Members and Visitors may be interested in the following brief history of our Club prepared in 1997 at the time of our 75th Anniversary celebrations.

The First Seventy Five Years

 The celebration of the seventy fifth year of The Rotary Club of Halifax gives opportunity to record this brief history, to trace the origins, to appreciate the development and achievements through the years and reflect on the future.

 It may come as something of a surprise to many that the formation of a Rotary Club in Halifax had strong links with the Scottish city of Perth. Tom Teal (who was President of the Perth Club in 1923) and was a native of Halifax, delivered a paper on the philosophy of the Rotary movement in Perth in 1921. A copy of his address reached the 'Halifax Courier', whose editor, Clifford Ramsden, J.P., based a leading article on the subject. This became a point of discussion among some readers of the newspaper and the 'Courier' invited Edward Green, the Chief Librarian of Halifax to develop the idea in an article. From this, interested business and professional men got together and, with the help of friends in Leeds, progress was made towards the formation of a Rotary Club in the town. An inaugural lunch was held on January 4th 1922, with 26 founder members. 

It is of interest to record the continuous association of the Bearder family with the Club; Harold I.Bearder, O.B.E., President in 1924-1925, was a founder member and his son John A. Bearder, M.B.E., President in 1979-1980 in the 75th year of the foundation of the Rotary movement, continues to excel as the Club's Speaker Finder.Following the initial lunch progress was swift and sponsored by the Leeds Club the formal inaugural meeting of the Club was held on March 8th, 1922, and the Club's Charter handed over on June 1st of that year by Rotarian John Innes Treasurer of what was then known as the British Association of Rotary Clubs. It was a matter of deep regret that, when the Club held its own Golden Jubilee in 1972, no founder member had survived to see the anniversary, though Harold I.Bearder O.B.E., in his later years an honorary member of the Club, lived to within a year of having that distinction. The first few years were taken up in establishing the Club on a firm foundation but this was not at the expense of either community service or international service. In the grey days of the early 1920's an annual treat and entertainment provided by the Club had a guest list of 800 of the poor children of the town. Other projects in the first decade included civic (a prize for a layout of Barum Top) and educational (sponsored parties of schoolchildren to the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924) projects. There were donations to a Japanese earthquake relief fund, contact with overseas Clubs, and hospitality for visitors from abroad. In 1927, representatives attended the Ostend conference.

 The first international contact was with the Hilo Club in Hawaii and the first woman to address the Club was Miss Phyllis Nielson Terry. In 1927 the club presented a silver mounted gavel and stand to the sister club of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and in the following year two members of the Canadian Club visited Halifax and presented to us the now familiar ceremonial gong. 

The Club's original publication was 'The Spokesman', the first issue of which appeared on July 31st, 1923, produced by Clifford Ramsden. It continued for two and a half years in cyclostyled form and was then replaced by a printed publication, edited by Frank Holloway. After six years, however, 'The Spokesman' ceased publication ('owing to the prevailing financial stringency') as advertising revenue dwindled. It was then replaced by the monthly folder which continued for many years and more recently by the Calendar Cards, bi / tri monthly Bulletins together with Annual Reports. 

In 1929 the Club played a leading part in affording an excellent send-off to Halifax Round Table and in 1935 the annual report gave its blessing to the newly-formed Inner Wheel Club of Halifax. 

The years of the 1930's offered plenty of scope for community service: a boys'camp at Saltburn; parcels to needy families; a leading part in a rehousing project, Housing Improvements (Halifax) Ltd; pantomime visits for 1,700 children; aid for the establishment of a local Sea Cadet Corps. One of the projects of the 1930's was the compilation of a Nurses' Register, arising from reported difficulties which people found in securing the services of a nurse for an invalid during an epidemic. A Register of qualified and 'secondary' nurses was compiled, with the co-operation of the Halifax Council of Social Welfare, introduced in 1931, and circulated to every doctor in the Borough. It was maintained until 1937 when it became a matter of Government policy and was further developed during the subsequent war years. In those war years the Club lived up to Rotary principles of service. At home there was spontaneous aid for the Halifax Comforts Fund for Servicemen, for appeals such as the town's Spitfire Fund and for the staffing and equipment of rest centres for soldiers. There was hospitality for Canadian soldiers with links with Halifax, Nova Scotia, and for evacuees, together with assistance to the Air Training Corps and the Sea Scouts. And -  though the White Swan was unable to provide a lunch more than once a fortnight  -  the weekly meetings of the Club were maintained. 

If the war years had presented a challenge to Rotarians this was no less true of the immediate post-war years, with their demands for rehabilitation and reconstruction. As a major contribution to youth work a scheme was launched in 1945 for giving young people a grounding in the principles of local government, a scheme subsequently taken over by Halifax Youth Council. 

Other post-war help was extended to the people of Holland, to the WVS with clothing for the people of devastated Europe and the distribution of nearly 20 tons of foodstuffs, sent by the people of Halifax, Nova Scotia, as a celebration of the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh. And it was in the austerity climate of life in Britain in 1947 that the Club held a restrained commemoration of its own Silver Jubilee. 

If the post-war years brought opportunities further to extend the community service aspects of Rotary they also gave the Halifax Club the opportunity to bring more men of suitable calibre into the Rotary fold and the Halifax Club played a notable role in the extension of the movement in what is now called Calderdale. Halifax was the sponsor club first for a club at Todmorden in 1946 then successively at Hebden Bridge in 1951, Sowerby Bridge in 1955 and the Halifax Calder Club in 1980 formed in the 75th year of the Rotary movement on the initiative of President John A. Bearder. This extension, with the institution of clubs also at Elland and Brighouse has produced a network of clubs in Calderdale which has done much to extend the scope of both fellowship and community service within the area of what was once the ancient parish of Halifax. 

By 1955, however, some measure of the post-war austerity had disappeared and in that year the Golden anniversary of Rotary International was able to be marked with greater effect. The Jubilee, and the Halifax Club's own 33 years of proud service, was marked by a special Thanksgiving Service at Halifax Parish Church., conducted by Mr. C.0.Mackley and the then Archdeacon Eric Treacy, M.B.E., both members of the Club. President in that year was Arthur Jackson and A. B. Ollerenshaw was Chairman of the Golden Anniversary Committee. At a special lunch at the White Swan Hotel on February 23rd, the speaker was Lord Mackintosh, a founder member of the Club, and all babies born between 0001 hours on February 23rd and midnight on March 2nd received a Savings Certificate. At a Hobbies Exhibition March 30th - April 2nd every hobbies organisation in Halifax took part and prizes were presented for models and handicrafts. A history of the Club was prepared by Rotarians C. A. Ramsden and H. W Harwood and at a celebration dinner on March 9th the chief guest was John Mackie, a past Director of Rotary International. 

During the 1960's and 1970's the Halifax Club was concerned with two major projects which made a substantial contribution to the community service life of Halifax - the Savile Close Home and the Workshops for the Elderly. Both had their difficulties but their record fully justified the considerable investment of effort and enterprise put into them by members of Rotary. The Savile Close Home, established in 1964 after three and a half years of effort was originally as a short-stay home in order to relieve those concerned with the care of elderly relatives and to provide a bridge to elderly people living alone between hospital treatment and returning to their own homes. In more recent years its maintenance on a year-round basis brought a change of use as a home for the elderly on a wider basis and today it has provision for 10 permanent residents. The management committee has always been headed by a member of Rotary, currently Mr. Godfrey Platt. The Workshops for the Elderly were founded in the early 1970's as a joint effort between Rotary, Round Table and the Halifax Lions Club, and continued into the 1980's. But these two projects headed a long list of enterprises and initiatives such as the refurbishment of a new dormitory at the White Windows Cheshire Home and the setting up of a Mobile Physiotherapy Unit and other help to local organisations, to which the Club members gave.regular support, either in financial aid or in service. 

High aims and principles are splendid when recorded in articles of association, mottoes, slogans and the like: they mean nothing unless they are put into practice and that requires quality and dedication in membership. In this direction the Halifax Club has been well served and while many names stand out in bold relief in reviewing the 75 years of the Halifax Club - such as J. F. Sugden, Secretary for 37 years and A.B. Ollerenshaw, Treasurer for nearly 20 years (continuous service in these capacities is now restricted to 5 years under recent legislation) there are literally scores of Halifax Rotarians, some surviving some now past on, who have contributed loyal and valuable service to the Club and thereby to the community, not necessarily while holding formal office. 

One feature of the early history of the Halifax Club, though not known to be unique in R.I.B.I, was that during the first 58 years of the Club's history it had only one "home" - the White Swan Hotel, Halifax. It was considered during that period that the accommodation available had a restricting factor on one area of Club operation, the question of numbers; the limitations of accommodation limiting the membership of the Club within the 80's when at times that number might have been considerably more had the Hotel's facilities enabled it. 

During 1980, the venue of the White Swan became untenable and until the beginning of 1996 the Club met at the Three Lanterns Restaurant in the centre of Halifax and enjoyed further years of happy fellowship and good food but the restrictions of the room, the access and the parking resulted in a move to the present meeting place, The Southwood Club in Birdcage Lane a short way out of the town centre, in pleasant surroundings, with easy access, plentiful parking, excellent fare and an atmosphere all helpful to the retention of existing and the gaining of new members.

When the Club was formed it had a membership of 26, rising to the 70's in the 1930's, peaking to the 80's in the 1980's and with a fall to the 60's in the mid 1990's is today back on course in the mid 70's. 

Additionally, with the formation of the Halifax Calder Club in 1980 as previously noted, which meets in the evenings, with a current membership in the mid 30's the Rotary membership in Halifax is in excess of 100.

In 1970 through the efforts of Cedric Greenwood and the Community Service Committee, The Halifax Probus Club was formed, providing weekly meetings for retired professional and business men and this has proved highly successful, there now being three such Clubs in Halifax. 

In early 1975 with credit due to the initiative and leadership of Bill Mackenzie the Club sponsored a Rotaract Club for the age group 18-28 with a starting membership of around 40, then the largest in District 1040, and attaining the membership limit set at 50, enjoying many successful years of fellowship, community, vocational and international service, but membership has currently dropped to a level giving rise to much concern and it is hoped that the impetus can be regained. 

A Community Crime Call scheme was set up in 1988 in conjunction with the Police and the Halifax Courier and ran until last year when it ceased due to the decline of enthusiasm on the part of the Police and a balance of £800 in undistributed awards donated by local business and organisations was passed over to Crimestoppers, an organisation with similar objectives and wider coverage. 

Events in recent years include Children's Day Out, Elderly Gentlemen's Evening Out and a Safe and Alive First Aid Day. 

In 1995 in conjunction with the Halifax Courier a "One in a Million" project sought nominations from readers to find a person whose service in the community epitomised Rotary's own ideal of "Service before Self" and brought 41 genuine nominations with the winner and nominating readers being suitably rewarded.

 In recent years in addition to the continuing support given to the local and national charities, international projects have seen the Club achieve the R.I. assigned target of £7,100 which provided vaccine to immunise 42,000 children as part of the Rotary International Polio Plus programme, the provision of a gravity fed water supply to the village of Musaya in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone, the sinking of 14 wells in Northern Ghana, raise funds for a water supply for a school in Dagupan in the Philippines, as well as a continuing programme of collections of spectacles for Vision Aid, items for Emergency Boxes and books for Book Aid. Last year a venture new to the Club, a Cyclathon, proved a popular and lucrative event to aid many good causes, an event to be repeated this year. In 1993-1994 the Club was presented with banners signifying the award for the No. 1 Club in District 1040 for "most improved per capita" and "in capita contributions" to the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. 

Within the youth exchange programmes of Rotary Foundation, in 1982 a nominee of the Club, Julie Kirkbride, was awarded a Rotary Foundation Scholarship to study in the School of journalism at the University of California to obtain a Masters degree and the indications now are that Julie is likely to become the Member of Parliament for Bromsgrove at the forthcoming general election; the Club has hosted groups of 8-10 students from various European countries as part of the "Tours of Yorkshire" scheme on a number of occasions; in 1994 Eric Daniels led a Group Study Exchange team to the Philippines and last year the Club sponsored Caroline Stevenson in the G.S.E. team visiting District 7070, Ontario, Canada. The Club continues to get comprehensive reports from Cathy Richardson in Colorado following her year's exchange visit with Jim Backhouse. There are many other examples of student exchange and youth projects supported by the Club. 

The Club has provided two District Governors Norman Collins in 1947/1948 and Will Patterson in 1950/1951 and recently two Paul Harris Fellows, John Bearder, M.B.E., President in 1979/1980, founder of the Bearder Charity and Maurice Jagger, President in 1978 / 1979, a recipient of the Rotary Service Award in 1991 and a former Mayor of Halifax and founder of the Maurice Jagger Centre for the Disabled to which the Club gives continuous support including providing an annual dinner. 

Tracing through the seventy five years from sources available it has been gratifying to appreciate the consistency of endeavour and effort in serving the community and although reflecting the changing circumstances to realise in many cases the similarity of aims and projects throughout the seventy five years and the Club being in excellent shape at the present time augers well for continuation in the future

 Keith Browes                March, 1997.