Bournemouth North Rotary CIO
HISTORY
Club History and Origins
The Rotary Club of Bournemouth North was formed in 1969 and many of its founder members came from the Winton and Moordown Traders Association.
Club meetings were initially held at lunchtime, as was the case with most Rotary Club meetings in those days, but over the years lunchtime meetings became less popular and they were changed to evenings.
In 1999 the Club voted to admit women members. A big step forward.
In 1973 the Club was twinned with the Rotary Club of Chateau Gontier on the Mayenne in central France. Visits of our club members to France soon became a regular feature of the Club with members visiting every other year and Chateau Gontier Club members visiting Bournemouth during the alternate years. As a result many members and their families developed lasting friendships with each other, many of which have continued until present times.
Due to the current Covid-19 Pandemic the visits in 2019 and 2020 unfortunately had to be cancelled but it is hoped that future visits may be arranged once things return to normal.
On 17th August 2020 the Rotary Club of Bournemouth North became -
BOURNEMOUTH NORTH ROTARY BENEVOLENT FUND CIO.
Charity Number 1190882
Rotary International – How it all Started
Rotary started with the vision of one man — Paul Harris. The Chicago attorney formed the Rotary Club of Chicago on 23 February 1905, so professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships.
Over time, Rotary’s reach and vision gradually extended to humanitarian service. Members have a long track record of addressing challenges in their communities and around the world.
That commitment endures today through an organization that remains truly international. Only 16 years after being founded, Rotary had clubs on six continents. Our members now span the globe, working to solve some of our world’s most challenging problems.
We’re not afraid to dream big and set bold goals. We began our fight against polio in 1979 with a project to immunize 6 million children in the Philippines. Today, polio remains endemic in only three countries — down from 125 in 1988.
Rotary’s two official mottoes
Service Above Self and One Profits Most Who Serves Best, Rotary’s official mottoes, can be traced back to the early days of the organization.
In 1911, the second Rotary convention, in Portland, Oregon, USA, approved He Profits Most Who Serves Best as the Rotary motto. The wording was adapted from a speech that Rotarian Arthur Frederick Sheldon delivered to the first convention, held in Chicago the previous year. Sheldon declared that “only the science of right conduct toward others pays. Business is the science of human services. He profits most who serves his fellows best.”
The Portland gathering also inspired the motto Service Above Self. During an outing on the Columbia River, Ben Collins, president of the Rotary Club of Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, talked with Seattle Rotarian J.E. Pinkham about the proper way to organize a Rotary club, offering the principle his club had adopted: Service, Not Self. Pinkham invited Rotary founder Paul Harris, who also was on the trip, to join their conversation. Harris asked Collins to address the convention, and the phrase Service, Not Self was met with great enthusiasm.
At the 1950 Rotary International Convention in Detroit, Michigan, USA, two slogans were formally approved as the official mottoes of Rotary: He Profits Most Who Serves Best and Service Above Self. The 1989 Council on Legislation established Service Above Self as the principal motto of Rotary because it best conveys the philosophy of unselfish volunteer service. He Profits Most Who Serves Best was modified to They Profit Most Who Serve Best in 2004 and to its current wording, One Profits Most Who Serves Best, in 2010.