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 Our Rotary Club was granted its Charter in
1934. Throughout the 75 years of its
existence it has been involved in many projects
that have benefited the town of Hemel Hempstead. In addition, there have been many initiatives that have improved the lives of people both in and from Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these are mentioned below. The inaugural lunch of the Club was held at the Town Hall, Hemel Hempstead on Tuesday, 26th June 1934 and was attended not only by the members of the newly formed Club, but by delegates from ten other Clubs in District No. 9. The ten visiting Rotary clubs were Oxford, Aylesbury, High Wycombe, Luton, Windsor and Eton, Hertford, Watford, Slough, Maidenhead and St. Albans. One of the first talks given to the Club was on November 24th 1934, when the headmaster of the three-year-old Hemel Hempstead Grammar School spoke on the topic of Coeducation. His views on the benefits of mixed schooling were considered important enough for the whole text of his talk to be published in the Gazette of that week. The weekly luncheon fee at the Bell Hotel in the Old High Street was agreed at 2/6d per head! Under the guidance of our Club, the Interim Club of Berkhamsted was set up and held its first lunch meeting on 20th April 1936, at which fourteen founder members were present. The official inaugural lunch took place on 18th May 1936, when the District No. 9 Chairman presided and C.M. Cox, the Headmaster of Berkhamsted School, was elected as its first President. Throughout 1938, the threat of a European war grew greater and most of the Club members were individually involved, at the beginning in ARP and Fire Service work and later in training others. When the Munich crisis came on 2nd September 1938, all members of the Club were engaged in the issue and fitting of civilian gas masks - a service not at all popular with some of the more sceptical recipients! On 1st September 1939 as war became more and more imminent, a local medico, Dr J.C. Gregory, asked the Club if they would accept the task of getting the old people out of the original Poor Law Institution and back to their next-of-kin, so that the empty buildings at St. Paul's would be ready to receive war casualties. The Club duly completed this task. When the Second World War broke out on 3rd September 1939, the Club was actively engaged in the reception, billeting and welfare of thousands of school children of all ages and their teachers, in addition to a large cross-section of other types of evacuees - all from the London area. In addition to the schoolchildren and their teachers, many doctors, nurses and hospital workers came to the town, mainly from Charing Cross Hospital in London, to staff St. Paul’s which had now been taken over as a hospital. In June 1940 came the large scale evacuation of the British troops from Dunkirk and the wards in St. Paul’s Hospital were rapidly filled with wounded soldiers, sailors and airmen. The wards were regularly visited by members of the Club and when groups of the wounded servicemen had reached the convalescent stage they were taken on outings to Whipsnade Zoo. Afternoon tea was laid on and, on the return back to the hospital, it was the usual custom to stop at Studham for a hearty drink of the local ale. A Rotary Bed Endowment Fund was set up in 1944 which ultimately totalled over £300. This money was used for the purchase of a special bed to be known as “The Rotary Bed" - presented to the West Herts Hospital. The following other projects were undertaken by the Club during 1944.
The establishment of a Boys’ Club in
Hemel Hempstead. The inaugural meeting was
held on 30th May 1944 and its first leader appointed. On the 6th June 1947 the foundation of the LOCAL BRANCH OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SERVICES was announced by the Club. July 1947 saw the Club's annual subscription raised to 3 guineas! The Rotary Club of Chesham was granted its Charter on Tuesday, 23rd September 1947. The presentation was made by District Chairman E.H.Birchall of the Oxford Rotary Club, in the Darsham Hall. The dinner was attended by a large gathering of visiting Rotarians from many Clubs in the District. In 1956 a fund was launched for the provision of
an ambulance, fitted with a hydraulic lift,
to be presented jointly to the St. John’s
Ambulance Brigade and the British Red Cross.
(The presentation was eventually made in
1965). On 31st October 1958 an appeal was launched to raise £5000 to provide a Social Centre for the Blind. A Hospital Radio Scheme was introduced with
record recitals broadcast once a week on
Sunday evenings to patients in St. Paul’s
Wing. (Decca and EMI waived copyright fees).
By 1961 the appeal for the Blind Centre had raised
£4 700 in Hemel Hempstead, and Berkhamsted
Rotary Club contributed a further £525.
The fund was sufficient to build the centre
and leave a surplus for a Trust Fund.
The foundation stone was laid on 26th March 1961 by Lord Fraser of Lonsdale, the blind chairman
of St. Dunstan’s. The centre
was formally declared open on 18th November 1961, by Lady (later Viscountess) Davidson. A specially built ambulance was finally handed over to St. John’s Ambulance and Red Cross on 29th July, 1965. In 1969 the Club took the decision to sponsor the Abbeyfield Society of Hemel Hempstead, an association which continues to this day. Over the two days 29th and 30th April 1983, the Club organised a Spring Festival, held in the environs of St. Mary’s Church, the High Street and Gadebridge Park. The weather was good and the £1 600 raised was donated to the St. Mary’s Church Spire Appeal. A similar event in May 1984 raised £1 200 which was given to West Herts Hospital for the refurbishing of the Curie Ward in the St. Paul’s Wing. The 50th Charter Anniversary Dinner was held on the 10th October 1984, attended by RIBI President Jim Watts, and District Governor Dick Bedwin. The Speaker was Russell Braddon, Australian author, playwright, journalist and broadcaster. A total of 252 people attended the meal of prawn cocktail, asparagus soup, sirloin of beef, fresh fruit salad and coffee at a cost of £13 per person. 1984/85 was an interesting and rewarding year with
many of the initial objectives achieved,
including two defibrillators for St John’s
Ambulance Brigade. As a result of this, the
Borough Council made a matching donation
of two defibrillators to the Fire Service.
This represented a value of some £20
000. Boxing Dinners were a feature of the 80s. Held at the (now demolished) Pavilion, they were successful fund-raisers for a range of charities. Three of these events raised over £23 000 between them. In 1989 the first ‘Design & Technology Exhibition’ was launched with the support of the Local Education Authority and businesses. The theme was ‘Working Together’ – Education – Industry - Commerce, with categories for children between the 5 and 17. The exhibition was held over five days and evenings in Dacorum College, with Club members acting as stewards. The exhibits allowed the local community to appre-ciate the high standards that young people can achieve. We were fortunate that Iain Malcolm was able to persuade Professor Heinz Wolff, Director of the Brunel Institute of Bio-Engineering, to present the awards: a major boost for the young people, the schools and the parents. During 1989 to 1990 three presentations were made: £1 725 to the local Blind centre; £1 000 to the Cystic Fibrosis trust; and £2 500 to the charity ACROSS. Between 1990 and 1992 two significant changes occurred in the
Club. The first was a change from a
lunchtime meeting to an evening meeting,
which saw the departure of all those who
could not stay up late, and prompted a drive
for new members. The second, and more
momentous in Rotary terms, was the decision
to admit women to the Club, a pioneering
move in this country. A final Boxing Dinner (boxing was receiving a negative press) raised £4 000 towards a scanner for the local hospital. 1995 saw the introduction of two of the events which continue today – Youth Speaks and the Primary School Essay competition. In 1996 a Darts Marathon, held at the local Mount Prison, raised £5 000, of which £4 000 was donated to the local St Francis Hospice. In February 1997 a charity ball raised over £6 000, which was used to purchase essential equipment for the oncology department at the local hospital. A Race Night in 1999 raised £1 200 which was used to buy equipment for the Children’s Ward at the local hospital. Another Darts Marathon in late 1999 brought in a profit of over £3 200. Beneficiary of this and other fund-raising events was Hope and Homes for Children. The president of this year, John Rowlands, received a citation from the Rotary International president, for his work in publicising Rotary locally. A further darts Marathon in 2000 meant that the MS Society and Rotary charities
benefited by some £4 500, and a ball
held in February 2001 raised a further £5 000 for these
charities and for MIND in Dacorum. Over £2 000 was raised for Polio Plus in 2002, and a further £1 000 for Dacorum Community Trust in 2003. In 2004 the National Epilepsy Society was presented with funds totalling over £4 000. Following the tsunami disaster on Boxing Day 2004, the Club was instrumental in raising over £19 000 from the people of Hemel Hempstead, the largest collection ever carried out in the area. An Auction of Promises in 2005 raised £3 000 for the local Keech Cottage Hospice. Less than a year after the tsunami disaster the Club helped to raise over £9 000 towards our own disaster, the explosion of the Buncefield Oil Depot on December 11th, 2005. Distribution of these funds continues to this day. The local charity Home Start was given a donation of £2 000 in 2006. In 2008 the Club donated £2 500 to the local Pepper Foundation, and more than £4 000 was given to the Rotary Centenary Children’s Inclusive Fund. By the end of the Rotary year 2009-2010 the Club had donated £1 500 to the St. Francis Hospice, £1 500 to the Iaian Rennie Hospice and £500 to the Dacorum Community Trust. |