Des Campbell becomes president of Athlone Rotary Club
During an online meeting at the beginning of this month Des Campbell became the new president of the Rotary Club of Athlone, succeeding Billy Nott in the role.
A dentist who practises in Irishtown, Des (pictured above) is well-known in musical circles in the town and is also a senior oarsman in Athlone Rowing Club.
He outlined his plans for the year ahead, which will include an extensive youth programme involving the schools in the Young Leader, Young Writer and Young Chef competitions.
Ethel Gavin, who recently retired as a Governor in the prison service, will head up this programme.
Ciaran Mannion will continue with the club's international programme. He is currently transferring mountain bikes from a container in Ballinasloe to the prison service for repairs prior to their transfer to Gambia as part of the 'School Bikes for Africa' project.
Despite Covid-19, the Athlone club ran its 'Tree of Remembrance' initiative last Christmas, raising much-needed funds for local and Rotary charities. Next year this project will be headed up by local pharmacist Philip McGorisk.
Rotary is a worldwide organisation with 72 clubs in Ireland, North and South. The general theme for this year is, 'Serve To Change Lives'.
Its key humanitarian project has been to rid the world of polio. Back in 1988, it spearheaded this campaign at a time when there were over 1,000 cases a day in 120 countries, paralysing and even killing children.
Since then the number of cases has dropped by 99.9%, leaving only two countries with this terrible disease today.
The club is run by a council (committee), which meets regularly to organise events. This year, new council members are Mike Ganley and Simon Cavanagh, with Pat Ryan as president-elect. Club Officers Tom Murphy and Martin Egan continue in their roles as honorary secretary and treasurer respectively.
The club was also delighted to announce that one of its members, Tom Mulligan, has been appointed as an assistant governor for Rotary Ireland.
Last year Athlone Rotary was successful in adding a number of new members to their list, and anyone interested in joining should contact the secretary (secretary@athlonerotary.org) or any member of the club.