Kennet Valley Rotary Clubs

What exactly is Rotary?

It is a question that members of three local Rotary clubs admit many people may not be able to answer.

Put simply, Rotary brings together people who want to use their time, skills and experience to help others and make their communities better places to live.

Rotary clubs organise events, support community projects, volunteer their time and raise money – not for their own benefit, but to support charities, good causes and people who need help.

Three local clubs are joining forces to make an even greater difference.

Thatcham Rotary, Newbury Rotary and Hungerford Rotary have launched a new collaboration under the banner Kennet Valley Rotary Clubs – KVRCs.

Each club will retain its own identity, independence and strong links with its local community. But by working more closely together, the clubs believe they can increase what they are able to achieve across the Kennet Valley.

The collaboration will allow the three clubs to support one another's events and initiatives, share ideas, experience and resources, and create new opportunities to raise funds for local charities and community organisations.

But raising money is only part of the story

Rotary is about people helping people.

Behind every cheque presented to a charity are local volunteers who have given their time to organise an event, sell tickets, find sponsors, set up stalls, marshal activities, promote a cause or simply turn up and lend a hand.

Sometimes the result is fundraising. At other times, what a community needs most is people's time, contacts, knowledge or practical support.

That is what Rotary is about – ordinary people using what they have to help others.

Yet much of this work happens quietly behind the scenes, and the three clubs recognise that many people across the area may have heard the name Rotary without really knowing what a modern Rotary club does.

KVRCs wants to change that.

By speaking with a stronger, combined voice, Thatcham, Newbury and Hungerford Rotary Clubs want to make Rotary more visible and accessible and demonstrate the difference its members are making within their communities.

And they hope that will encourage more people to get involved.

You don't necessarily need to have previous experience of volunteering, and getting involved doesn't have to mean making a huge commitment.

People can help at an event, support a particular project, share their professional skills and experience, help with fundraising or become a Rotary member.

If you have ever thought, "I'd like to do something for my local community, but I'm not sure where to start," Rotary could be the answer.

A local collaboration with a global connection

The new Kennet Valley Rotary Clubs collaboration will officially launch to coincide with World Polio Day, reflecting one of Rotary's best-known international causes.

For decades, Rotary members around the world have been at the forefront of the campaign to eradicate polio, showing what can happen when individuals, communities and organisations work together towards a common goal.

It is that same principle that sits behind KVRCs.

Three established Rotary clubs, each proud of its own community and identity, working together where collaboration can help them achieve more.

Three Clubs, Three Communities. One shared ambition: making an even greater difference across the Kennet Valley.