Rotary Club - Celebrating 100 years of Rotary

The Duke was the surprise guest at the special service held at Windsor's Parish Church St John the Baptist in the High Street. He joined members and their friends from the town's two Rotary Clubs, Windsor and Eton, and the more recently formed Windsor St George.

Windsor Team Ministry's priest-in-charge, Reverend Ainsley Swift, officiated and joined Windsor and Eton Rotary Club president Chris Simon at the beginning to welcome everyone.

Mr Simon told members that the Rotary organisation had expanded during the past 100 years from one club with four members in Chicago to 31,000 clubs with 1.2million members in 166 countries.

He said the biggest challenge facing the movement was its commitment to obliterating the killer disease polio from the world through mass vaccinations.

He said: "This has been our main aim for 20 years now and last year there were less than 1,000 cases of paralysis causing polio worldwide."

In 2002, Europe was declared officially polio-free, two years after the Western Pacific area.

During the service, the Duke of Edinburgh read the Lesson and at the end cut a celebration cake commemorating 100 years of the Rotary movement.

The Venerable Doctor David Griffiths, Past Queen's Chaplain, Rector of Windsor and Past President of Windsor and Eton Rotary Club was another special guest at the service.

He spoke at length during the service about the history of Rotary, which began in Illinois in 1905 when an attorney, a mining engineer, a merchant taylor and a coal dealer formed the club together.

The first Rotary Club in Britain followed in 1911.

The Windsor and Eton Club was formed in 1931, followed in 1982 by the town's second Rotary Club Windsor St George.

There are now 59,000 members in more than 1,830 clubs in Britain and Ireland and last year they raised more than £20 million for good causes.