The Inaugural Meeting of the Rotary Club of Troon was held on the 4th. March, 1952 in the Craiglea Hotel, Troon. 19 Founder Members and 49 Rotarians from the surrounding area attended. 14 guests of the Troon Members were also present.
William Winkler, Chairman of District No. 2 of R.I.B.I. was in the Chair. The Chairman called on A.F. McDonald, President of the Prestwick Club, to second his Motion of the formation of the Interim Club of Troon. The Motion was unanimously approved.

Thereafter the following appointments were proposed, moved and seconded.
Interim President - Charles Gibb
Interim Vice-President George Mills
Interim Treasurer - John McClung
Interim Secretary - Ian M. Mackintosh.

The Club got off to an enthusiastic start with weekly meetings held initially on Friday lunchtimes, in the Craiglea Hotel. After only three months, however, the meeting day was changed to Tuesday. In July 1992 the current time of Tuesday, 6pm for 6.15pm. was adopted.

THE CLUB AT PLAY

The social life of the Club has always been a pillar of Club Service,. This quest for strong fellowship within the club has always been considered a top priority., The list of club social events held in any typical year is long and extremely varied and has included Annual Dinner Dances and Ladies’ Christmas Dinners, Fiddlers’ Rallies, Italian Nights , Safari Nights, Theatre Nights, Race “Nites”, Bowling and Putting competitions, Go-Karting and Ten Pin Bowling and Petanque, to mention but a few..

SPORT

Many of the best social occasions have involved members of the Club, sometimes with their partners, displaying their prowess in the field of sport. Golf, curling and bowls have featured prominently at different times, often involving inter-club competition and rivalry. At the District Conference of 1988, President Jim Beatson’s year, the Club won the coveted award not only for best percentage attendance but for the strongest sporting delegation. On occasions individuals have picked up trophies for golf, curling and angling, with the most recent being in clay pigeon shooting.

THE SUPPORT OF ROTARIANS WIVES AND PARTNERS

We are grateful for the massive contribution made by the wives and partners of Rotarians throughout the years. Whilst their support has been extensive, both financially and in many helpful practical ways, it would be wrong to think that this has been their only reason for existence. They have been totally independent as a Club, meeting monthly from October to April each year, solely responsible for their own programme of activities and fund-raising. Partners of new Rotary members are invited to join and on most occasions are able to accept the invitation.

ROTARIANS OF SPECIAL NOTE

Here are some of those who received special recognition from their fellow Rotarians.

George Mills has been described as The Founder Member of Troon Rotary Club. So important was his in-put during those early years that he was presented with a clock by his fellow Rotarians, in recognition of his outstanding service.

Honorary Membership is normally conferred as special recognition of a long and exemplary service record within the Club, and the wider community, One of the first was Bill Bewick, and through the years a handful of worthy colleagues have joined him.

The highest honour that any Rotary Club can bestow on one of its members is to recommend their name to Rotary International as a recipient of the Paul Harris Fellowship. In its fifty year history seven Troon Rotarians have been so recognised, Hugh McCutcheon, Alex Hastings, Don Clark, Alastair MacDonald John Cameron., Jim Brodlie and Tom Brown

VOCATIONAL SERVICE

Vocational Service focuses on the opportunity that Rotarians have to represent the objects of Rotary by promoting vocational awareness and fostering high ethical standards in business. Potential new members for the Club have invariably been identified because they already display these qualities in their everyday dealings in business. One of the earliest tasks a new Rotarian performs is to give his Job Talk to the Club The wide diversity of business experience that has been present and shared within the Club means that these Talks are always well received.

Industrial Visits by members of the Club, usually to local enterprises, have been a regular feature and have encompassed a wide variety of experiences ranging through Air Traffic Control Centres, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, Shipbuilding Yards, Paper Mills and Police Stations.

An exceptional project known as the Craft Apprenticeship Award Scheme was held in 1964/65.Applications were invited from persons entering the last year of their apprenticeship in 1964, for a short study tour to the Continent or any suitable area in Great Britain. The winning apprentice was Charles Kelly, of Dodd’s Television, who chose to go to Siemens in Munich for two weeks.”
Through its efforts in organising this outstanding scheme the Club was granted the Paul P. Harris Award, one of only three such awards in the Rotary World at that time.

The Club has fostered links with local Primary Schools and with Marr College. Essay competitions in both Primary and Secondary sectors have been well supported at different times. The Annual Primary Competition had almost 300 entries this year. The Club meeting where top entrants attend, with parents and teachers, to receive their awards and where they have the opportunity to read their winning essays is one of the highlights of the session.
Pupils, particularly the younger ones, have assisted readily with community projects such as aluminium can collecting, bulb planting, Art competitions and sponsored walks to help with fund-raising.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Some of the activities that Troon Rotarians have undertaken to improve the quality of life in their community include; a bench bearing a commemorative plaque, recently re-sited outside the Troon library. The Picnic Area at Fullarton Woods which was organised with the Local Authority in the early seventies. The George Mills Memorial Bridge at the the 13th hole of Darley Golf Course was financed by the Club and designed by a current member, Clark Fyfe. The balance of funds left in Club accounts, after the cost of the bridge had been deducted, was set aside to support a youth golf competition to be run by Troon Welbeck Golf Club. The Rotary Cup, in memory of George Mills, was to be awarded to the best handicap score, the cup to be held for one year. Initially an engraved medallion and a cash voucher for £20 were also to be awarded. The cup is awarded annually to this day.

Hansel Village has received the full support of the Club since the outset, with a Rotarian chairing the steering group during the process of formation. Since then many opportunities have been taken to raise additional financial help, including in 1992/93 when a donation of just over £1000 purchased a set of in-door bowls. Financial support from the Club continued through the nineties with a further £1000 donation in 96/97, arising from a grand Fiddlers’ Concert.
The Bulb Planter in Troon Railway Station was made to order at Hansel Village and presented to British Rail by the Club, during the 87/88 session. Some years ago the Club, local schools and Local Authority labour began a planting operation which annually enhances the springtime appearance of the town.

Other local establishments receiving support include the Dundonald Convalescent Home for Disadvantaged Children, the Ayrshire Hospice and Malcolm Sargent Home in Prestwick.

Fund raising, by special events such as Fiddlers’ Rallies, Race “Nites”, Sponsored Walks, or anything else that would raise a pound, has benefited all of these causes on a regular basis. In 1989, a particularly successful Fiddlers’ Rally raised the magnificent sum of £1854.50 Amongst those who have benefited are Troon Lifeboat for communication equipment, Boys’ Brigade for equipment, Troon Red Cross for wheelchairs and many, many others.

CHARITY BALL 1964.

“The Sean Connery Pro-Am Golf Tournament was held at Troon in 1964 and many celebrities from the world of Showbiz and the Golfing Fraternity were in attendance. The Club decided to have a Charity Ball in the Concert Hall then and invite as many personalities as possible. Through the good offices of Eric Sykes, we were successful in attracting Sean Connery and his then wife Diane Cilento, Bruce Forsyth, Harry Secombe, Cliff Michelmore, Kenny Lynch, Jimmy Tarbuck, Ronnie Carrol, Bernard Gallacher, Peter Butler and many others. A tremendous evening was enjoyed by 400 guests. Alex Hastings was the most popular man in Troon for a short period as he was responsible for the issue of tickets. We raised over £600 – quite a tidy sum then.”

Youth Expo’ 83 was an eminently successful community venture, being a repeat of an idea which had first been tried in 1982, with considerable success. The objective was to attract the young people of Troon area to join existing youthorganisations and thus concern themselves in community matters. A host of organisations responded to the invitation to take up space in the Walker Hall and an all-out publicity campaign was launched. This utilized local press, West Sound Radio, loud-speaker announcements around town, posters and leaflet drops to houses. Between 1200-1500 youngsters and parents were attracted to the exhibition; a resounding success by any standards.

INTERNATIONAL SERVICE

This describes the activities that Rotarians undertake to advance international understanding, goodwill and peace. The Club has always grasped with enthusiasm any opportunity to further these aims, as a glance at only some of the projects pursued will show. In its time, the Club has supported major International efforts such as Indian Eye Camps, Spectacle Collections, Joe Homan’s Boys’ Club in India, books for Ranfurly Library and Tools for Self-Reliance.

The Polioplus Scheme was started in 1985-86 as a major project by Rotary International to assist in the eradication of Polio worldwide. J. Cameron, then convenor of the Club Foundation Committee, spoke to the Club and showed a video on June 1987. A great deal of fund-raising activity followed during 1988 with the final sum raised from all projects being well in excess of the original £5400.00 target.

ROTARY SHOEBOX SCHEME. 1999.

The International Service Committee led by Ian Weir selected the Scheme as their charity project for the Millennium and encouraged the Primary Schools in Troon to join in. Mr. Mike McCabe, Director of Education, suggested extending the project to all 58 schools in the South Ayrshire area. It required the combined efforts of the Rotary Clubs of Ayr, Girvan, Prestwick and Troon to support this magnificent project.
Primary and Secondary School children of South Ayrshire joined with Rotarians in the District in a plan to bring aid and comfort to needy children and communities in Eastern Europe.
Local children were asked to fill a specially designed box, about the size of a Shoe Box, with items of Toys, Food or Household goods. Parents who agreed to their children participating helped their children to fill the boxes or provided suitable items for the children to take to school for a grand shoe box packing day. Space was provided on the box for a £1 coin to be donated to help cover transport costs. Collection of the boxes, with transfer to a central storage facility, began on Friday 8 October and after a weekend of great activity the boxes were finally sorted, stacked and ready for onward transport.
This turned out to be the single largest collection since the scheme began. The organisers advised that two deliveries of our gifts were delivered before Christmas. We collected 4,823 boxes and £3,575, sufficient to pay for delivery.

In recent years the Club has supported a children’s home in Husi, Romania which was founded and is still operated by John Herbin from Killearn. The Home accommodates 16 children and has a British nurse who acts as manager employing seven other local staff. Support has taken the form of several donations owards the running costs, paying for the building of the outdoor play-park and helping towards the cost of constructing a basement to store supplies. Rotarian wives and partners have also taken great interest in the project and their group continue to support John in what is now a major undertaking.

THE ROTARY FOUNDATION

The mission of the Rotary Foundation is to support the efforts of Rotary International in the fulfilment of the Object of Rotary, Rotary’s mission, and the achievement of world understanding and peace through local, national, and international humanitarian, educational, and cultural programmes. The Club supports Rotary Foundation vigorously.

AMBASSADORIAL SCHOLARS

Over the years the Club has played host to visiting Ambassadorial Scholars, enjoying the chance to hear of their homes, countries and studies whilst in Scotland. Recently one of our members, John Cameron, acted as Counsellor to a scholar attending Glasgow to further her studies. In 1988 the Club successfully sponsored Audrey Sloan, a local
student, to visit Canada in order to further her studies in Architecture.

TOP CLUB

These qualities were recognised by District in session 1998-99 when Troon shared with the Queen’s Park Club the trophy for Top Club in the District 1230. District Governor Sandy MacPherson, a fairly regular visitor to the Club at that time, commented favourably on the most welcoming atmosphere in the Club, much of it is due to the high standard set by President Kennedy Howden.

THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY YEAR

2002 was a very important time for the Rotary Club of Troon. Alastair MacDonald chaired the committee to arrange a Dinner held on 25th October 2002 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the presentation of the Club's Charter.
In a major project to mark the Jubilee a digital clock, displaying both the time and temperature was erected at the junction of Jubilee Rd and Portland St.
On Sunday I September the Club was given a Civic Reception by South Ayrshire Council. It was a wonderful evening including first class entertainment by the Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra. During her speech Provost Liz Foulkes presented the Club with a trophy to be used by the Club as an award for some major project or competition within the community.
Many thanks to Matt Neely, Archivist, who wrote this short History, and to John Douglas and Alastair MacDonald for assisting