It all started in 2005, when Keith Poole, who had already been in Rotary for 20 years, came to live in McGregor. At that time there was no Rotary Club between Worcester and Swellendam. So, with the Worcester Rotary Club, and John Simpson of Montagu and Ruud de Clercq of King’s River Estate in McGregor – both former Rotarians – the Rotary Club of the Breede River Winelands was chartered in August 2005. Twenty-one “charter members” joined from the five towns, such was the enthusiasm for community engagement and service. These founding members represented all the communities of our region, and the club was affectionately known in the Western Cape as the “Rainbow Club”.
The goal of Rotary internationally is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and to follow the guiding principles of its “Four Way Test”. “Is it the truth? – Is it fair to all concerned? – Will it build goodwill and better friendships? – Will it be beneficial to all concerned?”.
Worldwide, Rotary has 1,2 million members in 145 countries and has seven “areas of focus”: peace and conflict prevention/resolution; disease prevention and treatment; water and sanitation; maternal and child health; basic education and literacy; economic and community development; and the environment.
Given the most pressing needs of our five towns, the BRW Rotary Club focussed mainly on basic education, literacy, health issues, and support for other local NPOs.
Our fundraising efforts secured a staggering R2,5 million-plus, which was wholly invested in our region! This shows just how advantageous it is/was to be part of an international service organisation, as other Rotary Clubs, nationally and overseas, responded to our appeals for financial assistance, or trusted us with the funds they donated for specific organisations or causes. We devised fun fundraisers to create awareness of, and garner support for, our endeavours such as, among others, quiz nights, a car rally, an annual wine auction, murder mystery weekends and golf days.
Over the past 17 years this has enabled BRWRC to work on 181 projects (which are recorded in detail on our website www.rotarybreederiver.co.za).
So, after all this, why has it become necessary to close? There are multiple reasons. Over the past five years we primarily struggled to gain new and younger members (after other members died, moved away or retired). We found that potential new members tended to want to focus their efforts on local (rather than regional) issues, so working across the five towns appeared more onerous than focusing solely on one’s own town.
We also noticed that new arrivals to the region had come simply to retire, not to get actively involved in more “work”. Furthermore, the cost of the annual membership fee (a portion of which went to Rotary International to support global grants) was cited as too expensive for some; and residents with young children felt they didn’t have enough free time to give.
Additionally, we noticed a shift away from traditional charitable service to modern e-clubs, web-based appeals and crowd-funding. Consequently, our few remaining club stalwarts just got older and older (our average age was 74!), which – we suspect – also discouraged younger people from joining.
We are immensely grateful to the 78 people who became either full or associate members of BRWRC, and deeply appreciative of all the support we received from the communities of our five towns, as well as many other Rotary clubs in SA and abroad.
We so enjoyed the benefits of membership; the collaborative endeavours, the inspiring annual conferences, the fun, laughter and camaraderie, witnessing the powerful positive impact of our projects on individual lives and communities.
So it is with great sadness that we say “goodbye”. Our hope now lies in the possibility that, one day, in the not-too-distant future, another group of community-minded citizens may band together to resurrect Rotary locally or regionally.
Farewell from Gordon Knight (president), Keith Poole (secretary), David Hall (treasurer), Susan Hall,
Cas Groot, Eve Layton, Christopher Powell, Polly Haas and Ronel Preston.
As life teaches: “All good things come to an end”. With this open letter the Breede River Winelands Rotary Club bids farewell to the Langeberg. They recollect their beginnings, guiding values and mention some of the achievements that accompanied 17 years of service to the five towns of Montagu, McGregor, Robertson, Ashton and Bonnievale.
