Guest Speaker - Alaister Henshaw - Predator Free Wellington
Stories
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Judith Gardiner - History of Hutt Valley High School Hutt Valley High School has for many years been an important feature of Lower Hutt, and Judith Gardiner gave a brief but most interesting account of its history, with historical photographs. Judith is in a particularly good position to recount the history as she has completed a number of family histories, has been a teacher aide there for 22 years and is also the school's archivist.  |
What Members do in their "Spare Time"After retiring following 52 years in the public service in 2017 it was a change of pace I was looking forward to: a mix of physical work on our property in Mount Marua, church leadership, Rotary and of course overseas travel in the mix. Within a couple of years that dream began to change as Mary and I downsized and moved into our new home in Silverstream; Mary retired March 2020 when Covid and subsequent lockdowns came along. So the question is “do we have spare time”?? The short answer is ‘we don’t seem to have much.” |
What Members do in their Spare TimeWhat spare time I ask? Life is very busy in the Palmer household. With Doug still working a lot of the household chores fall to me although he does do the cooking which is a huge help. We have been running a bnb for the last 5/6 years and with occupancy running at around 70% it keeps me extremely busy with new guests arriving every two days on average. I have been delivering meals on wheels for the last 15 years and am often called on if they are a driver short on any particular day. |
International Committee - Fundraising Dinner On Wednesday evening the International Committee held a fundraising dinner at First Choice Restaurant in Petone. Over forty club members, partners and friends attended and had a most enjoyable meal. I am sure nobody would have needed supper when they got home. All who attended generously supported a raffle which contributed to the evening raising $510.00 towards an International project. Thanks must go to Linda Goss-Wallace and Errol Tong for their efforts in arranging a most enjoyable evening and to friends who supported the event. Thank you all. |
Bill Boyd - Guest Speaker Tonight we heard an address by Bill Boyd, Magazine Distribution, well known as father of our President Cathy Bryant, former rugby referee and playmate of Jan Alford at primary school. Bill is also known as former President of Rotary International 2006/7, Queens Service Order for Community Service and Companion of New Zealand Order of Merit. The list of Rotary positions Bill has held is too long to list here, but notably after retiring from many senior positions in the administration, Bill has dedicated his time to the Rotary Peace Programme, setting up Rotary Peace Centres around the world. This was his subject tonight.
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Enliven Home Dementia Garden - Final Working Bee   Today we did our last working bee at the Enliven Home Dementia Garden. Mary Housten kindly provided the money for this garden to be redone in memory of her late husband Richard who was a member of our club. Working bees have included deck and planter box water blasting by Joe Tomlinson's firm, two deck and planter staining sessions, seat repair and replacement by the Menz Shed at Days Bay, gravel replacement in the messy north east corner and two planting bees. A great effort by all those involved. |
What Members do in their "Spare Time"My first career as a teacher and school principal was fulfilling and rewarding, but there was a downside, albeit, necessary. In my second career, ‘Retirement’, when apparently you have ‘heaps of spare time’, I have attempted to avoid some of my first career downside, such as timetables, routines, meetings, etc. Consequently my ‘spare time’ varies on any one day, as does the activities which take place, often because that is what I feel like doing - and not because I have to! Indeed, I wonder whether I do in fact have any ‘spare time’, as I choose to ‘fill up’ my time, because life is too short to waste! Although, sometimes I do wonder whether I should retire from Retirement!
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Jane Gillingham - Guest Speaker Jane is a member of the School Attendance Team Lower Hutt Valley. There has been a growing problem of poor attendance at school for several years, aggravated by the tribulations of Covid. Jane is in charge of a team of three set up by the Ministry to address the problem in the Hutt Valley. In many ways Jane is ideally suited to the role. Born in the Hutt, educated at Otago University with a law degree and happily married for 28 years with four of her own children. Jane and her surgeon husband have been fostering children for many years, with a special concern for pregnant teenagers. |
What Members do in their "Spare Time"The question was “What do you do in your spare time”? the real answer is I’m actually trying to decide if I have any. In the hours that I don’t work or are not involved in community events or Council meetings I try to relax with a good book with an Author I love, such as JD Robb or Nora Roberts. Unfortunately I’ve read most of their books so have to wait for a new release to happen. I’m not good at being patient so will generally resort to buying magazines to pass the time.
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Quiz with a DifferenceCongratulations to the first and second prize winners at our recent "Quiz with a Difference" First Prize Winners  Second Prize Winners  Thank you must go to Richard Perry, Jaye Howey and the Youth Committee for arranging such a successful event which raised $1968 for youth projects. |
Walk for Mental Health 2023Shelley advised that this year's Walk for Mental Health raised $3000 for Youthline. A brilliant effort by all those involved.
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Committees Met |
Glenda Laying a Wreath on behalf of Eastern Hutt Rotary Thank you Glenda for laying a wreath on behalf of the Club at the Taita Cemetery on Anzac Day.
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Visit to New Zealand Campus for Innovation on Sport. Our Tour Guides - Aaron Portland & Jamie Tout "We had no idea all this existed. Astounding!" was the common reaction on our visit to NZCIS. We knew the buildings had been created for the Central Institute of Technology in the 1970s, and had lain barely used and unwanted for years. Few of us knew that Malcolm Gillies and Kevin Melville purchased the site in 2016 and have invested over $30 million in developing it. It now has accommodation for 500, conference facilities and canteens and a state of the art sport facility, the largest in New Zealand.
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What Members Do In their "Spare" TimeAs a relief driver for Meals on Wheels I deliver meals anywhere from Petone to Stokes Valley up to five days a week. I get to meet lots of amazing people and see both the good and sad sides of Lower Hutt. I am a volunteer for the Science in Primary Schools program including both Lower and Upper Hutt run by the Hutt City Council. With over 90 kits covering more than 40 topics there is always plenty of replenishing and repairing to do. These hands-on kits cover topics such as Rockets (yes they have been known to land on the school roof), Bones (10 small skeletons can certainly get muddled up), Plants, Bees, Magnets, Electricity, Recycling and many more subjects. I am a member of the Waterloo Probus Club and U3A (University of the Third Age). I enjoy the great speakers at these meetings. I really enjoy my Rotary meetings too. Walking by the sea and gardening are my hobbies. My greatest pleasure is my big extended family. Lots of fun and laughter and sharing and occasional head shaking. My children and grandchildren are very special to me. |
Comments made by Christine's grandchildren.Today as I was driving my grandsons to the airport this was discussed in the car. Kipp Worsley ' Rotary is great! They are so friendly and they do so much good works in the community .' Wow! And his brother Monty said, ' I hope Rotary is still going when we are old enough to join'. Definitely two prospective members of Rotary! |
Painting of the Fence at Te Omanga HospiceA Letter of Thanks "Thank you so much Paul and your team. We are so grateful, had a walk around this morning and it looks fantastic all to be finished and so clean and tidy. Please pass on our sincere thanks from us all." Rachel Brandt Volunteer Manager Te Omanga Hospice |
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Committees Met |
Te Omanga Hospice Bird Avery Update Te Omanga Bird Aviary Relocation – An Environment & Amenities Committee Project The relocation of the bird aviary at Te Omanga Hospice was one of the major projects for the Environment and Amenities Committee in 2021 – 2022. Whilst the hospice originally envisaged a new aviary being built, the cost and the logistics of this concept seemed rather daunting. |
Guest Speaker - Dr Bob Maxwell "Eat, ski, sleep, repeat." Bob has led an amazing life that even the most adventurous of us can only dream of. He did not have much of an outdoor education at school (too naughty to be allowed) but after a course at Outward Bound, he developed a taste for adventure and has lived his dream. He has climbed Mt Everest from the China side, completed the "Seven Summits" - one in each continent, and been on five expeditions in Antarctica. |
2023 Walk for Mental Health On Sunday, approximately 70 walkers turned up for the event. The support from other Rotary Clubs was great and the intention is to have them more involved in the next walk. It was lovely seeing the purple clothes, purple hair, and purple balloons. Even a dog was dressed in a purple harness with a purple lead. The band “Quite Some Company” were great and gave the event a really festive atmosphere. |
Tidying up of the Native Planting on the Hutt Riverbank Last Saturday morning a group of young men on a special home detention rehabilitation scheme and their supervisor formed a volunteer working party and came to clear away weeds from our club's grove of native planting on the riverbank at Taita. They cleared weeds from the edge of the planted area facing the river trail and it looks so much tidier now. The original grove of trees was planted in 2018 under the leadership of the late David Comparini who was a member of our club.
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Guest Speaker Judith O'Byrne - Salvation Army Judith O'Byrne, Community Ministries Manager, Salvation Army, Lower Hutt Judith came to New Zealand four years ago from Germany, for a nine-week holiday and stayed here. Judith is married with two children and has studied theology. A member of the Salvation Army, she has a passion for helping people, a passion for helping to meet people's basic needs and a strong sense of social justice. She spoke about the work of the Army's Lower Hutt Food Bank. |
Painting the Fence at Te Omanga Hospice  While painting the aviary at Te Omanga I was chatting with Rachel Brandt, Manager of Voluntary Services at the hospice. She explained that a corporate group had volunteered to do some fence painting but due to lower numbers coming on the day the work had not been completed. Rachel wondered whether Eastern Hutt Rotary were willing to consider completing the fence painting project. Mitre 10 Petone had donated all of the paint, brushes, rollers etc and so it was just manpower that was required to complete the task. |
Fashion Parade Fundraiser On Tuesday 14 March, the International Committee held a fashion parade at Ballantynes, Lower Hutt to raise money for the victims of Cyclone Gabrielle. It was a very successful event raising more than $1800. Special thanks must go to Jaye, Eve, Glenda, Linda and Linda's friend Virginia for modelling the many outfits on display. They have definitely all missed their vocation. |
Guest Speaker - David Taylor David has enjoyed, and is still enjoying a very distinguished career. From Otago Boys High School, he graduated with first class honours in History at Otago University in1981 and proceeded to complete a law degree in 1984. After a spell in the Prime Minister's Department he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade where he is now leading the Russia Sanctions Taskforce. He gave us a full, if discreet account of his career.
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Induction of June Stratton June Stratton (nee Hyslop) was born on 12 June 1948 and grew up in the suburb of Northland, Wellington. She attended Northland School, Wellington Girls' College and then, in 1965 at age 16yrs, she enrolled at Victoria University and Wellington Teachers' College. Over the next four years she completed a Science degree majoring in mathematics and chemistry, graduated with a Diploma in Teaching and gained a Trained Teachers' Certificate. |
Celebrating 40 Years of Repairing Bodies & Rebuilding Lives
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An Evening With Barrie and Diane Littlefair, John and Lynne Cole, Jaye Howey (and Richard Perry) recently attended the very successful "Evening with Past Rotary International President Ian Riseley and Past District Governor Juliet Riseley".
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Te Omanga Hospice Golf TournamentThe Te Omanga Hospice Golf Tournament organising committee held a debrief yesterday and were generally pleased with the way the day went. The amount raised on the day has almost reached $69,000. This is the largest amount ever raised at their previous golf tournaments and they have advised this would not have been possible without the assistance of our club members. They added they would not have been able to run the tournament without our assistance. The committee is confident improvements can be made to next year's event. Brian Clarke and I wish to thank everyone who assisted on the day in the Fine Dining Tent, selling of paddle raffles, welcomers, spotters at the auction. Special thanks must go to Tony, Mike, Paul & Brian Klee who were charged with putting up and taking down 9 gazebos around the course on the day. It was a tough job! Special thanks must also go to Brian & Kaye Lummis who provided yummy prawn cocktails, chicken cocktails in the Fine Dining Tent. They proved very popular with the players. Brian Clarke and I wish to thank all of the members who helped make this such a successful event.
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Colin and Jan Alford's 56th Wedding AnniversaryClub members surprised Colin by displaying his wedding photo and the wonderful post by daughter Jeanine.  Happy Wedding Anniversary to my wonderful Parents .. they met and married in the Bahamas .. 💕💕c1967💕💕 Dad proposed whilst mum was holidaying in Canada 🍁 with 11 red roses … .. on every anniversary there after he gave her 11 🌹 roses plus one ..❤️❤️❤️ I think he came to his senses after about 40 years married as mum didn’t have enough vases to put the 51 roses in ❤️
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Members trip to the West Coast of the South Island On Monday we enjoyed the vicarious pleasure of seeing some of the highlights of our South Island's West Coast. Jaye, John, Paul, and Tony took us on a series of day walks around the top of the western south. For the audience it was the next best thing to being there. |
Te Omanga Hospice Golf DayEastern Hutt Rotary were immensely proud to be one the major supporters of this year's Te Omanga Hospice Golf Day today. Held at Boulcott's Farm Heritage Golf Club, 38 enthusiastic teams entered in support of this amazing Lower Hutt organisation. Raising a sum of around $65,000, this event was only possible through the very generous support of all its supporters and a successful auction - thanks to the bidders and our auctioneer, Doug Palmer. Look at this pre-event build-up HERE, that was posted on Te Omanga's website.  Special thanks for the great work Jan Palmer and Brian Clarke in smoothly leading this valued relationship for this event. |
Yasmin Nouri - Malagan Institute Yasmin gave a brilliantly clear explanation of the work she has been involved in at the Malaghan Institute on some of the latest developments in immunology. She gave a brief background. She is a post graduate research student who has very nearly completed her PHD. The Malaghan Institute is an independent research organisation specialising in medical research. Based at Victoria University's Kelburn site it was originally called The Wellington Medical Research Institute but after a massive donation from Glen Malaghan, who founded Tip Top Ice cream it was renamed. It currently has 130 staff comprising 90 scientists and 40 support staff. |
Taita College Students Trip to Great Barrier IslandPresident Kathy showed the meeting a video of Taita College students visit to Great Barrier Island recently. She provided the following report. On Saturday night 15 October 2022 a group of 18 Year 10 Taita College students met at school to start their week-long trip to the Hillary Outdoors Centre at Great Barrier Island. The students were dropped at Wellington Railway Station to catch the overnight bus to Auckland. Arriving at Auckland Airport early on the Sunday morning the students then flew in 2 separate small planes across to Great Barrier Island.  |
Club Members at Punakaiki recently |
Eastern Hutt Rotary International Committee Fashion Parade Fundraiser
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Linda & Ray's 10th Wedding Anniversary Celebration Ray & Linda celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary at the Edgewater Resort in Rarotanga recently. Congratulations to you both.
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Committees Met |
Te Omanga Hospice Golf TournamentI am working on the allocation of duties for the TOMH golf tournament next Friday 24 February and will contact members who will be assisting on the day shortly. Thank you to all those members who have offered to assist. It will be a great day. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact either Brian or Jan. |
Simon Clark - Winner of the Christmas Trailer Raffle |
Informal First Meeting for 2023We had our first meeting for the year. It was an opportunity to catch up with friends and for President Kathy to talk to us about upcoming events. These included the Te Omanga Hospice Golf Tournament on Friday 24 February (tee off at midday) and the Walk for Mental Health on Sunday 26 March at 11am when the involvement of members will be required.
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2023 Walk for Mental HealthSadly, last year's wasn't possible due to Covid but we are hoping this year will be a momentous success. All funds raised will go to Youthline Wellington again. It is being shared on both Facebook and Instagram, so if you use either or both of these social media accounts, please share this with your friends, community pages, other contacts, etc. You can REGISTER NOW by clicking on this Link HERE. |
Colin & Aileen Fenton 70 years married  Colin & Aileen reminiscing with their bridesmaid Wendy Cooper (Colin's sister) This article written by Nicholas Boyack appeared in Stuff on 12 Jan 2023 Congratulations to Colin & Aileen - 70 years married! All Black nearly scared off would-be son-in-law as couple celebrate 70 years Colin Fenton was a worried man when he decided he wanted to marry Aileen Perry. The future eye doctor met Aileen on a Dunedin tennis court and straight away knew she was the one for him. His biggest fear was her dad – one-game All Black Arnold Perry. He was ensconced in Dunedin rugby culture and Colin was not sure how he would view a non-rugby playing son-in-law. “I had a bit of a problem, everything the family did revolved around rugby and I was a bit of a scruffy lad that played hockey.” Looking for advice, he went to his own father. |
Christine Surprising her FamilyThe grandchildren did not realise Christine was joining them on their overseas trip - priceless  |
New Year Message from President KathyHappy New Year everyone and welcome back to another year of Rotary. I hope all of you have managed to have some time to relax over the last few weeks and that you have managed to catch some sunshine despite the not so good weather a lot of the country has experienced. It is a bit of a slow start into the year, having an informal meeting on 16 January and then a week off (Wellington Anniversary Day), a committee meeting on 30 January and then another week off with Waitangi Day. We have a few things to look forward to:
I will prepare a full report on the Christmas raffle once I have confirmed all the figures with Tony. The winner has got in touch this week (he had been away and only just got the messages). He is going to arrange to get the 1st prize from Mike hopefully sometime this weekend. A big thank you to Mike Fackney for storing the trailer and contents in his garage. It was a delight to see the article in Stuff today about Colin and Aileen Fenton. A huge congratulations from all of us on your 70th wedding anniversary. A wonderful milestone. Also, Colin 32 years in Rotary on 18 January. Congratulations on an incredible feat! Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday night. Kathy |
Last Meeting for 2022The last meeting for 2022 held on 12 December was a very relaxed "Fish & Chips" meeting which everyone who attended enjoyed. It was a pleasant way to end what was a very busy year.
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Club's Christmas Celebration |
June & Gary Stratton Entertained Us June & Gary Stratton provided entertainment which was very well received.
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Glenda Barratt's Opening Words Tonight's opening words do not come from a textbook, or a quote or famous authors or humanitarians. Instead they come from all we've learnt and heard over the past year from everyone who has graced these four walls. All of you have spoken about how grateful you are to have "done something or meet someone". |
Aunty Gladys Latest EpisodeUpdate with Aunt Gladys's (very) Personal Diary: Dear Diary, I had a normal Christmas day with the lovely Hunter Family. My favourite nephew, Ronald, was there, with his brother Dav. |
Update on the Memorial Garden at Enliven   Good progress with the Memorial Garden at Enliven. Congratulations to all involved.
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Welcome to our new member - Mike Keehan Mike was born in Invercargill and completed his schooling there. He joined State Insurance direct from school and spent 36 years with the company, transferring around the country (to Wellington, Nelson, Oamaru, New Plymouth and Greymouth) in various management roles before ultimately being appointed to the company’s head office in Wellington, where he led a number of major projects, including the development of a bespoke IT general insurance information system. |
Directors' Reports to Club Forum - 2022 The various Committee Chairs spoke about their activities since the 1st July. Here is a summary of their activities.... |
The Children's Hospital and the Wellington Hospitals Foundation . Bill Day is a very successful businessman and philanthropist. Among many achievements he is well known for co-founding Wellington's Life Flight Trust. He is the Chair of the Wellington Hospitals Foundation which was founded in 2005 as the official charity to support the hospitals operated by the former Capital and Coast District Health Board. He saw the need for a new Children's hospital as the old one was old fashioned, had no air conditioning, and was difficult for staff and patients, but the DHB and Ministry had no plans to replace it. |
Committees Met |
Ralph Stewart - Lifetime Retirement Income After a distinguished career in finance: CEO of ACC and AXA, GM Marketing and Strategy at Tower etc. Ralph, MBA Manchester Business School, has founded Lifetime Retirement Income. He realised that 40% of New Zealanders have no retirement income when they retire than the government superannuation. |
Mike at Victoria Falls |
Mike meeting Elephants |
Guest Speaker - Sir Anand Satyanand, Former Governor-General of NZ Our distinguished guest arrived in the car park just as I arrived. Former Governor-general, District Court Judge, Ombudsman, Chancellor of Waikato University with numerous other achievements, Sir Anand Satyanand was dressed not "in a scarlet robe trimmed with vermin" but in a charcoal suit. Somewhat nervously I asked how I should address him. "Just call me Anand" came the reply. "And I'm Susan," said his wife. He was our guest speaker for the night. |
Hutt Riverbank Clean up Thank you to everyone who assisted with the clean up of the Hutt Riverbank last Sunday. We covered from the Ava rail bridge to the Melling bridge which was an excellent effort. Included the team were Ian McFadden and Susie Dopson, Ian's daughter and son-in-law. Thank you so much team.
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Thanks to Colin White & Lindsay Richardson Guests attending our Monday 17th October meeting were Colin White and Lindsay Richardson. Their attendance provided an opportunity to formally thank them for the invaluable assistance they have given to the club. |
Eastern Hutt Inner Wheel FundraiserClick on the link for details
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Guest Speaker - Josh Krakosky Josh Krakosky. What is chiropractic care? Born and razed in Lower Hutt and educated at Naenae College, Josh spent five years in Auckland training to be a chiropractor. He now lives and practises in Lower Hutt. |
Committees met |
Matt Claridge - Te Araroa TrailMatt is the Executive Director of the Te Araroa Trail. Married with four children, he has always been keen on sports and the outdoors. Born in Invercargill he has played sport professionally, including a stint in the Balmain Tigers. Later he worked for Water Safety New Zealand. Then in 2021 he became the Director of the Te Araroa Trust. He gave a brief outline of how the Trust started. The New Zealand Walkways Commission was formed in 1975, and then folded into D.O.C. in 1987. The concept of a walking trail from Cape Reinga to the Bluff was born. The Trust was formed in 1994 with one full-time employee, and the first section, from Kerikeri to Waitangi was developed in 1995. In 1998 Geoff Chappell walked the entire North Island and the concept gained momentum. Matt has written several books about the trail. The then Governor General, Sir Gerry Mataparae officially opened Te Araroa Trail in 2011. |
Colin Alford's Lexophiles"Lexophile" describes those that have a love for words, such as "you can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish", or "To write with a broken pencil is pointless." An annual competition is held by the New York Times to see who can create the best original Lexophile. This year's winning submission is posted at the very end. |
Mike meeting the Chimpanzees Mike letting the chimp pass in Kibale National Park Uganda It doesn't get any closer with a wild chimpanzee!
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Matt Claridge - Guest Speaker Matt is the Executive Director of the Te Araroa Trail. Married with four children, he has always been keen on sports and the outdoors. Born in Invercargill he has played sport professionally, including a stint in the Balmain Tigers. Later he worked for Water Safety New Zealand. Then in 2021 he became the Director of the Te Araroa Trust. He gave a brief outline of how the Trust started.
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David Ruscoe - Demystifying Cryptocurrency Background. "Crypto currency is a digital currency maintained on a decentralised system (or block chain) using cryptography" - Dave Ruscoe. A dollar is just a concept. In the old days you were guaranteed by the government that you could exchange it for gold (the "gold standard") but that ceased in the 1930s. The supply of dollars is regulated by arms of the New Zealand government which has its own discipline, otherwise it could make everyone seem richer by just printing more. Our currency is now heavily regulated, as is its use. |
President's Report to September Board Meeting The highlight for August must be the successful wine tasting evening. It was once again a fun evening, and we cannot thank the 8 vineyards that came along enough for the evening. The International committee under Brian Clarke did a great job organizing and a big thanks must go to Annette Ruck and her catering corps who organized all the food. |
Visit by District Governor Marilyn Stevens Marilyn joined the Rotary Club of Hutt Valley in 1993 and is now a member of Kapiti Rotary. She has experience in managing several businesses and is presently a member of the Otaki Community Board and a business mentor. Marilyn quoted World Rotary President Jennifer Jones "Imagine the possibility of changing the world." and emphasised the need to engage all our members by giving them some personal responsibility. |
Glenda wearing a onesie to work to raise money for Wellington Free Ambulance Great effort Glenda!
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Extract from latest RYDA Newsletter August 2022May – August update  A rotary volunteer helping students check the tyre tread depth It has been another rather interesting second half of the year with Orange light settings and Omicron disruptions to our programme days. Schools around the country have had fluctuating numbers and often they could only confirm actual numbers the day before attending RYDA. It was great to see their commitment to our workshops in these trying times.
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Wine Tasting Fundraiser to Raise Funds for Wellington Children's Hospital Last Friday evening Rotarians together with work colleagues, family members and friends gathered to enjoy an evening of wine tasting, food and of course great fellowship to raise funds for medical equipment for the Wellington Regional Children’s Hospital. |
Wayne Gordon - District Governor Elect - Creating Tomorrow We were joined by members of Upper Hutt Rotary for the evening. President Kathy Bryant and Phyllis Strachan, President Upper Hutt Rotary welcomed District Governor Elect Wayne Gordon. After twenty years in the army and a stint as a chef at Scott Base, Wayne is now in the residential construction business in Fielding. As District Governor Elect, he is very conscious of the fact that Rotary membership in our area has declined by 24% in the past few years. Halfway through visiting all the clubs in District 9940, he sees a need for change, but does not wish to see the baby thrown out with the bathwater. "If a person does away with their traditional way of living and throws away their good customs, they had better first make sure that they have something of value to replace them." |
From The President's DeskPresident’s Report to August Board meeting. Well, the year got off to a fantastic start with a great evening celebrating the Clubs 60th anniversary. Thanks must go to John Cole, Anne Abbott and Ron Hunter for their efforts in putting together the evening along with David Thompson and Tony Cornelius who did the important in the background jobs of recording attendees and the $ of the evening and to Mike Fackney who looked after the technical presentations on the night. A big thank you to John Prendergast (Past District Governor District 9980 and current President Rotary Club of Petone) who did a magnificent job as MC for the evening. |
Four Club Members Speak to ClubAs our guest speaker for the evening could not attend because he had Covid, four of our club members spoke to us - Eve Bao, Tony Cornelius, Ron Hunter and President Kathy Bryant. Each member made 4 statements about themselves and each table had to guess which statement was not true. We all learned a little about each of them including what was not true. The prize for the winning table of a trip to the Islands fell through so we all received a chocolate bar. It was a lot of fun.
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Wine Tasting Evening Friday 19 August This event is primarily to enable the Club to raise funds for new medical equipment for the Regional Children's Hospital in Wellington. It is also a time for fellowship and fun for members and friends. During the evening there will be an opportunity to taste a range of great Wairarapa wines from the 8 vintners present; eat some finger food; buy a raffle or two and bid in an auction. To make this a successful evening for all involved the organising committee needs your help. Tickets to attend need to be sold, we have constraints on numbers so first in first served. If you require tickets, please contact Linda Goss-Wallace. Entry is by ticket only. Payment for tickets is to the Eastern Hutt Rotary Trust account. |
IYM Participant Speaks to Club |
Ray Tomlinson - World Beater from Lower Hutt We may well have another world-beating technology in Lower Hutt thanks to our very own Joe Tomlinson and son. Joe started his painting business in Lower Hutt in the 1960s, shortly after arriving from Scotland. He built it up very successfully and it grew and still continues to grow under his old second-in-command after his retirement. |
Karen Morgan - Principal Taita College Karen Morgan has been Principal at Taita College for six years. It opened 1957 and currently has 374 students and it's Moto is: "Pride through success, honour through service." |
IYM Reception at Parliament's Grand Hall Annette and I enjoyed meeting Naenae College student Fiona Varun (whom the club has sponsored) during the Parliamentary Reception for the 40 inspirational women attending the Innovative Young Minds course last week. |
Stephen Cross - Are we in safe hands |
Sir John Clarke This evening our rotary club is awarding a Paul Harris Fellow recognition to Sir John Clarke, an outstanding New Zealander, and a member of our community. Sir John was born in Te Araroa on the East Coast, one of 12 children in the family. His father was Ngā Puhi and his mother Ngati Porou. |
60th Anniversary Introduction E nga mana E nga reo E nga whanau o Eastern Hutt Rotary Club Tena koto, tena koto, tena tato katoa Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and a very warm welcome to what is a very special night, as we come together to celebrate 60 years of the Eastern Hutt Rotary Club. My name is John Prendergast, I am a recent refugee from Invercargill and it is my privilege to be your MC for tonight’s celebration. Like many of you, I am a Rotarian; and like the Eastern Hutt Rotary Club I too am 60 years old - so I feel part of a very good vintage! |
60th Anniversary Absent FriendsOur second toast tonight is to absent friends. In proposing this toast, I want us to think in particular about the many hundreds of Rotarians who have been members of the Eastern Hutt Rotary Club over the past 60 years.  And to get our minds thinking about past members and friends of this Club, I think a little bit of history might be in order: |
60th Anniversary Toast to Rotary InternationalWe’re now going to have two toasts, one to Rotary International; and the second to absent friends. Let’s start with Rotary International.  |
Christine Meredith, Director of Community Health & Welfare |
John Cole, Director of International |
Membership ReportMembership Report to the Club Forum – 20th June 2022 First and foremost, we are delighted to have Eve Boa join us recently, having transferred from the Rotary Club of Levin. It’s also very pleasing to witness the way a few of our members have gone out of their way to make her feel welcomed – thank you, it’s a collective duty. We found a champion to lead the establishment of a Satellite Club, i.e. Vanessa Koening. She introduced herself to the potential candidates. It’s my vision that having a young and enthusiastic group actively working with us is the way forward. As we all age, we cannot do some of the activities we once did, but we can help them with those causes their generation are passionate about. With an average age over 70, this is how Eastern Hutt Rotary will survive longer – let’s ‘pass the baton’ and let them lead the way into the future. |
Environment & Amenities Committee While Covid considerations limited our ability to get a programme under way during 2021, I can report that we have been successful in moving forward with two very worthwhile projects in 2022. |
A Job Well DoneOn Saturday 7th May, when we were mulching the plantings on the riverbank, Barrie Littlefair commented to me that the memorial seat looked rather tired and in need of some TLC. |
New Rotary Peace Centre The Rotary Peace Centres fall into two groups. The Masters’ Programme gives scholarships to the specific Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies at our Partner Universities, which are Duke/UNC [who share the 10 awardees in a joint programme], ICU in Japan, University of Queensland, Uppsala in Sweden, and Bradford in UK. |
Hollyford Experience (part two)
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2021 Scholarship Recipient - Makalya Elliot Makalya Elliot - Scholarship Recipient 2021 We received a message via Naenae College from the 2021 Eastern Hutt Rotary Scholarship winner, Makalya Elliot. |
Hollyford Experience (part one) The ‘Hollyford Wilderness Experience’ is a 4-day and 3-night 43-kilometer adventure into the remote Hollyford Valley.
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2021 Christmas Raffle Well, the winner was drawn last night and congratulations go to the two prize winners! A huge thanks to everyone who bought tickets this year. The winning ticket was #13742 Karen from Tawa, and 2nd Prize was #16668 Roxy from Taita. |
AlfredtonRon Hunter's Aunt Gladys has allowed us to publish an excerpt from her diary.
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Two Moments in History I Played a Part in I started working in the Post Office in 1967 straight from college. During my career I was involved in two significant events in New Zealand history. |
Hearts for Hutt City Covid cancellations are happening all around us and many people I have spoken to are feeling “flat” and like they have lost their ‘mojo’. So Rotary Hutt City are solving that problem: |
Environment & Amenities Committee Hutt Riverbank Clean-up Sunday 31st October 2021  An enthusiastic and willing group of club members (and partners) spent the Sunday morning picking up an assortment of paper, plastic, polystyrene, bottles, cans, bicycle parts and other items of rubbish lying on the riverbank area of Te Awa Kairangi/Hutt River. |
Going South About a year ago Robyn (well Robyn) and I decided to plan a holiday down south along the lines of “Don’t leave home till you’ve seen the country”, as if we were going anywhere! “Where” I said, not really wanting to go as I spend a lot of time in Te Tau Ihu. Everywhere was the answer and so the planning began. |
Another Snippet from Bill Boyd Bill Boyd has provided us with some Rotary news about covid and India. |
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Polio and TalibanTaliban have children too The situation in Afghanistan has escalated since a zoom meeting of RI END POLIO NOW Coordinators last week but several messages with great impact were delivered by our senior leaders during that meeting.
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“In the Heights” - a Movie Fund Raiser.
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What has influenced your lifeOtahuhu, South Auckland where I grew up attending Otahuhu Primary School & Otahuhu College was a vastly different place to what we have today with very few if any other ethnic groups other than a few Maoris or Chinese market gardeners.   |
Exploring New Zealand One of my interests leading up to my teenage years was scouting. It got me fascinated in the outdoors as I began working towards the Queen’s Scout award. To walk as much of our beautiful country as I can, still happens.   In those early days I lived in Palmerston North, hiking most of the Tararuas and a little of the Ruahine range. I had one near death experience while walking up the Mangahoa stream near Shannon doing a trip to the Ohau gorge. |
2021 Changeover Tonight was another annual occasion to celebrate the past 12 months and to welcome in Eastern Hutt's new President for 2021-22, Anne Abbott. It was a yet again a little unusual, as Wellington was still under Level Two Covid restrictions but it still didn't spoil a memorable evening those who attended. |
Mike Fackney - Paul Harris Fellow As is often traditional, one or more Members are recognised for their Club & Rotary service and at the President's Changeover evening and this year it was Mike Fackney. He became our Club's newest Paul Harris Fellow. |
Healthy in the Hutt – 19 June 2021
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Wine Tasting Evening A very interesting evening was enjoyed by members and their guests at Avalon Pavilion on Friday 4th June. Even though it was leading up to Queens Birthday, this fundraising event for the Wellington Children's Hospital raised nearly $5,000. |
International Committee Chinese luncheon fundraiser |
Fridges to Hutt Hospital In early October I received a call from Margaret McIver asking if our club would consider raising money for two fridges for the medical ward family rooms at Hutt Hospital. |
Travels in New Zealand
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2021 Walk for Mental Health Around 300 walkers gathered in the grounds of the Wellington Tenths Trust (supporters of the Walk), many of them students from schools around the Hutt Valley. They completed the recent 3-kms walk from Petone’s Hikoikoi Reserve, to the Petone Wharf. |
Rotarians Out and About Rotary has been very active the past few days. Thanks to Jaye's enthusiastic encouragement, we once again turned out to serve the breakfast for the Weetbix TRYathlon at the Hutt Recreational Ground. It's a great children's event and our efforts were certainly appreciated by the organisers. Thanks to everyone for putting aside the time for what was a brilliantly fine Lower Hutt day. |
Home on the Farm I grew up in a large homestead (pictured) on a farm at 'Mahunga' in Masterton with my Mum Olive, Dad George, Twin Sister Janet, and younger Sister Margaret (who was also a twin, but her brother died at twenty-one months) along with sheep, cows, cats, possums, chooks, and horses. |
Dave Comparini's Memorial Seat Something that was not clear was what the Wellington Regional Council's intended programme was around maintaining their plots like this. So last night, led by Richard Perry, members of the Environment Committee and others, started a weeding programme in front of Dave Comparini's chair. |
My Thai Experience It was 2001 and my brother had just married a Thai woman from the rural outback’s of Bangkok. A bachelor for many years he had decided to cut out the dating scene and choose a ‘Mail order Bride' instead.
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Undies for Africa Last year, Ross Barber spoke about the tragic truth around what women are subjected to when they do not have underwear. Thanks to donations from members and friends, we were able to send over a couple of suitcases of both new and pre-owned items. |
What does the acronym PETS mean? For a long time, PETS has been the acronym for 'Presidents Elect Training Seminar'. For us, the new Presidents Elect, this first training was over a weekend held at Massey University on 21st and 22nd November. |
Introducing our 2021 RYLA Candidate We are proud to nominate this year's RYLA candidate, Madi Arps. Here is her introduction: Kia Ora! I am 17 years old (at time of writing), and I am just completing Year 13 at Naenae College. |
Naenae College Prizegiving - 2020 Last Thursday, President Jan attended the senior Prizegiving at Naenae College to present our annual scholarship. |
TV Consumer Advocacy I helped set up NZ’s oldest TV consumer advocacy group Media Matters in NZ, (viewers.org.nz) 27 years ago, a stimulating but often frustrating activity. Pity that so much that is worthwhile on telly is impossible to watch because of the continuous interruption of commercials. |
Compost Bins For Te Omanga Hospice The Hospice had been looking for support to provide it with two sets of 3 compost bins, for the processing of the large amount of leaves grass and other compostable waste generated in their grounds. |
Riding the Trains to End Polio - 2020 Last Friday, 24th October, a party 14 Eastern Hutt Rotarians and partners rode up and down each of Wellington’s train routes, to raise money for the End Polio Campaign. |
RYDA - 2020 RYDA (Rotary Youth Driver Awareness) was a successful event with 78 students from Naenae College participating at the Ricoh Centre on the 13th October. |
US Ambassador - Scott Brown On Monday 19th October, Eastern Hutt Rotary will be proud to host the United States Ambassador to NZ as our guest speaker. This will be a partner's night and also an opportunity to meet some of our future Satellite Club candidates. |
Focus on New Zealand A few days ago I was looking through our bookcase and deciding what should stay and what could go - things you do in retirement! Anyway, I came upon ‘Focus on New Zealand'. |
Michael Jameson Retires Haere Ra, Michael Jameson, PHF. As one who exemplifies all that is best about Eastern Hutt Rotary, it was Michael's last formal attendance as a Member this week. |
Life & Times of Robin Aitken A most interesting "Life and Times". Robin Aitken was born in Glasgow but has spent much of his life at sea. |
Hutt River Bank Clean Up An enthusiastic and willing group of club members (and partners) spent Sunday morning picking up an assortment of paper, plastic and other items of rubbish lying on the banks of Te Awa Kairangi/Hutt River. |
A Life of Learning At the beginning of this year, a trip to Brisbane to see family and life seemed normal. Little did I know that Covid19 was looming. Online I had seen that there was an unusual flu virus in China, with no idea of the impact it would have on me, my family, friends and country. |
Quiz Par Excellence Linda and husband Ray Wallace organised a quiz night based on questions largely about our own Club. |
Purchasing a New Vehicle update On Purchasing a new vehicle, a letter to John Cole. EE lad, you don't know how lucky you were. I went to buy a new (to me) vehicle in 1962. |
Introducing Barry Littlefair Barry's was meant to be a small "life and times" on "Why I joined Rotary", but when the planned main speaker did not arrive Barry's turned out to be the main, indeed only, talk. |
2020 Usborne Dictionary Presentations Recent presentations to Year 4 students at Naenae School to 52 very happy recipients receiving their Usborne dictionaries. Proudly presented by Jaye Howey and Glenda Barratt. |
Purchasing a New Vehicle 1975 versus 2020  Last month I took delivery of a new company vehicle. It made me reminisce about buying a vehicle in the “old days”. |
Richard Perry's 40+ Rotary Years This month, Eastern Hutt Rotary are very proud to honour our Past President Richard Perry for over 40 years of serving Rotary. |
Jenny Thompson, MNZM It was a proud family moment, especially for Secretary David Thompson when his wife Jenny became a Member Of The New Zealand Order Of Merit (MNZM). |
Southward's Wurlitzer The Wurlitzer theatre organ was developed to accompany silent movies. Although expensive, they replaced the various theatre groups of musicians in the larger theatres. They were very popular in Britain and a very few made it to NZ. |
Innovated Young Minds - 2020IYM Online was a great success! Innovative Young Minds Charitable Trust would like to thank Eastern Hutt Rotary for your financial contribution to our IYM Online programme – you made it possible for us to offer a Covid-19 alternative to our students. |
Welcome to 2020-21 Board Jan Palmer was very proud to became the 2020-21 President of Eastern Hutt Rotary and proudly announced her incoming Board of Directors. |
Welcome to Gwen Hoople Originally from the Scottish border town of Jedburgh, Gwen was raised in Hamilton and went to Sacred Heart Girl’s College. |
2020 Changeover Eastern Hutt's 2020 Changeover Evening  What a very memorable evening! Led in by President, Robert Sinclair, a Scottish cord piped in the Haggis. This was superbly orchestrated by Kevin Nelson, who then recited Robbie Burns' famous poem. |
Update from China Former Member, Richard, and Jocelyn, visited the club during a holiday back in NZ on 18 July 2018. Courtesy of Facebook, here is an interesting update from him while travelling within China since Covid-19. |
Welcome to Robin Aitken
President Robert and members warmly welcomed Robin Aitken at the end of June, as our newest Member. He said his memory of Graeme Blick's mantra, “Rotarians are good people, doing good things”, was still fresh in his mind. |
Welcome Barry Littlefair Tonight we welcomed Barry Littlefair as a new member. Barry and Diane emigrated to New Zealand in November 2019 and they now live in Eastbourne. They have 2 sons, one married to a Kiwi, with two children, also living in Eastbourne. The other one is married and lives in Hong Kong. |
Des Darby - Honorary Membership Status President Robert Sinclair and the Board had much pleasure in awarding Des Darby Honorary Membership at tonight's meeting. |
The Rotary World Out There
The Rotary International Board, The Rotary Foundation Trustees, and all their committees will meet online at least till the end of 2020. The Board has recommended that all Institutes and training of incoming officers also be virtual. The ban on the funding of Rotary travel continues. |
Peace Scholarship Foundation Many Rotarians support the concept of Peace [though there is no clear definition of what Peace is]. While the decision to establish a Peace Endowment was made in 2005, it was 2008 before work to fund the endowment began and by 2017 the gifts as at 30th September 2017 are $156,321,477.
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Classifications in Rotary The classification principle goes back to the start of Rotary in 1905 when Paul Harris and his friends decided that members should come from different classifications so as to represent a cross section of society and not become another focused self interest group. |
Tribute to Dave Comparini“Service Above Self” - the Rotary International motto is epitomized by Past President Dave Comparini.  Dave joined the Rotary Club of Eastern Hutt in September 1998. His background was in Construction Management having started his working life as a carpenter in Nelson. |
Mum's Virtual 90th Birthday Party As many of you know, I am from a very large family. On 2nd May, along with a niece, I arranged via zoom to have a virtual birthday party for my Mum’s 90th birthday. Family members dialed-in from all over NZ, plus Australia, Sweden, and Singapore. |
The Positives of My Covid-19 Lockdown Over the past few weeks, here are some positives I have enjoyed during the past few weeks of the Lockdown: |
Trentham Memorial Park Paul and I have been so lucky to live next door to the most beautiful park in the Hutt Valley – Trentham Memorial Park. It is wonderful to have it so close and has been a godsend during these past 4 weeks of isolation. We walk to the park twice a day – a long walk without the elderly dog and a short walk with the elderly dog. |
Our Past Stressful Time Over the last 4 weeks of isolation, I have reflected on how fortunate I am and how I am so pleased that I never experienced a pandemic during my working life. I can only imagine what many people are having to deal with. For some families worried about whether they will still have a job, how will they cope financially and, in some cases, living under less than ideal conditions. |
LIFE IN LOCKDOWN 14-4-20 It’s all happening around me but not to me, which is fine by me. People are behaving badly , but I’m not among them, such a relief. The long arm of the law has reached out to grab a number of people trying to make a run for freedom from Lockdown. I sneakily admire such high jinx but is it really worth the bother? I mean hiring lawyers and ruining your CV? |
The Politics of Covid19 The politics of the Covid19 response have cost a lot of lives internationally. Sadly, in the early days it became a US/China issue and this delayed the preparations for what was inevitably going to happen. I read yesterday that US agencies took two months to issue their purchase orders for items such as ventilators and protective clothing and have since struggled to catch up. |
Polio Update As at 8 April, Afghanistan had 3 cases this year as again 29 for the full year last year. In the month of February there were 6.7 million children vaccinated but 1.9 million children were missed as they were in areas that were inaccessible. They have 19 cross border posts which vaccinated 1.8 million children as the amount of movement between Afghanistan and Pakistan is considerable. In their country they have 2926 social mobilisers, who organise and vaccinate.
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Coronavirus Blues – Flight from Ethiopia
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Rotary International Membership I saw a comment the other day that a Rotarian was querying what was happening at Rotary International level. RI staff are working from home till at least 30th April and there will be no funded RI travel before May 31st. The April meetings of the RI Board and the Foundation Trustees were both held virtually. Not simple because of time zones! All Peace Fellows were asked to return home if possible and somewhere in excess of 1000 Rotary Youth Exchangees returned home early. |
Weetbix Tryathalon - 2020 Inspired by the community buzz we'd enjoyed in previous years, our team of enthusiastic Rotarians once again volunteered in supporting the Weetbix Tryathalon at the Hutt Recretional grounds. Once again, it was so enjoyable. The weather played it's part but sadly, a Hutt Valley power cut brought a new challenge! |
A Favourite Pastime Lawn Bowls is the anglicised variant of a family of sports in which several larger balls or biased bowls are rolled or thrown at a smaller target ball.
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WFMH Report
On March the 1st our inaugural Walk for Mental Health was held. The weather was stunning, the harbour was flat, no wind – everything we could have possibly asked for. |
Patons Rock and Surrounds My Xmas holiday destination of Paton Rock was once again the place to go in 2019. Over the past 20 years the opportunity to Holiday with my good friends at “The Look out“ on the beach is always a delightful experience. |
Simple Music Player Members may recall that Eastern Hutt Rotary, supported by a Regional grant, contributed to a “Music for Life” project in which Rani Allan (therapist) introduced people with early- stage dementia to a radio look-alike named a “Simple Music Player”. |
Walk for Mental Health A dedicated few have been working hard during the holiday period to present this inaugural event. Make it a family event and please share this information with your friends too - especially if you're on Facebook! |
Community Health Monitor Last year, Eastern Hutt Rotary approved a donation towards the salary of a Community Health Monitor. The photo above and others below have been received along with their thanks from Dharamvir Singh in India. |
Pre-Christmas Thoughts 2019 is fast coming to a close and for a lot of us his year has seen many changes in our lives. |
Community & Health Committee report.jpg) Over the past 6 months the Community & Health Committee are proud of their collective activities. Here are some of those we are proud to be involved in: |
Parkinson Collection - 2019 The numbers are in. The collection at Pak’N’Save, Lower Hutt netted a total of $1,516.40. A great achievement, only possible with your support. |
A family affair On 'End Polio Now' day, Ray and I were heading to Brisbane Airport after a short break in Surfers Paradise. We took the opportunity to stop at SouthBank and meet my oldest brother David Goss. He's a member of The Greater Springfield Rotary Club in District 9630 in Brisbane and they were also participating in an event that evening, "Riding The Train to End Polio" - as you can see by his t-shirt. |
Ride the trains to End Polio Now day I’m pleased to say that a good group of Easter Hutt Rotary members participated in the day’s activities. Five members or associates (of all ages) stood collecting from the public at Naenae Station during this day, in shifts from 6am onwards. |
Russian Delight Ever thought of visiting to Russia? Well, I’ll try and change your mind. Mary and I booked Trafalgar’s Wonders of St. Petersburg and Moscow in July and we can’t stop sharing our experience…. |
Wim Julicher - Paul Harris Fellowship award What better occasion to honour someone, than when the District Governor visits. Accompanied by his family, Wim Julicher was presented the Paul Harris Fellowship tonight. It was a huge surprise and there was the odd tear in the eye I believe! |
Duffy Books in Schools - Rata Street School At Rata Street School last week, Eastern Hutt Rotary was once again present to promote 'Books in Homes' and of course Duffy Books. Those included were Annette Ruck, John Cole, Linda Goss-Wallace and myself. |
Strange but True Our first grandchild is due mid-November. The prospect of her arrival would have turned her late granddad into a puddle of unbridled excitement. |
Welcome to Linda Goss-Wallace A very big welcome back in Rotary to Linda Goss-Wallace! Linda joined Eastern Hutt Rotaract in 1985, then a year later moved back to Wainuiomata and joined Wainuiomata Rotaract. Over the next 7 years she held all the board directorships and was President for two years. |
Celebration of Duffy Books Last evening Jaye Howey and myself had the honour to attend Government House to celebrate 25 years of Duffy books in Homes and receive acknowledgment of Eastern Hutt's contribution to such a wonderful cause. |
Healthy Homes - update.JPG) BETWEEN 2015 AND 2017 a dedicated team of footsloggers from the club, supported by HCC and the Health Board, visited about 3000 low income rented tenancies, both private and HCNZ, in the Hutt, to establish which qualified for the Government programme of free or subsidised home insulation. |
Soap Box "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." ~ Edmund Burke and quoted by J.F. Kennedy Please imagine that there has just been a violent bank robbery in Lower Hutt. |
Innovative Young Minds 2019The Innovative Young Minds (IYM) program is run by the Hutt City Council and Hutt City Rotary with some help from other local Rotary Clubs, including us at Eastern Hutt. It provides young women in years 11 and 12 (the old 5th and 6th forms) with exposure beyond the school gates to the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Manufacturing - the STEMM subjects. Traditionally these have tended to be male dominated fields but they are now accessible and available to women if they know about them. Des Darby and I had previously interviewed three Naenae College students, Alaa Loulou, Cindy Zhu and Ilma Aminudeen, all of whom gained places on the course, with our club sponsoring two of them. One of them, Ilma, was in the first cohort and Jaye Howey had the pleasure of hearing her speak on behalf of them all at the Grand Hall of Parliament.   Ilma Aminudeen at the Grand Hall of Parliament, and Cindy Zhu with Alaa Loulou at the Innovation Dragons Den This year the program ran over two weeks and involved eighty students in total. Each week, 20 of the students were local and 20 were from other parts of New Zealand. I had the privilege of being a volunteer on seven of the ten week days. |
Mind the GapIn a little over one year we will be voting in the next general election, and of equal importance, also in the referendum on Drug Reform that will include the legal status of Cannabis in this country. While thinking about this recently, my thoughts went back to my early days at Medical School and to one of our lecturers involved in research of the synapse. This is the microscopic anatomical gap between two nerves and between the end of a nerve and either a gland or a muscle, and one of the unanswered medical mysteries at that time was how does a nervous impulse jump the gap?
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The Auckland Marathon The Auckland Marathon generally attracts over 10,000 participants, all running or walking over the harbour bridge early in the morning. In preparation for this, marathons are held at least five times in different locations on five weekends. It used to be coupled with short distance runs, children’s events and so on, lasting three to four hours. The first practice marathon is usually held at Unitec, and then the others are in different locations around Auckland. The Rotary Club of Western Springs, my former club, has over the last 6 to 7 years been volunteering the marshalling activity for this event.
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Tuesday mornings. Term time.
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President Pat Heffernan's Review of his Year Well where did that year go. Richard said to me at the start of my year that it will go fast and he wasn’t wrong. I have really enjoyed my year as your President, maybe not the first 3 months though, but once I knew what I was doing things were great. It is full on and I was glad I retired to do the job. Dean McMillian told me about 5 years ago not to do the Presidents job while you are still working and that was great advice. |
Serving Rotary
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Outcome of Healthy in the Hutt 2019 This proved to be a very successful day with 20 exhibitors attending. Feedback from the exhibitors is that they really enjoyed the day and would love to come again next year. Feedback from the people who came was that they benefited from the day and would like the event to be run again. |
More support for Te Omanga Hospice At this evening's meeting President Pat Heffernan was pleased to present Biddy Harford, CEO of Te Omanga Hospice, with a cheque for $16,500. Two thirds of this will be used by the Hospice to purchase items for patient care and the remainder will be added to its current need for capital expenditure. The larger part of these funds were raised at our annual Te Omanga Golf Tournament.
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Are we like Janesville?
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My International Exchanges I was invited to join Rotary in 1990 (that’s how it was in those days) and my first committee was International, and this side of Rotary became a huge part of our lives. My Gisborne club, in District 9930, was very active in hosting both GSE (Group Study Exchange) and RFE (Rotary Friendship Exchange). |
What an Experience Some members and friends may remember the year I was District 9940 District Governor (2001-2002). I had a project to raise funds to support the Sewa Sadan Eye Hospital in Bhopal, India. |
Osborne House - Isle of Wight When Mary and I went cruising last year we were based out of Southampton. We had a couple of days on shore between the Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth cruises so together with our travelling companions we headed for the ferry to travel across to the Isle of Wight for an afternoon of exploring. |
Te Omanga Gardening
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My Favourite Food At a recent meeting we had Rachel Taulelai visit and speak to us. She very entertainingly walked us through the 10 foods that represented her and the important memories and things in her life. This got me thinking about what they would be for me.... |
Pink Ribbon Breakfast - Update Thanks to everyone involved in our Pink Ribbon Breakfast, this was an outstanding success! In fact, we had to turn people away as we couldn't accommodate more than 100 people! |
Welcome to Dr. Gregory De Costa Gregory was born and grew up in Colombo, Sri Lanka. After completing a Civil Engineering degree, he went to Japan to do a Masters in Environmental Engineering and PhD in Hydraulics and Hydrology. |
Proud Moments |
A Tribute to Dr. Milne Dr. Graham Milne, OBE Aged 100, Dr. Milne passed away on 19th April 2019 at Golden Bay Community Health. |
Pink Ribbon Breakfast Come along and support this worthy cause and listen to the renowned breast surgeon, Mr. Burton King who we know will give a very enlightening and interesting talk.
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2019 Pride of Workmanship Award On Monday, CEO Justine Tupara of JT Property Wash, was awarded Eastern Hutt Rotary's Pride of Workmanship Award, selected from a group of nominees at an eventful Rotary meeting. |
I'm A Storyteller Unlike others, I don’t have an amazing adventure overseas to tell you about (Well I do, but that’s another story), or a foray into something that will hold you spellbound as you read. Rather I would like to share with you a piece of self-discovery that took one person, one sentence, to help me make complete sense of my life. |
2019 Quiz Evening The recent Quiz Night was a great success, with lots of fun identifying strange objects and substances in the quirky-question sections. Over $ 1,000 was raised for the Duffy Books in Homes programme, thanks to everyone who participated. |
A day like any other? The day started like any other day. There was no indication from the cosmos when I swung my feet out of bed that today would be any different to any other. |
PHF Award - Brian Lummis President Pat with Brian Lummis & ADG Leole Malama-PrasadOn 8th April 2019, Brian Lummis was awarded a double Paul Harris Fellow Sapphire Pin for his outstanding service and contributions to Eastern Hutt Rotary of many years. |
Guests from UK On Monday 8th April we welcomed Past Rotary President Anthony Chick and his partner Immediate Past Inner Wheel President Carole Corless from Carnforth UK.
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Baring Head Lighthouse Following a talk by Colin Ryder one of the Friends of Baring Head Lighthouse, a group of Eastern Hutt Rotary enjoy a trip out there to visit this iconic setting. |
2019 Te Omanga Golf Day President Pat and Hospice CEO Biddy HarfordWhat a great day! We were blessed with a perfect day - warm temperatures, little wind and blue sky.
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My Grandfather HD I thought I might share my recollections of my Grandfather Mr Henry Dargaville Bennett (HD to everyone). |
Special Guest from Philippines Visiting from Manila tonight was Lilian Cruz, accompanied by her daughter Maricel Malinao.
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Weetbix TRYathlon Once again Eastern Hutt Rotary had a team of enthusiastic volunteers at last week's Weetbix TRYathlon, supported by Mayor Ray Wallace and National Candidate, Chris Bishop. |
Quiz EveningThis quiz evening is being organised by the Education and Employment Committee for family and friends. It's no ordinary quiz!! |
Rotary Exchange with New South Wales District Last weekend (4th March) during a discussion over the District 5020 USA/ Canada exchange group I became aware that a NSW group already in Palmerston North needed people to host in the Hutt Valley. I put my name forward. |
It’s Not Worth our While? Since when do we as Rotarians decide whether our efforts in the Community are, "Worth our while, or not"! |
Who's being do what lately |
A Morning in Malmo Here is yet more talent |
RYLA - 2019 This year, Chris Bennett was our worthy sponsored candidate for this amazing leadership training event run by Rotary at the Silverstream Retreat last month. |
Baby Boomer Thoughts My youngest son spoiled me and gave me a battery powered cordless Dyson vacuum cleaner for Christmas - I love it! The same week my 12-year old grandson struggled to understand why you would ever use a crank handle to start a car. |
Lest we forget LEST WE FORGET. A highlight of our recent European tour was a visit to the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. |
Water & Sanitation Group The Water & Sanitation Rotarian Action Group (WASRAG) was formed in 2007 by a group of Rotarians, recognized by Rotary International, and focused on WASH projects. Since then it has facilitated many hundreds of projects – helping clubs find partners, ensuring sustainability, stressing the importance of a needs-driven approach, and developing best practices. We encourage a holistic, integrated approach in which water is not the end in itself, but is rather the means to a better life and livelihood in the community. Most importantly, WASRAG links water and sanitation to improved hygiene, better health, and empowerment of the community – especially women, irrigation and agriculture, education and literacy and, ultimately, child mortality. |
2018 Trailer Christmas Raffle Congratulations to lucky ticket number 10178, this year's major winner of our Christmas Raffle! She was very pleased with her prize and would share it with her family.
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Christ Church Cottage Museum - updated Sadly, Lottery Grants Board aren't going to help with buying the land, or the cottage, but they will likely help with the fitout, which would be great. Thanks heaps for your assistance to date with all this. The text of the official reply reads: |
Christmas past and present
For many of us born in the Northern Hemisphere a summer Christmas takes a bit of getting use to. In the UK, where I come from, Christmas is usually a time of short days and cold temperatures being close to the mid-winter solstice.
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John Terris - PHF No.2 John Terris, QSO, was tonight's recipient of a 2nd Paul Harris Fellow Award tonight, a person who has been a stalwart of the Hutt Valley for many years. A Rotarian since 1997 initially with Hutt Valley Rotary, and then Eastern Hutt Rotary from 2011. |
2018 Trailer Raffle For the 28th year, Eastern Hutt Rotary have their Trailer Raffle at Queensgate Mall, Lower Hutt with prizes value at $5,000, thanks for the corporate sponsors, members and friends. |
My Lucky Life I consider myself to be lucky. Yes, a lot of other stuff has happened too, always resulting in a learning thing becoming luck. |
Housing - the current market
I thought might be topical, with the Reserve Bank removing some of the lending criteria today, to give you all an update on the property market in Lower Hutt in particular. You're probably all sick of hearing about property – the media seem to love reporting on it. Here's my overview of the current situation.
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Letters of thanks!We thought you would like to see just two of the many letters of thanks Jaye and I received have received, following our presentation of the Usborne Dictionaries at Naenae primary.  |
Naenae College 2018 Awards  Brook Waldron Hazel SchapelOn Tuesday 6 November, I represented us at The Naenae College Senior Prize giving. It was heartening to see so many students from a wide variety of backgrounds being recognised for their achievements. The reaction from the student body to the awards showed a heartening generosity of spirit and a happy pride in their school. |
Exploring 'God's Own' Mary and I have been fortunate to enjoy many overseas trips to North America, Europe and a few to Asia. But as they say, "Don't leave home till you've seen your own country", so 10 years ago I decided I needed to 'knock-off' the New Zealand's Great Walks. |
Why International Service Eastern Hutt Rotary does some wonderful things in our local community. That hard work and money is helping kids who might otherwise miss out, or we do any of those other myriad supportive things we are known for, it somehow feels more connected or more personal and perhaps more relevant because it is local. |
Fishing Experience to Remember I was invited to join a 9 person party for a 5-day fishing trip into the Fiordland National Park on the launch Legacy. It was 20 years since I was in the area tramping and shooting and was keen to visit once again and check out the fishing. |
Past President 2005-2006I was very privileged to have been President of Eastern Hutt Rotary Club 2005/06 and recall some of the highlights of that year.  |
Exploring New ZealandMary and I have fortunate to enjoy many overseas trips to North America, Europe and a few to Asia. But as they say, "Don't leave home till you've seen your own country", so 10 years ago I decided I needed to 'knock-off' New Zealand's great walks. |
World Polio Day - 24th OctoberWorld Polio Day - 24th October  Bill Boyd, 2006-07 Rotary International PresidentThis week Rotary throughout the world recognized this day and through his daughter Kathy Bryant, her father Bill Boyd sent a short update on Rotary's & the Gates Foundation's polio eradication programme. |
International travel & rotary There were a number of surprises during my recent 5-week trip to Europe, several of them related to Rotary. |
Rotary Exchange visit between District 9940, and District 5020 (Canada and USA)
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Freedom of Speech |
Rotarians abroad Rotarian's abroad   It's customary to engage Rotary banners when visiting overseas clubs, which is what Jaye Howey, Anne Abbott and Christine Meredith have done recently. |
New Members Month |
Brian Clarke Brian Clarke's formal investiture  Eastern Hutt Rotary members were very proud to congratulate Brian in June for his well-deserved award in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, to the Membership of the New Zealand Order of Merit. |
Tribute to Joe TomlinsonJOE TOMLINSON 40 YEARS IN EASTERN HUTT ROTARY (26 September 1978 – 1 October 2018)
Here is a bit of background to Joe Tomlinson and his remarkable involvement with Eastern Hutt Rotary in servicing his community for the past 40 plus years.
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Duffy Books - update On Wednesday morning I had the pleasure to go to Rata St school for the distribution of this year's Duffy books. It was a first for me and what a great experience. |
Kapiti Island Earlier this year we decided to spend a weekend on the Kapiti Coast . We booked a day trip to Kapiti Island with Kapiti Island Nature Tours. |
Tree plantingEASTERN HUTT ROTARY AND NAENAE COLLEGE Tree planting Project 16 September 2018  Clubs around the World have embraced 2017-18 world president Ian Risley’s call for Rotarians to plant 1 tree for every Rotarian in the world. |
Duffy Books With Hutt Valley Rotary, Eastern Hutt Rotary has been involved with Duffy Books for many years. Conceived by Alan Duffy in 1992, so far in 2018, the programme has reached over 520 Decile 1-4 schools, nearly 300 Early Childhood Centres, over 100,000 students, all financed by more than 200 funding partners and supporters. |
The Dowse disaster Recently I have visited the Expressions Gallery in Upper Hutt and the Pataka Museum in Porirua. The Expressions has had several superb exhibitions, most recently the "Where Children Sleep" and the National Ceramics Finalists, and before that exhibitions of The Photography of Lloyd Homer; Rugby and WW1; The Mona Lisa Story; and the NASA Space photographs. |
Rotary Reminiscences Let me take you back to March 1996 and a Coffee meeting with a referral source in Petone. The conversation turned to Rotary and how he thought I would enjoy being a member. |
What ever happened to common sense? In November 2017 our pharmacy was subject to the customary Ministry of Health audit (in our case this happens about every five years). |
Innovative Young Minds - 2018Once again Eastern Hutt Rotary were very proud to sponsor 2 young women to this year's Innovative Young Minds programme in July. They shared their excited experiences and what inspired them at our meeting this week.  Kathy Bryant, Madeline Arps, Hannah Fleury, and Pat Heffernan
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Is It the Truth? Since the enunciation of the Four Way Test in 1932, generations of Rotarians have been asking themselves "Is it the truth"? |
Life Having recently lost a sibling in a family of five, it has again made me very aware again of how unpredictable life can be and the ramifications that emerge from an event. |
My Working Life I would like to tell you about my working life from 1990 when I retired from the service station industry. It was then that I became at taxi driver before becoming Operations Manager for Hutt & City Taxis. |
Our return back to Gisborne In Mid-July Jenny and I went up to Gisborne, over 2 years since our last visit, and 3+ years since we sold up and moved to Wellington. We took the opportunity to catch up with friends, our farm neighbours and even fitted in a meeting with my previous Rotary Club.
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Upcoming Community EventHere is an upcoming event in support of Te Omanga Hospice.  Lower Hutt 26th Annual Community Concert - Sunday 9 September 2018, from 2-4pm The concert will feature a mixture of entertainment with free admission, but donations will be appreciated and accepted for Te Omanga Hospice, the charity selected by Mayor Ray Wallace. |
33 days with 3 Queens
During the month of June this year Mary and I embarked on an exciting series of cruises with the Cunard Line.
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Queenstown Region Lynne and I together with another couple have spent the last week staying in Queenstown. To me it is the most beautiful region of New Zealand. |
Welcome back Terry Barr Welcome back Terry Barr! President, Pat Heffernan, had pleasure in welcoming him back to Eastern Hutt Rotary. |
World Community Service Rotary all over the Pacific is very active and we often don't realise the extent of this. Take a look at this Link: Rotary World Community Service. |
Visiting Banceny Monastery in Ukraine A while ago, I watched on TV a documentary about a monk in Ukraine who, although he had nothing, he had a dream of building a monastery where he could care for the orphans, the sick and the abandoned children. |
UH Housing TrustUPPER HUTT HOUSING TRUST - HOMAI TE WHAIORA After finding someone sleeping in the St Joseph's churchyard, Upper Hutt churches started a housing trust. |
Colin Alford Colin Alford receiving yet another Award at the District Changeover in Wanganui during the weekend!
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Understanding Poverty While recently working at Taita College one of the teachers lent me a book to read “A Framework for Understanding Poverty” by Ruby K. Payne. |
Christ Church, Taita Our own member, John Terris, shared with us a short history behind the Christ Church in Taita, including the Trust's effort to raise $500,000 for the establishment of a Visitor Centre. |
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Work in the PacificOur Club Has Done Good Things Overseas Well, it has. It has been really active in the past 12 months helping needy people in the Pacific.  |
My Rotary Story In April 1987 our family including Jan’s mother reluctantly moved from Murray’s Bay on Auckland’s North Shore to Lower Hutt. The move was made for sound business reasons and not taken lightly. We left behind good schools, good friends and a good way of life. We had built a lovely wee house on our section for Jan’s mother, she was very happy there. |
More Dictionaries in Schools  Pomare School Naenae School Our annual programme for the giving of Usborne Illustrated Dictionaries has now been completed for the year, with the recent presentations to year 4 students at Naenae Primary School, Pomare School, and St Michael’s School. |
Pink Ribbon BreakfastPink Ribbon Devonshire Tea  Our Pink Ribbon Devonshire Tea was a great success and that was thanks to a huge team effort. We raised $400.00 for this very worthy cause and had a lot of fun on the way. |
Taita Central School The presentation of Usborne Illustrated dictionaries to Year 4 students at Taita Central School this week, was the start of our 10th year of presentations to 4 low decile schools in the Naenae/Taita area. Many happy and excited faces! |
Cataract surgery What is it like to go through cataract surgery in 2018? Have you thought about the medical advances that have happened since 1950, when “Call the Midwife” was written about midwives in the East End of London? |
Kiwi InitiativeKIWI INITIATIVE used for PACIFIC EMERGENCIES   Following is a Rotary Project that new Rotary members need to be aware of and older members need to remember which I was very involved with for many years both in our Rotary Dist. 9940 and also Nationally. |
2018 Rotafest ConferenceA group of 11 Eastern Hutt Rotarians and wives attended this year's Rotafest in Palmerston North.   |
Girls Can Do Almost Anything! Girls can do almost anything! "Two women pilots were flying their Air New Zealand Q300 into Wellington airport. They landed and taxied up to the gate……..Question……..who parks the plane?" |
This Week in the Community  On Anzac Day, I was privileged to lay a wreath on behalf of the Club, at the service on the Anzac Memorial Plaza. Our thanks to the generosity of Rob Sinclair for providing the wreath materials and the hands of Helen Renor who prepared it. |
The Amazing You Wow, what an inspiring evening! After selling their home in Croatia, Dragos and Anca donated all sale proceeds to a local church, then set off on their worldwide adventure. To learn more about his remarkable life so far, HERE is his story. |
Building Washing Robot In 1962 when Joe Tomlinson started his one-man painting business from his home in Epuni he had no idea that 56 years later the company would be what it is today. |
Das Auto Last Sunday my wife and I, along with our daughter and one of her friends, went for a bush walk at a place that has been a family favourite for forty years. It was a beautiful cool but sunny day. We dawdled and got only three-quarters of the way from Catchpool Valley to the Orongorongo River while our daughter and her friend walked the full distance. |
Vera Lynn Concert - update |
We're a team Helen and Howie Thomas – we’re a bit of a tag team and always support each other with our various activities. |
2018 Rotary Youth Leadership Award RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) is a 5-day intensive youth leadership program. Across the 5 days, we took part in a number of seminars and activities. Some of the more memorable ones include: |
Lower Hutt today The most recent GDP figures for the Lower Hutt economy highlighted on your front page last week have been a long time coming and could do with a bit of historical perspective. The whole thing didn’t get conjured out of a hat. |
Duffy Books An expectant “Hush” had just fallen over this Assembly at Rata Street School as children waited for the arrival of this term’s Duffy Books Role Model and the presentation (courtesy of Eastern Hutt and Hutt Valley Rotary Clubs) of 2 books to every child. |
Vera Lynn Concert A reminder to come along and enjoy Vicki Lee sing those legendary songs once sung by Vera Lynn! Alternatively, buy 2 tickets and give them away as a treat to family, or true Vera Lynn friends/fans. |
Great Barrier Island.JPG) Question: Why was a certain quartet of EHR members absent from the Rotary meeting on Monday 13 March? (They did remember to apologise!) |
2018 Te Omanga Charity Golf Tournament Another successful charity event was held last Friday at the Boulcott's Farm Heritage Golf Club, with their brand-new clubrooms opened only 1 week ago. |
Weetbix TRYathalon 1600 students, mainly from local Primary and Intermediate schools, competed in the recent Weet-Bix TRYathlon based at Hutt Rec. and the Huia Pool. |
World Rotary President A group of us travelled to Palmerston North today to meet Rotary International's world President, Ian Riseley.
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A Visit to The Catlins This January, I was fortunate to join a group of experienced and cheerful Rotarian and Probus members, for a set of day-walking trips in the South Island Catlins. |
Quiz Evening - update |
Te Araroa Trail update... Here's Graeme Bocock's account of his final North Island journey on the Te Araroa Trail. A few of us joined him this time, to hear him talk about his travels so far. |
Special Olympics - thanks |
Growing up in a large familyWHAT IT WAS LIKE TO GROW UP IN CANNONS CREEK AND BE THE OLDEST OF 12 CHILDREN It certainly wasn’t a bed of roses, but it was all worthwhile now with over “100 people for Sunday lunch” with brothers, sisters, their husbands & partners, their children and their husbands and partners, children, grandchildren & great-grandchildren. The amazing thing is we all get on!!  |
Graham Bocock - continued |
Te Araroa Trail - Graham BocockSeveral suggested they would be interested in Graham Bocock's 'bucket list' journey on The Te Araroa Trail  Here is an account up to Palmerston North, which will be continued next week, finishing off the North Island. |
A non-tourist visit to SingaporeIn December I made a very different visit to Singapore, mainly so I could visit my daughter Sarah who had moved there with her family in July. My grandsons are 8 and 10 years old. So began a very different visit to that which is normally encountered.  |
2017 Christmas RaffleHere is the 2017 Trailer Raffle being drawn under police supervision on Christmas Eve, and a photo of the very happy winner! .jpg)  It is so wonderful to see it was won by such a young and deserving family, who didn't have any bikes!   Thanks to the community for purchasing tickets and assisting us to provide needed Donations for our worthy recipients. I would personally like to thank Brian Clark for all his effort with the Trailer raffle ensuring a great outcome, and to those club members standing in to help during my illness. Most importantly members, members of Inner Wheel, past members, family and friends for giving up their time to enjoy the company of others while selling tickets. Without your support, this project could not happen. Robert Sinclair, (Raffle Organiser) |
Christmastide 2017
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Robin Fenwick - Paul Harris Fellow  With much pride, Robin Fenwick was presented with a Paul Harris Fellow award for his long and exceptional service as a Rotarian. |
Auction of Promises - Chinese Banquet  Participating in fundraising and offering to help always reminds me of the army motto “Never Volunteer” then another part of me remembers the Rotary Motto “Service above Self”. |
Learning and Leadership “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether 20 or 80; anyone who keeps learning is young.” – Henry Ford Most Rotarians pride themselves as community leaders but as mentors, how many of us have stopped learning? |
Introducing Dragos Bratasanu A big welcome to our new Member, Dragos Bratasanu, introduced by President-Elect Pat Heffernan. |
Introducing Anna Hewitt |
Special Olympics NZ |
Auction of Promises - update |
Train journey across USA |
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