SERVICE before self is the motto which has underpinned the existence of Melksham’s Rotary Club for the last 50 years.

Rotary is an organisation that has been around for over 100 years and originated in America when some business men from different businesses came together to use their skills to help others. Today, volunteers around the globe work together to benefit both local and international communities.

The inaugural meeting of the Rotary Club in Melksham took place at the Assembly Hall on Tuesday, November 3, 1964 which was attended by around 100 people including the founder members, representatives from district and fellow Rotarians.

Of those founder members, only John Baxter, club president in 1975, is still in contact with the club and is an honorary member today.

The club was officially chartered on June 15, 1965 and dinner jackets were the order of the day with the price of a ticket at 35 shillings.

The chartered president at the time was Reverent W.A.M Langdon.

During the first year of their existence, the club’s community service committee arranged a highly successful Christmas concert, the proceeds from which, about £60, were forwarded to the St. George’s Hospital, Semington, Lift Fund Appeal.

The committee also made arrangements to cooperate with other town organisations for the distribution of Christmas parcels to old and infirm residents in the area.

It was in March 1966, that the first visitors from Melksham went to Guingamp in France as a twinned Rotary Club, and over the years members from both clubs have regularly visited each other and supported them in joint projects.

This year, the Rotary Club are fundraising for a project to provide classrooms, wells and other community needs in Senegal and members from Guingamp travelled to the Wiltshire town to join in with birthday celebrations held in May.

Today, the Melksham Rotary Club manages the Art House Café in the Market Place, which is run by volunteers, with all profits being donated to local good causes in the town.

Since it started in 2011, the Art House is believed to have generated over £44,000 for individuals and organisations and every year, the group holds a presentation evening which allows groups to thank as well as inform the Rotary Club of where their money was spent.

Sarah Hiscocks, president elect said the work of the Rotary Club has been going from strength-to-strength over the last five decades, in particular how it engages with local schools.

The club runs a series of youth projects including young chef, young photographer and young speaker with students from Melksham Oak and Stonar Schools.

Every year they also fund around 100 young people in Melksham to go to Longleat for a day’s experience as part of National Kids Out.

Mrs Hiscocks added: “I originally got involved in the rotary club in Trowbridge 13 years ago because it was a way I could put something back into the community. I joined Melksham two years ago and there are quite a lot of people involved that range in age from 50-83.

“People tend to think of the rotary club as an old man’s club but the work we do has brought together people in the day to day running of things including the Art House cafe and it is a great project to work on.”