Our Club

The Past

The Rotary year runs from July 1 to June 30 and in 2004-05 we celebrated both Rotary International's Centennial and the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the club. At that time we produced a history of the club for our current and past members. If you are a former member of the club or related to a former member of the club (we have a full list of all past and current members if you are not sure) we would be happy to provide you with a copy.

When the club was founded there were 25 members and over the years more than 300 local people have enjoyed being a member. Our longest serving member joined in 1947 and remained a member until his passing in 2012.

The inaugural meeting was held at the Bowdon Assembly Rooms (currently the location of the Cinnamon Club). The regular, weekly meetings were held at lunchtime each Monday at The Unicorn Hotel. Some time in 1958 the club moved to the Woodlands Hotel in Timperley for its weekly meetings and then in 1978 to The Cresta Court Hotel, Altrincham. In 1986 the time of the weekly meeting was changed to 7.30pm and this remains the meeting time today. 

Originally Rotary was a "business networking" organisation exclusivley for men (but not anymore). Today Rotary has evolved into "A Global Network of Community Volunteers" that is responsive to disaster relief requirements, local and international aid projects, and a provider of scholarships and other educational programmes around the world. Members still network but the “business” side of it has fallen away.

One thing that has not changed over the years is that our members come from a wide and varied number of backgrounds. In 1987, after the United States Supreme Court ruled " that Rotary could no longer remain male only in its membership", all Rotary clubs became open to both genders.

Worldwide, Rotary clubs are organised into Districts and The Rotary Club of Altrincham is a member of District 1285. Each year each District elects a member to be its District Governor and over the years three of our members have held this office while many others have served in some other capacity at District level. 

The Present

Like many other organisations today we are always on the lookout for new members and by simply contacting us we can arrange for someone who is curious to find out more about what we do and who we are, to come along to our meetings and discover it for themselves, all without any obligation. 

A brief synopsis of what membership of Rotary can offer can be found on the Membership and About Rotary pages.

For those who are unable to become a member our Friends of Rotary scheme may be of interest. 

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