The Oxford Rotary Club has a distinguished history and welcomes new members from all professional, business, academic or community backgrounds, who share a desire for fellowship and of service.

The first meeting of the Club was in November 1922.  Membership started with 20 members, and peaked at 100 in the 1990s.  The Club’s first lunch meetings were held at the Clarendon Hotel, where the Clarendon Centre is now. They continued there until December 1939, when the hotel was purchased by F W Woolworth for a new store. The Club moved to the Randolph Hotel and has remained there ever since. On a historical note about the price of their lunch; 3/6p in 1922, 3/3p in 1949, £1.20 in 1974 and now £13.00 in 2016.

Community service and charitable fundraising is a central part of Rotary membership and we currently participate in the following annual events:

The Club has always been involved in the students who come from many parts of the world to study at the universities in Oxford on Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarships for a year. Many members of the Club have been involved as Counsellors to them and lasting friendships have been made. The Club has welcomed and hosted many Group Study Exchange teams made up usually of 5 young business men & women with a Rotarian leader who come from different parts of the world to learn about Britain and the Oxford area.