Rotarian and founding member of the Rotary Club of Brighton Daniel Thompson provided an oral history of the club.
In the fall of 1988, local Accountant Al Ronnenberg approached several area business men about forming a Rotary Club in Brighton. Al was originally from Germany and immigrated to Montreal first where he was a Rotary member. He later moved to Brighton and opened his own accounting firm and joined the Colborne Rotary Club.
Al had the idea that Rotary should participate in the local Applefest activities and he organized with the Rotary Club of Colborne an Octoberfest style beer garden at the arena on Friday night of Applefest weekend. From that event, Al thought Brighton should have their own club and therefore he started talking to fellow businessman in Town.
An initial committee was formed which included Daniel Thompson, Bob Briden (a former Rotarian from Port Hope) and Al's son Jens as well as others. The committee recruited the minimum 25 initial members with the Rotary Club of Colborne as our sponsor club. Colborne provided us with our bell and gavel, the podium, banner and the fur lined pot used for fines and happy bucks.
Traditionally Rotary clubs met for dinner or lunch. A breakfast meeting was relatively new, but worked for many to have meeting in the morning before starting their work day. At first Monday morning at 7:15 was chosen but soon changed to Friday's as some business people needed Monday morning to get staff organized for the week.
Brighton's Charter Night was a gala dress up affair at Little Lake Pavilion on June 14, 1989.
The Rotary Club of Brighton first met at Gables Restaurant owned by a Swiss couple. It was a buffet breakfast. Bob Briden was our first President.
In 1992, Willy the owner of the Gables broke a leg while on a SeaDoo so James and Jackie McDougal were asked if they would host Rotary temporarily at their restaurant Dougal's. Dougal's eventually became our permanent home for many years as the club grew to over 60 members briefly. Some of our growth came from other clubs who had members who would visit us for makeups, enjoyed it and transferred. One of the transfers was Ernie Everingham who signed up for everything and always participated. When he left the club named the Rotarian of the Year award in Ernie's memory.
Cheryl Roy was Brighton Rotary's first female member. Jackie McDougal was our first female President.
When we moved from Dougal's we have had many homes over the last decade including; the Legion, the Lion's hall / community centre, Zach's Diner, Harbourview, JR's and the Smokehouse.
We had the rights to sell Tilley Hats world wide to Rotarians and this was a major fund raiser for a few years, selling at Rotary International Conventions.
We have a long history of participation in the Rotary Youth Exchange Program.
In the early 1990's we started the annual dinner and auction as a fundraiser, first at the Masonic Hall then moving to the arena.
There are many reasons to be Proud to be a Rotary member in Brighton. There have also been a few 'characters' in the club and also a few 'clashes'.
The Rotary Club of Brighton continues to have a presence in the community.