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The success of the Bristol Club, which in 1917 was the
nearest club to South Wales, suggested to several influential and
professional business men in Cardiff that a Rotary club should be
established in the principality. An invitation was sent to some of them
which read:
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Mr Thomas Stephenson, Hon Sec of the BARC is visiting
Cardiff early next week, accompanied by Mr Lyon Scott, Hon Sec of
the Liverpool Club, and has suggested that a meeting be called at
the Park Hotel on Tuesday next, the 22nd instant, at 5.30.pm to
discuss the formation of a Rotary Club for Cardiff.
As your name is included on the list of gentlemen
likely to be interested, I shall be glad if you will kindly make it
convenient to attend at the place and time stated.
Signed H.A.Martin, Interim Secretary. |
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So, on May 22, 1917, a preliminary meeting was held at
the Park Hotel, Cardiff, when a group of nine men from the city convened
to meet and listen to Tom Stephenson of Edinburgh, the Secretary of the
BARC, and Lyon Scott.
After a lengthy discussion, it was proposed that "a
Rotary Club be formed in Cardiff under the auspices of and in
affiliation with the British Association of Rotary Clubs."
The nine present were appointed as a 'Provisional
Committee' to make the necessary arrangements for a meeting place and to
try to obtain additional suitable members. There were some doubts
expressed as to the appropriateness of starting a Rotary club during
wartime, but by July 18, 1917, several new names had been added to the
list, and the club was clearly a viable concern.
On September 7, 1917, the first formal luncheon was held
at the Park Hotel at a cost of 3 shillings and 6 pence (17.5 p) plus
10% 'war charges'. Nobody today knows what this was for. W.A.Chamen,
an electrical engineer, was in the Chair as Founder President and 31
members and several guests were also present to hear Rtn A Home-Morton,
President of the London Club speak about the elevating influence of
Rotary. Delaval Story, the VP of the Bristol Club, expressed his
pleasure at the foundation of a new club in Wales. Greetings were also
conveyed from thirteen other clubs. Although a search at Alcester
records a 'charter date', no date for a formal Charter Presentation has
been found. |
A few months later, several members attended the
Inaugural Meeting of the Rotary Club of Llanelly which became the second
Welsh club. By the end of the War in 1918, numbers in Cardiff had risen
to 74 and the following year to 95. The Golden Jubilee book records
that on December 11, 1922; the club introduced 'the toast of the King',
"the Council feeling that the club had developed sufficiently to permit
of a little formality." Until 1936, like some other clubs even today,
Cardiff took a summer vacation and no formal meetings were held, while
in the earliest days, meetings were held fortnightly rather than
weekly..
Throughout its history, the Cardiff Club has played a
very full part in the life of the city, as well as helping in the
foundation of several local clubs in South Wales. One unusual action
was the Memorial erected in 1947. A tablet at Lavernock reads:
 "1897-1947. Near
this spot the first radio messages were exchanged across water by
Guglielmo Marconi and George Kemp between Lavernock and Flatholm, 11th
May, and between Lavernock and Brean Down, 18th May, 1897. Erected by
the Rotary Club of Cardiff."
Today, the club meets on Mondays at 13.00 except on a 5th
Monday when meetings are held at 19.30. The club's base is the
Churchills Hotel, Cardiff Road, Llandaff, Cardiff, CF5 2AD.
This history is based on the Cardiff Club's Golden
Jubilee booklet loaned by Rtn John Hatcher.
Basil Lewis, History Fellow, 14 Aug 2003
Also see Paul Harris' 1928 visit to
Cardiff by
Basil Lewis. |
