I saw this fascinating piece about Donna
in Texas. In District 1270 we have a club in HORNSEA which
has a listed population according to their page of around
7,000 with a Rotary Club of 22+ and a newish club at EPWORTH
is in a town of little more than 3,500...see the net for
more!...with a club of 25 or so
There are probably others in Europe in smaller centres. The
key word is 'CITY'.
In Britain and much of Europe, a CITY is a large town with a
charter and usually a cathedral. The charter to be called a
city is the key issue; we don't give them out willy nilly!
Sometimes a university town may be created a city though it
has no cathedral; Brighton was one recently if I remember
correctly. This means that the definitions of towns, cities
and villages must be established to give a level playing
field!! It certainly would not be true that Donna is the
smallest population centre with a Rotary Club though it
could be true for the USA. In our case both Epworth &
Hornsea are some miles from the nearest club so they are not
suburbs of a major city.
Epworth incidentally is a tourist centre especially for
Americans because it was the home of the Wesley family who
founded Methodism. You should find plenty about it on the
net if you have time.
Why not put out a note to ask people to write in with
nominations for the smallest place with a Rotary Club?
Senior Historian
Basil Lewis
10 November 2005
