Walsall Rotary Club District 1210

History of Walsall Rotary Club

The Inaugural Dinner of the Rotary Club of Walsall was held on the 5th October 1921, when forty men signed the Wheel. The Club was affiliated to the British Association of Rotary Clubs on 18th January 1922 and was elected to membership of Rotary International on 1st January 1922, being the sixty-first Club to be formed in Great Britain and Ireland.

Walsall has had many prominent Rotarians, but the most distinguished was John A Crabtree who joined in 1922 and became the originator and Editor of Spokes, a successful Club Magazine. He became president in 1926-27 and President of RIBI in 1933-34, then a Director of RI in 1935. This was a crucial period in RI-RIBI relationships and John Crabtree felt it necessary to protest against American domination in Rotary. But he was more than vindicated, and on his death in December 1935,Rotarians from America and other countries paid tribute to his unifying work, about which it was said he "had puified and strengthened the spirit of Rotary".

Over the years, the Vocational Service Committee has organised exhibitions, and today sponsors group discussions and other projects, especially connected with youth enterprise.

The Community Service Committee works in many fields of service, including hospitals, the under-privileged, the blind, disabled and the aged. It has also coordinated voluntary social work among local organisations.

The International Service Committe has pursued every opportunity to further internationsal goodwill and understanding, by interchange of visits, nominating Foundations Scholars and sharing in Group Study Exchanges, making personal contact and providing hospitality for overseas people. In 1988, the club commenced its successful twinning with the Bordeaux-Ouest Club. There is a close relationship with Round Table and their Chairman is an honourary member of our club during his year of office. So too is the mayor of Walsall.

From the first membership of forty, the club has risen to peaks of over one hundred members. By helping to found new 'daughter' clubs, we have expanded the membership of Rotary locally, and The Walsall Rotary Club has, at present, seventy members. Ages of members range from men and women in their thirties to men in their eighties and even nineties!