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Our breakfast meeting on September 29th saw 20 members and 8 guests attending. Our 8 guests, welcomed by Co-President Gary, were all present to share highlights of their recent RYPEN experiences as detailed below. Club Notices: As has already been highlighted in previous issues of the Bulletin, details of the next District Conference, March 31 - April 1st 2023, will continue to be published frequently. The venue is the Karaka Bloodstock Conference Centre and as the organising club this year, it is imperative that we attract as many delegates as possible, to ensure we avoid any costs. The organising committee, chaired by Angus Mcphee, are working towards having a web-site up and running by the end of the month and at that time online registrations will be able to be accepted. Club Services: Requesting RSVP's for October 6th - Golf / Fish & Chip night asap please. Quiz Night: 12 Tables sold to date - we need to sell 20 Tables (of 10), to ensure the fund raising efforts for our Youth programmes can be met. We are getting down to the wire so please contact Aubrey for tickets asap. On a more positive note - all duties for the event now have volunteers appointed. Thanks to all who have volunteered. Director Environment Peter B thanked all volunteers who helped on the 24th Sep clean up of Omaru Stream. Over a length of 500 meters we collected 25 large bags of rubbish, three bikes, 1 supermarket trundler, 1 office chair, 2 road cones and 1 car tyre - and that was all in 90 minutes. See last weeks Bulletin for photos of the activity. Peter also advised that 3 students have now been selected to attend the January Science Forum.  Snap Chatterer on the day was John Lewisham who shared details of his recent 2 week holiday in Rarotonga and he highly recommends the destination as the place to escape the Covid Blues and late winter. His last visit to Raro was 23 years ago. Sergeant Patrick was as nasty as ever as he shared details of sleeze and scandal that he had either heard of or dreamt up! Despite his nasty approach he collected a credible $75 from the 20 Rotarians present for the sunshine fund. Well done Sergeant. Guest Speakers - RYPEN participants: This year St Johns sponsored nine Year 11 / 12 students to attend RYPEN, (Rotary Youth Programme of Enrichment). Unfortunately our three sponsored Students from De La Salle College were unable to attend due to exams, but we were very fortunate to have; Azlan Barrett, Thomas Dufty, Maz Hiddleston accompanied by Dean Richard Henderson from Sacred Heart and from Glendowie College; Darsha Waterhouse, Zoe Paterson and Lucy Hibbert, accompanied by Principal Gordon Robertson and club member David James.  All six students were very thankful to St. Johns Rotary for the sponsorship and all had similar stories to tell and were very pleased to have attended the camp. Some of the soundbites from the 6 students who spoke were; - It was very cool
- Very different experience
- An amazing opportunity
- I stepped way out of my comfort zone
- Best moment was participating in the Skit
- It was great to see everyone in a different light and having fun
- We felt we had known everyone for years, not just over a weekend
- We are still in-touch with each other
- Amazing leaders
- Had an awesome time
- Before RYPEN I did not see myself as a leader - I now do
- Gained courage as the weekend progressed
- Good communication skills developed
- Everything was so well organised
- Will always be thankful for the opportunity
- I was once the shy guy - not any more
- A lot of leadership skills learned
- I now see the benefits of Networking
And the list goes on. There was no doubt that the camp was very beneficial to all who attended. A special thanks to Ainie and her team for once again organising another successful event!!  Following our guest speakers talk, we still had nearly 30 minutes available and Co-President thought it was a good opportunity to get both Gordon and Richard to give us an update on school life following Covid. They both shared very similar comments. Yes, the 2 Covid years were very disruptive and school life is getting back to normal. However, it's still not "normal" with both schools still recording higher than normal student and teacher absences as Covid and other winter illnesses still continue to impact, but both schools are working hard to overcome the difficulties and meet the challenges head on, and they are still expecting excellent results from their students. Both Richard and Gordon also extended their thanks to our club for the support they receive. |
THURSDAY OCTOBER 6th. DINNER MEETING - FUN & FELLOWSHIP; GOLF DRIVING RANGE & FISH & CHIP NIGHT.
THURSDAY OCTOBER 20th. BREAKFAST MEETING - GUEST SPEAKER DISTRICT GOVERNOR, OUR OWN ALLAN SMITH!
It is now only 9 days away from our Quiz Night., but we still have 6 - 7 tables to sell! 
