Founders Night

HENLEY ROTARIANS COME TOGETHER TO CELEBRATE 112^th BIRTHDAY

On Tuesday of last week, the two Rotary Clubs of Henley-on-Thames and Henley Bridge met together at the Red Lion Hotel to celebrate the foundation of the organisation which became Rotary International.

On February 23, 1905, a Chicago lawyer, Paul Harris, invited three of his business friends to meet together in one of their offices to enjoy fellowship through business. They met weekly after that, rotating the venues round their respective offices, which was how the name ‘Rotary’ was coined. They enlarged their circle of members so much that they ceased rotating and shifted their meetings to hotels or restaurants.

By 1907, the club members started carrying out community service work, one of their first projects being to construct Chicago’s first public lavatory. Thus began the world-wide movement which today has 1.2 million members in 35,000 club in 120 countries. The international organisation’s main charity, the Rotary Foundation, was formed a few years later and is this year celebrating its centenary.

Rotary came to Henley in 1955 with the formation of the Rotary Club of Henley-on-Thames and was augmented in 1982 with an evening club, the Rotary Club of Henley Bridge.

In recent years, the two Henley clubs have held a joint meeting on or around February 23 to celebrate and remember Paul Harris, taking turns in hosting. This year it was the Henley-on-Thames club’s turn to convene the event and President Lionel Scott welcomed members of both clubs, with the Henley Bridge club being led by their president Stefan Gawrysiak.

He also welcome the Mayor of Henley, Cllr Julian Brookes, the Rotary 1090 District Governor, Joy Arnott and the guest speaker, Captain Adrian McCourt, one of the ambassadors from Trinity House.

Captain McCourt, who served as a Merchant Navy captain, joined the Trinity House Younger Brethren Ambassadors Group in 2013, a year before the 500^th anniversary of the organisation which had been founded by Royal Charter during the reign of Henley VIII, to regulate and improve the state of shipping and the well-being of seafarers.

He showed a video about its work as the General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. It is also a charity dedicated to the safety, welfare and training of mariners. In addition it is a deep sea pilotage authority providing expert navigators for ships trading in Northern European waters.

The Corporation of Trinity House has now opened the doors of many of its lighthouses for public view, offers voyages on its flagship THV Patricia, and has converted a number of the lighthouse keepers’ cottages into holiday accommodation.

After a number of questions, during which Captain McCourt introduced his colleague Chris Trelawny, who had joined the ambassadors group in 2016, Joy Arnott proposed the vote of thanks.

Earlier in the evening, Henley Bridge president Stefan Gawrysiak had given grace after the candle of friendship has been lit by his president-elect, Ian McGaw. The objects of Rotary were recited by the Henley-on-Thames club’s president-elect Maria Bunina, whilst secretary Philip Fletcher, in accordance with tradition, gave the “Last accolades,” a passage of words originally spoken by a friend about Paul Harris when he died in 1947.

Attached picture by Will Busher shows, l.to r., Stefan Gawrysiak, Joy Arnott, Captain McCourt, Mayor of Henley and Lionel Scott.