The Minister of National Security, Colonel Trevor MacMillan (left), socialists with Gregory Shirley (centre), charter member and past president of the Rotary Club of downtown Kingston, and Fernando DePeralto, former deputy governor of the Bank of Jamaica at the installation of Dr Velma Brown-Hamilton. - Kyle Macpherson/Photographer

Dr Velma Brown- Hamilton, the first female president of the Rotary Club downtown Kingston chapter, assumed her position at last Wednesday night's installation banquet, held at the Hilton Kingston hotel.

In her message to those present, Brown-Hamilton said, "I am honoured to have been selected by you to lead this club for the Rotary year 2008-2009. We are the dream team and we are committed to making dreams real."

Congratulated

Brown-Hamilton will officially become president on July 1. Robin Levy, outgoing president, congratulated her.

"I speak for the entire outgoing administration in pledging to continue to work with her in the furtherance of the goals of Rotary," he said.

Colonel Trevor MacMillan, minister of national security, was there to see the fruition of his fight that he started many years ago.

MacMillan was expelled from the downtown Kingston chapter nearly 20 years ago when he was against barring women from being a part of Rotary.

As he said in 1989, "There is no doubt in my mind or in the mind of anybody who is intelligent, that the role of a woman in 1989 is totally different from the role of a woman when the Rotary movement was first started 83 to 85 years ago".

There are now more than 2,000 women in Rotary all over the world who serve as club presidents.