President's Message

Welcome to the Chislehurst Rotary website and I hope you will enjoy reading about who we are and what we do. 

Many of you might have heard about Rotary from seeing us collecting on the streets at Christmas, our Summer Fair on the Chislehurst Common or heard the booms of the annual Chislehurst fireworks in November. What many do not know is that Rotary extends much further than just our neighbourhood.

Rotary has worldwide over 35,000 clubs and a membership of over 1.2 million. Just in the UK we have almost 1700 clubs and 50,000 members from all walks of life. As a Rotarian you may visit any club and meet new friends and contacts, it’s like having an extended family in almost every part of the world.

We raise money through our fund raising activities which is spend locally and internationally.

Locally on deserving charities such as Marjorie Mcclure school, Demelza to name but a few. We also hold an annual party for the senior citizens in our society, encouraging social contact and banishing loneliness.

Internationally we have renovated schools in many parts Africa, installed solar powered water systems, built ablution blocks, roofed and painted classrooms. We have participated in literacy projects in South America helping mothers to learn to read and write and change the lives of their young.

We endeavour to do these projects in co-operation with local Rotary clubs on the ground so the funds raised have the maximum input and effect.

We send support to disaster stricken areas affected by floods, earthquakes, famine and war, giving shelter and clean water via Rotary organisations such as Shelter Box.

The Rotary International main Charity has been the eradication of Polio worldwide which in the history of Rotary has had extraordinary success. More recently we have been partnered by the Bill Gates Foundation There are only a handful of Polio cases left in the world and sadly the fight will never be over until there are no more. Then the world will be safe from this terrible disease.

It may sound as if we are only about work and fundraising, we also have many social events and have a lot of fun together. We meet twice a month on Monday evenings for dinner and a good chat. We have a variety of interesting speakers to also entertain and tell us about their jobs, charities, and hobbies.

Have a read through our website and learn more about our club. We are also on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly known as twitter). Give us a call on the number below and come to a meeting. You will always find some like-minded people and learn more about us. You may even want to join!!