Inner Wheel Club closes after 78 years
Today’s Dunstable Inner Wheel members have voted to continue to meet regularly and support local event.
After many years of friendship, fund-raising and community service, the Inner Wheel Club of Dunstable has taken the difficult decision to close.
Members held their final formal meeting on Wednesday last week, when they gathered for a luncheon at Tilsworth Golf Club.
The club has been a significant part of Dunstable life since 1948, ever-present at a wide range of town events where members often provided the refreshments and ran stalls to raise money for numerous local and international charities and disaster funds. The club’s annual charity ball, in the days of the Queensway Hall, was once one of the town’s major social occasions. Members famously provided refreshments in a draughty marquee at the fondly remembered Dunstable Pageant of 1953, where one of its members made the Roman soldiers’ costumes. Its skilled needlewomen and knitters have answered many calls over the years for soft toys, baby hats, clothing and health packs for homes in Africa and Asia.
The club welcomed a wide range of local and nationally-known speakers to its monthly meetings, held in such vanished buildings as the Noah’s Ark Café and the converted stables at the Red Lion hotel, as well as still-thriving venues such as the Little Theatre, the Saracen’s Head and the Methodist Church hall.
Its presidents have included many notable local names such as as Mrs Trudie Chichester-Miles, Mrs Anita Glen, Mrs G.H.Bailey, Mrs B.J.Scott, Mrs F.T.Moore, Mrs Maisie Bates, Mrs Muriel Beavington, Mrs R.D.Todd, Mrs F.H.K.Ball, Mrs Mary Ashton, Mrs J.D. Clark, Mrs A.L. Chattell, Mrs E.O. Anketell-Jones and Mrs Lorraine Stott.
Mrs Jan Curt, who has been president of the local Inner Wheel for the past seven years, said: “It has been an honour to be president with the support of such a kind and motivated group of members, who have always been ready to help others.”
The Inner Wheel is an international organisation, primarily for the wives of members of Rotary Clubs although this rule has been relaxed in recent years.
Today’s Dunstable Inner Wheel members have voted to continue to meet regularly and support local events, but they have decided to end their affiliation to the main body which involved much administrative work. They have decided to have a new name: The Satellites. The husbands and partners who support their work are aiming to call themselves the Super Novas!