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Rotary -
District 9210
History
In the year 1929,
Horace Babb of Johannesburg, a friend of a leading retailer
H.M.Barbour, visited Salisbury (now Harare). Babb, a District
Governor, at that time, was accompanied by an RI Representative
Sydney Pascall (the sweet manufacturer and his brand of sweets
remain to day in this country!) A Courtesy call on the city’s Mayor
resulted in an introduction to a community leader EB Shepherd known
as ‘Pop’ Shepherd. The first Rotary meeting in our country consisted
of 18 members and was held Pop’s house on 2nd May 1930,
he became the first secretary and after holding office for 11 years
was elected president in 1940.
RI President Sydney
Pascall chartered the second Club in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) on. -
Bulawayo January 27th 1932 at the Selborne Hotel! He presented the
charter to Major Robert Gordon. President ‘Boomerang’ Gordon (DSO &
OBE) then presented to Sydney Pascall, on behalf of the members, a
beautiful album of photographs of Rhodesian scenery, flora and
fauna.
Paul and Jean Harris
visited Rotary in South Africa in 1936 arriving by ship at Cape Town
harbor and were so impressed by the first sight of Table Mountain as
they sailed into Table Bay. They traveled to Johannesburg, the
golden city of the Transvaal where a special Rotary Conference in
their honour welcomed the Harris’s. They traveled round South Africa
by train (Jean Harris would not fly) and finally had another
official conference in the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town. The main
speaker was General Jan Smuts as well as the premier of the Cape at
that time, JBM Hertzog. Harris is reported to have reordered that
these were two ‘irreconcilable Afrikaners’ who took many digs in
their speeches about the USA.
(The Afrikaner never
forgot the Anglo Boer War.)
These two main clubs
of Salisbury and Bulawayo chartered other clubs in the District.
Ndola Rotary Club in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia was sponsored by
Bulawayo in April 1953. They still have the original bell gong they
were presented with over 50 years now. Lusaka Rotary Club, also
Northern Rhodesia was chartered by Bulawayo in 1954 by Sir Henry Low
.
Wankie (now Hwange)
in 1958. The club also went on to charter three more clubs in
Bulawayo –Bulawayo South 1967, Belmont 1978 and in 1986
Matopos, the Rotary evening Club. Bulawayo South chartered Victoria
Falls Rotary in 2002.
Gatooma (now Kadoma)
chartered by Salisbury in February 1955 and Marandellas (now
Marondera) in 1961 a second club following in 1964 in Salisbury
known as Salisbury West. Not long afterwards in 1967, the Salisbury
East Club was chartered on the 18th November and a fourth
Harare Central came into existence on the 31st May 1973.
Newer Clubs in Independent Zimbabwe grew in the Harare areas after
1980 being Hunyani, Highlands, Harare Dawn, Avondale and Borrowdale
Brooke.
The clubs fell under
District 55, which stretched, from Nairobi to Cape Town. One of the
Bulawayo Clubs charter members Sir Henry Low C.B.E who was Club
President 1935/36 and again in 38/39 became the District Governor of
District 55 and later vice President of Rotary International in
1947/48.
The District was
re-zoned a couple of times from D 55 to D9250 which incorporated
Messina and Pietersberg in South Africa and is now D9210, a
geographical region that incorporates Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and
N.Mozambique.
As evidenced by
the above the international service organization of Rotary
presence in Zimbabwe and its District 9210 has progressively
expanded for over 75 years.
Belmont Rotary Club Bell – to go with the Sea Cadets History…
The Rotary Bell was
presented at the first meeting of the Club in 1978. Charter member
Peter Roller son- from a ship breaker in Durban through the sea
cadets there acquired the bell. Ron Bann who was then President of
Durban South Rotary Club and chairman of the Sea Cadet association
hosted PP Peter. The stand was made from piece of wood rescued from
the original customs counter office house at Bulawayo’s Khumalo
airport. Toby Tobell, a Bulawayo Sea Cadet Officer, wove the pull
cord and Lt Cdr Derrick Newell, then the CO of the TS Matabele Sea
Cadets (who also supplied the brass pillar), made the presentation.
Thus it is known as the ‘Ron Bann
Bell’.
Posted by Rotary Global History board member
Maureen Bonds 28 March
2006 |
