Rotary Lunch 25 Nov 2026

Rotary Melbourne Lunch 25 November 2026 Sir John Reid Community Service Award 2026 Honouring the volunteer Sir John Reid, known always as Jock, was inducted into the Rotary Club of Melbourne in December 1939 with a classification of building material-manufacturing. He remained a Rotarian until his death at age 81 in 1984. His interview for membership was undertaken by Sir Angus Mitchell and he, in due course, delivered the Angus Mitchell Oration to the Club in 1981. He was President of the Club in 1953-54, awarded the Vocational Service award in 1978, and made a Paul Harris Fellow in 1984. Among his many Rotary activities was a role in re-establishing Rotary in post war Japan. Sir John was involved in many organizations through his life, and many have continued through the family trusts he established. Some of contemporary interest include the Brotherhood of St Laurence and the Baker Institute. However, he supported or served on a variety of Boards including the ABC, Melbourne YMCA, Old Colonists Association of Victoria, the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, the Walter and Eliza Hall Medical Research Institute, the Victorian College of the Arts, and the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, to name a few. The Rotary Club of Melbourne introduced a Community Service Award in his honour in 1987. The award is made in recognition of an individual judged to have been devoted to community welfare for a lengthy period without remuneration and the recipient is presented with a citation and plaque commissioned by the Club and produced by sculptor Michael Meszaros. Since May 2017 a grant was received in support of the Award and funds annually a financial gift to the not for profit organisation associated with the Award recipient.