Welcome to the Rotary Club of Houlton

The Connection between Houlton Maine and Rugby Houlton England was made on April 6-8th during the Maine Eclipse event. Through a church, family connections, and through Rotary. In 1927, radio telephone stations in Houlton Maine and Rugby England joined the two countries. Through research by Past District Governor Leigh Cummings of Houlton, and connections between the Rugby Club(s) and the Houlton Club, we hosted Phil and Judith Clucas on April 7th.

 

Leigh was able to give historical family connections between Houlton Maine and Rugby England. Phil Presented us with the Ruby traveling banner, and we sent him home with the Houlton Club banner. Stories were shared regarding family connections and a special book about Houlton, Rugby, England was presented to Leigh Cummings, which will be placed in our library. Leigh helped connect both Rotary Clubs through Zoom a few years ago.

 

The historical connection between our visitors during the Eclipse weekend, where Houlton Maine reached totality on April 8th, is hopefully going to continue to grow between the two towns. Pictured with Phil Clucas on the left is Joe Fagnant, 2023-2024 Rotary President. In the middle is Annette Beaton, incoming president for 2024-2025 who's family is connected to Ruby England. There has been a promise made to reconnect both Houlton's through Rotary and also through the school systems.

 

A few years ago Rotarian Tim Tweedie, then principal of Houlton High School, reached out to the headmaster at the Houlton School in England to create the connection between the two schools. Joe Fagnant, now Superintendent of Schools in Houlton wishes to keep working with schools in the UK to learn more about tradition, teaching, and different practices. The history of having a place in the UK named after a town in the US, is also intriguing.  Many people wish to keep growing our relationship that first took place in the 1927 through a radio call! https://houltonrugby.co.uk/heritage