Press Release from RIBI

March 2004

Heart of Gold Rose raises £10,000 for The Rotary Foundation

Rotary International President Elect Glenn Estess was presented with a cheque for £10,000 for The Rotary Foundation from sales of the ‘Heart of Gold’ rose, a project to celebrate Rotary’s centennial.

Sales of the ‘Heart of Gold’ rose which was specially commissioned by Rotarians in Scotland to mark the centenary of Rotary International, has raised £10,000 for the Rotary’s charity, the Rotary Foundation. A cheque was presented on Saturday to Rotary International President Elect Glen Estess by Past District Governor Bill Wood at the Rotary Assembly at the Birmingham Metropole Hotel. From the sale of each rose a donation of £1.50 is made to the “Rotary Foundation” charity.

‘Heart of Gold” rose has been specially commissioned from world famous rose growers James Cocker & Sons, Aberdeen, to mark the occasion of the centenary of Rotary International in 2005, and to highlight the work of its official charity the Rotary Foundation. Rotary International is a worldwide association of men and women who collectively aim to provide humanitarian service and resources to the community at local, national and international levels and who work for goodwill and peace in the world. The Rotary Foundation’s “PolioPlus” project, for example, has contributed substantially towards the eradication of Polio worldwide’.

Bill Wood said “The Heart of Gold rose project is a means of not only marking the centennial of Rotary but is also an imaginative way of generating much needed funds for Rotary Foundation. We are delighted with the response which has exceeded all expectations.’

Heart of Gold is a beautiful large flowered Hybrid Tea rose of classical form. The colour of the scented blooms reminds one of a warm ripe peach with the underside of the petals being a little lighter. The plant is bushy and upright with an abundance of large dark green very glossy leaves which is a perfect foil to the colour of this rose. Heart of Gold cost £7.95 each including VAT and carriage and may be purchased from James Cocker & Sons email salesroses.uk.com wwwroses.uk.com

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For more information please contact Judith Diment on 01628 672965 or 07860 162313 or judithdiment@aol.com

Notes to Editors

Rotary is an organisation of business and professional men and women who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards, and help to build goodwill and peace in the world. Paul Harris formed the world’s first service club in Chicago on 23rd February 1905. The name Rotary is derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among members’ offices. Today there are some 1.2 million Rotary club members of more than 30,000 clubs in 166 countries.

In Great Britain and Ireland there are 1833 clubs with 58,000 members. The oldest Rotary Clubs in Great Britain and Ireland are Dublin, Belfast, London and Manchester, which were founded in 1911.