Co-Presidents St. Johns Rotary, Penny McGarry (Ph: 021 702 310), and Lesley Harris (Ph: 027 4935 498)
Tahi Rua Toru Wha............
Then the meeting, led by Peter Boshier, burst into song singing the RCSTJ 'anthem' to the Ches and Dale rendition of the old Chesdale TV ad, it is soooo old it's in black and white!
All in a good cause, to try to win the Rotary's Got Talent prize of $1,000 towards a project of choice. Directed by Gary, Technical Director Colin, and photographers Miles and Peter Walsh we figured we stand a good chance at winning, (to date very few entries!).
It was great to see 32 members present and the good old RCSTJ spirit prevailed as we nailed the singing on 'take two'.
There was a brief Assembly where Gary and Graham outlined their plans and visions for their next year, and there was energy and commitment in the air as a result.
Well done Gary and Graham for your reconnect vision utilising environment projects like the Apirana Reserve - the future of the Club is in great hands.
In closing, to quote a line from the "anthem" St John's Club it's mostly Rotary but not totally!
Breakfast Meeting, Thursday May 26th - Club Assembly.
Present: 32 Members
As there was a significant amount of content to include in the meeting Club Notices and Directors Reports were kept to a minimum to ensure we allowed enough time to perform our District Conference "Skit" and to allow our PE's to sell us their plans for next year, and what a great job they did.
Club Notices:
Change-over June 18th - RSVP's essential to Club Services Director Robyn. This is one of the most important events in the Rotary calendar - let's aim for a record turnout!
Apirana Working Bee Sunday June 19th. Moving mulch in readiness for the Winter Planting Working Bee on July 23rd.
District Conference Jun 24 - 26 in Wellington - Registrations still open. If you require more details please contact Co-Presidents.
Guest Speaker: HM Peter Boshier
Peter is not only an honorary member of St. Johns Rotary - he is also, a founding member of the club, past president, composer, conductor, choir master and certainly not the least, he is Chief Ombudsman for New Zealand!
As the original Composer of the St. Johns Club Official Song, we were honoured to have Peter present to lead us through the recording of the song which will now be entered in the District Conference "Rotary Has Talent" skit as we stand by to be awarded one of the prizes!
Together with Co-President Elect Gary, Peter did a stirling job of leading us through the performance and we thank you sincerely Peter as we know just how precious your time is.
Club Assembly: Apart from the "Performance", this meeting was also our Club Assembly which had Gary and Graham lead us through their plans for next year.
Primarily it will be all about reconnection, involving all members - active and non active, plus of course, new members,
Much of our activity in the new year will revolve around the new 7th pillar of Rotary - the environment, while we continue to target more youth to join our club.
In the weeks and months ahead, we will be hearing a lot more about these plans and at the top of the list will be our involvement and commitment towards making the "Apirana Reserve" activity key to much of what we do, while still maintaining our focus on doing good in the community, youth programmes and having fun !!
Thanks Gary and Graham, we all look forward to supporting you in your quest which was well summerised by Co-President Penny.
THURSDAY JUNE 2nd - DINNER MEETING - GUEST SPEAKER: DR. HANS-DIETER BADER.
Subject - Exploring the 'Shadow City': new archaeological discoveries made during the work Kainga Ora have undertaken recently and how this adds to our understanding of the history of the wider area.
Dr. Bader works as a consultant throughout New Zealand, together with Dr Janice Adamson through Archaeology Solutions Ltd. He is mainly a field archaeologist doing the regulatory work, exploration, excavation and GIS and feature / find analysis. Understanding the ancient landscape, how people reacted and lived within, changed their environment, or got changed by their environment are his main interests. Using remote sensing methods and bringing all data together in a GIS is essential for landscape archaeology.
He comes from Southwest Germany and since childhood has been interested in archaeology and history of the area he grew up in. Becoming an archaeologist progressed naturally from this early interest. The interest in using modern survey technology stemmed from a few years serving in the German army between high school and university. His first professional excavation was in 1984 and he has been working in Aotearoa since 1994.
Being an evening meeting we do need to provide numbers to the kitchen in advance so please RSVP at your earliest convenience to; lesleypenny.rotary@gmail.com
Zane is one of the few paid fulltime employees working on 'comms' for Coastguard Auckland, located in Auckland Marine Rescue Centre, Mechanics Bay. Prior to working for Coastguard, Zane was a keen volunteer Surf Lifesaver, working up the ranks and winning Life Guard of the Year in 2015. During his time as a life guard he also completed two Life Guard 'exchanges' in California and the UK. Zane will tell us about his work with Coastguard and share some of his amazing experiences as a volunteer life guard.
SATURDAY JUNE 18th - CHANGE-OVER. Venue: Remuera Golf Club with theme, "Wear A Touch Of Green". A touch of green to celebrate the 7th Pillar of Service - "The Environment". RSVP's are essential. Please RSVP at your earliest convenience to our Club Services Director, Robyn I.
NOTE: The normal Thursday meeting on June 16th is cancelled.
The seven members of the Trust met on Tuesday last at 6pm at 'Chez Hillman', many thanks to hosts Mark & Sarah.
The meeting discussed the approval (already done by email) from the Kwok Masters Trust of school fees as applied for.
Other than the above and a brief discussion on the possibility of Trees For Survival applying for a Rotary International grant, there had been little business for the Trust to consider as regrettably all major fund-raising activity, such as the Golf Tournament and the Quiz night had been postponed due to Covid restrictions.
The meeting closed at 6.45pm The next meeting will be 6pm on 14 September 2022
After a difficult start HAG has now concluded for another year.
The support that St Johns Rotary has received from Orakei Marine, Yachting New Zealand, the Royal Akarana Yacht Club, and of course Gary Key, has once again ensured a very successful event. A few comments from Yachting NZ follow. To see their complete report covering the full three weeks, click on "Read More" below.
The Operation this year has presented the team with a couple of challenges – an early brush with Covid caused a scrambled reschedule as did two days of severe weather in the middle. However, the team coped well and we believe we should collectively be very grateful for the effort put in by Steph Vining and Holly Padfield and for the daily support by the Royal Akarana Yacht Club
Yachting New Zealand values its relationship with the Rotary Club of St. Johns very highly. It is a model we would like to both repeat and expand to other Rotary Clubs. We look forward to a continued and mutually beneficial relationship with the Rotary Club of St. Johns.
This past weekend the "Orakei Local Board Enviro Forum" was held and St. Johns Rotary was well represented with our information desk being manned by Colin and Peter B.
Apart from promoting our clubs environmental activity it was also an excellent opportunity to promote Rotary and of course St Johns Rotary.
Phil Rollo and his wife, have just recently opened a superb new premises beside Repco, facing Lunn Ave Mitre 10, and in a recent encounter with club member Murray H, Phil said it was 'time to give something back' to the community and Murray immediately presented him with an opportunity!
With our increasing activity planting in Apirana Reserve and our growing relationship with Trees For Survival, Murray negotiated a great outcome with Phil whereby Phil gets to give back to the community and St. Johns Rotary gets free access of up to three specialised Stihl Planting Augers!
These will be provided on an as need requirement. Stihl Ellerslie will provide each machine ready to operate and will maintain the machines at their cost.
Murray is now working on getting Phil and his wife along to one of our meetings and then of course membership opportunities.
Another good turnout last Friday of the St. Johns Rotary Coffee Club at Annabelle's Restaurant in St. Heliers. Partially obscured in the photo,: Co-President Lesley, Aubrey and John C.
Great to see HM Alex McKenzie, (a founding member of the Coffee Club) in attendance. Alex was in Auckland with Wendy for their daughter's engagement party.
Have you ever wanted to attend a Rotary International Convention - well now is your chance!
It is unlikely that it will ever be more accesable, or at a lower cost, than attending next years international convention, which will be held in Melbourne, May 27 - 31. There will be a special registration price made available 4th-8th June.
There has been some talk that St. Johns muster together a group to attend - if anyone is potentially interested, please let the Bulletin Editor know and we will keep you appraised of registration news.
For all the details click on the following link for a copy of the online brochure.
Last week we reported in the Bulletin, that after spending 9 months on the waitlist for a Hip Replacement, John was finally going under the knife last week.
Well - that was last weeks story - unfortunately Auckland Hospital cancelled his scheduled operation due to staff shortages & emergencies.
So now John is again waiting to hear when it will be rescheduled. We're sure John will update us when the time is right.
Honorary Member Donald Bowie, who is also a member of the Rotary Club of Lake Taupo, has asked for this information to be shared with the members of St. Johns Rotary, just in case there are members wishing to help Lake Taupo Rotary in their efforts.
"Dear Lesley & Penny
Hope you had a great meeting this morning
Thought I’d let you know what we’re doing to raise funds for Ukraine Rotary to dispense as needed.
I wondered if you’d mind profiling this with RCSJ members and ask if you don’t have any similar programs planned could I get it included in the
Bulletin…
Long stretch I guess, but Rotary is the network is what really works….
Co-Presidents St. Johns Rotary, Penny McGarry (Ph: 021 702 310), and Lesley Harris (Ph: 027 4935 498)
Peter is not only an honorary member of St. Johns Rotary - he is also, a founding member of the club, past president, composer, conductor, choir master and certainly not the least, he is Chief Ombudsman for New Zealand!
Club Assembly: Apart from the "Performance", this meeting was also our Club Assembly which had Gary and Graham lead us through their plans for next year.
Thanks Gary and Graham, we all look forward to supporting you in your quest which was well summerised by Co-President Penny.
THURSDAY JUNE 9th - BREAKFAST MEETING - GUEST SPEAKER: ZANE RADEMAKER:
The seven members of the Trust met on Tuesday last at 6pm at 'Chez Hillman', many thanks to hosts Mark & Sarah.
This past weekend the "Orakei Local Board Enviro Forum" was held and St. Johns Rotary was well represented with our information desk being manned by Colin and Peter B.
