History
The Rotary Club of Ashburton was officially chartered on June 30th 1937, having first met on April 8th 1937.
During its early years the club was active in fundraising and making donations to many worthy causes in the Ashburton District and hosting various events. Included was children’s Christmas parties and parties for the blind, donating musical instruments for the Ashburton Technical High School, sending Christmas parcels to Ashburton men serving in the Korean War and the construction of a youth den at Winchmore.
The Club’s 25th anniversary in 1962 was marked by the planting of oak trees along Walnut Avenue.
During its second 25 years, the Club provided ambulance oxygen equipment, walkie-talkies for St John’s Ambulance and defensive driving kits. Later the Club was associated with fundraising efforts for the swimming pool and cafeteria at Ashburton College. A larger project was the building of the paddling pool at the Ashburton Domain and the installation of filtration equipment for the pool.
In 1980 the Club held its first Bookarama. This project is still held annually. It has raised in excess of $600,000 to date, money which has been distributed to many worthwhile community projects and causes. To mark the Club’s 50th anniversary an ornamental garden was developed at the entrance to Ashburton Airport.
Several Rotary youth programmes are supported. These include RYLA, Matched Twin Exchange, Boyle River Outdoor Education, Outward Bound, Summer Science Schools and the Dux and Proxime Accessit prizes at Ashburton College and Mt Hutt College have been provided annually.
Annual projects which have continued to be supported include Meals on Wheels, the Christmas Party for the Blind and the annual band concert for seniors.
In 2005 Rotary International marked its centenary. In Ashburton this was marked with the opening of the Centennial Arboretum at the Tinwald Domain. This project was completed in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Ashburton Plains.
The Club has supported Shelter Box, a Rotary programme which delivers aid worldwide to areas hit by natural disasters.
A devastating tsunami in Samoa in 2009 led to the Club becoming involved in a project helping schools in Samoa. Shipping containers of school equipment and later medical equipment were sent to Samoa with Club members from both Ashburton Rotary Clubs travelling to Samoa to distribute the goods and build school book cases. Several trips have now been made to Samoa with this project which is now supported by several other Rotary clubs from District 9970.
More recent projects for the Club have been the Books for Babies project, Lake Hood walkway & cycle track and the Club’s response in the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 & 2011. In 2013 the Club held its inaugural Antiques and Collectables Fair.
Some of our projects
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