40th Anniversary Dinner
On 23 March 1971 at the Glenavon House Hotel, founder members of Cookstown Rotary Club and guests sat down for the inaugural luncheon of the club. The cost of the meal was £2.20 and the annual club subscription was £7.50. There were 37 founder members.
On 17 June 2011 at the Glenavon House Hotel, current members of Cookstown Rotary Club and guests sat down for the 40th anniversary dinner of the club. The cost of the meal was £25 and the annual club subscription is £125. There are 34 members.
Cookstown Rotary Club stalwart Alastair Laird, Past District Governor, acted as Master of Ceremonies and welcomed Rotarians from Dungannon, Omagh, Ballymena, Portadown, Limavady, Sligo, Ballycastle, Coleraine and Scarborough. Rotarian Mervyn Glover, a founder and still current member, gave the welcoming speech. Mervyn recalled some of the key events in club history such as fund raising success, especially the Shelterbox appeals, Probus links,introduction of ladies and particularly the contribution that members had made to District 1160.
Cookstown Rotary Club have provided a District Governor, District Secretary, several assistant District Governors and is proud of the number of Paul Harris Fellows in its ranks. President Elect of Cookstown Rotary Club,Rev. Issac Thompson said grace prior to the meal. After dinner, Keith Burrows, Past President of Cookstown Rotary Club, proposed the toast to the guests. Keith's witty speech even included jokes about lawyers! Wes Armstrong, current District Governor , spoke about the good work done by the club over many years and highlighted the fund raising success of the annual May Ball and the work with visiting Chernobyl children over the past 12 years. In particular he praised the contribution to District of Tony McMinn, a legend of Rotary in Cookstown and District 1160. These comments were greeted with sustained applause from all present. The key note speaker was Dr. Ian Adamson OBE, the High Sheriff of Belfast and a former Lord Mayor of Belfast. Ian's droll delivery covered politics,medicine,language and sex education to the delight of his audience.
Current Cookstown Rotary Club President, Paul Creighton, brought proceedings to a close by making a special presentation to Mervyn Glover and proposing the toast to Rotary International. This was an excellent evening enjoyed by over 80 people and great credit is due to Rotarians Alastair Laird and Tony McMinn who organised the whole event. Roll on the next milestone! 50 years in 2021!
