another first. We inducted two new members, who were the first married couple to join in our 76 year history. Maureen and Alan have joined us after moving up to Cumbria having semi-retired. I thought they looked very young to be retiring!

We have, for a long time now, had women in the club but this is our first married couple, and we look forward to using their skills to further the aims of Rotary in Penrith.

We currently have 25 active members of whom 8 are female, so please don’t think that Rotary is only for men.

At the same meeting we were treated to an interesting talk from our member Heather, a lady who became our first female member over a decade ago, and who has since rejoined us after a break when she moved up to Scotland for a while.

However, Heather is no stranger to firsts, as she explained in her talk which was entitled “My time in the Royal Air Force”. While she was in the RAF, Heather became one of the first female “Air Quartermasters” in the service. She then went on to explain her role in keeping aircraft properly balanced when they took to the air.

After the RAF Heather enjoyed a second career, in the Civil Service, where she also turned out to be a high flyer. She, of course, accomplished all this at a time when both these professions would have been significantly male dominated.

So, it was no surprise when she took it in her stride becoming Penrith Rotary’s first female member, then our first female President, and also a leading light in starting to modernise the way the club operates.

As you can see Penrith Rotary is not frightened of change, in fact we are now embracing it. We always welcome new members, so if you would like to know more about us, please have a look at our website at penrithrotary.org.uk where there is also a link if you fancy finding out more or even joining.

The photo shows our new members Maureen and Alan with their sponsor Stephen Clarke and our President Andrew Greenop