THE ROTARY CLUB OF BANBRIDGE
20th ANNIVERSARY OF CHARTER
The Rotary Club of Banbridge held it’s 20th anniversary celebrations in the Bannville House Hotel on 25 May 2001 and were joined by friends from all over Ireland and Scotland including Rotarian Erik Werner and his wife Gunn from Norway who happened to be visiting the country at the time.
Founder President Eddie Davidson was invited to recall some of the early days of the formation of the club culminating in a trip down memory lane with some photos – all of which and more can be found on this website.
The occasion was marked by the introduction of a new club banner for display at this and all future club functions. The banner was presented by Past President John Dawson, on this occasion representing Fergusons Irish Linen. Past President John commented on the importance of linen to the early development of the town and went on to give some background to linen damask weaving before formally presenting the 100% Irish Linen banner to Club President Victor Jennett.
Paul Harris Fellowships were conferred on three people present:
Sadie Beck who after a life’s work in nursing (mostly in midwifery in
Banbridge) had also given 15 years of her life to Cancer Research.
Brendan
Byrne, local photographer had worked unstintingly for most of his adult
life for Spina Bifida.
Past President Ken Forbes received his PHF for 18 years in all avenues
of Rotary service including the past 3 years as club secretary.
District Governor Danny Fay complimented the club on its excellent record in its first 20 years and wished the Rotary Club of Banbridge every success in the future. He then went on to entertain those present with a spell of joke telling which left some wondering if he didn’t have a second calling.
Founder President chairs the weekly meeting
For old time’s sake Founder President Eddie Davidson chaired the last
weekly meeting
before the Charter Night itself and in a brief summary illustrated how small the
world really is. On holiday in Sydney once, he went to a Rotary meeting and
was asked where Banbridge was, only to find that one of the members present hailed from
the town. A similar thing happened to him in Honolulu where a member there
chipped in with a different answer to the same question "it’s 15 miles south of
Belfast". The same club had a tradition of
giving a memento to the visiting Rotarian who had travelled furthest to Hawaii.
PP Eddie held up the Honolulu Boat which he had received ahead of a surprised Japanese Rotarian.
Founder President Eddie ended an interesting look back at 20 years with the
conclusion that for him the most rewarding thing about being a Rotarian was the
opportunity to visit other clubs around the world.