Limassol Beregaria Cosmopolitan

Conception and founding
Adolfos Kanettis, 1999 – 2000 President of the Limassol Club, with Graham Lock and Eric Martin nurtured the not-unanimously-approved concept of not only a new Rotary club for Limassol, but an English-speaking Cosmopolitan club.

After much lobbying discussion and gentle persuasion, the idea was accepted, at least in principle, and the task of bringing an idea into the realms of reality began. So after much hard work the date of March 2001 was agreed upon for the launch of The Rotary Club of Limassol Berengaria Cosmopolitan into the World of Rotary.

It is important that the hard work and effort put in by the Presidents of the Rotary year of 2000 – 2001 and the Extension Committee be fully recognised by all club members. This was no easy task and drew deeply on the basic tenet of Rotary, Service Above Self.

2000 – 2001 Presidents
Panicos Loizou, Limassol Club
Michael Stephanidies, Famagusta
Pambinos Charalambous, Amathusia
Elicos Charalambous, Kourion

Extension Committee Limassol
Graham Lock
Eric Martin
Michael Penny
(Doros Jeropoulos, DG 1998 – 1999 District Gov Rep)

D.G. Mamdouh Badr-el Dine Egypt

Charter Night
The Rotary Club of Limassol Berengaria-Cosmopolitan was chartered on 8 March 2001.

President Eric Martin and DG Mamdouh Badr El-DinePresident Eric Martin receiving our charter from District Governor Mamdouh Badr-el Dine of Egypt

Berengaria RC Charter Night 8 March 2001

Front row, left to right: Christos Eliades, Athos Tillyris, Robin Smith, Christina Patrocolou, Eric Martin, Michael Penny, Scott Givhan, Panicos Hassapis
Second row, left to right: Geoff Washburn, David Leigh-Howarth, Estephan Kfoury, Rabie Rafia, Lakis Michalides, Pablo Metz, Hassan Dakroub, Clare McGill, Michael Atkins, Michalis Lozides,
Andy Crook
Not pictured: Nicos Cotsapis, Stathis Lemis, Kevin Mudd, Shammas Said, Richard Whitaker,
Michael Zilfo

 

Signed cover of the charter booklet

Queen Berengaria

At first, the name Berengaria for a young adventurous Cosmopolitan Club may appear somewhat incongruous.

However, in fact, it is extremely appropriate. Queen Berengaria, daughter of Sancho IV, was born on 12 May between 1163/65 in the Kingdom of Navarre, an independent Basque kingdom set in the Pyrenees. Her life suggests that she inherited the spirit of independence we have to-day come to associate with the Basque nation.

Although she is initially recognised for her marriage to Richard Coeur de Lion of England and the fact that she never set foot in the country of which she was Queen, her real fame rises out of her great capacity for good works and her indomitable courage, in a time when women still wore chastity belts.

Berengaria of Navarre, Queen of Richard the First

She was shipwrecked off Cyprus in 1191 and was held prisoner in the port of Limassol, until rescued by her husband Richard. It is at this stage that Berengaria becomes associated with our unique Rotary District 2542. After Cyprus she accompanied her husband on the 3rd Crusade to the Holy Land, travelling to and fro across Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. Whilst on the crusades she helped nurse and nurture the knights and soldiers of her husband’s army doing all she could to improve their lives and welfare. A prime example of Rotary’s basic canon: Service Above Self.

On her return to Europe, she settled initially in Navarre. She continued her good works opposing without fear any tyrannical power, be it lay or clergy. Her quest to improve the lives of her fellow men and women required extensive and dangerous journeys through Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Greece, which she made unhesitatingly in the spirit of a true Cosmopolitan Rotarian.

One year before her death in 1231 she founded “l’abbaye cistercienne de la Piété-Dieu de l’Epau”, a sanctuary for the less fortunate of the world, where she is buried.

Tomb effigy of Berengaria of Navarre

What better namesake and example of the Cosmopolitan approach, spirit and ethics of Rotary could a Club with members from Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Germany, Kenya, Lebanon, Netherlands, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, South Africa, Syria, Ukraine and the USA ask for?

The Toast: “Queen Berengaria; a True Cosmopolitan Rotarian”

PP David Leigh-Howarth, April 2004

Berengaria pride of the Cunard fleet

BETWEEN 1920 and the entry into service of the Queen Mary in 1936, the Berengaria was the pride of the Cunard fleet. At the time of its launch, on 23rd May 1912, it was the world’s largest ship.

It made its first voyage for Cunard on 11 December 1919 from New York to Southampton. On 21 February 1920 it made its first voyage from Liverpool to New York. The ship continued to serve this route and it was converted from coal burning to oil burning engines during a complete overhaul and refit.

RMS Berengaria

The Berengaria was eventually withdrawn from service on 23 March 1938 and was subsequently dismantled at Rosyth in Scotland in 1946.

Berengaria brings Rotarians together

In 1924 the “Berengaria” carried Rotary International President Guy Gundaker from the USA to Southampton on a visit to the UK.

In March 1929, three representatives of Rotary International – Raymond J Knoeppel (of the Constitutional and By-Laws Committee) and Past Presidents Frank L Mulholland and Guy Gundaker – sailed from New York on the “Berengaria” to discuss proposed constitutional changes with the executives of Rotary in Great Britain. They returned to New York on the “Berengaria” on June 5th.

In the same year a delegation of Rotarians from Europe travelled to America on the “Berengaria”. In a letter published in the “Rotarian” Stanley Leverton, Chairman of the European Convention Committee, wrote of the hospitality and kindness showed to them during their visit:

“May I express through the pages of THE ROTARIAN the most grateful and sincere thanks of the European delegation for all that was done for us during our stay in America.

Individually and collectively, we made so many friends that it would be impossible to write to them all personally, and yet I would wish this letter to be accepted as a personal one by the thousands with whom we came into contact.

The memories of those happy days will live with us until the end of things and words will never adequately express our joy and appreciation of it all. The New York Rotary Club gave us the hand clasp of welcome on our arrival and at the sailing of the Berengaria was there to say ‘au revoir’. But in between those two events we lived through the most crowded three weeks of our lives and received such hospitality and kindness, such expressions of of genuine friendship and affection that we know deep down in our hearts that you were as glad to have us as we were glad to be ‘haved’. And that was the greatest joy of it all – to want and be wanted.

To the men and women of Virginia and the Carolinas, to the fold of Georgia and Alabama, to our friends in New Orleans and Dallas, we say sincerely ‘thank you’: to our hosts in Nashville and Knoxville and to those in Washington and Philadelphia, we send our thanks as well.

Is there such an organisation in the world that can create and stimulate such friendships? I doubt it.

We hope that the great Gods of Kindness will be good to us all and that somewhere down the avenues of the future we may meet again. And what a meeting.

Keep us ever green in your memories dear people whom we met and rest assured that we shall always be thinking of you.

Gratefully and sincerely yours,

Stanley Leverton
Chairman, European Convention Committee”

The Rotary Club of Limassol Berengaria Cosmopolitan continues in the “Berengaria” tradition of welcoming Rotarians from around the world and bringing them together.

PP Nigel Howarth August 2010

Limassol Berengaria Cosmopolitan
Club Banner

OUR Club Banner is based on a painting by English artist Edmund Blair Leighton entitled “The Accolade”, which he painted in 1901.

Edmund Blair Leighton was born on the 21st September 1853, the son of the artist Charles Blair Leighton. He was educated at University College School, before becoming a student at the Royal Academy Schools. Leighton married Katherine Nash in 1885; they had a son and daughter. He exhibited annually at the Royal Academy from 1878 to 1920. He lived at 14 Priory Road, Bedford Park, London, and died on the 1st September 1922.

Leighton was a fastidious craftsman, producing highly-finished, decorative pictures. He was a painter of historical genre pictures, mainly of medieval times, but also regency. His pictures being amongst the most frequently reproduced as posters. Rather like Waterhouse, and Herbert Draper, Leighton the man has virtually disappeared.

The reasons for the continuing popularity of the artist’s work are not difficult to understand, as they are similar to those in his lifetime, namely nostalgia for an elegant chivalrous past. Leighton was also a fastidious craftsman, producing highly-finished, beautifully painted, decorative pictures. .

It would appear that he left no diaries, and though he exhibited at the Royal Academy for over forty years, he was never an Academician or an Associate.

Members of the
Rotary Club of Limassol-Berengaria Cosmopolitan
Name Member Type Date Joined
Ali Rhaya Active 16/03/2022
Anastasia Christodoulou Active 07/08/2018
Antonis Mikellides Active 25/02/2015
Christina Covotsou Patroclou Active 09/03/2001
Dejan Djurovic Active 16/05/2017
Dorothy Allison Honorary 13/07/2016
Elena Lyalkova Active 24/04/2023
Elena Michaelidou Active 03/02/2016
Elisabeth Toufexis Active 13/07/2016
Elizabeth Smith Honorary 16/02/2022
Ezzat Tabbah Active 08/01/2020
Irina Sergunina Active 25/06/2014
Jelena Cvetkovic Active 01/07/2021
Kevin Mudd Active 09/03/2001
Kyriacos Mouskas Active 04/01/2017
Lambros Teklos Active 07/08/2019
Lisa Marie Onoufriou-Panayiotou Active 16/03/2022
Magdaliny Kyriakopoulou Active 08/01/2020
Mansoureh Hosseini Active 01/01/2021
Mariella Stravide Active 09/07/2018
Nastasia Michael Active 03/02/2016
Nigel Howarth Honorary 01/03/2004
Sarah Jane Linley Active 01/06/2023
Scott Givhan Active 09/03/2001
Sergey Sergunin Active 25/06/2014
Sheila Brüning Honorary 03/06/2003
Snezana Cvetkovic Active 01/07/2015
Tony Harfouche Active 24/05/2023
Vladislav Popovic Active 16/11/2011
Zakhar Kirilenko Active 15/01/2003

oard of Directors 2024-2025
Club President Jelena Cvetković Matta
Immediate Past President Jelena Cvetković Matta
President Elect/Vice President PDG Christina Covotsou-Patroclou
Secretary Ali Rhaya
Treasurer PP Antonis Michellides
Club Learning Facilitator PDG Christina Covotsou-Patroclou
Club Membership Chair Ali Rhaya
Public Image Chair Elena Lyalkova
Foundation Chair PP Snežana Cvetković
Service Projects Chair Lambros Teklos
Rotaract/Interact Chair Jelena Cvetković
Executive Secretary/Director Sarah-Jane Linley

A very warm welcome to The Rotary Club of Limassol-Berengaria Cosmopolitan

President 2024/25 Jelena Cvetković

Of the 20 Rotary Clubs on the Island, ours is one of the four that conducts its business in English.

We were chartered in 2001. We meet regularly, are non-political, non-religious, and open to men and women of all cultures, races, and creeds. We have 30 members and are always keen to recruit people who are keen to make a difference.

Whether you have been in Cyprus for a while and are looking for something a bit different, are new to Limassol and looking to get acquainted or just here on holiday – you will be very welcome to our club and our meetings.

Each year we raise money for various local, national and international causes. Members offer their own particular input but everyone gets involved. Through our many fund raising activities and social events, we have become a very warm, close knit group. This year we will continue to focus on a number of small projects to provide humanitarian assistance to those in dire need as a consequence of Cyprus economic situation.

You are welcome to come along and join us at our Wednesday evening meetings . We are a casual Club, so please don’t worry if you haven’t brought your cocktail dress or lounge suit and tie. No-one is expected to dress other than smart casual, except by choice.

If you are planning to visit us, please get in touch with me, via our Contact page.

Jelena Cvetković: President 2024 – 2025
On behalf of the members of the Rotary Club of Limassol-Berengaria Cosmopolitan

Since receiving its charter in 2001, the Rotary Club of Limassol-Berengaria Cosmopolitan has had twenty-three Presidents:

President Anastasia Christodoulou, 2022-23

President Lambros Teklos, 2021-2022
President Lambros Teklos, 2020-2021

President Snezana Cvetkovic, 2019-2020

President Elisabeth Villiger Toufexis, 2018-19

President Antonis Mikellides, 2017-2018 

President Snezana Cvetkovic, 2016-2017

President Vladislav Popovic, 2015-2016

President Duncan Peacock, 2014-2015

President Stevo Bursac, 2013-2014

President Carol Heads, 2012-2013

President Tim Drohan, 2011-12

President Bill Dahmer, 2010-2011

President Nigel Howarth, 2009-2010

President Estephan Kfouri, 2008-2009

President Scott Givhan, 2007-2008

President Kevin Mudd, 2006-2007

President Christina Patrocolou, 2005-2006

President David Leigh-Howarth 2004-2005

President Panicos Hassapis, 2003-2004

President Christina Patrocolou, 2002-2003

President Mike Penny, 2001-2002

President Eric Martin, 2001