North Walsham Rotary Club
BUSINESS PEOPLE URGED
TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF
ROTARY NETWORKING
OPPORTUNITIES
Local business men and women in the North Walsham area looking to do
a bit of networking in these difficult financial times are being urged to join
their local Rotary club.
With a membership of more than 55,000 professional business
people and community leaders, Rotary clubs are breeding grounds for contact
building and idea sharing, whilst at the same time giving people the chance to
give something back to their communities.
The North Walsham Rotary club which currently has 27 members,
was recently pleased to welcome it’s newest Rotarian Trisha Williams who has
been a Legal Administrator (see photo).
Ian Thomson, Rotary Club of North Walsham President said: “Rotary International is a big story. Our members change lives, help
communities and make the world a better place and we need more business people, particularly younger people, to bring young
ideas into our organisation.
“Our clubs consist
of men and women who volunteer their efforts to
improve the quality of life in their own communities and beyond. Clubs are open
to all cultures, races, and creeds and our membership represents a
cross-section of local business and professional leaders.
“A lot of people are still unsure what
Rotary is all about but our members are involved in almost every facet of
humanitarian activity from volunteering at a school helping with literacy and numeracy to operating a
‘Stroke Awareness Day’, running a local
charity event to raising money for disaster hit countries. At the same time we
have a huge amount of fun and run a wide range of social activities.”
One of the major
projects Rotary International is renowned for is, with the help of the World Health Organization and other partners, the eradication of polio. Since Rotary first became involved in polio
eradication in 1985, polio cases have fallen from 350,000 a year to 1,000; 125
endemic countries has been reduced to just four (Afghanistan, India, Nigeria
and Pakistan); and two billion children have been protected from the disease.
Rotary is currently involved in the final push to wipe out the horrific disease
for good.
Rotary International is arguably one of the first
organisations to have fostered the idea of networking. More than 100 years ago
a local solicitor named Paul Harris got together with three friends - a tailor,
a mining engineer and an insurance businessman – with a vision to form a club that would encourage fellowship amongst members of
the business community. This was the birth of Rotary.
His idea quickly spread and today it exists in clubs in over
200 countries worldwide with over 1.2 million members. In Great Britain and Ireland there are more
than 1,840 clubs.
Anyone interested in finding out more
about the North Walsham Rotary club should contact Derrick Hankin on
01692 402381 or email derrickhankin@mypostoffice.co.uk.
Visit http://www.nw-rotary.org.uk or www.ribi.org for more information on Rotary
locally and in Great Britain and Ireland.