‘I’M proud to be president of such a wonderful club in such a beautiful town,’ were the words of Tavistock Rotary Club president Catherine Bailey as she addressed a packed gala dinner at the Bedford Hotel to celebrate the club’s 70th anniversary.

A distinguished audience was in attendance that included guests of honour such as the Mayor of Tavistock Cllr Mandy Ewings, Rotary district governor elect George Eamer, members of the Rotary Club of Tavistock, the Lions, Inner Wheel, Tavistock BID, Tavistock Heritage Festival, Tavistock Dementia Action Alliance and representatives from Rotary clubs far and wide.

Catherine began by drawing on the words of the club’s founder president Mr W T Reeve. In 1946, just after the end of World War Two, the newly-formed club’s focus was on Rotary’s role in fostering international peace and co-operation and on helping the community of Tavistock to recover after six years of hostilities.

She paid tribute to the international work of the club in the past 70 years. Its support for ShelterBox is well known to the people of Tavistock, which provides enormous support to the regular collections outside Morrisons, but the eradication of Polio is also a high priority for the club. Working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the club is part of a worldwide campaign, ‘Purple for Polio’, to remove the scourge of polio from its final three footholds in the world — Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

Catherine went on the describe the club’s most recent international project, led by former club president John Morton and Rotarian Liz Lenton, to bring fresh water to thousands of people in Uganda. Having raised £15,000 and working through the charity the Busoga Trust, the club has made sure that 16 wells are now operating properly and being maintained in the Jinja District of Uganda. In recognition of his work on this project, John was presented with Rotary’s highest award, a Paul Harris Fellowship.

Catherine also surprised the audience by telling them that, in fact, this is not the first Rotary club to have been formed in Tavistock. An earlier, short-lived, club had been founded in 1925, when the guest speaker, the Rev T Wilkinson Riddle, told the new members that Rotary clubs must be firmly rooted in their communities.

Catherine said: ‘The original members in both 1925 and 1946 would be proud of the club’s achievements in Tavistock. From Youth Speaks to Young Photographer, the fun run, golf day, Santa Claus, Christmas house to house collections, Goose Fair, the Tavistock Heritage Festival, Tavistock Dementia Action Alliance...where to stop? There have been so many wonderful initiatives involving Tavistock Rotarians that we’d be here all night listing them all.’

Current members of the club proudly carry on the community service traditions of the club, with their involvement in the Sensory Garden, working with the Plymouth and District Leukaemia Foundation to improve the facilities in Derriford Hospital, training young people in South Africa and, for the first time, organising the Christmas lunch at the United Reformed Church.

Highlights of the evening were the presentation of the Paul Harris Fellowships to John Morton and former Tavistock Inner Wheel president Ruby Ditcher. Retired Tavistock Rotarian Brian Trenouth was made an honorary member of the club.

History records that the inaugural dinner in 1946 was rounded off with music and singing and, in recognition of that, led by Tavistock celebrity Hugh Walkington, the guests sang a selection of songs that were popular during the war — We’ll Meet Again, White Cliffs of Dover, Lili Marlene and finished with Auld Lang Syne.

Thanking the guests and those who had organised the evening, Catherine said: ‘We’ll see you all with Santa Claus on Dickensian Evening.’