Welcome to our club

My name is Sulwen Vaughan, I have been a Rotarian for over 18 years, and this is my second time as President to lead the Club.

The Rotary Club of Abingdon Vesper has been a thriving club since the 19th April 1990.

We are a club of 32 members made up of honorary and ordinary members. It is a team effort and we all play a part in the success of the club.

You may recall the many activities that Abingdon hosted like the Food and Drink Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival, both these town events were organised and managed by the club.

Many thousands have been raised over the years and the charity has been able to support local communities here in the UK and abroad.

Abingdon Vesper is part of Rotary International, and RI has clubs all over the world. I have been able to visit clubs here in the UK and in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. All offer a warm welcome and it has been a pleasure to be able to visit.

Rotary International was founded on the 23 February 1905 in Chicago by Paul Harris, a law attorney. During his lifetime he saw RI grow from a handful of members to 200,000 members in 75 countries. RI is a non-political and non-religious organisation it now has 46,000 member clubs worldwide with a membership of 1.4 million individuals.

Why do people become Rotarians? The answer is simple – we want to make a difference.

Please contact our club if you would like to know more about how you too can bring about change to your local community.

There are seven areas of focus that we bring about change:

• Environment
• Peacebuilding and conflict prevention
• Disease prevention and treatment
• Water, sanitation and treatment
• Maternal and child health
• Basic education and literacy
• Community economic development

Please read through our website to find out more about our work. I look forward to hearing from you.

President, 2022-2023