I WAS most interested to read in the Bolton Evening News (June 7) of the initiative to identify all that is great in Bolton, and the many things we can be proud of.

We are the largest town in the country, and are still blessed with some unique shops and businesses, excellent architecture and a first-rate local history, part of which arises from Boltons contribution to the industrial revolution. I think there is something else also, which is the great spirit of community that I have seen during my year of office in Rotary.

There are many very special organisations: the Bolton Lads and Girls Club - largest of its kind in the country; luncheon and social groups for our senior citizens; local people working as part of charities, large and small, like Life Education, which teaches very little children about the effect of substances on their bodies, and Sight Savers, which deals with third world sight problems by the thousand. These are just a handful of examples. We typically come into contact with a new organisation every week, and never cease to be amazed by the range of things that interest and motivate people.

I have met young people from our local schools, who have been overseas to work in schools in South Africa and The Gambia, decorating the buildings, teaching and taking the children on their first ever visit to the seaside. Young people who are willing to stand up and present a speech in front of a large audience, to a standard which would put many adults to shame. The students at our local Community Learning Centre who, as adults, are learning new skills and taking on new careers. One of these, Kellie McGarry, has just become our first Student of the Year. We met hundreds of people in January, willing to donate very generously for those people so terribly afflicted by the Tsunami.

I have also met many of the 200 people who are members of the no-less-than seven Rotary Clubs which serve Bolton (which might be a record in itself), who are happy to volunteer their time for the benefit of our community, who are keen to support these other organisations, and to help them to meet each other and work together. Rotary has been active in Bolton since 1921, and has played a significant part in the history that you are seeking out.

I hope that the team who are building up the picture of what we have to be proud of in Bolton will give us the opportunity to contribute the story about the strong sense of community that exists in Bolton, and the related towns, like my own in Westhoughton. The tradition of service may be a dying art in some places in the country, but there is still a strong ethic of it in our town, and I am proud of it!

Phil Wood

President, Rotary Club of Westhoughton

in Rotary's Centenary Year, 2004 - 05