STOURBRIDGE Rotary Club is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year.

The first Rotary club to be founded in the UK - it was set up by Arthur Moody, Mayor of Stourbridge at the time, and its first meeting was held at the Bell Hotel in February 1922.

For more than 80 years club members met at the Talbot Hotel in Stourbridge High Street before moving their meetings to Hagley Golf and Country Club where the group continues to thrive.

Club communications officer Bob Glaze said: “Members enjoy a weekly get together and have fun and raise funds along the way for people in less fortunate circumstances.

“We’ve always been able to maintain a healthy membership of between 60 and 70 members and we’re the largest club in the country.”

The all-male club plays host to a variety of speakers as well as supporting good causes locally, nationally and internationally including Shelterbox which ships out equipment to people hit by natural disasters.

Club members also backed the News Group’s tsunami appeal which helped to rebuild a school in Phuket, Thailand, which was devastated in the 2004 disaster.

The club also continues to enjoy good relations with the Rotary Club of Sturbridge based in Massachusetts, USA, which it twinned with after Stourbridge members enjoyed a successful trip to the States in 1988.

Since then Stourbridge members have crossed Pond to meet their American friends on three occasions and have hosted several visits by Rotarians from Sturbridge - the last of which took place in June.

The Stourbridge club also now hosts an annual civic day to celebrate the partnership between the town and Sturbridge, which was founded in 1729.

July 4 saw the induction of new president John Yeates who has taken over from Chris Fonteyn and who is following in the footsteps of his father - a club president in 1948.

Mr Yeates’s fundraising efforts throughout his forthcoming year in office will give a boost to Cancer Research UK, Acorns children’s hospice and research into stem cell treatments.

To find out more about the work of Stourbridge Rotary Club contact communications officer Bob Glaze on 01562 885425 or check out stourbridgerotary.org or twitter.com/stbridgerotary