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The President's Pen

President Hugh wishes all members and their families a very happy New Year and he is looking forward to seeing a good turnout at our first meeting of the year, a breakfast meeting this Thursday February 11th.
 
President: Rotary Club of St Johns
Phone: 021 0813 7313
Stories
Obituary
On December the 23rd we were saddened by the news of the passing of Katrina Bell's Mum, Lorraine.  Loosing your Mum at anytime is very tough, but right on the eve of Christmas is even tougher and our thoughts went out to Katrina, Patrick and family at this very sad time.
 
On behalf of the club, IPP Robyn sent the following email on the 23rd.

From: Robyn Ingram
Sent: Wednesday, 23 December 2020 2:43 pm
To: Katrina Bell <katrinabell@xtra.co.nz>
Subject: Condolences from Rotary Club of St Johns

Hi Katrina

I just wanted to pass on condolences, in a more ‘official’ capacity from your friends at Rotary Club of St Johns.

If there is anything you need help with, please don’t hesitate to let one of us know.

Hugs and warm regards

Robyn

Robyn Ingram

Immediate Past President & Club Services

St Johns Rotary Inc

robyn.ingram@outlook.com

Mobile: 022 0200 171  

 
Read more...
Members Holiday Snaps
 
As the club ended formalities in December members were asked to submit their favorite "Holiday Snap" for future publication in the Bulletin.  The first snap is of the "St. Johns Rotary Coffee Group", (with a couple of regular supporters from Newmarket and Auckland Rotary in the form of Peter Ross and Mike Milne).  This particular Friday ended the year with a good turnout at Annabell's, St. Heliers.  This meeting also coincided with Murray's Birthday - thanks for the cake Murray. 
 
Penny McG's snap says it all!  Hasn't it been a stunning period of fine weather and it's  good to hear that so many of our members have been able to get out and about and enjoy the freedom to travel, spend time with friends and family, eat out, attend concerts etc etc.
 
Following a day out on the sparkling waters of the Bay of Islands, watching the Tall Ship Regatta, the next day the Robinsons did a couple of local site visits including an amazingly interesting talk by one of the architectural designers (a former Rotary GSE member), on the construction and meaning behind every aspect of the Hundertwasser tribute in Kawakawa. They spent over an hour and just started to get an understanding and will keep going back especially as there is much still being developed. Things like a roof waterfall made from crushed car bodies ... how amazingly unique.
 
Despite being 66, "who says I haven't still got it?" says Patrick as he looks good on the Pauanui Estuary.
 
"Gosh I really do look great!"
 
Well maybe not so great - ouch!
 
 
Two of our Hon Members Mary Ann and Andy among the Sun Flowers at the Van  Gough exhibition in Wellington.
 
 
For Michelle, summer doesn't get much better than attending son Brad's wedding.
 
 
IPP Robyn and Editor PW met in Pauanui to begin discussions on the formation of the Coromandel branch of SJRC.  Can't just have the South Island branch as the only remote branch!!
 
 
Construction of the Coromandel Club House located in Pauanui is progressing well, and great news - IPP Robyn has very kindly agreed to pickup the role of Care-taker of the new facility, due for opening in May.
 
 
Hon Member Ainie and her youngest daughter walked the Queen Charlotte Track on 4 Jan. Thoroughly enjoyable, and was  even more special when they got to Anikiwa, and observed some special needs Outward Bound students practising their kayaking skills,
 
 
At the end of the International Fellowship of Rotarians' Auckland Fleet weekend visit to the Bay of Islands Fleet, the Robinsons arrived for lunch at the Kawakawa Railway Station Cafe when the train pulled into the station & a guard appeared!
 
 
Not only did IPP Robyn take RYE Student  Isi on a trip to Wellington. but Muriel and Phil took her on a road trip to Waitomo.  This photo is of the three of them in the Ruakura Cave and there is a great picture of the three of them in the Glow Worm Cave in Robyn's story below.
 
 
A little red tasting happening in Whangamata. 
 
 
Colin Says that he's drinking a Milkshake - sure Colin!
 
 
...and last but far from least - our member and sponsor Graham managed some well earned time off for a road trip in Central Otago.
Club Activities & Other Important Dates to Diary
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 11th - Breakfast Meeting - Speaker Lachlan Kerr: 
We are delighted to host Lachlan Kerr, our sponsored RYE Exchange Student who is looking forward to joining us for breakfast for the first time since he returned to NZ.   Lachlan will recap 'in person’ on his Covid-interrupted Exchange; how he filled in his time when he returned safely to NZ (back in July) and his plans for this year.  Come along on the 11th and hear firsthand from Lachlan.  Don't you love the before and after Exchange photos!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 18th - Breakfast Meeting - Speaker Troy Churton:
 
12 months ago, Troy finished 5.5 years as the National Manager - Retirement Villages, at the Commission for Financial Capability and he now holds a leadership team role with the Financial Services Council.  He will reflect on some of the potential "fish hooks" of Retirement villages. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 25th - Breakfast Meeting, Speaker Rhondda Middleton Salvation Army:

Since 1883, The Salvation Army has fought poverty and social and spiritual distress in New Zealand.  They have helped more than 120,000 families and individuals in need each year—with budgeting advice, food and clothing assistance, life skills programmes and other comfort and support. 

Rotary in our District started to assist with foodbank packing and food parcel distribution (from the Manukau Centre) during the Covid Lockdown. Teams of Rotarians from different clubs (including ours) have kept up the volunteer work at their Manukau Food Bank on a regular basis.  

 

Club Member Frances Benge - CureKids CEO

In case you missed our last meeting in 2020, our club member and CureKids CEO, Frances Benge gave a quick report on what she had been up to.  Here is an extract from CureKids newsletter:

On December 1, CureKids CEO, Frances Benge, launched the first 'State of Child Health in Aotearoa NZ' report in Parliament. The aim of the report is to help identify the most urgent priorities for child health research. It provides a 'snapshot' of children's health in New Zealand and this inaugural edition focuses on the latest published data concerning three specific areas: dental disease, respiratory conditions and skin infections.

It was really fantastic to see how well the report was received by the Government, with special endorsement from the Children's Commissioner for New Zealand, Judge Andrew Becroft. The event also generated significant media coverage on the day.

We partnered with the Paediatric Society of New Zealand, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the New Zealand Child and Youth Epidemiology Service (NZCYES) at the University of Otago to prepare the report. Looking ahead, we will publish this report on an annual basis, working together with our partners, to further identify other urgent priorities for child health research.  Click here to read the report.  Your fellow club members are very proud of your efforts Frances.

A Visit to Wellington with Isi from Chile
As many of you know, Isi was the last Rotary Youth Exchange Student left in our District, with the usual July intake from Europe cancelled thanks to Covid. Our South American students exchange from January, so come July of last year we just had Isi from Chile, with South American exchanges running January - January.
 
Isi has experienced a year of contrast! Hosted by Tuakau Rotary Club, she attended Tuakau College and lived in Tuakau. This was a HUGE change for city-girl Isi, who grew up in Santiago, one of the largest cities in the America's. She exchanged with our Club's sponsored Outbound student, Lachlan Kerr, who very happily left for Chile in January 2020 (just as Isi arrived her), but as you will be aware, Lachlan returned to NZ in June 2020 after only six months on exchange. Like many around the world, Lachlan's exchange was 'different' and totally disrupted by Covid. He spent around four months in Lockdown in Chile and with no improvement in sight and that countries healthcare severely overrun, the decision was made to return to NZ, luckily via an Australian repatriation flight. Via Zoom, Lachlan presented to us while travelling the South Island and is very much looking forward to presenting to us 'in person' once our meetings resume this year.
 
Although all of our RYE events and excursions were cancelled last year and we endured two lockdowns in the Auckland region, Isi's hosts and the RYE committee worked hard to ensure she had the best experience she could; with continued background work evaluating whether we needed to look at repatriations flights to get her home early - or not. Thankfully for Isi, she has been able to enjoy a full twelve months in NZ - some at school, some in lockdown, some being a good RYE Ambassador giving presentations to Rotary Clubs, and (Yeh) some sightseeing! Despite having to cancel our usual Rotary organised South Island trip for RYE's, we found another safe, student-orientated trip option for her to enjoy, and she has had lots of other excursions with her host families here and there, including quite a few train trips up to big-bad Auckland.
 
About 10 months into an Exchange we always check with our Inbounds about anything on their 'Bucket List' they hadn't achieved and then see if we can work out a way to 'tick' a few more 'things' off that list. When I heard Isi had not been to Wellington, I was delighted to make this an opportunity for me to revisit my 'almost' hometown and take her on a whirlwind weekend trip to our beautiful Capital City.
 
Top of the Cable Car - super on a fine day!
In Parliament grounds - tour of Beehive, Parliament House and Library.
 
We had a super weekend mid-January and in two quick days managed to: walk the waterfront; go up the Cable Car; walk the Botanical (hilly-puff-gasp) Gardens; then (highlight) do a night tour at Zealandia. This is the first urban, completely fenced ecosanctuary, where the biodiversity of 225ha of forest is being restored and where over 40 rare native wildlife species are protected. At dusk, thanks to a great guide we watched Kereru's divebomb to show off their fat white chests; saw Kaka swooping and feeding; watched some Takahe feeding up close and spotted four Tuatara coming out of burrows, one even yawned for us to show he was alive. Once night fell, armed with red flash lights we nearly tripped over another sizable Tuatara ambling along our path and further into the tour, (carefully) spied the backend of Weta's in their natural holes in trees; saw banks shimmering with glowworms and identified quite a few different spiders in webs. Our guide got us to tune into Kiwi calls and then (drum roll) helped us to see little spotted Kiwi - at four different locations in the bush. WOW, so very cool - a must do if you have time when you visit Wellington.  Spotting Kiwi not guaranteed - we had an exceptionally lucky night for seeing so many.
 
The next day we hit the Museums, Wellington Museum (on Jervious Quay) and Te Papa (Cable Street, near the waterfront) with a break in-between to walk to Cuba Mall and Courtenay Place. In the afternoon we strolled to Parliament grounds and did a surprisingly interesting tour of Parliament Buildings. We then nipped across the road to the National Library to see the Treaty of Waitangi and Kate Sheppard's Petition - which were both available to see in especially darkened rooms, and supplemented with clever audiovisuals to educate us further. We followed this up with 'refreshments' and a meal at the famous (?) Backbenchers Gastropub.
 
 
 
Our final day we enjoyed more exploring of Lambton Quay checking the 'Shoreline was previously here' plaques, then we Ubered to Weta Workshop in Mirimar to do a combo tour. Part One covered the original Weta Workshop, where you learn about props, costume and creatures created for films e.g. District 9; Avatar; Lord of the Rings; Hobbit. This was followed up with a 'Miniature Effects Tour' where you can learn some filmmaking techniques of miniature effects - with a new version of 'Thunderbirds Are Go' currently filming the third series. Super fun for me (growing up with Thunderbirds on the telly) and fun for Isi to see Hobbiton in miniature (used for those whole village wide shots).
 
 
 
PP Ainie (super happily now residing in Wellington) then scooped us up to have lunch at her Apartment and then walked us back to Te Papa so we could do the Gallipoli exhibition, which we hadn't made time for the day before. Weta workshop made all of the exhibition models for this display, so having just done their tour, we appreciated even more, the amazing models. If you haven't seen this display, put it on your 'list'. It is so popular and so incredibly moving that our Weta Workship guide told us Te Papa has extended it for a further three-plus years.
 
Ainie then drove us to the airport, ensuring to go around the bays so Isi could take in a bit more Wellington architecture, Oriental Parade, the odd private cable-car, and the Hollywood style 'Wellington' sign blowing apart on the hill. Just time for a quick ice-cream before we flew back to Auckland.
 
The next day, lucky Isi was picked up by Muriel and Phil and whisked off to Waitomo Caves for a day of tours! Isi reported to me on WhatsApp that Waitomo Caves was AMAZING and sent this really lovely photo. Thank you Muriel and Phil for taking special time out to provide this unexpected experience for Isi.  
 
Isi was due to leave NZ on January 26 and should be back safely in Chile by the time this story goes to print. What a memorable year to spend in NZ? We wish her all the very best for her next adventure, now that she is safely back in Chile.
The Changing Face of Rotary
During the holidays, PP Peter B heard on National Radio, an interview entitled "The Changing Face of Rotary", concerning Waitakere Club and President Kriddle's Roberts ( https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018756722/the-changing-face-of-rotary).  Peter saw that this was first put out by RNZ as 'The Detail' in July 2020, and it is a great story and motivation for diversifying Rotary while opening ourselves up to our community. 
 
If you have the time, Peter highly recommends that all Rotarians take the time to read.  Enjoy!
 
Time For A Smile



 

KEEP SMILING

Rotary Four Way Test
 
Next Meeting:
Breakfast Meeting
 
Thursday February 11th 2021 
7.00 am for 7.15 am.
 
Venue - Remuera Golf Club
 
Bulletin Contents: 
  • The President's Pen
  • Obituary
  • Holiday Snaps
  • Activities and other Important Dares
  • Frances Benge - Curekids
  • A Visit To Wellington
  • The Changing Face of Rotary
  • Time for a Smile
Speakers
Feb 11, 2021 7:00 AM
RYE Exchange cut short by Covid - what next?
Feb 18, 2021 7:00 AM
Retirement Villages and Financial Capability
Feb 25, 2021 7:00 AM
Salvation Army Manukau
Mar 04, 2021 6:00 PM
TBA
View entire list
Upcoming Events
New World Stonefields & Eastridge Golf Tournament
Apr 09, 2021
11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
 
ANZAC Breakfast
Apr 25, 2021
7:00 AM – 8:30 AM
 
Annual Debate with RC of Auckland East
May 06, 2021
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 
MUNA 2021 (Model United Nations Assembly)
May 28, 2021 9:00 AM –
May 29, 2021 5:00 PM
 
View entire list
Meeting Responsibilities
Thursday 11 February MORNING
 
Set-Up
Francis, Andy
 
Attendance
Robinson, Beryl
 
Greeter
Fergus, Brian
 
Speaker Host
Hartstone, David
 
Speaker Thanks & Close
Lucas, Claire
 
Set-Down
Robinson, Colin
 
Stand-By
Key, Gary
 
Thursday 18 February MORNING
 
Set-Up
Harris, Lesley
 
Attendance
Fabian, Graham
 
Greeter
Jolliffe, Cheri
 
Speaker Host
Tedcastle, Isabella
 
Speaker Thanks & Close
Kevany, Kevin
 
Set-Down
Boyd, Lynette
 
Stand-By
Hillman, Mark
 
Thursday 25 February MORNING
 
Set-Up
Forman, Michelle
 
Attendance
Cain, Miles
 
Greeter
Mayne, Alan
 
Speaker Host
Richardson-Jones, Aubrey
 
Speaker Thanks & Close
Hogg, Janice
 
Set-Down
Roake, Muriel
 
Stand-By
Hutchinson, Murray
 
Thursday 4 March EVENING
 
Set-Up
Gilmer, Gavin
 
Attendance
Cornaga, John
 
Greeter
Figueiredo, Avinash
 
Speaker Host
Mcphee, Angus
 
Speaker Thanks & Close
Gunn, Liz
 
Set-Down
Wheadon, Ruth
 
Stand-By
Mann, Michele
 
Thursday 11 March MORNING
 
Set-Up
Rutherford, Christie
 
Attendance
McGarry, Penny
 
Greeter
Lewisham, John
 
Speaker Host
Bell, Patrick
 
Speaker Thanks & Close
Leyland, Penny
 
Set-Down
Robinson, Neil
 
Stand-By
Gerrard, Tricia
 
Thursday 18 March MORNING
 
Set-Up
Key, Gary
 
Attendance
Buchanan, Peter
 
Greeter
Bhana, Prabha
 
Speaker Host
Ingram, Robyn
 
Speaker Thanks & Close
Wheadon, Ruth
 
Set-Down
Hillman, Mark
 
Stand-By
Peacock, Shaun
 
Thursday 25 March MORNING
 
Set-Up
Fergus, Brian
 
Attendance
Robinson, Colin
 
Greeter
Lucas, Claire
 
Speaker Host
Robinson, Beryl
 
Speaker Thanks & Close
Francis, Andy
 
Set-Down
Hartstone, David
 
Stand-By
Roake, Muriel
 
Thursday 1 April EVENING
 
Set-Up
Cain, Miles
 
Attendance
Belthazar, Jane
 
Greeter
Gilmer, Gavin
 
Speaker Host
Mann, Michele
 
Speaker Thanks & Close
Richardson-Jones, Aubrey
 
Set-Down
Hutchinson, Murray
 
Stand-By
Forman, Michelle
 
Thursday 8 April MORNING
 
Set-Up
Kevany, Kevin
 
Attendance
Tedcastle, Isabella
 
Greeter
Hogg, Janice
 
Speaker Host
Jolliffe, Cheri
 
Speaker Thanks & Close
Harris, Lesley
 
Set-Down
Fabian, Graham
 
Stand-By
Boyd, Lynette
 
Thursday 15 April MORNING
 
Set-Up
McGarry, Penny
 
Attendance
Leyland, Penny
 
Greeter
Robinson, Neil
 
Speaker Host
Cornaga, John
 
Speaker Thanks & Close
Mayne, Alan
 
Set-Down
Mcphee, Angus
 
Stand-By
Bhana, Prabha
 
Thursday 22 April NO MEETING
 
Deferred for ANZAC meeting
 
Sunday 25 April MORNING
 
Set-Up
Lewisham, John
 
Attendance
Bell, Patrick
 
Greeter
Ingram, Robyn
 
Speaker Host
Mann, Michele
 
Speaker Thanks & Close
Street, Tom
 
Set-Down
Rutherford, Christie
 
Stand-By
Jones, Simon
 

Club Contacts

President: 
Hugh Scott-Russell 021 0813 7313 
Secretary, Treasurer & Apologies: 
Alex Gatt 021 571 722
Presidents Elect: 
Penny McGarry 021 702 310   &
Lesley Harris 027 4935 498
Sergeant: 
Michelle Forman 021 0277 9456
Club Services: 
Robyn Ingram  022 0200 171 
Bulletin Editor: 
Pete Walsh 021 747 858
Membership: 
John Lewisham 021 375080
Website:  www.rotarystjohns.club
Our Meetings
 
We meet Thursday for breakfast at
7:00 am for 7:15 am start,
except for the first Thursday of the month, when we meet in the evening at 6:00 pm for dinner.
 
Remuera Golf Club
120 Abbotts Way
Remuera
Auckland 1072
New Zealand 
 
All Rotarian's are welcome 
including family members.
 
Others wanting to visit are most welcome - please phone or email:
John Lewisham. Ph: 021 375 080, email; jdlewisham@gmail.com
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