Crustaceans, community and comradery have kept Daryl Taylor in Ipswich Rotary for “eight years or maybe a bit more”. Now he’s been honoured with one of the international group’s highest honours, a Paul Harris Fellow.
When Daryl Taylor was “roped into” Rotary by friend and former Ipswich club president Phil Gray he didn’t think he’d stay long enough to earn a Paul Harris Fellow.
“I got roped into going. I went once with Phil and I’ve been there ever since – for eight years or maybe a bit more – maybe it’s 10,” Mr Taylor said.
“I totally didn’t expect to get the (Paul Harris Fellow) award. It’s a great honour and good to be thought of by the club but that’s not why I’m part of Rotary.”
Mr Taylor will help cook a gunfire breakfast alongside fellow Rotarians and members of The Salvation Army at the Anzac Day dawn service at Bundamba.
The Redbank Plains resident recently organised an annual seafood night fundraiser for Rotary Club of Ipswich and owned South-East Qld Under-Road Drillers until retiring in 2008.
“In May we’ll do a hamburger stand at the Ipswich Show and that’s flat out for three days but you’re spending time with good mates and offering affordable food where the money goes back to the community,” he said.
“I enjoy doing what we do. The sense of comradery and the people we mix with make it really worthwhile. You make an awful lot of good friends.
“Then there’s all the groups, events and organisations that we support, things like Ipswich West State School, Ipswich Hospice Care, Relay for Life, Little Athletics, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, Drought Relief, Bowelscan and community tree planting programs.
“We even played a role in the Ipswich Basketball Association rebuilding its base at Booval after the 2011 floods. As a group we have the ability to connect people and get things done in the community.”
Ipswich is part of Rotary District 9630. The district is home to more than 50 clubs. For more information go here.
What is a Paul Harris Fellow?
Established in 1957, the Paul Harris Fellow was named after the founder of Rotary and acknowledges members who contribute, or who have contributions made in their name, US$1,000 to The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. It shows appreciation for and encourages substantial contributions to what was then the Foundation’s only program, Rotary Foundation Fellowships for Advanced Study.
What is Rotary?
Rotary International is the world’s first service club organisation with more than 1.2m members in more than 35,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary is a non-political, non-religious organisation open to every race, culture and creed. Members are ordinary people working together to make the world a better place.
