Woking District Rotary Club turned 50 years old on Sunday, 18 October, and the event was marked with a weekend of celebrations, with a little fundraising thrown in.

Six Rotarians from Swedish partner club Uppsala Linné travelled over to join in the festivities, which kicked off with a cheese and wine party on the Friday night.

On Saturday morning there was a guided tour of the Silent Pool distillery, with gin tasting along the way, followed by lunch at The Percy Arms in Chilworth, enabling the Swedish guests to sample a traditional English pub.

Centrepiece of the weekend was the semi-centenary dinner at Chobham Golf Club on Saturday evening, with principal guests being Woking’s MP Will Forster, the Mayor of Woking, Cllr Rob Leach, and Rotary’s district governor Mike Thorn.

Musical entertainment was provided by local band Sultana. An auction and raffle held on the night raised over £2,000 from members and guests, which has been augmented by the club’s charity funds to make £3,000 in total.

This £3,000 has been donated to Cut Out Cancer, a charity run by Rotarians in Surrey. This is raising funds to buy specialist operating theatre equipment for the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford.

During the evening guests were amazed when the news was broken to them that Woking District Rotary Club has raised more than £630,000 for charity in the last 10 years alone.

The club has just one of the original founding members left: John Burrill, who was presented with his 50-year membership certificate along with a Paul Harris Fellowship, named in honour of the founder of Rotary International.

On the Sunday club members took their Swedish guests to RHS Wisley to show them the gardens in their autumn colours, followed by a farewell lunch in the Terrace Restaurant.