Founded in April 1924 by a group of local businessmen, and now in it’s 87 th. year, Bishop Auckland Rotary Club is the 10th oldest of the 67 Rotary Clubs that make up District 1030, which stretches from Teeside to Berwick, in the North East of England.

Since inception, the club has been extremely active in its support of charities both local and international, raising, and donating, many thousands of pounds in support of worthwhile local causes such as Dr. Bill Lamb’s insulin pump, the North East Air Ambulance and the Riding for the Disabled. International charities supported include support for the people of Haiti and the historic ambition of eradicating polio worldwide, now very near successful completion.

For the past 25 years, club members have funded and accompanied a party of children from Evergreen School on a visit to the pantomime at the Darlington Civic Theatre (enjoyed as much by the Rotarians as the children). Members of the club raise donations throughout the year, which include an annual Christmas tree collection outside the Newgate Centre in Bishop Auckland as well as operating a car park each Saturday of the year at the top of Gib Chair on Kingsway. In recent years a golf tournament has been held at Bishop Auckland Golf Club and has been exceptionally well supported by local businesses and golfers, which led to a significant amount of money being raised for local charities.

Bishop Auckland Rotary Club is now proud to receive acknowledgment from Durham County Council by the naming of a road, ‘ Rotary Way’, part of the A688, which extends from the roundabout on South Church Road to the Roundabout on Watling Road.

Today, Bishop Auckland Rotary Club prospers and continues its support for good causes thanks to the generosity of the local community, and its success is a tribute to the Rotary ideal of ‘Service above Self’.