One of the consultants for the project, Mr Bertie Cook, a Quantity Surveyor, was a member of the Rotary Club of Darent Valley in England. During his interactions with Mr Abdou Faal, then Chief Accountant of the Central Bank, Bertie Cook bemoaned the non-existence of a Rotary Club in The Gambia and solicited his assistance in introducing Rotary in the country. Abdou Faal’s interest was aroused after he had read the bundle of Rotary documents received from Bertie Cook, which fed his awareness of the objectives of Rotary. The two partners embarked on how to make their new shared venture come into fruition. Whilst Bertie turned his attention to getting official Rotary endorsement of his plan, Abdou embarked on identifying potential local members. As President-elect in the 1974/75 Rotary year, Bertie got the permission of his club to start a club in Banjul. To comply with Rotary procedures, Bertie travelled to Senegal and received the enthusiastic endorsement and support of Henry Galanca of the Rotary Club of Dakar who was District Governor of District 210, (a redistricting in 1974 changed that to District 910, which covered the West and Central African region from Mauritania to Congo). With the Rotary Clubs of Darent Valley and Dakar committed to sponsor the new club, the ‘Rotary Club of Banjul in Formation,’ with six prospective members, held its first meeting on December 1,1976, chaired by Bertie Cook. From then, regular weekly meetings were held on Wednesday evenings, and the membership grew albeit slowly. It was not till October 1978, when it had acquired twenty-four members, that the Club submitted its application for full membership of Rotary International during the District Governorship of Joseph Richards of Liberia. The process was completed the following year when the new District Governor, Nicholas Antoniades of Cameroun, conveyed the Clubs admission into Rotary on August 7, 1979. The admission coincided with the Rotary year of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of Rotary International. The Gambia became the 153rd member country of Rotary whose membership as at that date stood at 18,272 clubs with 851,500 members.
Charter night was on December 8, 1979. The Charter was presented to the Club President, Abdou A Faal, by the District Governor Nicolas Antoniades, who travelled from Cameroun and who also inducted the new members. The occasion was graced by His Excellency, Sir Dawda K Jawara, who also accepted to be the Chief Patron of the Rotary Club of Banjul. The 24 members included Senior Civil servants, a Surgeon, a Dentist, Bankers, a Pharmacist, an Artist, an Educationist and others from Commerce and Industry. The Club’s Banner bears the image of the baobab tree which thrives in the tropics and can grow very big and live beyond a hundred years. Every part of the tree is either edible or useful for other purposes in village life. It also has mystic significance in Gambian folklore. The Baobab tree symbolises strength and resilience, rooted in tradition and culture; values for which the Rotary Club of Banjul elects to associate itself by adopting the tree as the main image in its banner. The Baobab is flanked by two palm trees, from which palm oil and palm wine could be produced. Other parts of the tree are also utilised locally.
The Rotary Club of Banjul has since its charter executed many community based projects that cover all the areas of focus of Rotary International. It has been able to mobilise enormous resources through its annual fundraising events and partnerships with local and international organisations. Matching grants and joint efforts with other Clubs around the world have contributed significantly to the many successful and life-changing interventions it has made among the rural communities in the country.It is significant to state that, because its birth coincided with the growing popularity of The Gambia as a tourist destination, the club enjoyed early positive exposure to the Rotary world and so attracted generous support from visiting Rotarians and their clubs, mainly in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia from where most the tourists came. It is therefore not surprising that the portfolio of completed projects during the first decade of the life of the club is significantly larger in value and reach than each of the next two decades. It is only the Centennial Science Laboratory project, completed in 2016, that compares favourably with the early years of the Club. Conscious of the fact that Rotary cannot be the monopoly of a few and must be extended to as many as are willing to serve humanity, the Club has so far initiated and sponsored the formation of three clubs in The Gambia. The Rotary Club of Fajara was chartered in 1999; Bijilo in 2016. The club in Basse, the first outside the Greater Banjul area, is in formation. In 2018/2019 the first Gambian District Governor Akilade J Allen, D-9101, was a Past President 1991/1992 of the Rotary Club of Banjul. The Club has so far produced at least six Assistant Governors, and several District Trainers. Banjul has also been host of inter-city visits with Dakar, Ziguinzor, Freetown and Maryland (Lagos) clubs. Women have always played a key role in the community and social work of the Rotary Club of Banjul. First there was the Inner Wheel Club, made up of wives of Rotarians. In addition to their own projects, they supported the efforts of the Club in fundraising and fun activities and their presence made our gatherings more acceptable to some in the wider community.The effect of the admission of women into membership of the club, however, was to reduce the involvement of the Inner Wheel members in our activities and their club soon became dormant. The lasting good legacy was the strong bond and friendship that built up among the wives of Rotarians of that time. In 1998, Ms. Aina Wright, a Banker, was admitted as the first woman Rotarian in The Gambia; and in 2005 she became the first woman Club President. As at the 2021/ 22 Rotary year, the club has had five women presidents, two of whom later rose to the position of Assistant Governor.
As the first Rotary Club in The Gambia, the club has imposed on itself the responsibility of leadership and has challenged itself to be the cornerstone of the Rotary movement here, and ensuring that all Rotarians are conscious of the commitment to live up to the Rotary ideals. This attitude is no show of arrogance but grew as the culture of a club whose birth in a conservative environment engendered doubt and cynicism about the motives of a relatively young, educated and fairly well-placed group of men, meeting in a hotel at night. They had to be Freemasons, gamblers or consumers of alcohol. So the desire to prove “righteousness” in the face of the cynics became built into the psyche of members of the club. “Service above self” became a motivating battle cry, and the feeling that you had to get it right guided life as an enduring Rotarian.