STAMFORD BURGHLEY ROTARY CLUB

The inaugural meeting of the Stamford Burghley Rotary Club took place ,
on 22~ February 1988 at the Lady Anne's Hotel in Stamford. The
Rotary Club of Stamford acted as Mother club and sponsor.
Since then our Club has continued to meet at the Lady Anne's Hotel and has maintained a
membership of between 40 to 45 persons.

Fellowship has always been a distinctive feature of our Club and with this in
mind we recently carried out a survey of our members interests, A total 47
indoor and outdoor pursuits were recorded providing a lively and interesting
background to our weekly meetings. As progressively more of our members
cease full time occupation this diversity of activities is providing them with an
excellent opportunity to develop new interests and participate more fully in
existing ones

Our Club sees service to the community as a natural extension of the
fellowship that exists between our members Over the sixteen years since we
were chartered we have raised on average some £6000 per annum for local
needs and we have contributed a further £l000 each year to Rotary
Foundation, Rotary's own charity.

This pattern of fund raising and giving has however changed in recent years.
Our vision of the needs of our local as well as international community has
been enlarged by a growing demand for help to which we wished to respond.

This has inspired us to raise an additional £43000 and, by exploiting the
experience and enthusiasm of our members, we have leveraged a further
£313000 from a range of generous donors. This resource has funded three
local projects: development of Stamford Hospital, refurbishment of Stamford
Library and the extension of Stamford Christ Church Day Centre.

Additionally. in post war Kosovo, it has funded construction of a multipurpose
building to be used as a refugee centre. community centre and school,
construction of a further community centre, construction of a well and
establishment of a teachers' training scheme for young children. Club
members personally supervised these projects in the villages of Beleq and
Glojen.

Perhaps in this, Rotary's centenary year the spirit of Stamford Burghley Club
can best be captured during our annual Bums Night held on 25th January
This is an evening when, with wives and friends, fun and fellowship are
celebrated rather more than the lyrical merits of the Scottish Bard - this year
£6000 was raised for the Club’s tsunami appeal during the evening.