HISTORY OF INNERWHEEL DISTRICT 321
Innerwheel District 321 is celebrating it’s milestone Golden Jubilee in the year 2023-2024.
District 320 was the Fifth Innerwheel District to be formed in India, in the year 1970, comprising of 15 Innerwheel Clubs of Kerala, Tamilnadu and Srilanka with Mrs.Seetha Rajamony as the First District Chairman, a member of IWC of Trivandrum.
In 1963, IWC of Madras South was the first club to be formed in South India with Mrs.Annapoorani Veerappan as the Founder and Charter President(We can be proud that she is the Mother of our PDC Mrs.Lakshmi Periyannan), followed by IWC of Trivandrum. IWC of Madras South is in fact the second to be formed in India, after IWC of Ahamedabad.
IWC of Trivandrum (non-districted), was formed on 16th November 1965 with Mrs.Zubeida Marikar as the Charter President, followed by IWC of Quilon on 18th November 1966 eith Mrs,Mariamma Poulose as the Charter President. At that time of formation, the clubs belonged directly to the National Council of Innerwheel in India. In the Srilankan region, IWC of Colombo had been formed on 15th July 1965 and IWC of Colombo West on 1st August 1966. Many clubs were formed thereafter and became a part of District 320.
In July 1974, Distt.320 was bifurcated into Distt.321 and Distt.321 in tune with the Boundaries of Rotary Districts. The clubs in the Southern part of Kerala, Tamilnadu and Srilanka(then Ceylon) formed the New District 321. It comprised of 11 clubs – 5 in Kerala, 2 in Tamilnadu and 4 in Srilanka. They were the Innerwheel Clubs of Alleppy, Colombo, Colombo West, Kandy, Kottayam, Nagercoil, Negombo, Quilon,Tiruchirapalli, Trivandrum and Trivandrum North. The First chairman of Distt.321 was Mrs.Lucille Amarasurya of IWC of Colombo.
In the Tamilnadu region IWC of Nagercoil was the first to be formed in 1972 with Mrs.Andal Naidoo as the Charter President followed by Tiruchirapalli which was formed in 1974 with Mrs. Saroja Ravindran as the Charter President. The year 1985 saw a further reorganization , as the 8 Srilankan clubs branched off to form the New District, Distt.322. In Tamilnadu and Kerala new clubs were formed year after year and at present Distt.321 has 54 clubs – 23 in Kerala and 31 in Tamilnadu with 1866 members( data as on 1st July 2023).
Spread over two states geographically, the District works in perfect harmony, upholding the ideals of Innerwheel.
Members have held high offices at the Association Level:
Dr.Muriel Sukumaran – Association President – 1982-83
Mrs.Vimla Abraham – Association President – 1994-95, She was also the IIWD in 1995-96. She was the only Association President to have served as both International Innerwheel representative and Board of Director. She also served as the Association CCC Chairman from 2001 -2004.
We have had :
Three Association secretaries :
Dr.Muriel Sukumaran – 1978-79
Mrs.Vimla Abraham – 1991-92
Mrs.Bina Rajasingh – 2012-13
Three Association Treasurers:
Mrs.Kusum Palicha – 1984-85
Mrs.Remani George – 1994-95
We have hosted :
Two Trienniel Conferences:
February 1983 at Trivandrum during Presidentship if PAP Dr.Muriel Sukumaran
February 1995 at Cochin during Presidentship of PAP Mrs.Vimla Abraham.
Two ICI( Incoming Chairman’s Institute) :
1991in Kottayam during Chairmanship of PIIWBD Mrs. Vimla Abraham
1993 at Kodaikanal during the Chairmanship of PDC Kamal Manimozhiyan
District Executive Committee Training in 2017 at Tiruchirapalli during Chairmanship of PDC Mrs.Shanthi Ravichandran
2nd AC Meeting in 2022 at Kodaikanal during Chairmanship of PDC Mrs.Suriaprabha Rajasekaran