South Shore Rotary Club to fold after 66 years as numbers dwindle

The South Shore Rotary Club will shut this summer, with the few remaining members merging with another club.

The club will continue until the end of the Rotary year at the end of June, when its remaining members will merge with Palatine Rotary to continue fund-raising for the rotary’s ‘End Polio Now’ campaign.

South Shore Rotary Club president Pat McCarthy said: “The problem with a lot of Rotary clubs is that none of the members are getting any younger. Our main aim is to raise money for charity and we are down to six members at the moment and we can’t really organise proper fund-raisers or socials.

“Say 10 years ago, we had 40 members, and it has reduced and reduced over the years with few new members coming in.

“When I took over in July, having done a quick risk assessment, it was quite clear that our current situation was not sustainable and we had two options.

“One option was to continue and with people dropping off the page, or to merge with another club on the basis that if we did, they have more members so we can do a lot more.”

Mr McCarthy, pictured inset, said the catalyst for the move was the death of the club’s champion, former Chief Supt Jeff Meadows, who died in November last year, age 80.

“He was one of the main driving forces behind the club, and with Jeff gone and the wavering membership, we felt it was in the best interests of the Rotary that we merged with another club,” he said. “We wouldn’t want to stop fund-raising because it’s at the heart of what the Rotary does. Ridding the world of Polio is our first big aim and we are down to one or two cases world wide at the moment.”