Rotary Club of Nassau

The founding of The Rotary Club of Nassau, the first Rotary Club in The Bahamas

A Nassau Herald report on 3^rd February 1962 described the charter luncheon of the first Rotary Club in The Bahamas, with 28 Members, at the British Colonial Hotel, as follows:

"Mr. Jack Shillan* presided over the meeting and paid tribute to Mr. Kenneth Arnold, a former manager of the hotel, for the great assistance rendered by him between 1949 and 1951 when he gave Rotary lunches at the British Colonial.

These meetings were suspended when Mr. Shillan experienced racial and political difficulties. Rotary does not recognize racial or religious differences nor does it mix into politics."

At 10.00 am on 19^th January 1962 the Board of Directors of Rotary International at R.I. Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA approved the admission and authorised the Charter for The Rotary Club of Nassau. Four days later, on Tuesday 23^rd January 1962 the first official meeting was held, "embellished by great handshaking, backslapping and an extended fellowship period".

The initial Membership was twenty-eight very-carefully chosen prominent members of the local community. The Club's Charter was presented by the RI President Joseph Abey at the British Colonial Hotel on 27^th March 1962.

* Jack Shillan was the Founder of Rotary in The Bahamas. He had previously arranged unofficial Rotary meetings in a quiet section of the British Colonial Hotel in the early 1950's. In 1956 Etienne Dupuch successfully tabled and introduced the "Anti-Discrimination Resolution" in the House of Assembly, and the barriers to having a Rotary Club in The Bahamas began to fall.