THE OUTPOST CLUB OF ROTARY IN ENGLAND

Also see history of Rotary in the UK

During World War One, a special Rotary Club was inaugurated in Paris for Allied personnel working in the city or passing through it. In the second World War, a different but equally special club was started in London, primarily for the refugee Rotarians who had arrived in Britain from Occupied Europe. The initiative for this was mainly Polish and at the start it was to be called 'The Polish Outpost of Rotary in England'. However, this very soon became 'The Inter-Allied Outpost of Rotary Clubs in Europe'.

On October 10, 1940, (according to Roger Levy) or perhaps on October 24, 1940 (The London Rotarian), or even in November (David Forward), the new club held its first meeting. It was held at a luncheon at the Ambassadors Hotel in Tavistock Place in Central London. In the Chair was the instigator of this gathering, Casimir Zienkiewicz, Past President of the Rotary Club of Katowice and a former Editor of the Polish Rotary magazine.

In his introduction, Zienkiewicz spoke of the strong desire of many European Rotarians to maintain their contact with the movement in the free land of Britain, during their exile from their native countries. Although inaugurated by Polish Rotarians, it was proposed to widen the scope of 'the Outpost'. He hoped that it would become truly International and include members of clubs in other countries where Rotary was at the time 'verboten' by the dictators who had temporarily obtained possession of their land. In fact, this meeting was attended by Rotarians from among others, Czechoslovakia, Holland and Belgium as well as Poland. After a moving reference to the cause of freedom for which Britain and her Allies were fighting and his confidence that they would ultimately be victorious, Rotarian Zienkiewicz proposed the Toast of 'The King' followed by that of 'Britain and her Allies'.

Among those attending were Sydney Pascall, a Past President of R.I., Jim Ryan, Chairman of District 13 and R.E. Coombs, President of the R.C. of London, all of whom made speeches of congratulations and good wishes.

Members from Denmark, France and Norway were also present at the early meetings of this club, which continued with fortnightly lunches throughout the rest of the war. For most of this time Jim Ryan presided with Casimir Zienkiewicz acting as Secretary.

In June 1941, its existence was described at the Denver Convention in the R.I. Secretary's report which said that it had been created "to preserve and develop their (the members) contacts in Rotary and to carry on with Rotary activities." . Two months earlier, the Rotary Reporter column in 'The Rotarian' describing the club to its readers, observed that "the club, which is not official, since most of the Rotary Clubs represented have ceased to hold charters, meets fortnightly on Monday. The decision of the Board of Directors of Rotary International to issue cards to bona fide members of clubs thus disbanded does, however, permit a certain linking of these unwillingly former Rotarians and the world movement of Rotary. By February 1942, 'The Rotarian' was reporting that the Outpost had 51 members. A year later, the Rotary Reporter raised this to 54 attendees, adding China, Greece and Yugoslavia to the list of countries represented. (1941 RI News Clipping above from Wolfgang Ziegler)

From time to time, RIBI members joined the exiles and six of them were elected 'Honorary Members'.

Some time later, probably after 1944, by a request of the Rotary International Board (Levy), the group was renamed 'The United Nations Rotary Fellowship in London'. A search of the Board's records has not as
yet uncovered the date of this request.

We are not sure when the club ceased to meet, but it is believed to have continued to meet at the Ambassadors Hotel for the whole of its existence. If any reader can help with this, please contact the webmaster.

Basil Lewis, 5 November 2005, based on material from a wide variety of sources.