YOU probably know the work of York Rotary through the annual Dragon Boat Challenge.

But the club is about much more than this one event.

Did you know, for example, that it was York Rotarians who funded the restoration of the sundial at College Green?

Unveiled on May 13, the sundial will become a focal point of a Covid remembrance area.

It was, says Mike Fieldsend of York Rotarians, a ‘gift to the City of York to mark 100 years of service.’ 

Actually, make that 101 years - York Rotary was formed in 1921. The club had planned a programme of events last year to celebrate. “Unfortunately, like so much else, Covid caused many of the events to be deferred,” Mike said. This month's unveiling of the sundial was the last of those events.

York Press:

The restored sundial at College Green

After the unveiling, Rotary Club members joined the Sheriff of York for a celebratory lunch in the Mansion House - where, in January 1921, a few York citizens gathered to discuss forming a club.

It was formally inaugurated on February 4, 1921 at the Royal Station Hotel, with then Lord Mayor Alderman Edward Walker the first President.

In 1921 the club had 25 members, all men. 100 years later, it has a more inclusive membership of 80 men and women.

York Press:

York Rotary's first President in 1921, the then Lord Mayor Alderman Edward Walker

In line with the Rotary motto, ‘Service Above Self’, it raises and distributes some £110,000 for charity each year.

The club organises a range of fund raising activities - but most of the money comes from the Dragon Boat Challenge. Since the first Challenge in 2003, some £1.3million has been shared between more than 150 York and Yorkshire charities.

Locally York Rotary has helped organisations as diverse as Brunswick Nursery, the Hospital Broadcasting Service and flood relief - and, during the Second World War, the German Internment Camp on Knavesmire. In 1939 it helped set up the York CVS, and in 1940 it adopted HMS Cape Argona - a requisitioned trawler converted for anti-submarine warfare - and provided creature comforts for those aboard.

Rotarians serve on charitable boards, and work as stewards for major sporting events. During the pandemic, they raised money for school laptops and volunteered to help at vaccination sites.