Brief histories of the first clubs of each geographic regions or countries

Rotary Club of ST. KITTS, First Club of Saint Kitts-Nevis

Rotary International District 7030

Part of our Rotary Global History in Central American/Caribbean Section

The Rotary Club of St Kitts was chartered on 11 July 1969.  Charter President Fred Lam was appointed Administrative Advisor for Group P in 1972, by RI’s president Roy Hickman.  During his tour of duty as Administrative Advisor, Fred Lam established Rotary in Antigua in 1972 and Dominica, with the help of Kittitian Peter Mallalieu who was at the time residing there. 

The first Rotary conference in the Caribbean was held in St Kitts in 1973, attracting 350 Rotarians and their wives from Bahamas in the North to the Guiana’s in the South.  At the meeting a unanimous decision was taken to request Rotary International to establish a district of the non-districted clubs in the Caribbean.  This recommendation led to the formation of District 404 in 1974 by Rotary International.

Rotary Club of St Kitts hosted the District 404 conference in June 1981 where history was again created with the establishment of two Rotary districts – 404 and 405 – in the Caribbean. 

In 1991 Charter President Fred Lam was elected District Governor and through his fine efforts the first Rotary Friendship Conference was held in St Kitts in November 1992.  During that year he also had the distinction of being at the helm when Zones 4 and 10 were combined to form District 7030 as it is today.

Rotary Club of St Kitts sponsored the Rotaract Club of St Kitts, which was chartered in 1984.

For more than thirty years the Club met at Fairview Inn where its weekly Thursday luncheon meetings were held.  It was only in June 2002 when the owners of the Inn initiated plans for its future development that the venue for the Club’s weekly meetings was shifted to the Ocean Terrace Inn. 

Today only two of the original twenty members Jacques Cramer and Kishu Chandiramani continue to be members of the Club. 

The Rotary Club of St Kitts inducted women into the Club on July 1st, 2000.  Three women were chartered at the installation dinner of the Board of Directors 2000/2001: Ms Dawn Mills, Mrs Avonel Ruan and Ms Leah Sahely

The Rotary Club of St Kitts installed its first female president, Ms Leah Sahely, on July 7, 2007.

Chartered president, Fred Lam, passed away on October 2, 2007

List of Charter Members

This history extracted from the club's web site and not verified by RGHF