The new president of Arbroath Rotary Club says he wants to shatter any misconceptions people might have about the organisation.
Speaking for the first time in his new role, Mike Sowden said it was not a “secret society” and was now far more open than it has ever been.
Mr Sowden said the organisation was keen to encourage new members of all ages and sexes even suggesting they might start up another club if there is enough demand.
“I think there are misconceptions about Rotary and we are looking to change that,” Mr Sowden told The Courier. “Everybody has a good vision of Rotary, but the problem is they don’t have enough of a vision and that’s what this is about.
“Previously, people were invited to become a member and it was male dominated. The big difference now is we are asking people if they want to join and give something back to the community, and that is men and women of all ages.
“We have seven female members now and we are obviously looking for more.
“The remarkable thing for Arbroath is we don’t seem to have too much difficulty in bringing young people in. In fact, we’re inducting a couple of new members within the next month and one of them is the youngest ever.”
Mr Sowden, who moved to Arbroath from Dundee nine years ago, continued, “We have fun, we have fellowship and we collect money but the beauty is that all the money we collect goes to the organisation itself we don’t take a cut at all.
“The members have said they want new members to join, but we don’t want it to be too big that people don’t know each other. We are sitting at just over 50 members and once we get to 60 members we would have to start another club.
“We would urge anyone who is interested to get in touch with us or come to one of the club nights.”For more information visit www.rotary-ribi.org