The Rotary Club of Evesham is celebrating its 70th birthday and a lot has changed since the start in July 1948.

The club began as a type of 'male only gentleman's club' representing the different professions in town. Nevertheless, support for the local community has always been an important objective and a passage from 1948 reads as follows: "Now to the ancient Town, with a long and glorious past, comes a new Spirit – the Spirit of Rotary – with its ideal of Fellowship in Service."

Surely, this ideal of Service is the spirit that inspired those monks of Evesham Abbey in the distant past. Apart from their religious duties they fed the hungry, ministered to the sick and generally sustained the inhabitants of the district. It will be the task of Evesham Rotary to labour in Rotary to achieve the same ideal of Service'.

The text is a bit old-fashioned and a reflection of how society functioned in those days. Over the years the Club has raised funds in a variety of different ways to support the service it gives to the community. Intriguingly, for example, one of the fundraising events was a 'sunflower growing competition'!

During the first 50 years many community projects were carried out with support for the local hospital, the elderly and other groups.

But major change was on its way. The first step, in the 1990s, women became members of the Rotary Club of Evesham.

Today, women make up nearly one-third of the membership and take part in leading and important roles. Evesham had a lady President as early as 2001 and provided the first female Rotary District Governor in 2013.

The club is now a lot more informal and anybody who supports the objectives of 'fellowship and friendship' and 'serving the community' is welcome, either by joining the existing club (lunch or evening meetings), the new satellite club (early evening meetings) or Friends of Rotary (helping out but not full membership). The club are always pleased to welcome people from all sections of the community to help in the many local projects we run, which you can find examples of below and on our website. If you are interested in finding out more or would like to help in some way, please contact the club at therotaryclubofevesham.org.uk.

During the most recent 20 years, the 'Tree of Lights' project has been very important. The iconic tree of lights at Workman Bridge is an integral part of Evesham at Christmas time. It allows people to remember loved ones during this period and it raises funds that are used to support Charities, Community groups and projects such as the Toy library. Youth projects have become more important with Interact groups at our two local high schools, Rotary competitions such as 'Young Chef' and 'Young Writer' and support for several youth groups in the town. The 'Bridging Generations' project with Evesham College gives students a hands-on experience of working with older people who themselves participate in an enjoyable event. With focus on challenges and opportunities for young people, an ageing population, living with dementia and loneliness, there is a lot of scope for supporting the community for many Rotary years to come.