RISHTON & GREAT HARWOOD ROTARY CLUB

Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. It is a secular organization open to all persons regardless of race, colour, creed, gender, or political preference and membership is by invitation only. There are 33,976 clubs and over 1.22 million members worldwide. The members of Rotary Clubs are known as Rotarians. Members usually meet weekly for breakfast, lunch or dinner, which is a social event as well as an opportunity to organize work on their service goals. Rotary's best-known motto is 'Service above Self'.

The Rishton and Great Harwood Rotary Club has worked on several projects recently within the village:

• In co-operation with the local branch of Soroptimist International decorated and renovated the Rishton People's Centre inside and outside.
• Donated illustrated dictionaries worth about £10 each to all year six pupils in Rishton schools as part of their on-going Youth Literacy Programme.
• Hosted a 'Young Chef' competition at Norden School and also donated 20 chef’s knives and chopping boards to the school catering department.
• All schools participated in the 'Young Writer' competition aimed at improving literacy standards of young people in the community.
• The children in some of the schools were involved in a polio eradication programme called 'End Polio Now' in which pupils helped to plant more than 17,000 purple crocus bulbs in Rishton and Great Harwood. The purple crocus is symbolic of the purple dye that is applied to the pinkie finger of each immunised child. Focus on the Crocus has become a nationwide event seeing millions of purple crocus bulbs planted all over the UK. The bulbs are due to emerge in late February which coincides with World Rotary Day on the 23rd February when more than 1.25 million Rotarians from over 30,000 clubs worldwide will celebrate the foundation of Rotary in 1904.
• Each Christmas they collect for charities in Rishton and Great Harwood and take Father Christmas around the streets to visit children in the weeks leading up to the celebration of Christmas. As usual the people of Rishton have been very generous in their giving.
• Each year they send a family who otherwise may not have a holiday to stay in a caravan at Blackpool, organising their transport and giving them a little spending money.

For more information about the Rotary Club in Rishton contact Malcolm Ward on 07801056945.