 To promote true friendship
To encourage the ideals of personal service
To foster international understanding
Yesterday
Inner Wheel began on the 10 January 1924 when Mrs Margarette Golding presided over a club formed of Rotarian wives. The roots from which International Inner Wheel has grown were established in 1934 when the Association of Inner Wheel Clubs in Great Britain & Ireland was formed.
It was realised that unity is strength and members had the wisdom and foresight to form Clubs, later establishing Districts and then an Association. In 1967 International Inner Wheel was formed which gave an opportunity for qualified members in any country to serve as Officers e.g. President.
International Inner Wheel links together members in different parts of the world including Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia & the America’s. International Inner Wheel is available in approximately 100 geographical locations with 103,000 members.
Open to women of Rotarians and Rotaract.
The Governing Body is the Board of International Inner Wheel consisting of four Officers, President, Vice-President, Immediate Past President and Treasurer together with sixteen Board Directors.
All members of the Governing Body are subject to annual nomination and election. Members with the correct qualifications may be elected to serve from all over the world.
CONVENTIONS
These are held every third year the next Convention will be May 2006 in Christchurch, New Zealand. The Trienial Convention is the forum which considers and decides alterations to the International Inner Wheel Constitution and fixes the capitation fee to be paid by each member.
Introduced to Sri Lanka in 1965 by Mrs. Gerty Billimoria and Mrs. Jer Nilgiriya, the Inner Wheel Club of Colombo was formed. The pioneer Club received it’s Charter on 1st February 1966 and the ceremony was held at Hotel Taprobane. Amongst the speakers for the event were Mr. Jabir A Cader, Mayor of Colombo and Rtn. D. B. Ellepola, President, Rotary Club of Colombo.
We initially belonged to District 320 and 321 which included Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In 1985, Sri Lanka bifurcated and thus District 322 was formed with Mrs. Nirmalie Gunatilleke as the first leader of our District. As at today we have 18 Clubs with a membership of 404.
In the years 1997/8, 2002/3 and 2005/6, Mrs Nirmalie Gunatilleke, Mrs Chandrani Gunawardene and Mrs Renuka Amalean were elected as Board Directors of International Inner Wheel respectively. In addition Mrs. Nirmalie Gunatilleke was one of the first recipients of the Margaret Golding Award bestowed by International Inner Wheel and was followed by late Mrs. Annie Samaranayake
The projects are conducted at Club and District Level and primarily aimed to provide, relief to under privileged or to the deserving through friendship. Some of the notable projects completed are the financial contribution to the Mammography fund of the National Hospital, helping the Mother Theresa Home in Moratuwa, refurbishing of the Kalutara Maternity Ward, Scholarships to 75 poverty stricken children and cash donations to Children’s Heart Project and also the Neurosurgical Unit of the Colombo National Hospital. In addition several medical camps and seminars to educate and create awareness of health and other appropriate issues have been conducted. Refurbishing of Welcome House and The Deaf and Blind School, Ratmalana, construction of Community Center at Muthuragawella and building of a Urology Unit in the Kurunagala General Hospital, are other community service projects successfully completed.
More recently the District donated a costly 'surgical drill' to the Department of Neurosurgery of the Colombo National Hospital. In addition a Perkins Braille Machine and Braille stationery was donated to Dharisanam School for the Visually Handicapped, situated in Kalladi-Uppodai, Batticaloa as well as funding the cost of transcribing four text books into Braille by visually handicapped women to mark International Womens Day on 8th March. The textbooks are to be used by visually handicapped undergratuates of the University of Sri Jayawardenapura.
The unique feature in the implementation of the above projects is the personal involvement and participation of its Members in the true spirit of fellowship and friendship. |
