MEMBERS of Radcliffe Rotary Club have celebrated the group's 71st birthday.

The club held a dinner with more than 100 guests at the Bolton School on Monday evening.

And Rotary International, of which the Radcliffe club is a member, celebrates its own 100th anniversary this year.

The Mayor and Mayoress of Bury, Councillors Barry and Sharon Briggs were also present to listen to guest speakers Allan Beswick of Greater Manchester Radio and Rotarian Terry Coffey, a past member of the Rotary Club of Radcliffe.

The speeches reflected the involvement of the club with Rotary internationally and locally in the community.

President Michael Edwards thanked guests, in particular past member Arthur Travis, who set up a scheme to raise £10,000 to be spent during the centenary year of Rotary International.

The projects so far chosen to benefit from this money are all sight-related and include 1,000 cataract operations in India, assistance to the Bury Blind and Partially Sighted charity in Bury and the Guide Dogs for the Blind.

The evening also included the presentation of a Paul Harris Fellowship to Radcliffe member and district governor David Ainsworth. This was only the sixth ever made by the club. David was taken by surprise by the award and was asked to take off his dinner jacket and wear his special Rotary yellow jacket for the occasion.