100th Annual Rotary International Convention, Birmingham, UK

Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be the Keynote Speaker at the Rotary World Peace Symposium a pre-Convention event on June 19th. Archbishop Tutu was born in Klerksdorp, Transvaal in 1931.He was educated in Johannesburg and trained first as a teacher and was ordained as a priest in 1960. In 1975 he was appointed Dean of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Johannesburg, the first black to hold that position. From 1976 to 1978 he was Bishop of Lesotho, and in 1978 became the first black General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches. Tutu is an honorary doctor of a number of leading universities in the USA, Britain and Germany. He was winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

Birmingham Rotarians who are looking forward to hosting their 100th convention at The NEC have unveiled a lasting reminder of the last historic celebration.

The four day long Rotary International Convention 2009 will take place at The NEC from June 21 to 24 and is expected to welcome 25,000 visitors from as far afield as North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, India and Japan. Read the rest of this entry »

Would you like the chance to win £5000 and support the Rotary Foundation in a new fun and exciting environmentally friendly indoor competition? Read the rest of this entry »

The application form for the Rotary Project Stands in the House of Friendship will be available from RI from the middle of October and will be placed on the RI web site. Applications will be considered on a first come basis with the Deadline of Friday 30th January 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

The ICFR (International Caravanning Fellowship of Rotarians) is pleased to announce that its booking is now available for download for caravanning reservations for the 100th Rotary International Convention to be held in Birmingham.

Go to the fellowship website to find out more http://www.rotarycaravanning.org.uk/riconvention2009.html

Johnsons Coaches are looking forward to welcoming Rotarians from all corners of the world. They have prepared many pre and post convention tours for convention goers from overseas and the UK along with a huge and varied selection of day and half day tours - which all offer the wow factor for visitors.  Read the rest of this entry »

Birmingham and the British Isles has some great events and attractions before and after the Convention. There’s Ascot and the famous Royal rowing Regatta at Henley to name just a few.

Read more to see a CALENDAR OF EVENTS in June 2009

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The Host Events ticket shop is now able to take payment by American Express. Tickets are selling well and the choice of shows is truly world-class. Take time now to look at the host events. Click here and make sure you book you tickets today

Rotarian Tom Henderson, CEO Shelterbox, was selected to appear on the CNN Heroes series of special reports from international television channel CNN. The report was broadcast on CNN International on Friday 5^th September 2008, and is available on  http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/cnn.heroes/.

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Rotarians Tom Henderson and Deepa Willingham have agreed to speak at the Rotary International Convention in Birmingham June 2009.

Tom Henderson is the CEO of ShelterBox and he will speak on Monday, June 22 in the Growth of Rotary session. Tom, a Rotarian and ex-Royal Navy Search and Rescue diver, spotted a gap in aid provision for natural disasters in 1999. He developed the idea of the ‘ShelterBox’, with which he aimed to provide shelter and other essential equipment for survival in an easily transportable box. The ShelterBox idea was adopted by Tom’s Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard as its millennium project and registered as a UK charity. The directors of The ShelterBox Trust are members of the Helston-Lizard club.After gaining the support of Rotary Clubs worldwide, ShelterBox was formally launched in 2000 and the first boxes of aid were distributed in 2001.

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