Everybody's heard of Rotary, haven't they?
Well many people have, certainly.
And everybody knows what Rotary is about, don't they?
Ah, mmm, isn't it one of those secret societies?

Not even close!

   Each Rotary Club is made up of like-minded people who all believe
in the Rotary motto "Service above Self." There are now 1.2 million of us, in more than thirty thousand Clubs in more than 160 countries around the world. Our aim is to help those millions, around the world and here at home, who have missed out on life's better things. And Rotarians have been doing this since 1905. 2005 is the hundredth anniversary of the first ever Rotary Club, founded by Paul Harris, in Chicago. His bright idea soon spread - the first Rotary Club in our region was started in Liverpool back in 1913, followed by second place Chester and third place Southport, both chartered in 1922, while our newest Club is South Sefton, chartered in March 2000, the 66th Club
in the region and the 1877th in the British Isles!

So, for more than 80 years, Southport Rotarians have been working to benefit the community, sometimes by raising funds, and sometimes by going out and doing things! In 1983, we were joined by colleagues in a new Rotary Club of Southport Meols, and the present line-up was completed in 1989 with the foundation of the Rotary Club of
Southport Links.

Since 1985, Rotary International has accepted the challenge of eradicating the scourge
of polio from mankind and, working in conjunction with other major agencies, significant progress has been made. The Western Hemisphere became polio-free in 1994, Europe and the Pacific areas by 2002, and it is our hope to have come close to finishing the job
by the end of 2005. By the time the project is completed, Rotarians will have raised more than £350 million towards "Polio Plus" - a marvellous indication of what can be done when we all work together. Click on the Pic to find out all the latest news!

   Rotarians around the world also respond to disasters, and the Indian Ocean Tsunami has generated an enormous response. By the middle of February 2005, Rotarians and Rotary-sponsored events in the UK and Ireland raised more than £6.5 million which bought thousands of Shelterboxes and Aquaboxes, providing emergency shelter and clean water for tens of thousands in the worst affected areas. Click on the picture to read the latest reports from Clubs.

Southport Rotary Club currently has nearly seventy members drawn from a variety of backgrounds. This breadth of experience means that, whatever the problem, we can usually call on the knowledge and expertise of one or more Rotarians who have "been there, done that." But our Club has not thrived for more than eighty years without taking
in new ideas and new people.

If you feel that you can help in our work, please get in touch. It may be the start of something great! If you would like more information, please look at Joining Rotary

Southport Rotary Club meets every Wednesday (with only a few exceptions!) at the
Royal Clifton Hotel, The Promenade, Southport. [MAP] Members and guests assemble
at about 12.30pm for lunch, and the meetings finish at around 2.00pm. There is usually
a speaker or a presentation, and the range of subjects covered is enormous!

To find out what is on this week, and for the next few weeks, take a trip to our Club Site!

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We have another website, part of the UK and Ireland Rotary Website project. On this site, we list our forthcoming and past meetings, our committee reports (though you have to be a Member to read all of these!) and accounts of our social events. If you are interested reading more, click the Rotary Wheels!

Contact details can be found on our Contacts & Links page - we try to be logical! Click HERE to go there.

Or to see how Southport Rotary is sponsoring near-naked aggression, why not go to Dragon Boat  to see how we are coping with the firebreathing dragons of the sporting world?

Or, again, perhaps the dry land is more appealing. Click on Charity Walk to see the latest information about the Annual Charity Walk for this year.