Barnard Castle Rotary Club – progressive, fun, but most definitely not old fashioned

Barnard Castle Rotary Club is seeking new blood for the years ahead. Reporter Alex Metcalfe met Rotarians to find out more about the organisation and its activities.

PRECONCEPTIONS are often hard to shake off and members of Barnard Castle Rotary Club know this better than most.
“We have an image of being a bit posh and elitist – it’s not like that at all now,” says member David Yeadon.
“We could turn up how we’re dressed now and nobody would say anything at all.”
President Pauline Loughran-Hanby ushers us all into her family kitchen.
Her year at the helm has seen the club take on its customary gamut of charity fundraisers and community events.
“The bottom line is we’re changing and we want people to be aware we exist in Teesdale,” says Ms Loughran-Hanby.
“We do concentrate on big things at international and national level but we must not forget our own community and we don’t.
“If it wasn’t for the people of Teesdale, we would not have the money to support things like our polio eradication campaign.”
The Rotary Club was formed in the USA in 1910 by a group of businessmen with the aim of serving society through worthy enterprise.
Gradually the idea spread across the Atlantic and worldwide with branches in almost every country.
But clubs in the UK have continued to face the inconvenient truth of an ageing membership and historical baggage.
For many years, women weren’t permitted to enter Rotary branches and a fusty air of officialdom and dress codes often masked its altruistic intentions.
However, Barnard Castle’s branch has proved to be at the more progressive end of the Rotary spectrum with no fewer than four female presidents in the past decade.
Ms Loughran-Hanby adds: “We are well passed that stage in Barnard Castle – that was many years ago.
“We are really widening the role of Rotary and how you can get involved in it. We don’t want people to think it’s old fashioned.”
“It’s got to be enjoyable,” adds Mr Yeadon.
“It was very much business people in the past – you couldn’t join if you weren’t at work or you were over 65.
“That’s all gone now.”
Rotary committee member Keith Miles has the task of making sure membership levels are maintained.
He says the branch boasts some impressive past careers and is keen to add to the club’s roster.
Mr Miles adds: “We want to have an ongoing dialogue with the community and let them know there is more to come.
“One of the long term goals is to renew interest and involvement.”
Mr Yeadon adds: “Our number one priority is getting members.
“We would only need half a dozen members in their 50s and it would transform the club. That’s what we need.”
Rotary remains one of the biggest non-governmental organisations in the world with 1.2 million members in all.
The “Rotarian spirit” of “service above self” is designed to trump any rulebook.
If circumstances allow, the Teesdale Rotarians says they’re prepared to flex the regulations for a good cause.
Mr Yeadon adds: “Rules are like pink elastic – it’s how much you can stretch them.
“I’ve just been to New Zealand and they don’t say no – they just find a way.”
Ms Loughran-Hanby adds: “We are, as David would say, a ‘can do’ organisation – if we can find a way we will do it.”
Focus in recent years has turned to helping the dale’s younger population.
YMCA fundraisers, the annual swimathon and help with mock interviews in schools have been just some of the Rotary’s projects.
Former president Dr Ann Barmby tells me the idea of satellite clubs could be the way to go to attract younger people to the Rotary. 
She adds: “Satellite clubs work with people of working age who want to be part of Rotary but lack the flexibility – there are lots other ways you can become a friend of Rotary.”
Another word which keeps cropping up is “fun”.
Mr Yeadon’s tenure as president in the 1990s saw him bring out a big board emblazoned with the three-letter-word whenever he could. It’s something the group continues to push.
Mr Miles says: “The fun is a bit like the cement for the bricks you build walls with.
“If you did not have that cement of fun I do not think people would stay.”
Ms Loughran-Hanby adds: “We are welcoming – if anyone wants to see what Rotary is all about, come along to a couple of our meetings.”
To find put more go to Barnard Castle Rotary Club's website at https://www.rotary -ribi.org/clubs/homepage. php?ClubID=118