THE VISIT OF PAUL
HARRIS TO BELFAST
In 1911 the
Belfast Club was the second to be started by
Stuart Morrow. Paul
Harris, on his first Rotary journey to Britain in 1928, made a special point
of visiting the club on Tuesday, June 5, arriving in the city by ferry from
Liverpool at 8.0.am. The arrangements made by the Belfast Club are worth
looking at in some detail because they are typical of the excitement that an
imminent visit by the movement's founder engendered, and the trouble that
many clubs took to ensure that their visitor was given a welcome worthy of
his status. In this instance, the club, according to its minutes, held a
special Council meeting on the preceding Friday "to consider arrangements
for welcoming Emeritus International Past President Paul P Harris on his
arrival in Belfast by the Liverpool Boat on Tuesday morning.
These arrangements were fairly comprehensive and the visit
went as planned. On arrival at Belfast, Paul Harris was immediately taken to
a breakfast reception at the Grand Central Hotel by the President. There he
met several other members as well as those nominated by the Council. After
breakfast, the group did a little gentle sightseeing in the city before
returning to the hotel for lunch. 97 members including a group from the
Londonderry Club sat down to lunch and, as the club minutes recorded, "when
the meal was over, Mr Hooton Mitchell entertained the meeting with two songs
which were greatly appreciated." Some internal business had to be conducted
first, although it was agreed to postpone discussion on some matters until
another day. It was then time for Dr Lyttle "in well chosen words" to extend
"a cordial welcome to the distinguished visitor...Paul Harris, the President
Emeritus of Rotary International." However, before Harris rose to speak, the
members were asked to drink "to the toast of 'Paul Harris' to which the
members cordially responded with musical honours."
His address to a joint meeting of the Belfast and
Londonderry Clubs was on the theme of 'Rotary and Its Critics', the second
of the two talks which he had prepared for this tour. His speech was again a
pronounced success and many members felt that they had met a unique
personality and one whom they would not forget readily. As the minutes of
the meeting recorded, "On the conclusion of the address Past President Boyd
in a felicitous speech presented to Paul Harris on behalf of the Club a box
containing one dozen linen handkerchiefs.....and along with this, was
presented a box of embroidered handkerchiefs for Mrs Harris. Our guest
feelingly expressed his thanks and the Meeting then closed."
In the afternoon Paul Harris went first to the City Hall
where he was welcomed by the Lord Mayor, Sir William Turner, a member of the
Belfast Club, and then he was taken by car on a tour to the Giants Causeway.
A well planned day was carried through with precision. Almost every club
visited by Harris took similar action although records of Council decisions
and details of their planning have only rarely survived. By contrast, there
were occasions on which clubs did not have advance knowledge of any visit
and had to improvise!
Basil Lewis
Also see
www.rotaryfirst100.org/women/jeanharris
for the life of Jean Harris
www.rotaryfirst100.org for all about our founder
