Spring is clearly the time for a spring clean – and recently some of our members got together to have a good old clear-out of our Club’s archives.
We were fortunate to be able to keep our Club’s archives for many years at the Kent & Canterbury Club, but the area was needed for other things so a number of our members (Mike Talbot, Martin Ward, Mary McGeary, Graham Bough and President Rosemary Doyle), got nice and dusty having a sort out!
The group found quite a number of “treasures” along the way, tucked among a lot of paperwork. Phil Abbott joined the group later and kindly took some of the papers away for disposal, while the more important things were stored in plastic boxes obtained by Jim Gascoyne. “We now know what is where!” said Rosemary, proudly!
One of the treasures is a framed montage of photographs from when Paul Harris, founder of Rotary International, visited the Club in 1928 – just a few years after our Club was chartered in 1922. Below is an extract from our Club’s history page that gives a little more information about the visit.
“In 1928 Paul Harris, the founder of Rotary, visited Canterbury while on a tour of Europe and was welcomed by the then President Harold Young. Rotarians from eight neighbouring Rotary clubs joined the Canterbury Club in a gathering to meet him.
Harold Young had a distinguished career in Rotary, becoming District Governor, President of RIBI and in 1948-1949 Director of Rotary International. When Paul Harris died in 1947, Harold Young described him as “the man who believed in Friendship”.
The framed photo montage has the title, in lovely calligraphy: “Founder of Rotary – visit to Canterbury 1928”. There are 11 photos in all, including a picture with Paul Harris, Harold Young and Archdeacon Hardcastle (pictured in what looks like the Cathedral grounds).
You can read more about Paul Harris here, and we will try to share some of the pictures from Paul Harris’ visit on our Facebook page, here.
You can also read about Archdeacon Hardcastle on Wikipedia here.
With thanks to Peter Hermitage for facilitating access to the archives.
Picture: PPs Mike Talbot and Martin Ward enjoy a rummage around. Picture credit: Rotary Club of Canterbury.
Please note: the publication date of this article has been backdated due to a website upgrade.
