Foreword
When Rtn Michael King sat down with Rtn Dick Wylie to talk about Dick’s long and pioneering role in the Rotary movement, little could he have anticipated the literary gem that is contained in these following pages.
Michael recorded Dick’s words on five audio-tapes that have now been transcribed into written form by other members of the Hornchurch & Upminster Rotary Club. Here now is a fascinating insight, not only into the founding of the Hornchurch Club, but into the remarkable period after the war when so many dedicated members of the local area gave of their time and expertise, through their allegiance to Rotary, to help others and re-build a community much ravaged by the 1939 – 45 conflict.
It was important in transcribing the tapes to avoid transforming Dick’s words into a dry, chronological account of a Rotary Club and its members. So no attempt was made to brush out passages, long or short, that engaged in repetition, or to bring together elements that might seem better if connected.
The reader is thereby able to relish the charmingly anecdotal way that Dick remembers his much cherished 65+ years in Rotary; his dedication, along with his dear friends, to the Rotary ideals - on the one hand, the earnest devotion to the work that had to be done, on the other hand, the fun and joy that clearly permeated that work and the fellowship that it brought.
Dick, now in his nineties, reflects on what, for him, were wonderful years, with a vivid, often amusing, recall: the Charlotte Russe on the menu of a white-tail Rotary occasion, what happened to the local dignitary who didn’t wear a DJ on President’s night, the rumpus over austerity meals, the RI Convention in Paris that included Les Folies Bergeres!! And so much more……
Most engaging of all, perhaps, are Dick’s memories of his fellow Rotarians, whose character quirks leap out from his accounts of them and the affection that he had for them all. Dick’s kindness and generosity of spirit shines through these his memories and the tales that he tells.
We thank Dick Wylie – a Paul Harris Fellow and a Rotarian of the highest order – for all his work and dedication, and for sharing them with us.
March 2012
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