President: Phillip Martin
The Beginnings
The
club
began
as
an
idea
in
June
1961
following
an
unsuccessful
attempt
some
years
earlier
(when
the
prime
move
had
to
move
away
from
the
area).
It
was
important
from
the
start
to
find
a
"mother"
club
to
sponsor
and
encourage
this
new
venture
and
this
was
achieved
through
the
good
offices
of
the
Rotary
Club
of
Cambridge,
and
it
was
Rotarian
Bill
Warren
of
that
club
who
did
a
great
deal of the "hand-holding" in the early days in liaison with Mr Derek Walker of Royston, one of the founder members.
Granting of Charter
The
newly
formed
Royston
club
was
given
the
status
of
"Interim
club"
until
a
critical
mass
of
members
had
been
achieved,
and
a
charter
was
approved
by
Rotary
International
by
the
President
of
R.I.,
Mr.
Joseph
A.
Abey
on
23rd
March
1962.
The
club
started
with
31
members.
The
charter
was
subsequently
presented
to
the
Founder
President
of
the
Club,
Mr
Peter
Limbach,
on
18th
May
1962
at
a
dinner
held
at
the
University
Arms
Hotel,
Cambridge.
A
toast
to
the
new
Club
was
made
by
Rotarian
Bill
Warren,
a
member
of
the
Cambridge
Club
(Royston's
"mother"
Club)
and
a
past
District
Chairman.
(click
to enlarge photo)
A
reading
desk
was
presented
to
the
new
club
by
the
Cambridge club which is still used to this day.
The
picture
at
the
RH
side
shows
the
presentation
which
was
made
at
the
dinner
by
Rotarian
C.N.
Burgess
of
the
Sudbury
Club
(shown
on
right)
who
was
the
Chairman
of
R.I.
District
8
(equivalent
to
the
District
Governor
of
present
days).
The
other
person
in
the
left
of
the
photo
was
Right
Rev.
Tom
H.
Cashmore,
Bishop
of
Dunwich,
a
Past
President
of
R.I.B.I
,
a
past
member
of
the
board
of
R.I. and
was
the
honoured
guest
at
the
dinner to welcome the new club to the Rotary Family.
Founder Members
The
photo
below
is
the
earliest
record
record
we
have
of
the
founder
members
of
the
Club
which
was
taken
in
early
March
1963.
They are named below:
Silver Jubilee Celebrations 2012
The
Club
held
a
Silver
Jubilee
Celebration
on
18th
May
2012
at
a
dinner
at
Homerton
College
Cambridge.
Special
guest
was
Royston's
MP
Mr
(now
Sir)
Oliver
Heald
and
was
also
attended
by
Annemarie
Harte,
Chief
Executive
of
Rotary
International
of
Great
Britain
and
Northern
Ireland
(R.I.B.I.)
and
also
Rotarian
Tom
Griffin,
the
District
Governor.
More
than
100
Rotarians
and
guests
attended
which
was
on
the
exact
date
the
Club
was
formed
50
year's
ago.
Mr
Heald
observed
that
there
had
been
some
marvellous
characters
belonging
to
Rotary
who
had
helped
shape
the
Club.
"The
members
today
are
what
we
can
call
the
great
and
the
good
of
the
community
for
the
work
being
done
not
just
locally
but
on
an
international
scale
too"
he
said.
As
an
example,
Mr
Heald
highlighted
Rotary's
Shelter
Box
Scheme
which
was
currently
providing
for
people
in
Pakistan
in
desperate
need.
"There
was,
too"
he
said,
"the
commitment
to
the
community
with
Rotary
being
involved
with
fundraising
many
charities".
In
his
response,
the
current
President
of
the
Club,
Neil
Heywood,
said
that
during
the
past
year
the
Club
had
helped
26
different
charities
and
had
raised
more than £17,000 from its various activities.
The
Club
also
decided
to
mark
the
Jubilee
Year
by
the
presentation
of
a
flagpole
to
the
people
of
Royston,
to
be
erected
in
the
Priory
Gardens
of
the
town.
This
was
formally
presented
to
the
Town
by
the
(then)
Club
President,
Chris
Hardy,
in
the
presence
of
Mr
(now
Sir)
Oliver
Heald
MP
and
Councillor
Lindsay
Davidson,
the
Mayor
of
Royston.
Speaking
before
the
unveiling,
Chris
said:
“When
we
started
talking
about
our
50th
year
we
wanted
to
ensure
that
part
of
our
anniversary
was
to
provide
something
for
the
community.
“We
had
a
number
of
ideas,
but
in
the
end
the
provision
of
a
community
flag
pole
seemed
to
be
the
most
practical
and
workable.”
He
stressed:
“This
is
a
community
flag
pole
and
that
means
any
club
or
group
in
our
town
will
have
the
opportunity
to
fly
its
own
flag
to
mark
an
event
or
occasion.”
Chris
continued
that
the
project
would
not
have
been
completed
without
the
help
of
Rotary
members
and
the
generous
support
of
the
Brian
Leslie
Racher
Charity
Trust,
Councillor
Fiona
Hill
from
her
County
Council
locality
budget
and
a
grant
from
the
Royston
area
committee
of
North
Herts
District
Council.
Rotary
will
work
with
Royston
Town
Council
to
ensure
there
is
a
turn-over
in
flags
being
displayed
and
will
also
recognise
national
events
with
the
hoisting
of
the
Union
flag.
Just
before
the end of the ceremony a town crest flag donated by Rotary was presented to the town council.
Alfie Deards
Please
click here
to read about Alfie Deards and his contribution to the Royston Rotary club
List of Past Presidents
Back Row (L to R)
John
Pigg,
Peter
Mills,
Albert
Read,
Harold
Richmond,
Sam
Wilkinson,
R
Candler,
Don
Humphris,
Ivan Wickstead
Middle Row (L to R)
Bob
Logsdon,
Bill
Darling,
Chris
Paice,
Geoff
Snell,
Hubert
Stearn,
Roy
Haywood,
Jeff
Gray,
Roy
Cowell
Front Row (L to R)
"Peri"
Peregrine,
Arthur
White,
Norman
Northgraves,
Derek
Walker,
Peter
Limbach,
Ian
Milne,
Edward Devonshire, George Haddock, Richard Cox
Club membership at the Presidential Changeover, Summer 2023 (Five absences)