The highlight of the 28th weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Madras (RCM), RID 3234, at Chennai, was the presence of Rtn John Armstrong, grandson of Sir Godfrey George Armstrong, the charter president of RCM. “Nearly a century after Sir Godfrey helped establish our club in 1929, his grandson stands before us, connecting the present-day Rotary Club of Madras with its origins,” said NK Gopinath, the club’s past president.
A PowerPoint presentation traced the life of Sir Armstrong, starting from the time he had first come to India at age 23, working as a traffic controller with the South Indian Railway. When World War I broke out in 1914, he served in France as a lieutenant, later becoming a battalion commander in Normandy.
In 1920, he returned to India, serving as chairman of the Madras Port Trust and going on to charter the Rotary Club of Madras in 1929.
Gopinath reflected on Rotary’s early years in India. RCM was founded just two months after the Rotary Club of Bombay, making it one of the earliest clubs in the country. He also recalled that C James of RCM later became the first district governor from the club, at a time when India functioned as a single Rotary district — District 89. “He went on to serve as RI president in 1933–34, marking a proud chapter in the club’s history.” Some of the club’s important projects were also highlighted at the meeting.
When asked how it felt to connect with his grandfather’s roots, John Armstrong, who is a member of RC Chiswick and Brentford, London responded, “I feel very pleased to be here.” He recalled his previous visit to Madras many years ago, joking about “the intense heat at the time, the current season is far more pleasant.” PRID PT Prabhakar and DGND S Ravi were present at the meeting. “More than just a weekly meeting, the event served as a reminder that Rotary is built not only on service projects and leadership, but on stories, relationship and continuity. Nearly a hundred years after its founding, the Rotary Club of Madras continues to honour its past while strengthening its future,” said Prabhakar.
The meeting also featured a lively Q&A with mountaineer Jafar Ismail whose mountaineering journey began in 2012 with Mount Kilimanjaro and evolved into a pursuit of high-altitude challenges worldwide. In May 2024, he achieved his “greatest milestone — summiting Mount Everest.”
Jafar also spoke about his book, Embracing Everest, Conquering Self, which captures not just a climb, but a personal transformation.
Pictures by Kiran Zehra