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In the Beginning
The Club was chartered on March 31,1967. The Charter dinner was held at the Golden Eagle Hotel,
Cumbernauld, on May 19,1967. Past highlights and activities The first ever project was a leisure activities
exhibition which ran for one week in 1967 and was visited by 5000 people. The
purpose behind the exhibition was to show the extent and number of activities
available in the town. This
was an attempt to answer criticisms which had been made of the town that there
was not enough to do. The exhibition showed that in the 10 years since the start
of the town upwards of 100 organizations and activities had developed. A donkey derby was held in the grounds of Cumbernauld
High School on June 23, 1973. This involved efforts by the Club over the best part of
a year in preparation and was a considerable financial and social success. Another
event was a Club rally and treasure hunt. The rally started at 9 a.m. and
finished at lunch time in Killin. The winners were Ken Davie and family. This
was a great success. In the year of Bob Paterson's presidency a "Rotary
Wood" was planted at Palacerigg. The
first Presidents dinner was held in the Golden Eagle Hotel on March 14, 1975.
The principal speaker was Magnus Magnusson. Previous speakers at Club lunches and functions have included three Chief Constables, three dairymen of Cumbernauld Development Corporation, several MPs (Alex Stewart, Michael Hirst, John Corrie, Teddy Taylor, Hugh Brown and Norman Hogg), two Moderators of the Church of Scotland General Assembly (Andrew Herron and R. Leonard Small). Other celebrities included Michael Grieve, William McCrae, Johnny Beattie, Lord Fraser, Lord Wilson and Sir James Marjoribanks. The year 1967 was a year of great events — the QE2 was launched, 625 line colour came to British TV, the first heart transplant operation was performed, the pound was devalued. Puppet on a String won the European Song Contest — and the Rotary Club of Cumbernauld was inaugurated. At that time the population of Cumbernauld was around
23,000 and the town appeared to be a vast building site. Houses were under
construction in Ravenswood,
Abronhill Carbratn, Kildrum and the Village. The first phase of the town
centre had just been completed and Princess Margaret performed the opening
ceremony. 6100 people were employed in the town, 4400 of them in 45 factories
(the largest majority in the Burroughs factory). The steady growth has continued over the years since
then and today the population stands at almost 51,000. The employment level has
risen to 16,500 and the number of factories is now 360. 64 of the 18,500
householders own their own houses. The town has matured with its many schools,
churches and sports facilities. The majority of the founder members of the Rotary Club
of Cumbernauld were involved in the early pioneering days of the town and had
laid the foundations for its industrial, educational and social development. The
Silver Jubilee was chaired by President Brian Thomson.
'I
was there' By Geoffrey Talmadge Founder Member
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