Inverness Rotary has just celebrated 100 years of Rotary in the Scottish Highland capital.
The club has evolved along with Inverness, forming when the population was just 9760 – a figure now dwarfed by the nearly 100,000 now living in the vibrant city.
It is one of the oldest clubs in Scotland, which emerged from a momentous event in 1921. With Prime Minister Lloyd George, on holiday at Gairloch, and other Cabinet Ministers enjoying the recess within easy reach of Inverness, the troubles in Ireland were at a crucial and delicate stage.
Sir Donald McDonald – the first President of Inverness Rotary, who received his knighthood while he was President.
That prompted a meeting of the Cabinet at Inverness Town Hall, known in the Whitehall archives as the ‘Inverness Conference’.
According to Vivian Carter, Secretary of British Rotary, who addressed Inverness Rotary in 1923: “The great part Rotary had played in the attempt to heal the Irish sore, which ultimately led to the Lloyd George Cabinet Meeting in Inverness, was an idea born in the Rotary Club of Dublin.”
The prospect of participating in an international organisation dedicated to service interested active local men.
They gathered for the first time in the Palace Hotel, October 21st, 1921 to form the Rotary Club of Inverness.
Inverness Rotary continues to support many different Rotary projects such as the RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards).
In the many years since this momentous occasion, the club has had to adapt to survive, especially in the past couple as the pandemic made sure most of the club’s plans were rendered impossible.
Nevertheless, the club persevered and were soon taking advantage of the opportunities provided by virtual meetings to host speakers from the USA, Sweden and Australia.
The club continued to serve to change lives as well, with generous donations from members meaning they could send donations to the Salvation Army, local food banks and the staff at the Isobel Fraser Care Home in Inverness just to name a few.
The club were able to finally able to celebrate 100 years of this extraordinary service in person towards the end of last year with a Centenary Dinner and a Civic Reception in the local town hall to make the occasion is due to take place at some point during the spring.
To mark their centenary, the members of Inverness Rotary have produced a commemorative book tracing the history of the club.
The book contains contributions from past and present members of the club spanning its whole history and can be purchased here as an eBook or paperback on Amazon now.
