 President "Renegade" Robyn welcomed 31 members and two guests to our first physical meeting in 13 weeks, following 12 "Zoom Meetings" which filled a huge gap during Covid-19 Levels 4, 3 and 2, and what a great meeting it was. The only concern members had was the welcome from our Greeter on the day, Patrick Bell, who greeted us all wearing one blue rubber glove - which was a bit suspect and looked quite frightening! We did, however, need to excuse Patrick for his lewd greeting as overnight his daughter presented Patrick and Katrina with their 1st grandson . Big congratulations to you both and our very best wishes to Baby and Mum and Dad. Grant from the Remuera Golf Club was also on-hand to pour all attendees a glass of champagne as a welcome back gesture and many members thought that this would be a great way to start all future meetings!!! Thank you Grant - we are delighted to be back home and we thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality and a great breakfast.  After Robyn had delivered all Club Notices and important dates, details of which are well covered off in the Bulletin, we were introduced to "The Fab Four". The Fab Four, members of our club, were invited to each share with the meeting, some of their Lockdown highlights and challenges. Simon kicked off by sharing with us how his family came back together for Lockdown, with their two daughters returning from Uni in Wellington. It was an excellent experience, with all happily sharing in the household duties including cooking their share of meals and what surprised Simon and Rosemary was that over the weeks, devices, which are normally such an important appendage, became less and less important as the family enjoyed other aspects of life together in Lockdown. Simon is also on the Board of Dove Hospice which was seriously impacted over the last couple of months with all their shops closing down overnight, putting a stop to their primary income source. Despite that, the Hospice continued to operate at full potential with all services remaining active during Lockdown as they continued to care for individuals with life threatening illnesses and their families. Penny then shared her story. Penny lives alone, but was fortunate to have her daughter and 20 month old grandson move in. What a huge opportunity this was to allow Grandma and grandson to forge a closer relationship. One of the daily highlights was a walk around the Panmure Basin and still today every-time her grandson now sees Penny he wants to "go walk". During Lockdown Penny's Mum turned 88 and her Dad 95! They also had their 66th wedding anniversary and although they weren't able to celebrate in the way they would have liked , the family were able to meet at a distance while recognizing the huge efforts the retirement village went to to keep them safe Next to speak was Graham and you can imagine all the stories he had! The move from "Normal" to "Lockdown" was dramatic. The whole operation was virtually turned on its head over night and changes needed to meet the restrictions were enormous and needed to be implemented with virtually no lead-time. One of his first stories was that up to three times a day, when he got home from the supermarket, Beryl made him strip. For further details you will need to ask Graham, but it does sound as if Lockdown was not always that bad! Graham shared with us some of the reactions from staff and customers. Many of the staff were scared and 95% of the time customers were kind to each other but on the odd occasion where customers were disenchanted, nasty or unkind, they were put in their placed by other customers who were accepting of the difficulties others were facing. Lesley then shared some of her thoughts, which were quite different again. Although Lesley was in a Bubble of One, she maintained regular contact via Zoom and Face-time with her daughters and grandchildren. Although we had it tough, her family in London are still in Lockdown after 12 weeks and only very slowly are some of the restrictions being lifted. From a business perspective her office, like all Real Estate Agencies, was closed. This created all sorts of challenges. In the 3 - 4 months leading up to Lockdown, the housing market saw extraordinary activity resulting in over 6,000 settlements New Zealand wide being held up during level 4. The market now is "unusual", with more demand than listings available. It is predicted that this current buoyant market will not last as the cost to the economy unfolds, and mortgage holidays and the like are removed from the market. DG Nominee Allan, who had chaired the panel discussion, then thanked the Fab Four for some excellent stories, some of which were very personal. He also took the opportunity to publicly thank Graham for his very generous support, supporting St. Johns Rotary by restocking of the very much in demand Glen Innes Foodbank. |
Members of the SJRC have the opportunity to participate in a Working Bee in the Native Plant Nursery on Motutapu Island.
