What Is Rotary?

Service Above Self!

This is the proud motto of 1.25 million Rotary members in Clubs in nearly every country worldwide. Rotary International is the only service club to have been given a United Nations Award for services to humanity.

Our purpose is built around the Object Of Rotary.

Who Are Channel Rotary?

‘We are serious about what we do but don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Our foundations are strong fellowship, common purpose and a lot of pleasure’.

We are 40 like-minded people from all walks of life, active and retired, who work together to support our community in South East Kent with funds and many hours of hands on expertise.  Six members are Associates who provide invaluable support for our activities in their limited spare time.

Our President:            Alan Myers
Past President            Gary Calver
Vice President:           TBC  
President Elect:          TBC
Secretary:                   Bill Flavell
Treasurer:                   Tim Cowell

We have close ties with:

  • The Royal Gurkha Rifles regiment based at Sir John Moore Barracks, Folkestone and are proud to have their resident Commanding Officer as an Honorary Member, currently Lieutenant Colonel Nick Moran.
  • Earlscliffe Sixth Form College Interact Club in Folkestone which we helped to found in 2021.  Interact Clubs actively introduce young people to the purpose and skills of Rotary in their community.

So Why Not Join Us?

We’re sure you’ll enjoy it and get a great deal of satisfaction from helping people and good causes in this area and further afield. You could be a Member, an Associate Member or a Sponsor. Just call our Secretary Bill Flavell on 01303 893804 or use the contact us page on this website.

Age is no barrier if people have something to contribute. Some of our members are well retired and still contribute significantly to Club activities.

A Little Bit Of Club History

We were chartered on 5 June 1980 with 28 Founder members led by President David Jarvis and were sponsored by Folkestone Rotary Club (chartered 1923).

In an exciting and fulfilling 43 years we have raised over £1million for charitable purposes with some amazing highlights including:

  • supporting Rotary’s on-going worldwide programme to eradicate polio.  Initially this terrible disease was endemic in 127 countries and today there is only a handful of cases in 2 countries.
  • raising £100,000 to buy and equip a Life Education Mobile Classroom that serviced 11,000 primary school pupils in the Folkestone, Romney Marsh and Ashford area.
  • recruiting and managing the 700 volunteers who supported the NHS in carrying out 250,000 local coronavirus vaccinations.  Some of these volunteers now help with our community support programmes.
  • Our close connection with Mechelen Rotary Club in Belgium.

We are proud to have 12 Paul Harris Fellows. This is the highest honour awarded by Rotary and it recognises Rotarians and non- Rotarians alike for their outstanding contribution to Rotary and its humanitarian mission and/or to the society and community in which we live.  Fittingly, it is named after our founder, Paul Harris, whose vision transformed Rotary into the world’s first and largest Service Club with 1.25 million members in nearly every country.

Click Here to see a list of our Paul Harris Fellows

Click Here to see a list of all our Past Presidents