HISTORY OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF HALIFAX By Brian Burnell Early in 2003, as the Rotary Club of Halifax approaches its 90th anniversary, the opportunity has been taken to update the club’s history. Previous histories of the club were published in 1976 and 1983. Both of these previous histories relied heavily upon the “Club Annals” for the period 1913 to 1955 which were written (but never published) by John Moore, a Past President and Historian of the club. In 1997, during the presidency of Bridge Pachai, “Rotary Reflections 1913-1997” was published. Although not officially designated as a history of the club, a great deal of insight into the club’s history was captured there in the numerous contributions made by individual members, both young and old. This publication has also been a valuable source in preparing the current updated history of the Rotary Club of Halifax. In keeping with the forward looking outlook of the club, this history has been produced in electronic form and can be accessed on our website at www.halifax.rotary7820.com All or part of it may be downloaded and printed out by anyone who wishes to do so. By “clicking on” to any of the underlined phrases, more detail can be obtained about the topic referred to there. Central to the operation of this club are
The Objects of Rotary which have always provided the guidelines to its activities.
The previous editions of the club history included much detail about The Beginnings of the Club in 1913, and these have been retained as far as possible in their entirety in the “back-up” material included in this history. Over the years, a number of Meeting Places have hosted the club’s meetings. By far the longest period of time was at the Nova Scotian Hotel (later the Halifax Hilton). Unfortunately, the club had to move from there when the hotel closed. Meetings are currently held at the Halifax Police Association Club, and have been since July 2001 when the club converted from a lunchtime club to a breakfast club. The Rotary Club of Halifax, being the oldest Rotary Club in Atlantic Canada, has assisted in the formation of many
However, its influence goes much further than that. In 1921, a member of this club, J. L. Ralston, assisted in the organization of the first Australian and New Zealand Clubs. Yet another important accomplishment of members of this club resulted in the addition of For many years after its foundation, Rotary was a “males only” organization. However, many wives of Rotarians wanted to find a way to provide support to the club’s activities, and this resulted in the formation of the Halifax Women of Rotary in 1942. Eventually, with changing times and outlooks, Rotary International amended its constitution to permit women to become members, and the Rotary Club of Halifax was quick to welcome women to its membership. As with all Rotary Clubs, the Rotary Club of Halifax holds its regular meetings on a weekly basis. In recent years, the Weekly Draw has added a little bit of excitement to our meetings, and has also been a useful source of funds to help cover our administrative costs. At most of these meetings an outside speaker is invited to talk to the club about a topic related to his or her expertise. Thanks to the efforts of many hard-working Rotarians, we have been fortunate in attracting many excellent speakers over the years. However, from time to time, instead of inviting a speaker, a Club Assembly is held to give the members an opportunity to discuss matters of club business. In order to provide an opportunity for Rotary Clubs in our area to work together, District Conferences are held at least once per year (for all clubs in District 7820). In addition, with six clubs in the Metro Halifax area, it has been felt that the occasional “mini-conference” has been helpful in order to facilitate closer working relationships between the clubs. At the international level, the history of the Rotary International Convention goes back to the early days of Rotary. The first held outside the U. S. A. was that in Edinburgh in 1921. Although its origins were small, the Rotary Foundation has developed into one of the biggest charitable trust funds in the world. It has many large and small success stories to its credit; probably the most ambitious of all being the Polio Plus program. During its 90 year history, this club has embarked on many Fund Raising Programs to raise money to permit it to support many good causes in our community and elsewhere around the world. One of the most successful of these has been the Vacation Draw which has been held every year since 1973. As stated above, the money raised by our members has permitted the club to support many good causes over the years. The supporting material contained with this history includes brief comments about many of these Club Projects. Of these, perhaps the Remedial Seating Program has been one of the most unique and far reaching long-term programs ever initiated by this club. Our sponsorship of the Rotary Youth Choir was also instrumental in making possible the establishment of a wonderful learning experience for many young people from all across the Province. The Membership of this club grew rapidly during the early years. In recent times, the membership has stabilized at a lower level around 40 to 50. In fact, this is very close to the average number of members per club on a worldwide basis at the time of writing. The one thing that we have always been able to count upon through good and ill has been the wonderful sense of Fellowship between members of the club, and the warm welcome given to visiting Rotarians. One particularly successful initiative that dates back to the late 1970’s is the Mixed Bridge group which gives Rotarians and their spouses an opportunity to play bridge together on a regular basis; rotating between each others’ homes in true Rotary tradition. One item that has helped to keep members up-to-date with the club’s activities was The Spokesman which first appeared under that heading in 1925. Here again, with changing conditions (including the high cost of mailing), major changes have occurred in recent years. Since July 2001, our Newsletter has been sent each week by e-mail to all members who have the facilities necessary to receive it that way. In any history of this nature, tribute should be provided to those many members over the years who have served as Club President. A full list is included in the supporting documentation. For many years, the club had a fully fledged Office to support the administrative functions of the club; including an “Executive Secretary” from 1948 until 1978. Since then, the officers of the club have had to look after all of the administrative functions previously handled by the Executive Secretary, and the club is indebted to the many members who have jumped in and done their part towards the efficient operation of the club. Our club has also had the distinction of providing nine District Governors to our district since its establishment. Finally, no history of this nature would be complete without the inclusion of Extracts from the Club
Records; many of which include verbatim comments made by various members of the club. How better to get a feel for the real flavour of the club’s activities over the past ninety years? |