Who We Are

Welcome to the website for the Rotary Club of Abingdon Vesper.

Rotary is one of the largest service organisations in the world, with well over 1.2 million members, organised into local clubs which meet regularly.

Rotary is primarily about working with people.

Our stated purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. Membership is by invitation but Rotary is open to all persons regardless of race, color, creed, religion, gender, or political preference.

In Abingdon Vesper we recognise that Rotary is an international organisation and we undertake projects both in this country and overseas. Examples are:

• Canal boat trips for disabled or disadvantaged groups. We hire a specially adapted Canal boat for a month in the summer and take a different group on the canal each day. We have members who have undertaken training courses to captain the barge and the crew is made up of members and friends. Read more...
• Micro Credit in Uganda. We are currently working in the Mubende district of Uganda. From an initial project to provide hand-tools our support has included a well for fresh water, mosquito nets for the hospital, mattresses for hospital beds, training in animal welfare by qualified UK vets, and support for schools. We have provided business support and now have more than 30 microcredit schemes in the area which through many small loans give a huge number of people a hand up in starting their own small business to allow them to provide for their families. Many of our members have visited these projects. Read more...
• Rotary Dragon Boat Day. This is a great day out for the local community and has raised well over £400,000 for charity. Read more...
• In 2014 we had the first Abingdon Food and Drink Festival at the headquarters of Miele in Abingdon. This was a success and will be repeated in 2015. Read more...
• We support Festival Spirit, a local charity that takes seriously disabled young people to music festivals. Read more...

We meet on Tuesday evenings at the Four Pillars Hotel in Abingdon. Our meetings normally include a meal and a speaker. Speakers might be from a charity, or an individual with an interesting story to tell. We also organise a variety of visits and social events for our members, including visits to our European twinned clubs in the Netherlands and Italy.

You are very welcome to join us at one of our meetings to find out more about us. If you would like more information, then please contact our President Elect, Murray Scott.

Ann