Taking the pennant

By Susan Hanf
Rotary International News -- 5 August 2009

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Banner of the Rotary Club of Swanton, Ohio, USA.

O ne of the more colorful traditions of Rotary is the exchange of club banners. Rotarians traveling to distant locations often take banners to exchange at make-up meetings as a token of friendship. Many clubs use the decorative banners they have received for attractive displays at club meetings and district events.

By 1959, exchanging banners had become so popular that the RI Board of Directors was concerned the practice would be a financial burden on clubs. It urged Rotarians to “exercise discretion, moderation, and measured judgment in making provision for such exchanges.”

The approximately 20,000 banners in the Rotary History and Archives collection reflect clubs' hometown pride and their connection with the international organization.

In addition to incorporating the Rotary emblem, banners often include symbols or imagery of a club's town, region, or country. Others represent local craftsmanship or cultural traditions by displaying leatherwork, weaving, embroidery, or hand-painted designs.

29 Comments:

At 9:08AM on 30 November 2009, Trudy Erdmann wrote: Rotary Club of Port Douglas QLD, Australia located between two World Heritage sights of the Daintree Rainforest & Great Barrier Reef. Being a priority tourist desination but a small membership of average 15 members, we are often out numbered at meetings by our Rotarian visitors. Our huge banner collection is displayed as described above by Sheila Mark. It is an ongoing rotating front & back display at our meetings.. We thank our sewing member Helen for her banner upkeep & respect to our many visitors.

At 9:48AM on 8 September 2009, P.V.RAMESH wrote: Exchanging flags with other country Rotary clubs indeed helps us to know our other fellow Rotarians. I have personally experienced and cherished the wonderful moments ,when i visited Switzerland and also Scandinavian countries.

At 9:00AM on 1 September 2009, Tonya Martin wrote: I love the idea of the exchange. I am a fairly new member. I think it is a great idea to make visiting Rotarians feel welcome in our club. It also interests me in visiting other clubs as well. I would like to see how many pennants I can accumulate for our club.

At 11:32AM on 31 August 2009, MAC PURCELL wrote: my cub thinks that they are a waste of money, instead we have a printed paper 'oldworldy' parchment banner. In exchange we donate £5 to Foundation for every banner we give. Let's do something more useful and beneficial with the money, rather than spending it on banners!!

At 11:33AM on 31 August 2009, JOHN N ABBOTT wrote: I personally like the tradition of exchanging banners. My Club, The R C of Manchester., England - RIBI Club Number 4 and RI iClub Number 66 s now 98 years old. We used to have a member who arranged to have banners sewn onto drapes for display - sadly he died over ten years and since then new banners just go into a box with our archives. What do other Clubs do?

At 11:36AM on 31 August 2009, Carolyne Atieno jalang'o wrote: Rotary Club of Kisumu Winam,D9200 wants to partner with any club willing to do an exchange visit.this could start from them visiting Kisumu Winam Kenya near lake victoria,among other places to visit will be ancestral home of President Obama's village,projects implemented by kisumu Winam and as the partner wishes.Welcome. email to: jalangokarol@yahoo.com or Kisumuwinam@gmail.com

At 11:36AM on 31 August 2009, Carolyne Atieno Jalang'o wrote: The whole idea of Club's exchanging banners is a great idea. I suggest this becomes part of the wall decoration in clubs offices and meeting points,this can go back to when the club started,coupled with a visitors book signed this will be a very entertaining feature when oritating someone about Rotary eg new members,at a glance one would obvious understand Rotary in very few words" Fellowship and friendship" Clubs can buy space at key places and display antic's about Rotary as a motivation to new members.Our club is in kisumu Kenya D9200 near US President Obama's ancestral home,it's my desire to put something about Rotary for a school near there or health centre as a rotary mark.Rtn Carol.

At 11:38AM on 31 August 2009, Josephine Echianu wrote: I love rotary bnners and love all the artistic designs on the various banners they speak volums and the exchange should be encourage as we get to love our differences represented by these banners.

At 11:42AM on 31 August 2009, Rtn/K.S.Srinivasan wrote: Banner is the essence of your club which displays the current year theme and Names of RI President and the club president of the year. But Rotary club's flag is eternal. It explains about the place and culture/ R.C.Nanganallur has the temple flag staff of 32 ft.Lord Hanuman. The temple of Hanuman is at our place and hence shows the viewers an idea about us. Further, we are proud to have the flag exchanged whenever visit another club or their representative visit us and take a photograph at the time of exchang of flag. K.S.Srinivasan

At 11:43AM on 31 August 2009, YR Bakshi wrote: The Rotary Club of Dhauladhar Palampur (India-District 3070) is a new club and looking to make a new banner and is also looking for a reliable manufacturer who will produce our banners at a reasonable price. I look forward to receiving recommendations about a supplier from my fellow Rotarians. Cheerz, eh! When I visited South Korea as a GSE Team Leader RI District 3740 in 2006, I had the privilege to Exchange the club Banners with the Local Clubs in South Korea

At 11:43AM on 31 August 2009, Rtn. Nirav Vasantbhai Somaiya wrote: its very very good idea, purpose of fellow ship can develope more n more with memorised to each other between rotarian to rotarian R2R. good one ..

At 11:43AM on 31 August 2009, Jim Bailey wrote: What do we do with all the banners. Its a great idea just need some way of storing and displaying.

At 11:44AM on 31 August 2009, Edwin Robertson wrote: At East Kilbride Rotary Club we have now managed to put many banners on our web site these have been gathered by Club Rotarians and from visiting Rotarians please visit our unique web site and have a look at them todate we have 421 banners plus we still have many more to add to our collection. Our web site is ekrotary.com

At 12:10PM on 31 August 2009, Brian Coleman wrote: I have just completed the somewhat daunting task of photographing the banners my club, the Rotary Club of St Ives, D9680, has collected during our 44 years existence - over 1,000 of them! Hitherto they have been stored in boxes wher no-one sees them, apart from a few that are kept to decorate tables at our meetings. The photographs will be put on a DVD and projected on a screen whenever we have a meeting with an international flavour. I am also working on printing hard copies - 25 to a page - so that members will be able to see the entire collection, mostly for the first time.

At 3:41PM on 28 August 2009, Laura Mohlenhoff wrote: The Rotary Club of Indianapolis is holding a contest currently called S.E.E. the World (S.E.E. stands for Schedule a trip, Exchange a Banner, Enrich your Rotary experience). We are asking traveling members to document their experience on a short questionnaire and present it to the club with the collected banner. Our history committee has spent the last year and a half taking digital pictures of each of our nearly 1400 banners from around the world. We found most banners have no name, no date, and no story. S.E.E. the World is our way of capturing that experience while promoting international fellowship.

At 4:10PM on 27 August 2009, President Steve wrote: The Rotary Club of Wasaga Beach and Area (Canada-District 7010) is looking to revise it's current banner and is also looking for a reliable manufacturer who will produce our banners at a reasonable price. I look forward to receiving recommendations about a supplier from my fellow Rotarians. Cheerz, eh!

At 3:15PM on 26 August 2009, Claire Larabie wrote: Our Kemptville Club turns 75 this year, we agree banners are very important and we updated ours to include our Rotary park. A rotary legacy to our community.

At 9:29AM on 26 August 2009, Sarad bawri wrote: for Harmony

At 10:32AM on 26 August 2009, Colleen Bonadonna wrote: We are in the midst of a competition at your local high school to design our new banner. We are a young, small club and the exposure at the high school will help introduce Rotary to the young people.

At 10:32AM on 26 August 2009, richard ward wrote: Our Club have photographed and downloaded pictures of 'virtual' banners for many years. Where known we record who presented the banner, if 'incoming', or who 'received' it when one of our own members went visiting. Thus there is some history attached. Rotary Club of Kew Gardens, UK www.kewrotary.org.uk

At 9:29AM on 18 August 2009, RAYA CHIDAMBARAM wrote: IT IS PART OF ROTARY ACTIVITY TO BE CONTINED FOR FUTURE WHICH PROMOTES ROTARY.THE ROTARY EMBLEM SHOULD BE PRINTED AS PER ROTARY NORMS

At 11:47AM on 17 August 2009, Kelly Kyle wrote: Banners are GREAT. I have exchanged them for years, when I travel. Thanks for the memories.

At 8:41AM on 13 August 2009, Dinesh Pandya - Dist 3140 wrote: Exchanging a club flag is one of the Rotary Culture. Is there any guideline for banner exchange, or simply one can exchange during any meeting? How to send our club flag here on this page?

At 12:33PM on 11 August 2009, Hari Om Shrestha, President 2000-01, Patan West/D3292 wrote: Good idea for exchanging banner through mail. I notice RC Agra's banner. I felt sorry that Rotary Logo was disfigured which is not allowed, if I have correctly understood the provisions of MOP/RCP. Hope RI office will have some comment.

At 10:18AM on 10 August 2009, Roy Kaple wrote: Are meeting room is Rotary Ready. View how our exchange banners are displayed on our website, http://rotary-stmatthews-sc.org/

At 10:26AM on 10 August 2009, Sheila Mark wrote: Our Club displays all the banners we have received. We buy 3 yard lengths of blue upholstering fabric and cut it lengthwise so we have two panels, 9ft long and 30" wide. We sew the banners onto a panel, simply tacking each at the four corners, We put a rod at the top and cord for hanging. The panels roll easily for storage and will hang from anything - a picture hanger, a nail...most anything.

At 2:36PM on 7 August 2009, Roy York wrote: Our club, Las Vegas Fremont Rotary, located in downtown Las Vegas, has hundreds of banners on display at every meeting. We are a well visited club and enjoy meeting Rotarians from all over the world. We have people come back on a subsequent trip and they always look for their banner to be displayed. We try not to disappoint. Come, visit us and bring one of yours.

At 9:23AM on 7 August 2009, Phil Komornik wrote: I have long been a proponent of exchanging banners when visiting clubs outside my area and have felt it shows appreciation for being welcomed at another Club's meeting and a sense of pride in ones own Club. After the exchange "ceremony" is where the dilemma arises, especially in Clubs where members have reason to travel a lot. The banners accumulate and are often stuck away someplace only to be seen again when a new Club officer is cleaning out a storage area. Even at that, I feel the tradition of the exchange is a good one a deserves its part in Rotary Clubs.

At 9:23AM on 7 August 2009, Janey Ball wrote: We have just begun a virtual pennant exchange from our website. To exchange online, please visit us at http://www.newlands.org.za/main-menu/about-us/virtual-banner-exchange.html or email info@newlands.org.za

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