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Message from our
President
Welcome to the Rotary Club of
Lyme Regis website and thank you for taking an interest in us and what we do
in this community. I assume from the fact that you have visited our
website, that you are aware of the existence of the organisation known as
Rotary International and what its stated aims and achievements are both
locally and internationally.
You too could
be a part of that organisation if you are motivated by the desire to put
something more back into your community than you are taking out. Rotary is
open to everyone provided that they aspire to the Rotary motto of ‘Service
Above Self’. Rotary is about the giving of that commodity that costs you
nothing, but which is precious to us all – namely your time. That time
could be either in holding fund raising events or assisting other
organisations within your community to help them achieve their own aims.
The end result in both cases is the improvement of lives for others, most of
whom you will never even know. We all now live in a global community, so I
am not purely referring to us here in Lyme Regis, but to the whole world in
which we live. As this Covid-19 global pandemic has amply displayed, our
world is now so inextricably inter-linked that we all owe it to each other
to try to improve the lives of others whenever and wherever we can – Rotary
has been doing this for more than 115 years. We didn’t need a global
pandemic to wake us up to the necessity of helping each other on an
international scale!
In 1979 Rotary International
commenced a vaccination programme to eradicate the polio virus from the
world – that programme is still ongoing and has very nearly achieved its
aim. Rotary has raised hundreds of millions of US dollars towards this
programme, which is implemented on the ground by the WHO and many thousands
of volunteers. As you can imagine, the delivery of this programme is
extremely hazardous in war torn areas of the world, of which sadly there are
many, but its delivery nonetheless continues. Such is the commitment of
those who really care, that they are prepared to put their own lives in
danger to help those who will benefit from this vaccine. This is but one
example of the way in which Rotary can change people’s lives.
But the story does not end
there - that change also takes place in the Rotarian who is giving of their
time! From my own personal experience, you get a great sense of satisfaction
in knowing that you have helped, in your own small way, to make a change in
someone else’s life. You will never know them and they will never know you,
but you both know that it was Rotary that made it happen!
Do please get in touch with
our Club Secretary if you would like to know more about our Club. You can
come along to one of our regular weekly meetings or simply have a chat with
one of us to see if you like what you are told and think that it ‘fits the
bill’ for what you would like to do in your spare time. You will find that
it can become addictive and that you will make new friends from around the
world. Indeed, we have recently been adopted as a sister Club by a Rotary
Club in Borneo.
Chris Buckingham
President Rotary Club of Lyme
Regis 2021-22 |
