This is the Club ( a potted History)
In 1966, a number of businessmen in the towns of Tetbury and Malmesbury came together to form The Rotary Club of The South Cotswolds. The club received its charter on 22nd June 1967 , with 32 founder members. Within three years the club had changed its weekly lunchtime meetings to become one of the first evening meeting clubs in Rotary District 110 (now 1100). In 1991 it was amongst the first clubs in the UK to agree to admit women to membership.
Whilst good fellowship abounds, the record of service provided by the club is impressive. Since 1970, the club has provided a Bonfire and Fireworks Spectacular annually, on or about 5th November, as a community service to safeguard local children. In recent years thousands of children with special needs have enjoyed ‘Kids-Out Day’, organised by Rotary on a district and nationwide basis. Other recent community service includes the restoration of a length of the Malmesbury River Walk, now called Rotary Way; fencing at Tetbury’s Preston Park and the distribution of Bogus Caller Cards and smoke alarms to protect vulnerable householders.
The principal fund raising effort in recent years has been the ‘Horseless Team Event’, where teams of all ages are invited to negotiate the famous equestrian Three Day Event course in Badminton Park without horses! Attracting competitors in hundreds of teams, the event has raised over £200,000 for a number of local and national charities over the years. Other fund-raising schemes have included a sponsored walk along the M4 (before its opening); 24-hour Skittles Challenges; An Easter Duck race on the Avon at Malmesbury; an annual quiz; Stock Exchange and indoor Steeplechase evenings, and choral and band concerts in Malmesbury Abbey.
Among the projects funded through such events have been the provision of a new community mini-bus in Malmesbury and donations to many local and national charities such as CLIC, Meningitis Trust, Macmillan Cancer Relief, Headway, the Rotary ward at the Royal United Hospital, Bath and much more.
Overseas , the club has spear headed the supply of a mobile x-ray machine to a children's hospital in South Africa, provided funds for Eye Camps in India, collected ‘Tools for Self Reliance’ for Africa, shipped around 200 computers to schools in South Africa and purchased a home for the dispossessed in Fiji. It regularly provides Emergency Boxes of clothing and necessities held ready for dispatch to disaster areas wherever they may be required throughout the world.
Meeting weekly for an evening meal in convivial company and listening to interesting speakers on a range of topics, the Rotary Club of the South Cotswolds has gained an enviable reputation not only for the quality and extent of its service, but especially for its excellent fellowship.