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Rotary and Other Exclusive Clubs

A

Anonymous

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I like a good mystery, and I've come across the concept of the Rotary Club a couple of times and it's intriguing me.
It appears to be a collection of, and it specifies this, business leaders and professionals who devote a lot of time and energy on doing good work in the community. This sounds like a great idea, but membership is "by invitation only". I was wondering why a club that seeks to good work would be so picky as to who joins. What are the origins of the club, and is there something more sinister behind it? Are there any Masonic or religious connections? I don't think there is, but there's nothing more intriguing to me than a lack of information. These guys seem to do a lot of good work yet I've never ever heard of them being singled out for praise in the local press or anywhere. Just seems a little odd.
A cabbie once told me (dubious source, I know) that other clubs nationwide were suffering financially, as they fell out of vogue and the blue-blazer, grey slack brigade gradually faded away, so they were starting to open their doors more. Were any of these clubs something more than a place to get away from The Wife and enjoy port and cigars whilst discussing the cricket? What is the benefit to running exclusive clubs like this apart from keeping out the riff-raff?
 
http://www.rotary.org/foundation/about/index.html

Good place to start.

What is the benefit to running exclusive clubs like this apart from keeping out the riff-raff?
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The point, I suppose, would be to invite people who are in a position to promote the aims of the organisation. = Community action. I guess it's down to this: if you think that the UN, EU, OECD and World Bank (+ Bilderberg ??) are out to do good ... then you could see Rotary as, essentially, the local branch. IE - fair minded people organised in an attempt to put something back.
 
The thing that gets me, though, is that such a seemingly worthy organisation stays very quiet about itself. I'm assaulted by all kinds of charities and organisations with their hand out, but it seems these guys just get on with what they're doing. Maybe that's the whole point. And maybe staying out of the mainstream ensures that they recruit from outside the mainstream.
The other thing that gets me is you don't hear about any good work they do. But then again, that's not the point is it.
If there are any Rotarians out there I'd be interested to hear from you.
 
They have public fund raising 'Rotary days'. You'll see them out on the streets with their collection boxes.

They sponsor all kinds of local events - fetes, carnivals, concerts etc. You'll notice buses for the elderly and disabled which are paid for by Rotary.

Most weeks you'll find them in your local newspaper - often handing over equipment bought for hospitals etc.

In this little town, they're just about as secretive as the Boy Scouts (which is a far more sinister - semi paramilitary organisation as far as I'm concerned).
 
My Dad always described the Scouts as "Hitler Youth" - That says far more about my Dad than it does about the Scouts.

Are the Rotary Club the same as the Round Circle? They always seem to be the organisations that run firework displays (along with other locally minded charity fund raising events).

The titles of this organsation sound slightly Arthurian (Knights of the round table). I'm surprised that there hasn't been a theory that the Rotary Club hold the secret to the Holy Grail.....

Wait a minute, what a great book idea..............Anybody got Graham Hancock's phone number?
 
Heh heh, now you're talking. The founder of the Rotary Club was an American businessman, I wonder if he was a Mason.

As for the Scouts, was it ever proven that Baden-Powell had an unsavoury interest in young boys?
 
I would hate to brand all charitable institutions as quasi-Masonic.

No, actually, I would love to, it's just that they don't seem to be made
up of the rich and powerful in quite the same way as the Masons and
P2 etc. And they never seem to leave people hanging under Blackfriar's
Bridge.

Yet they seem a bit like the Grammar-Schools which used to ape the
Public Schools. Certainly groups such as the Round Table were much
populated by Catholics, forbidden by the Vatican (ironically) from being
Masons. Then there are Catenians, Ancient Order of Foresters, Charcoal-
Burners, Lions, Oddfellows etc. I also remember my father speaking of a group
called the Brown-Hatters, which I took to be similar!

So far as I know, these groups are essentially drinking clubs with benign
intentions. Yet whenever I see people advertising their charitable works
eg. club-owners etc. I tend to think Gangsters! :rolleyes:
 
Bilderberger said:
The titles of this organsation sound slightly Arthurian (Knights of the round table). I'm surprised that there hasn't been a theory that the Rotary Club hold the secret to the Holy Grail.....
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:eek!!!!:
Dear God no.
 
Mini Bilderberg?

Having had a quick look at the Rotary Club's web-site, I am surprised to discover that their mission is "helping those in need and working towards world understanding and peace. "

Whilst the working towards "world understanding and peace" seems a quite laudible aim - it does give me the creeps slightly. All sounds a bit Stepford Wives. Perhaps thats just me.......

Anyway, I'm not sure how they can promote world understanding and peace via running a few firework displays and village fetes. Perhaps there is something more sinister going on (no doubt using the Holy Grail to usher in a new age of world peace and understanding). I wish they'd just get on with it before the middle east implodes.

Re: Baden Powell. Nothing proved as far as I am aware - but pretty much a certain thing. May not have been sexually active - but certainly "loved" young boys in the Greek sense.
 
Having sat throuh a Rotary Club meeting, (my dearly beloved, was giving them a talk on beekeeping), they were just the 'normal' bunch of business men letting their hair down....

A bit childish with a lot of school boy humour.

Dunno' if I would want to join them, even if they asked. Not that they will, though!!!!!

If you want a self perpetuating self selecting group of people, what about the Justices of the peace in the UK?????
 
I was a Rotary Exchange student in 1997, and consequently sat in on dozens of meetings. They are not Masionic at all. They seem to be more active abroad than in the states. I wouldn't worry too much about Rotarians secretly running the world, the most clever thing they can do is tell the stupidest of jokes, but in hundereds of laguages, so who knows...
 
I gave a couple of talks to Rotaries in the 80s when I worked for the Ocean Youth Club. What I mostly remember is that I got a free lunch out it!
 
My dad is the president of his local rotary although the presidency only lasts a year then someone else has a go. He was invited to join because he had done a lot of charity work, mainly taking medical aid to Poland back in the 80's.

The sort of stuff he's involved with includes foreign exchange trips for young people, not just students but anyone. Usually the exchange lasts about 12 months so that a real understanding is gained of the host country. Poland doesn't really need medical aid anymore so now he is involved in taking stuff to Belarus. Basically he gets hold of a 7.5 ton truck and then the local rotary fills it up with blankets, clothing, toys, the basics really. Both my parents then set off in a convoy of about 10 trucks, driving 12 hours a day and sleeping on top of the boxes in the back, to Belarus (about 2000+ miles). Once there, they distribute the stuff around various orphanges. If anyone remembers the pictures of orphanges in Romania after President Ceasecu was deposed about a decade ago, well it's a similar sort of thing.

Thats all I really know and it all appears very noble and above board. Not everyone shouts and screams and demands a gong and a pat on the back when they've done something to help another human being.
 
My ex-father-in-law always reckoned the Rotarians were the recruiting ground for the Masons.

Of course he might have been lying but as a past Chairman of the local Rotary group and a Past Master of his local lodge I doubt it
 
In the states, the Rotarians are about as secretive as the local post office. In most small towns (and some biggish ones) you'll see signs at the edge of town for organizations like Rotary, Kiwanis, and the Optimists, giving places and times of meetings, i.e. First Tuesday of the month at the Hasty Tasty Pancake Hut. Apparently anyone can pop in, although maybe you have to show your Rotary card or pin or secret handshake to stay (or to get through the sliding panel behind the salad bar.) From what I've seen of the signs, the meetings are held invariably in quasi-public places like restaurants, which may or may not have separate meeting facilities. I've spoken to the female version of the Optimists, who were, as advertised, relentlessly upbeat. They all had to go round the table and say something positive.

"I was a reference librarian in a previous life."
 
Rotarian's have a dark and very dirty secret,they are trying to take Australia by park.Every town seems to have a Rotary park ,with its picnic shelter,toilet block and obligratory shrubs,with little Rotarians scurring around on the weekends doing the lawns.Could be the start of a new cult??
 
David said:
If you want a self perpetuating self selecting group of people, what about the Justices of the peace in the UK?????
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It might have been at one time, David - nowadays anyone can put in an application - and there is certainly a wider range of people involved - but not everyone is interested in that sort of voluntary work, so it can be quite difficult to appoint in some areas.

:cool:Heather.
 
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