The Rotary Club of Bath recognised one of their own recently, when Rotarian Roger Morris was formally awarded a “Paul Harris’ fellowship, a special award given to members who demonstrate the highest professional and personal standards of commitment to others, as exemplified by Rotary’s founder, Paul Harris.
Since the award was first created, in 1957, the Club has only made 37 such awards: 33 to members of the Club, and 4 to local non-Rotarians.
Roger’s length and breadth or service via Rotary is truly special. He became a member of Rotary Clubs in Grimsby from 1979, followed by Durham and then Northampton, where he spent most of his Rotary service to date. He was the Northampton Club’s President in 2011, its 90th year, and took on the task in his Presidential year of locating the grave of the Club’s founder, a Mr A.E. Marlow. This was successful and a team of Rotarians were then able to renovate their Club Founder’s grave, a fitting anniversary task.
For many years Roger was Chair of the International Service committee in Northampton, and he also served on the Club’s Community Service and Fundraising committees. He was a keen supporter of the Mayor’s fund for the ‘Housebound’, a charity supported by the Club’s annual Christmas collections.
Current President of the Rotary Club of Northampton, Brian May, paid his own tribute: “It was a sad day when we lost Roger, but what a great opportunity for you in Bath”.
Roger is as keen walker; in 1999 he completed the London Marathon in just under four hours, and was a member a team of seven to raise £50,000 for the Cynthia Spenser Hospice by setting out to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
Whilst President of the Rotary Club of Bath in 2022-2023, Roger was instrumental in developing the club’s renewed strategy for its ‘Second Century’, and took on the co-ordination of new monthly Wednesday evening “in town” meetings, now a fixed feature of the Club’s more flexible approach.
Roger has been active in revising our procedures ensuring, with his legal background, that these comply with both Rotary and Charity Commission Regulations. He recently successfully carried out a major task: redirecting funds from a blocked international project to a new project for several ultrasound pregnancy scan units for rural Nepal, that will – to put things simply – save lives.
Another task recently successfully completed by Roger: helping find and then replace a long-lost plaque at the Royal United Hospital in Bath (RUH), commemorating donations from Rotary Clubs across Somerset. The new plaque will be unveiled soon.
Roger’s latest project is leading the team planning a major Rotary Polio Plus Charity Dinner Event this October, with guest speaker, Dame Mary Berry.
As President Richard stated when giving the award: “Roger, your watchword is tenacity! Your record of service absolutely deserves our respect, and it is an honour and a privilege to award you a Paul Harris Fellowship.”