The Antigua Club was sponsored by the Rotary Club of St. Kitts and Fred Lam, Past District Governor (92/93) for District 4050, was personally very instrumental in giving direction and advice. The late Alvin Apparicio was the charter President of the Club. Unfortunately because of ill-health and other personal reasons, he was unable to complete his term of office. The first Club Secretary was Dr. Norman Athill.

Because of the mid term stand down of the Charter President, Dr. Norman Athill completed the first year and carried through the next. At that time Rotarian Lionel Walling was Secretary.

The Rotary Club of Antigua was first districted in 404 but because of the size of District 404, the Club was re-districted in 1981 into District 405, which was changed to 4050, and after only one year, was changed again to 7030. 

The Club held its first meetings at the Meylock Inn; subsequent venues have been: Caribbean Beach Club, Blue Waters Beach Hotel, The Barrymore Hotel and Halcyon Hotel, and now the hold its meetings at the Barrington Restaurant Royal Antiguan.

The Rotary Club of Antigua has been very active in its first 22 years of existence, answering the call as it has in practically all the essential needs of the community. It has met needs in the areas of health through physical improvements made at the General Hospital (Holberton). In fact, the Gwenneth O’Reilly Ward at Holberton Hospital was renovated primarily due to financial assistance provided by the Club. It has through the North Miami Shores Club, provided medical/surgical assistance to many Antiguans. Cases for instance include surgery to an infant for correction of a cleft pallet; the reconstruction surgery to a leg smashed in a motor accident. It has provided for the removal of a brain tumor. The Club also has had heart pacers fitted to several persons in Antigua.

During the 1993/94 Rotary year, the Club raised a sum over $100,000.00, which was contributed to finance a liver transplant operation for a baby boy.

In the field of education it has been very active at both ends of the educational spectrum, providing computers and ancillary equipment to the State College under its Computer Literacy Programme. It has, with the assistance from the Brompton Ontario Club built and equipped two remedial reading schools. Under this programme it has trained several teachers in remedial education.

Under another programme, it has trained teachers (one up to Masters level) to meet the need because of mental or physical handicaps. Many thousands of books have also been distributed under yet another educational needs programmes. The Club also constructed a school library building at Bethesda where it had previously introduced a competitive reading project.

Other significant educational projects, include a Masonry Training Programme, sponsored jointly by the Club and Antigua Masonry Products Ltd., to date training in various aspects of masonry, has been provided to over 700 persons including contractors, tradesmen and prospective home owners.

Recognizing the need to encourage the children in our community to read more, and so counterbalance the effects of television, the Club introduced a reading project to the schools. To date, some 13 reading clubs have been formed in primary schools throughout the island. All the reading clubs have been provided with books and other materials 

In cooperation with the Rotary Club of Burlington Central and Mohawk College, both of Ontario, and Rotary International, the Club has undertaken a major upgrading of the facilities at the Vocational Training School at Ottos. This will enable the school to provide improved and advanced training to students. Once the next phase is completed, evening classes will be provided to persons who require technical training, but have already left school.

Rotary is also concerned with the environment, and the phrase “Preserve Planet Earth” was the Rotary theme for the 1990/91 year. In keeping with this awareness, our Club devised plans to protect all watershed areas, and to beautify the entire island, by encouraging the propagation and planting of both fruit and flowering trees. To this end, the Club distributed hundreds of plants to farmers and other interested persons. In addition, the Club arranged to lease 5 acres of land at Green Castle, where an arboretum was established in 1992.

One project which warrants special mention is the Boys Training School ( a school for delinquent boys). When the school was relocated to Comfort Hall some years ago, the Club undertook to physically strip down and repaint beds which were hospital beds donated to the Ministry of Health, so that they could go into service at the hospital, in exchange for beds which were not hospital beds but almost new and which were then given to the school. At that time the school was “adopted”, at least temporarily by the Club, and several follow-up programmes were undertaken. A presentation of cricket gear was made to the school. This programme continued for several years resulting in - apart from a refrigerator and gas stove which were donated at the time when the school was relocated - presentations were made of sporting equipment, carpentry tools, agricultural tools and a fishing boat complete with engine. The objective was to make the school self-sufficient in some areas, while imparting marketable skills to the boys.

Major contributions were made to the now defunct Antigua Symphony and the Musical Cote.

A talking library consisting of special high speed audio tape recording machine and playback units with 300 blank audio cassettes, was presented through the Club to the Caribbean Council for the Blind. This was funded principally by the Cambridge Ontario Club and further demonstrates the benefits of linkages made with our sister Rotary Clubs.

A project which also had some practical impact upon our youth was the Junior Achievement Programme, which was designed to assist final year secondary students to a better understanding of business, where the students themselves established a registered company and operated it with capital raised through shares issued to shareholders and where dividends were paid out at the end of the operating year. This programme obtained assistance through the Peace Corps, with several Rotarians acting as resource persons, proved highly successful.

The Club on various occasions, has provided career guidance information to school leavers. Help was also given in the form of donations to the Society of Friends of the Dockyard.

For several years the Rotary Club of Antigua raised its annual Christmas tree at an area now occupied by the Archives. This was intended as a gathering place for carollers and for a couple of years the Salvation Army Band played carols during the Christmas and Pre-Christmas season to invoke the spirit of Christmas.

For several years now Rotary has provided for the less fortunate children of the community a special Christmas fair at which they are entertained, feted and given presents, first at the Salvation Army School premises in St. John’s, and now at the Rotary House, Nugent Avenue. A similar Christmas fair is also held in Barbuda. 600 to 700 children are entertained every year.

There is an ongoing programme known in the Club as “Meals on Wheels”. Its objective is to distribute in the community about seventy food boxes to persons who have no financial means of taking care of themselves. These boxes contain all or most of the essentials required for the sustenance of life.

Recently undertaken is the “adoption” of some secondary school children, who without the intervention would have had to go without food, books or school clothing.

Of course there are many many individuals within and without the Club who have come forward in time of special need. The many fund raising efforts which include Car Raffles and West Indian Food Festivals etc. etc., have all been very successful. For this we express our sincere thanks to the Public. We also wish to express our thanks to our sister Clubs which have so generously helped us achieve some of our Club’s goals.

Since its inception, Members of the Rotary Club of Antigua have participated in most of the Rotary International Conventions and its District Conferences. The Club also actively participated in and received benefit for its community from the Group Study Exchange Programme of the Rotary Foundation. Of course with 31 Paul Harris Fellow Awards the Club has been very supportive of the Rotary Foundation.

Antigua and Barbuda has had through the Polio-Plus Project of Rotary International, received substantial benefit, through its vaccination “Of All Children” Programme.

The Rotary Club of Antigua after its first decade was fortunate in being elected to host the 1st District Assembly and Conference of District 405. It considers itself doubly fortunate for as it completed its second decade as a Club, it hosted the 11thAssembly and Conference of District 4050 - an honor indeed!! Then in the next decade, it was fortunate  to host another Assembly and Conference.  Later District 4050 was renamed District 7030.