Hello and welcome to the webmaster’s page on the Conwy Valley Rotary Club’s website.
I’ve been a member of Rotary for more years than I care to remember having first joined in the late 1980’s and can honestly say that I enjoy my “Rotary”, in fact, I’ve enjoyed it so much that I’ve joined a club where ever I’ve lived.
What is Rotary I can hear you saying? Well, it’s not a secret organisation, it’s not a religious organisation and it’s not a political organisation. At the “top” level we are a worldwide organisation with over 1.2 million members spread across 200 countries and geographical areas. Here in the UK, there are over 1,800 clubs consisting of more than 50,000 men and women from all walks of life. Clubs are based in local communities where members meet on a regular basis to enjoy friendship, networking and plan projects that will benefit the lives of others and we utilise the skills, expertise and dedication of our members to help improve the lives of people in communities both at home and abroad.
If you live or work in the Conwy Valley you may well have seen some of our more public activities such as the Llanrwst Gala, the duck race in Betws y Coed, the Llanrwst Fireworks or even been visited by Santa on his sleigh in Llanrwst and the villages in the valley.
But, are you aware of some of the other things that we do in the community? For example, did you know that we organise a senior citizens’ Christmas concert each year? Did you know that we provide prizes for the highest achievers at GCSE level at Dyffryn Conwy secondary school or prizes for 100% attendance at Ysgol Bro Gwydir? Then there’s the help we give students at Dyffryn Conwy with mock interviews to prepare them for their first job interview and the funds we provide to send 2 or 3 students on an outwards bound leadership course called RYLA each summer. We have even started a project locally to provide dictionaries to children that are leaving primary school – at the moment we are trialling this but hope to roll it out to every school in the valley.
The start of 2020 was difficult for many people in the rural Conwy area and following events with local food banks, here in the club it was decided to start a temporary food bank to help those in need in the area. From deciding to do so to having it up and running took us less than a week bearing out one of Rotary’s mottos that we are “people of action”. Although we no longer run the food bank, having handed it over to the Conwy Food Bank, more details about our food bank scheme is on the Conwy Valley Foodbank page on our site.
Of course, there are also the charity funds that we distribute to good causes both locally and internationally (for example we donate to the Rotary campaign to eradicate polio across the world) but that’s just part of what we do, even though that’s probably what most people think of when they think Rotary. Our club meetings range from having a meal (sometimes with a speaker), through events such as treasure hunts and other social events right through to “business meetings” where we discuss the events that we are holding and matters that affect the running of the club.
The great thing about being a member of a Rotary club is that we are not only helping the local community but are having fun while we are doing it. Yes it can mean hours walking the streets, or standing at the Gala or Fireworks (and setting up hours before anyone gets there and staying well after everyone else has gone), but it’s a nice feeling to know that you are helping others and somehow it never seems to be a chore.
If you are even vaguely interested in finding out more about what we do please take a look at the rest of this site and then talk to a member – if you don’t know who we are, but are in Llanrwst, there are several of us based in the town. Failing that you can contact us via the website or via our Facebook page or Twitter feed.
