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Good Afternoon to our Fellow Rotarians! There will be an interesting lunch meeting this week, on 8th September. We have 4 New Members' Induction, a New Corporate Member, and DG Keith Chow addressing us. Details as follows; Date: 8th September 2021 (Wednesday)
Time: 12.30pm to 2.00pm
Location: Crystal Ballroom, Holiday Inn Golden Mile, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong UPCOMING EVENTS, details to follow: 15th September, 2021 : Regular Lunch (Speaker - Peggy Chan) 25th September, 2021 : Community Canteen for the Needy 29th September, 2021 : Joint Fellowship Dinner with RC Dragon (details enclosed) They say the best way to learn something is to teach it, since I want to learn facts about Rotary, mainly the fun ones, I'll try and post one or two regularly... for fun :) Fact #1) On February 23, 1905, Paul Harris, Gustavus Loehr, Silvester Schiele and Hiram Shorey gathered at Loehr’s office in Room 711 of the Unity Building in downtown Chicago. This was the first Rotary Club meeting. They decided to call the new club “Rotary” after the practice of rotating meeting locations. But guess who the 1st President was? Was Paul Harris the first president of a Rotary Club? No.
Was Paul Harris the first president of Rotary International? Yes.Although Paul Harris was the founder and organizer of the first Rotary club in Chicago in 1905, the man selected to be the first president was one of the other founding members, Silvester Schiele. By the year 1910 there were 16 Rotary clubs, which linked up as an organization called the National Association of Rotary Clubs. Two years later the name was changed to the International Association of Rotary Clubs, as Rotary was organized in Winnipeg, Canada, and then in England, Ireland and Scotland. In 1922 the name was shortened to Rotary International. When the first organization of Rotary clubs was created in 1910, Paul Harris was selected as the first president. He served in this position for two years, from 1910 until 1912. Thus, the founder of the Rotary idea, who declined to be president of the first club, became the first president of the worldwide organization, Rotary International. Fact #2) A wheel has been the symbol of Rotary since our earliest days. The first design was made by Chicago Rotarian Montague Bear, an engraver who drew a simple wagon wheel with a few lines to show dust and motion. The wheel was said to illustrate “Civilization and Movement.” Most of the early clubs had some form of wagon wheel on their publications and letterheads. Finally, in 1922, it was decided that all Rotary Clubs should adopt a single design as the exclusive emblem of Rotarians. Thus, in 1923, the present gear wheel, with 24 cogs and six spokes was adopted by the “Rotary International Association.” A group of engineers advised that the geared wheel was mechanically unsound and would not work without a “keyway” in the center of the gear to attach it to a power shaft. So, in 1923 the keyway was added and the design which we now know was formally adopted as the official Rotary International emblem. |
