55 year certificate at Chesterfield - 19th April

I had a pleasant drive over to The Old House at Loundsley Green, Chesterfield, at lunchtime today for the meeting of The Rotary Club of Chesterfield.     The reason for my visit was, at the request of President Jim Haggarty, to present an RIBI certificate  celebrating 55 years of Rotary membership to Rotarian Jim Boden. Jim has been a member of the Chesterfield club for all the 55 years.  During his working life he owned and ran a very well known fish and chip shop/cafe in Chesterfield.  I well remember as a young policeman calling in for chips occasionally whilst stationed at Chesterfield.

The award came as a bit of a surprise not just to Jim, but to the majority of members of the club, who thought they were due to have their regular business meeting.    I had the pleasure of presenting not just the RIBI certificate, but also a letter from the RI President Sakuji Tanaka congratulating and thanking him for his length of service.    I also presented a certificate from myself as the District 1220 Governor.

Jim responded by saying that he only wanted to say a few words - and went on to recount in some details his early life in 41 Club, Round Table and Rotary.

Rotarian Jim with his certificate alongside President Jim and DG Dave