If you've stumbled upon our website and are wondering what Rotary actually is, let me give you the short version. A little over a hundred years a Chicago lawyer found he only ever got to speak and deal with people from his own profession, so he began meeting regularly for lunch with people who worked in a different profession or business.

This informal group soon began to take on projects in the community and beyond. From these humble beginnings Rotary has grown into an organisation of 1.2 million women and men, in over 210 countries. They still continue to enjoy the opportunity to serve the world community in ways that the small group in Chicago could never have envisaged all those years ago.

Rotary achieves - we don't just talk about it. We do it. For example we sponsor post-graduate scholars from all around the world and we create and fund International professional exchanges and student exchanges. These initiatives have given thousands upon thousands of people the opportunity to live, work and study all over the globe. As their careers have developed and many have become significant community and world leaders, they have carried with them the fruit of that international experience. Also when things go tragically wrong in the world, Rotary is always there. Rotary works hard behind the scenes, making the critically important and practical things happen.

In the mid-1980s, Rotary decided to rid the world of the scourge of Polio. It's been a massive project, tough and expensive. The annual number of cases world wide is now down to the number that afflicted a small city in Australia in the 1950's. We'll have that job done by the middle of the decade.

I hope our website will inspire you to help us with our humanitarian activities through attendance and participation at our Club.

Yours in Rotary

Kit Bennetts

President 2010 - 2011