Spotlight on Radcliffe: The Rotary Club of Radcliffe

Reporter: Kevin Burke
Date online: 08 November 2010

Rotary Clubs are part of an international organisation which was established to bring together business and professional leaders, to encourage vocational ethics, humanitarian services, and peace and harmony throughout the world.

The Radcliffe Rotary Club has existed since 1933, an offshoot of the Rotary Club of Bury. They have maintained the original aims of the initial Rotary Clubs, delivering food parcels to the needy over Christmas, throwing parties for aged men and disabled children, arranging transport for the blind and disabled.

Not many organisations last 77 years, but the Rotary Club of Radcliffe has managed to do it without stagnation, and they still provide support for the needy and promotion to the worthy. Membership is open to anyone, even people from another country, so long as they care about the area, although it used to be invite-only.

Ron Mollard, officer for Communications and PR and former Rotary Club President, explained that the club not only provides services but acts as a fellowship for community members. “Rotary has given me a lot of fulfilment,” he said. “I’ve made friendships with people that will last a lifetime, when I would have been an isolated single businessman without it.”

Mr Mollard, who is 72, has lived in Radcliffe for 48 years, “I feel very strongly for Radcliffe,” he said, adding that he felt it had been overlooked for a long time, ever since former Prime Minister Edward Heath changed the boundaries and made Radcliffe part of the metropolitan area. “Now it’s a poor relation of Bury,” he said.

Rotary International was closely involved with the Bill Gates Foundation and the World Health Organisation in the distribution of the polio vaccine and the near-eradication of it from the world, although as Mr Mollard said: “There’s still work to be done. It’s only an aeroplane flight away.”

The Rotary Club have a few things planned at the moment. Ian Holt, chairman of the Rotary Club’s Community Service Committee, told me they are planting flowers in the Festival Gardens, the Civic Hall, and at Waverly Place Old Folks Home, and sprucing up other gardens and local scenic places.

Every Christmas, he said, they send Father Christmas around on a motorised sleigh, and any donations they receive are split with other local societies and charities. “The swimming clubs, the local dance troupes, the blind society - a whole pile of people,” Mr Holt said.

The Rotary Club’s age does not appear to have impeded its remit and it seems to be going as strong as ever. Radcliffe seems to owe a lot to this behind-the-scenes organisation.