1940 Southampton, Ontario Club made a donation of 200 GB Pounds (the equivalent of 13,000 GB Pounds or around 22,000 Canadian Dollars in today’s funds) to the Rotary Club of Southampton UK club to help support the city right after it had been heavily bombed during WWII.
2015 A British record dealer based in Austria discovered an old acetate recording of a soundtrack from the UK club thanking the Ontario club for their donation and he contacted the club via Facebook Messenger.
“Best wishes, from Andrew Milton, I am a record dealer and recently came across some acetate recordings dating from the 1950's, one of which appears to include a recording of a message to your Rotary Club from the Southampton Rotary Club in the UK. I have sent the recording to the Rotary Club in the UK in the hope that you can communicate with them about it. I'd be grateful if you could let me know if it means anything to you.” Listen to the Recording
2019 The two Southampton Clubs reconnected when an Ontario Rotaran visited the UK Club and made a presentation about Southampton Ontario to the UK Club.
The story of the ongoing connection between the two Southampton Clubs was recently featured in the Peace Edition of the UK and Ireland Rotary Magazine. Susan Macdonald said “I was thrilled to be interviewed about this when Colin and I visited with the UK Club and I made a presentation about our Southampton and the history between the two clubs”. Take a look: