Rotary Club of Portsmouth successfully inaugurated

The Rotary Club of Portsmouth celebrated, last Saturday evening, its inauguration as an officially chartered club in Rotary International, the largest service club in the world.

The event was attended by Charles Savarin, President of Dominica, Ambrose George, who represented Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit and some one hundred and thirty other persons who witnessed the presentation of the charter documents by Lara Quentrall-Thomas, Past District Governor for Rotary District 7030, to Daniel C. Hopkins, the first President of the new Rotary Club of Portsmouth.

It was held at the Officer’s Quarters of Fort Shirley on the hills of Cabrits National Park.

The invocation was done by Rotarian Ezra Fabien and with a toast to the President and State, the dinner started.

Keynote speaker, Lara Quentrall-Thomas, Past District Governor of Rotary International, informed the Rotarians and the guests in detail, of the work of Rotary all around the world.

She talked about the ambassadors for peace trained by Rotary, the immense task of eradicating polio, and the six areas of focus which are the guidelines for the local community projects of the 35,000 Rotary Clubs.

Robert Tonge, President of the Rotary Club of Dominica (Roseau) and Robin Foley, treasurer of the Rotary E-Club of Southeast USA and Caribbean presented some gifts to the new club before Quentrall-Thomas started handing out the Charter Membership Certificates to each one of the 28 members of the club.

The ceremonial part ended by handing over the Club Charter document duly signed by Rotary International’s president, Ron Burton after which the new club members presented themselves to the public.