Mr Champion will speak at the Guisborough and Great Ayton Rotary Club’s 60th anniversary dinner, which will take place on October 17, at Gisborough Hall.
The event will begin with a fizz reception at 6.30pm.Founder members Guisborough & Great Ayton Rotary Club at the 10th Anniversary Dinner (Image: Supplied)
Raised just yards from Gisborough Hall, Mr Champion attended Laurence Jackson School and is the fifth generation of his family to grow up with horses.
He began his professional National Hunt jockey career in the mid-1960s after early success in Point-to-Point racing.
By 1979, he had ridden more than 350 winners and had finished third in the jockeys’ championship.
That same year, a fall from a horse led to a diagnosis of testicular cancer, which had already spread to his lungs.Pat Anderson, the Club’s first lady member being inducted by President the Rev Ken Harris(Image: Supplied)
Following nearly five months of chemotherapy at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, Mr Champion was declared cancer-free in January 1980.
After a determined recovery, he returned to racing and famously won the 1981 Grand National.
His story was later portrayed in the 1984 film Champions, starring John Hurt.
Mr Champion went on to establish the Bob Champion Cancer Trust and has worked closely with the Injured Jockeys Fund, which supported him during his illness and recovery.Living it up at a “Last Night of the Proms” brass band concert (Image: Supplied)
The Guisborough and Great Ayton Rotary Club, which began in 1965 around the same time Mr Champion launched his racing career, is also marking its diamond anniversary.
Over 60 years, the club has contributed thousands of volunteer hours to the community through events such as the Guisborough Town Fair and Guisborough Beer Festival, as well as through stroke awareness clinics, litter picking, and support for individuals and community groups.
The club has also supported organisations such as Cruse Bereavement Care, The Bridge in Guisborough, and Yatton House in Great Ayton.
Philip Wallwork, president of the Guisborough and Great Ayton Rotary Club, said: “I have been a Rotarian for 25 years and have made many friendships whilst joining in the organisation of events or having the honour of leading the club as president.
“There is something special about serving the local community in a small way.
“Our club is currently celebrating 60 years of existence and many Rotarians have gone before me, but they have all adhered to our Rotary motto of ‘Service above Self’ in supporting the communities of Guisborough and Great Ayton.”
Fundraising has been central to the club’s activities, with around £250,000 raised over six decades for charitable causes both locally and globally.
The club has also focused on youth development, sponsoring students for the Rotary Youth Leadership Award, promoting literacy through the Dictionaries for Life programme, and organising a 5-a-side football competition for primary schools for more than 25 years.
Dr Kevin Henderson, a GP in Guisborough for 35 years and the club’s only surviving founder member at age 95, said: “I was proud to be part of an international organisation able to eliminate polio from most of the world as well as locally supporting many charities and good causes.
“We did this in many different ways, both physically and financially, and enjoyed the fellowship whilst doing it all.”