Our history
Two clubs, one community, more than 50 years of service
From a picnic shelter at Juan de Fuca to a girls' school in Malawi, here's how Rotary grew up alongside the West Shore.
- 1972The Rotary Club of Colwood is founded, bringing Rotary to the West Shore. Over the next four decades it builds a picnic shelter, washrooms, a playground and soccer field lights at Juan de Fuca, supports Rotary Youth Exchange and scholarships for Belmont students, and runs an annual Art & Wine Festival at Fort Rodd Hill.
- 2003The Rotary Club of West Shore begins as a second club for the growing community, with Don Brown as its first president. Its very first project is Roses for Rotary: some 20 teams of two delivering dozens of roses across the West Shore.
- 2004Charter Night at the Bear Mountain clubhouse in January, with more than 100 members and guests. District Governor William McCarthy presents the charter. In December the new club serves food at Christmas in the Square at Veterans Memorial Park, the start of a long Christmas tradition.
- 2005West Shore's first local community project opens: a playground at the West Shore Child, Youth and Family Centre on Wale Road, funded by the Chili Cook-Off. Help also reaches refugee preschools in Chad and a school in Thailand.
- 2000sDrought relief and a well for a village in Malawi grow into Atsikana Pa Ulendo, a girls' secondary school the club helps found and supports for years.
- 2010A new library at Beecher Bay, which grows into the BEAR reading program. After the Haiti earthquake, Rotary and the City of Langford help the Baby Jesus Orphanage in Port-au-Prince.
- 2011–12Colwood Rotary plans the Rotary Picnic Playground at Juan de Fuca with WestShore Parks & Recreation. An Interact club for high school students starts at Belmont Secondary in 2012, followed by Royal Bay Secondary in 2015.
- 2013Help for Haiti takes on the Divine Hand Orphanage, home to 52 children. The Rotary Club of West Shore meets Fridays at noon at Alexander Mackie Lodge in Langford.
- 2016The Colwood club, now the Rotary Club of Westshore Sunrise, meets Thursday mornings and works on youth housing, refugee sponsorship and food rescue. HoopFest begins.
- 2017The two clubs merge as the Rotary Club of West Shore, with David Stocks as president. One club, one motto: Helping Near, Helping Afar.
- 2019The Cst. Sarah Beckett Memorial Playground opens at Westhills in Langford, after the club and community raise more than $260,000.
- 2020–21A golf ball drop, trivia and music bingo nights and outdoor meetings keep the club giving through the pandemic.
- TodayTailgate BBQs at Shamrocks and Grizzlies games, a water and health global grant in Malawi, the Ruth King Accessible Playground, and our first Seasons of Giving Calendar Raffle in 2026.
Help us fill in the gaps
Our early records are scattered across old websites, newsletters and members' memories. If you have photos, stories or dates from the Colwood, Westshore Sunrise or West Shore clubs, we'd love to hear from you.
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Leadership
Past presidents
Presidents of the Rotary Club of West Shore since its founding in 2003. Each Rotary year runs July 1 to June 30.
- 2025–26Tim Stevens
- 2024–25Joey Vaesen
- 2023–24Mike Reilly
- 2022–23Moira McDonald
- 2021–22Sean Irwin
- 2020–21Robin Marshall
- 2019–20Lorne Olson
- 2018–19Andy Pearson
- 2017–18David Stocks
- 2016–17Don Rugg
- 2015–16Teresa Sutherland
- 2014–15Lindsay Wilson
- 2012–14Harold McNabb
- 2011–12Jenn Raappana
- 2010–11Ron McNeil
- 2009–10Dale Simon
- 2008–09Mark Wagner
- 2007–08Sharon Robertson
- 2006–07Don Rugg and Don Brown
- 2005–06Don Rugg
- 2004–05Colleen Milne
- 2003–04Don Brown