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Tom Warren |
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Was Rotary International Association for Great Britain and Ireland 's
President in 1937-38 and Rotary International President 1945-46 the second Briton to hold the office |
 As *Director of Education for Wolverhampton, a small city close to
Birmingham in the West Midlands, Tom had a natural affinity to Youth
Service and was a member of the National Youth Committee set up by the
Board of Education. He attempted to influence Rotary into working with
local authorities in finding and training leaders for the post war years
- significantly - as early as 1940. He also penned a Rotary
International booklet on Youth and dedicated his Presidency of RIBI (as
it was to become) to concentrating on the welfare and future of young
people.*Tom Warren became an honorary member of Bournemouth, Hants, England, for nearly 20 years, after he retired as an education administrator. Warren was a magnetic speaker and it was no coincidence that audiences increased when he addressed conferences and conventions. Tom often felt frustrated at the technical arguments in the movement. He told one audience that "I am sick to death of tinkering about with the machinery, and I will make any sacrifice to get it out of the way and let us get on with the job that Rotary exists for". The darkest hours of the Rotary movement - World War Two saw Tom Warren emerge as a great Rotary Statesman. The strains that quickly emerged between Britain and the USA reflected, inevitably, in the Rotary movement as conflict between duty/service to the nation and the non-political desire for world peace and understanding entangled the movement. Like two great structures, tall and noble, both had and still do have a place in Rotary and who dares to choose between the two? Both sides would have agreed with Tom when he said in 1938, "I say Auf Wiedersehen with affection and regret to the German and Austrian friends I have lost - as Rotarians, that is. I hope with all my heart we shall one day have them back". At Havana, 1940, RI secretary Perry had 'expunged from the record' (according to Roger Levy in his book, "Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland" a part of the RIBI executive's greetings to the Convention which mentioned "British Clubs, alas, otherwise engaged in international service". Warren was always too much of the gentleman to rise in anger, preferring a genteel irony, and indeed paid a sincere tribute to Ches Perry on his death in 1960. Warren attended the Convention, one of only two British and three European delegates. This was a feat in itself as it took them six weeks of travel involving waiting with some little patience for their transport. Tom and Reg Coombes had to farcically propose and second the RIBI nominee delegate to the International Board of Directors. Surprise, surprise, Tom was elected unanimously. A statement of policy was passed at Havana named Rotary and the World Conflict and said this,- "Rotary is based on the ideal of service and where freedom, justice, truth, sanctity of the pledged word, and respect fro human rights do not exist, Rotary cannot live nor its ideals prevail". As second Vice-President of Rotary International, his broadcast finale to the Rotary Convention in 1941 is legendary. From an underground BBC studio relayed to Long Island and on to Denver courtesy of the Mutual Broadcasting System and with Churchillian eloquence, he told a hushed and clearly moved Convention Hall, "Tyrants thrive on the complacency of decent folk. Our Rotary must no longer be complacent. We can be an ever-growing power in the world. Our principles are right: by following them, regardless of cost, we shall endure." As RI President, he presided at Atlantic City, 1946 and in that year he called for a new beginning in the world, "We must give life to all those fellows who made the great sacrifice for us and for their friends." Tom Warren was asked to write a tribute to Rotary founder Paul Harris in The Rotarian, March 1947 - one of four former Presidents to contribute. His words had great and significant meaning as he talked of Harris, "His spirit lives on. It abides everywhere. It is woven into the very fibre of other men's lives". Warren was a magnetic and inspirational speaker and who rightly took his place at the head of the movement as peace dawned throughout the world. He helped to hold the movement together in Britain as Rotary Clubs throughout Europe saw their lights go out one by one. It is very difficult to imagine the Rotary club meetings in those days - some club meeting places were bombed out as were their successor venues. But the meetings still went ahead despite the war with attendances better than in the pre-war days. Warren, the man, wished to emphasise the individual's responsibility to Rotary. "There are some of whom we wonder, as they speak, whether they can keep up the high standard of their beginning. There are others - but not few - who leave us hoping that, by some miraculous checking of the sun in its course, they will not have to stop Tom Warren is one of them." Calum Thomson Sources [ two British books written by former Editors of RIBI's publication magazine Rotary] Roger Levy, Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland[1978] David Shelley Nicholl, The Golden Wheel- The story of Rotary 1905 to the present [1984] Tom Warren photo taken from Levy's book |
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