BRIAN Daniels seems to have all the essential ingredients of a purpose-built Rotary Club leader.

The new president of the Kidderminster club has a strong commitment to the Rotarian philosophy, a long career that linked him with business, the local economy and the community and a keen sense of the need to keep pace with change.

If an ideal CV for the post also included experience of being in the spotlight, he would also fit the bill perfectly.

Mr Daniels, a talented baritone and keen amateur operatic singer, has a lifetime's experience of being in the limelight.

A retired bank manager living in Mamble, Mr Daniels describes himself as a "late starter" in the Rotarian world.

He was never able to find a way into the Rotary Club , Ludlow, where he used to work, because of a rule members must all carry different "trade descriptions".

There was always another bank manager in the Ludlow club so when four years ago he was nominated to fill a gap in Kidderminster he seized the chance.

Retiring in 1989 also gave him more time to become a Rotarian which was "my idea of service and giving something back".

He sums up the Rotary movement under two main headings, as a great fund-raiser and supporter of charities and as a fellowship founded on integrity, high moral and ethical standards and service to others.

Mr Daniels will be presiding over a long tradition of care in Kidderminster. The club with 34 members is 77 years old.

Every three years the rules are reconsidered and in the next round Mr Daniels will argue the case for modifying some traditions to boost membership. One of these is the rule that kept him out for so long.

"It is more difficult to get members these days. People work longer hours and we have to attend 60 per cent of meetings so that is quite a commitment."

He believes it would help to relax the commitment and the rule that does not allow doubling up of job titles.

Mr Daniels anticipates another proposal more likely to meet with resistance - the question of whether to admit women.

The idea has been previously rejected in Kidderminster on the argument the change could poach from women's groups like the Soroptimists and Inner Wheel.

Mr Daniels, whose wife Audrey died four years ago after 42 years of marriage, also has a busy schedule in the world of music, an important part of his life since he was a boy chorister at Durham cathedral.

After a lifetime in amateur operatics in Coventry, Leamington Spa and Sutton Coldfield, and as an experienced soloist in grand opera, he is now a stalwart supporter of the Tenbury Wells society.

Also a keen pianist and organist, he has just celebrated playing his 100th church service in Mamble.

Leisure time is just as full keeping up a beautiful two-acre garden, entertaining grandchildren and friends, travelling and indulging in a hobby that grew from a boyhood ambition to be a pilot - making and flying model aeroplanes.