ROTARY CLUB OF TEDDINGTON AND THE HAMPTONS

The first Rotary Club was founded in 1905, in Chicago USA. It was founded by a group of businessmen who decided that their weekly get-togethers should have some community agenda. From this single club Rotary has grown to become the most successful Service Organisation in the World with 18000 clubs in 192 countries.

In the community we work with the young, the old and the disabled, mainly through other charitable organisations. We also support local hospitals and hospice that serve our area.

You may know us only through our antics on the Christmas Float - but that's good for starters. Apart from the fun we have on those nights in December, it does bring us face to face with the community we try and serve, and the joy on the faces of the young children is worth all the blisters, believe me. But make no mistake, we make good use of money we collect - every penny goes to good causes.

Sometimes our help in the community is in cash terms, another time we may offer direct support, like 'Seniors Day Out', where we escort older members of our community to National Trust properties, or 'Kids Out' where we take socially disturbed children to Thorpe Park for the day. Another community project we can all be proud of is The Richmond Venturer, a boat specially converted to provide access for able bodied and physically handicapped of all ages to the River Thames.

Through our District Association and Rotary International we support vocational projects at home and abroad. Through our International Foundation Charity we have scholarships available for the young, and group study exchanges with other countries. It is a fundamental aim of Rotary to promote world-wide goodwill. Our own Club is currently involved in the supply of emergency boxes, tools for self reliance, Water Aid and Filtration boxes for flood areas, sponsorship for students on both academic and practical courses and much, much more.

Finally, we are proud of Rotary's support for the World Health Organisation and UNICEF through its Polio Plus initiative. This project is on target to eliminate the sources of polio from the world by the year 2005, by which time some £242,000,000 will have been raised by Rotary. In excess of one billion children throughout the world have received the oral polio vaccine to date.

YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT IS VERY MUCH APPRECIATED

If you want to know more about our club, what we have been doing recently and when we meet, ring or fax this number 07092 295090. We will be pleased to send you a copy of our latest newsletter.