Wolverhampton rotary legend receives blue plaque honour

And now a commemorative blue plaque has been unveiled to honour Tom Warren's decades of contributions to the city. Members of Wolverhampton Rotary club met at the Britannia Hotel in Lichfield Street to reveal the plaque in honour of Tom Warren CBE, the former World President of the Rotary organisation who lived and worked in the city.

The honour of pulling back the curtain to reveal the plaque was given to his grand-daughter Alison Sykes who travelled from her home in Wakefield for the occasion.

"I'm really pleased to have been invited to unveil this new plaque," said the 64-year-old. "I'm extremely proud of him and to be his grand-daughter."

Mr Warren was born in Manchester and went on to spend 45 years of his life in the Rotary organisation, climbing from a regular member to district governor, up to World President in 1945 and 1946, making him the second Briton to do so and one of only five in the entire 108 years of the organisation's history.

He moved to Lower Penn in 1920 to take on the role of Wolverhampton's Director of Education, which he held for 25 years. He was in charge of schools throughout the city until he retired.

During his time in Wolverhampton he was chairman of the city's Boy Scouts Association and also helped set up the Wolverhampton Air Training Corps. And he was involved in running canteens at schools across Wolverhampton that fed more than 13,000 people struggling to make ends meet during the Second World War.

He died in 1969, having built up a reputation as a great mediator and a tireless campaigner for world peace.