- Rotarian (Dec 1986 )
I joined the Dover Club on 5th December 1986 and was inducted by President Keith Lawson at the Webbs Hotel in Folkestone Road Dover. I was the youngest member of the Club at that time being only just 36 and found it a little daunting. However, over the following years I made many friends both within the Club and in other Clubs, who are still good friends some 38 years later. Being in business locally, I found that lunchtime meetings suited me very well but even so, I still had some difficulty making the 60% attendance rule! I found real enjoyment at being able to give back to the local Community as well as having fun. The make up of the Club in those early years were male only members and mainly in business, Banking or Teaching professions, suits with tie were the order of the day, which was observed rigidly.
The years passed by rapidly and to my utter amazement I was voted as Vice President in 1991, meaning I would be President in the Rotary Year 1993-94. I was duly invested as President in June 1993 by outgoing President Chris Barnett at our annual handover meeting. I cannot tell you how “nervous” I felt at leading such a great Club at such an early age but felt how privileged and I honoured I was.
I have found an actual article regarding my year as follows “President John Hunnisett led us during the 1993-94 year, bringing his unique style to the task. John has a gift for organisation and cooperation with others which has led to everyone having a lot of fun. He showed us how to ‘do Rotary’ by encouraging visits to Bromley Sunrise club, followed by Crayford, Gravesend, Malling, Forest of Blean and Sittingbourne Invicta, about which marathon he observed ‘This appears to be a record’. They raised £100 for charity on the trip as well! One of John’s co-presidents was Tony Cook of Sandwich (who transferred to the Dover club in 2017), having a similar ethos! For our ‘tripartite’ meeting with our contact clubs we visited Strasbourg, the home of the European Parliament.”
Unfortunately, a change in my employment status in 1996, I had to have and extended leave of absence from the Club due to working far away and as I could not make any meetings, I decided I could not maintain my membership without participating, this was such a hard decision to make but I still feel the correct one, as involvement within the Club is essential.
I March 2006, I applied to re-join the Club as I could now attend meetings and join in again with the fellowship and pick up with my Rotary friends. The Club had grown in strength and numbers and I was very pleased to have been welcomed back by the members at the Holiday Inn the venue for our meetings, I was also very pleased to find that my longtime young friend Roger Marsden had joined the Club and gave me the usual “heckling” response to my talk.
I was now determined to “give back” to this very great Club all the time I could going forward and had a very enjoyable time being “events” manager for several Presidents Rev John Philpott, Roger Walton and John Wiggell.
In 2012, I was presented (to my utter surprise) with a Paul Harris Fellowship by President Gloria Barnett, which for once made me speechless! That was one of the proudest days of my Rotary life. To top this again much to my complete surprise, I was presented with a Sapphire Paul Harris Fellowship at one of our evening events in 2017 at the Dover Town Hall by President John Wiggell. This was for me a very great day in Rotary which I never thought could be beaten.
However, I am now to receive in my opinion the greatest honour our Club can give, by being voted as President for the Rotary Year 2024-25 for the second time, this surely is my proudest and most privileged Rotary Honour to date.
Rotary Club of Dover, I salute you and will give 100% to the Club and not let you down.
Rotary is a network of friends above all else! ‘Service Above Self’ is the ethic and when friends work well together, who can surpass them?