When visiting Durham Cathedral, the entry route is via the Galilee Chapel, and it is recommended that time be given to reading the tablets, memorials and inscriptions that lie within. On exiting the chapel, there, on the beautiful and ancient stone wall, is a wooden plaque with engraved brass plate featuring the Rotary wheel and an inscription. Here is its story.
The plaque is within a few feet of the tomb of The Venerable Bede, therefore a place of privilege indeed. Born c.673, in present day Tyne and Wear, St. Bede was an English monk and much revered as a scholar, author and great teacher from the early Middle Ages. St. Bede died in 735 and was buried at Jarrow but then transferred to Durham Cathedral and reinterred in the Galilee Chapel.
The plaque commemorates the Centenary of Rotary International and, on 11 June 2005, in a ceremony held in the cathedral and attended by 100s of Rotarians and their families from across the region, District 1030 commissioned and dedicated the eternal flame brass lamp which sits over the tomb. Invited to take a role in the service, and led by Headteacher and Rotarian Pat Henderson-Pickersgill, was a choir of children from Woodham Burn and Sugar Hill Primary Schools in Newton Aycliffe.
The special Service of Thanksgiving for Rotary’s Centenary was the brainchild of District 1030 Governor at that time, Syd Howarth MBE, a member of Rotary Newton Aycliffe, who died in 2018, and is very much missed, both in Rotary and the wider community. He was a much-loved and respected businessman, owner/proprietor of Newton Press and dedicated Rotarian for many years.
It is understood, from long-standing Rotarians, that Syd had to jump through hoops and attend many meetings with the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral, to have the plaque installed but there we have it. Syd could be very persuasive.
Many thanks to Paul Howarth for assistance with research. To read more, see link to the article on Newton News website, 2005 Rotary Plaque Durham Cathedral
