Wigan Rotary Club is proud to be sponsoring Anthony Pemberton, a young man who was born, bred and received his early education in Wigan, as he begins his journey towards becoming a Rotary Peace Fellow.

The Rotary Peace Fellowship is an annual award that grants up to 50 fellowships for master’s degrees and 50 for professional certificate studies at one of Rotary’s five peace centers at premier universities.

Anthony was selected out of hundreds of applicants endorsed by Rotary Clubs throughout the world, to begin his Rotary Peace Fellowship for a master’s degree at the University of Queensland in Australia.
Anthony did much research into the process of applying and into the history and value of the Fellowship. He also learned that very few UK applicants had ever been successful but was determined to begin the process and apply.
He impressed the District 1285 Foundation team at his endorsement interview held in July earlier this year and his application was submitted for consideration by Rotary International. In October he received the news that he had been selected as a Rotary Peace Fellow.
The letter Anthony received from Rotary International informing him of his selection contained the following: -

“The Rotary Foundation and our university partners considered candidates from all over the world for the Rotary Peace Fellowships in a highly competitive selection process. You should feel proud of this significant achievement. The Rotary Foundation looks forward to a lifelong relationship with you. Congratulations on your fellowship selection—you are on your way to becoming a Rotary Peace Fellow”.

Anthony speaks several languages and has a degree in Arabic and Spanish from the University of Durham. He has lived and worked in several war-torn regions of the world. In addition, he is a great conversationalist, has varied interests and we in Wigan Rotary Club feel very fortunate that he approached us to seek sponsorship and endorsement for this life-changing stage of his life. We had no hesitation in agreeing to this.

During the period of his studies in Queensland he will be assigned to a local Rotary Club in Rotary district 9600 in Brisbane, Australia and will keep in close contact with Wigan Rotary club until and following his return to the UK.