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Rotary Club of Cardiff |
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First Club of Wales District 1150 |
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RI Charter Date 1 November 1917 |
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| RI 345 | RIBI 17 |
| The success of
the Bristol Club, which in 1917 was the nearest club to South Wales,
suggested to several influential and professional business men in
Cardiff that a Rotary club should be established in the principality. An
invitation was sent to some of them which read: Mr Thomas Stephenson, Hon Sec of the BARC is visiting Cardiff early next week, accompanied by Mr Lyon Scott, Hon Sec of the Liverpool Club, and has suggested that a meeting be called at the Park Hotel on Tuesday next, the 22nd instant, at 5.30.pm to discuss the formation of a Rotary Club for Cardiff. As your name is included on the list of gentlemen likely to be interested, I shall be glad if you will kindly make it convenient to attend at the place and time stated. Signed H.A.Martin, Interim Secretary. So, on May 22, 1917, a preliminary meeting was held at the Park Hotel, Cardiff, when a group of nine men from the city convened to meet and listen to Tom Stephenson of Edinburgh, the Secretary of the BARC, and Lyon Scott. After a lengthy discussion, it was proposed that "a Rotary Club be formed in Cardiff under the auspices of and in affiliation with the British Association of Rotary Clubs." The nine present were appointed as a 'Provisional Committee' to make the necessary arrangements for a meeting place and to try to obtain additional suitable members. There were some doubts expressed as to the appropriateness of starting a Rotary club during wartime, but by July 18, 1917, several new names had been added to the list, and the club was clearly a viable concern. On September 7, 1917, the first formal luncheon was held at the Park Hotel at a cost of 3 shillings and 6 pence (17.5 p) plus 10% 'war charges'. Nobody today knows what this was for. W.A.Chamen, an electrical engineer, was in the Chair as Founder President and 31 members and several guests were also present to hear Rtn A Home-Morton, President of the London Club speak about the elevating influence of Rotary. Delaval Story, the VP of the Bristol Club, expressed his pleasure at the foundation of a new club in Wales. Greetings were also conveyed from thirteen other clubs. Although a search at Alcester records a 'charter date', no date for a formal Charter Presentation has been found. |
 A few
months later, several members attended the Inaugural Meeting of the
Rotary Club of Llanelly which became the second Welsh club. By the end
of the War in 1918, numbers in Cardiff had risen to 74 and the following
year to 95. The Golden Jubilee book records that on December 11, 1922;
the club introduced 'the toast of the King', "the Council feeling that
the club had developed sufficiently to permit of a little formality."
Until 1936, like some other clubs even today, Cardiff took a summer
vacation and no formal meetings were held, while in the earliest days,
meetings were held fortnightly rather than weekly..Throughout its history, the Cardiff Club has played a very full part in the life of the city, as well as helping in the foundation of several local clubs in South Wales. One unusual action was the Memorial erected in 1947. A tablet at Lavernock reads: "1897-1947. Near this spot the first radio messages were exchanged across water by Guglielmo Marconi and George Kemp between Lavernock and Flatholm, 11th May, and between Lavernock and Brean Down, 18th May, 1897. Erected by the Rotary Club of Cardiff." Today, the club meets on Mondays at 13.00 except on a 5th Monday when meetings are held at 19.30. The club's base is the Churchills Hotel, Cardiff Road, Llandaff, Cardiff, CF5 2AD. This history is based on the Cardiff Club's Golden Jubilee booklet loaned by Rtn John Hatcher. Paul Harris' 1928 visit to Cardiff by Basil Lewis History Fellow, 14 Aug 2003 |
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