THE Gawler Rotary Club is set to celebrate its 3000th meeting next week, 65 years since it was first founded in the Gawler Institute.

More than 300 Rotarians and other associates were present on April 24, 1954 at the Gawler Rotary Club’s first meeting, with the new club charter presented to its first president Keith Hogben.

The club has since met every Monday, excluding public holidays, for the past 65 years, and will hold its 3000th meeting on Monday, July 1.

Former mayor of Gawler and Member for Light Dr Bruce Eastick was present at the first meeting and will be present at the 3000th meeting on Monday.

He said the work the Rotary club do for the community is what’s kept him inside the group for so long.

“The ability to serve the community and worldwide projects which have had a dramatic appeal has kept me involved,” he said.

“You can look at the Gawler Community Retirement Homes, Meals on Wheels, the Gawler Hospital and the Pioneer and Clonlea Parks, they’re all projects which have included Rotary.”

One of Rotary’s goals since the 1970s has been eliminating polio from the world, which involved Rotary clubs from around the world, including Gawler, raising money to immunise six million  children in the Philippines.

“It’s almost the end of polio, there were hundreds of deaths every year across the world, now polio cases can only be found in two countries,” Dr Eastick said.

One of the club’s first community projects was a redecoration of the Gawler Institute, which it raised £1500 for.

The club also runs the annual Gawler Village Fair, which gives service clubs around Gawler a chance to set up a stall and raise funds for their individual projects.

The 3000th meeting will also see the club’s presidency handed over, with local business owner Steve Barilla to take over from current president Jacqui Atyeo.

Rotary’s international network of club’s has allowed Gawler Rotary to donate to overseas emergency causes as well.

Past president Brian Burt said one of his fondest memories of the group is helping those impacted by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in Indonesia have access to clean drinking water.

“One of the biggest issues for people at the time was safe water, Rotary had developed a water distillation device, but as soon as the water stayed still over there it became contaminated,” he said.

“We worked out we needed a few empty wine bladders, so one of our members worked at Jacobs Creek (Wines) and gave us five or six pallets of them.

“We didn’t have a way to get them there though, but another of our members worked at the Air Force base in Edinburgh.

“Two days later the pallets went from Jacobs Creek, to the base and were flown out to Indonesia.

“No other organisation can do that.”