Rochdale Rotary celebrates 95th charter night

Rochdale Mayor Aasim Rashid with Rochdale Rotary President Merrilyn Chadwick and club secretary Bob Chadwick

Rochdale Rotary Club celebrated 95 years since its inception at Rochdale Sports Club on Thursday 21 October.

President Merrilyn Chadwick was joined by around 60 Rotarians and friends, including honorary guest Mayor of Rochdale Aasim Rashid, in celebrating the foundation of the Rochdale club in 1926.

District 1285 Governor Eric Russell outlined the impressive history of the club over the years and how it has continued its service to the Rochdale community up to the present day. He presented the club with a 95 years of service certificate.

Recent activities have included support for homeless charity Petrus, Rochdale Foodbank, Rochdale Children’s Moorland Home and Springhill Hospice.

The original charter certificate was read out in great style by the club’s oldest active member Mike Lucas. In proposing the toast to Rotary International, vice president Selwyn Hodge also outlined the club’s youth programme – in conjunction with Rochdale Sixth Form College – providing advice in health-related areas as the Covid-related lockdowns have made more young people anxious and depressed.

President of Heywood Rotary 2020 Melanie Caffrey proposed the toast to Rochdale, thanking the club for their great service to the community and hoping for closer collaboration in the future. The evening was rounded off by professional children’s educator, entertainer and poet Paul Jenkins (the Man in the Silly Hat) who does literacy workshops in schools.

After changing to his entertainer’s outfit, he gave a very amusing performance reciting some of his funny poems – ‘Cat on my Head’ inspired by the nocturnal antics of his recently acquired pet and ‘I’m not a fan of Pink’ to highlight the way girls and boys have been stereotyped – in his ‘wobbly wibbly’ way of speaking while dashing around the stage.

A more sombre poem about depression, a commission from a mental health charity, described how young people get depressed and don’t know how to talk about it, whilst his final poem, ‘Difference’, allowed audience participation when he made statements such as ‘I don’t like commercials on TV’ and ‘let’s go back to radio’.

A spokesperson from Rochdale Rotary said: “This was a very different Charter night speaker to the usual; Paul is obviously doing a great service for young people and was enthusiastically cheered by all who came.”

Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland is a membership and humanitarian service organisation. Through membership of their local Rotary club, members use their time and talents to make a difference in their own communities and around the world.