Club`s 50th Anniversary Celebration

Cranleigh Rotary celebrated its 50th year of service in the community at Cranleigh Arts Centre on Saturday, 9 November 2019. The invited audience of 70 represented Cranleigh businesses, local charities, organisations and churches connected with the Club. The Mayor of Waverley, Mary Foryszewski (photo top left), and the Chair of the Parish Council, Liz Townsend, were also present.

Richard Kenyon, 50th President of the club, opened the meeting by outlining the nature and scope of the voluntary work undertaken during the last fifty years in Cranleigh (photo top right).

Mary Foryszewski then addressed the meeting and was surprised by the scope and nature of the charitable work that is routinely carried out by Cranleigh Rotary.

James Phiri, Vice-president, gave an illuminating insight into the International aspects of Rotary and the involvement of local Rotarians in a range of projects in Zambia and other African countries.

Brian Arendell, past-president, and current Treasurer talked about the formation of the club in 1970 with special reference to Michel Frost who was the founding President and a local bank manager in Cranleigh. Brian went on to talk about nuggets of historical detail up to the present day.

Gill Ford the club's newest member, gave an entertaining presentation about her joining experience and the unexpected variety of projects both in the local community and internationally that the club are involved with.

During the refreshments break, the Rector of St Nicolas Church, Roy Woodhams, his daughter Martha, and John Clapp entertained the audience with a Remembrance Day themed selection of songs and poems.

This was followed by an interesting talk by Michael Miller of the Cranleigh History Society who reflected on the very many developments and changes in the village over the last 50 years. Since then a great deal of change has taken place in Cranleigh including the building of a new library and health centre. The shop frontages along the High Street have changed ownership many times and the High Street still remains a good focus for community activities and entertainment.

Patrick Leake another ex-President of Cranleigh Rotary, gave a final presentation on current membership changes and the updates that are now possible to allow commercial companies to join as Corporate Members. These include, Informed Choice Ltd and Nationwide Building Society both of which operate in Cranleigh High Street.

This has the beneficial effect of both improving awareness of the activities of the club on a month by month basis and provides a means by which the club can ascertain accurately the validity of applications for support from local organisations and charities. This also helps them create a forum to assist in their local community activities and helps them in a synergistic manner to demonstrate their value in the Cranleigh area.

Business Partners is another new initiative introduced in 2019 that allows local organisations to be perceived as of more than simple utilities suppliers. The following companies have joined as Business Partners: Hans Christmas Anderson, CCM-Ewhurst, Woodford Family Funeral Service and Celebration Cakes.