Co-Presidents St. Johns Rotary, Penny McGarry (Ph: 021 702 310), and Lesley Harris (Ph: 027 4935 498)
Welcome back Co President Penny, it's really nice to have you at the helm again, particularly as you inducted Maddy and Alex into our Club. A great example of 'Youthenasia' as Gary so aptly put it! Welcome Maddy and Alex, it's great to have you onboard.
Sergeant Angus led a Q and A on our Local Ward, which we all failed miserably but are wiser now with the help and input of Margaret Voyce, who was our guest, shortly to be our newest Member.
We welcomed back Hugh who spoke about his family's recent visit to South Africa, very interesting aside from Hugh's injury when he came off the quad bike. Don't do that again Hugh!
A reminder, Assembly next week, and please practise singing the St John's song for the
Guests: 1 - Prospective new member - Margaret Voyce
Club Notices and summary of upcoming activity:
Change-over June 18th - More details to follow
District Conference Jun 24 - 26 in Wellington - if you require more details please contact Co-Presidents
Club Co-Presidents confirmed that the club has formally supported member Ainie Kwok in her DG Nomination for 2024/2025.
Directors Reports:
Gary:
Gary reminded members that the Club Assembly will be held this coming Thursday - An opportunity for our Co-President Elects to share their plans for the coming year.
At the Assembly, we also need to film members singing the Club's "Anthem" to be shown at the upcoming District Conference. A good turnout would be appreciated - a prize of $1,000 is sitting waiting for us to collect!
Have A Go now into week 3 and all progressing well.
Peter B:
Next Working Bee at Apirana Reserve is scheduled for July 23rd - more details to follow.
Orakei Environmental Forum is scheduled for May 29th. Colin R is coordinating St. Johns presence. Please contact Colin should you wish to be involved.
Tom S:
District has confirmed that our six nominated participants have been accepted for RYLA 2022. Tom called for volunteers to assist with gear checking on June 18th and for drivers on July 2nd. Thanks to those who volunteered - Tom will be in touch directly.
Allan S: (As DG Elect Allan reported):
District Changeover will be held on Sunday morning 3rd July at the Carlton Gore Bowling Club
District Conference is being planned for April 2023. Venue being considered is Karaka - more to be advised following site visit this week
New Member Induction x 2:
For the first time in a long-time, our Co-Presidents had the pleasure of inducting, not one, but two new member's into the Rotary Club of St. Johns. Maddy Faber and Alex Billington have been guests at the club at least three times over the last couple of months and today they were formally inducted. Your fellow Rotarians welcome you with open arms!
Guest Speaker:
Our guest speaker last week was PP Hugh who has recently returned from South Africa, his homeland, having made the trip this time as a tourist, although the primary reason for the trip was to visit his 85 year old mother.
His very interesting talk covered a range of highlights as well as a range of facts and figures about South Africa, such as;
History,
First settlers
Political history
Geography and
Population statistics.
His trip included visits to his home town of Joburg, Pillanesburg, Cape Town and Hout Bay,
Apart from sightseeing, the trip was peppered with many celebrations and reunions with friends and family, although a week was lost when Hugh and Jackie were isolated due to catching Covid. Thanks for sharing your story Hugh - it's always particularly interesting when our guest speakers are club members.
As this picture clearly shows, it was made clear by Hugh's Mum when it was time for him to leave!!!
THURSDAY MAY 26th - BREAKFAST MEETING -CLUB ASSEMBLY Hosted by CO-Presidents Elect, Graham Fabian & Gary Key. Please also see story below, "St. Johns Club song".
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.
As reported earlier, all clubs in District 9920 have been invited to present a "skit", or song, at the upcoming District Conference to be held in Wellington next month. The best performance will receive a prize of $1,000! Your Board has opted to sing our way to the winners circle by having all members, or as many as possible", sing the song below, to the tune of the original Chesdale TV advertisement - remember?
The filming of our entry will be undertaken at the Club Assembly which will be held at our Breakfast Meeting on May 26th...please please please do all possible to attend the meeting and make this a winning entry.
The lyric's have been updated and shown below - now you can print these out and practice at home, in the shower, in bed, at the top of Mt Taylor, or wherever you want to!
Verse 1
"We are the folks from St Johns Club
We're just on 12 years old
And this year's project is calendars
We have nearly got them sold
Trips to Rangitoto, Yachting, Art and Tamaki Trust
And boy our breakfasts are a must
St Johns Club, it's mostly Rotary, but not totally…….
Verse 2
We are the folks from St Johns Club
Now nearly 33 years old
Youth is our passion –
inspiring these kids for gold
Through camps, and have a go sailing,
Dictionaries, and resources to help with their schooling,
St Johns Club, it's mostly Rotary, but not totally.
Verse 3
Slowed but not stopped by Covid,
we fed our minds through Zooms
and plotted projects a plenty –
foodbank packing and collections -enough to fill some rooms
And now its time to reconnect, because out club is friendly
Breakfast again, Some dinners too with food and fun aplenty
St Johns Club, it's mostly Rotary, but not totally…….
Verse 4
We are the folks from St Johns Club
Talented as you see!
We’re almost irreverent that’s our charm as
all we members can be!
New DG Allan is from our Club and we will back him fully
with his lovely wife Sue we are in for a good year truely
St Johns Club, it's mostly Rotary, but not totally……
The following email has been received by the Club and shared for your information:
Dear Lesley
The Rotary Club of Auckland East is running an Online Auction to raise funds for a 3D PRINTED HEART MODEL to enable more effective hands-on training for Paediatric cardiologists at Starship Children’s Hospital.
Any additional funds will be applied to our traditional Rotary Youth programmes, which assists hundreds of young people develop their potential.
The online auction will take place over two weeks, from 10 am Sat 28 May until 4pm Sun 12 June.
Over 70 items, including accommodation, wine, golf, prints and much more will be available.
You will need to register (no cost) to access the site to enable bidding and delivery and the site is
We would welcome your support for this online auction as the 3D PRINTED HEART MODEL will result in enormous benefits to New Zealand and Pacific Island children with serious heart issues.
Diary these dates now and join us on 28 May.!
Send this on to your friends, neighbours, rellies and others in your network, as we are committed to the purchase of the 3D PRINTED HEART for Starship Childrens' Hospital.
Have you ever wanted to attend a Rotary International Convention - well now is your chance!
It is unlikely that it will ever be more accessable, or at a lower cost, than attending next years convention, which will be held in Melbourne, May 27 - 31. There is a special registration price available 4th-8th June.
For all the details click on the following link for a copy of the online brochure.
Like many of our club members, have you been you been yearning to be involved in a community project? Well here's your opportunity - read on.
Trees for Survival have invited members of St. Johns Rotary to join TFS at their upcoming Planting Day with Churchill Park School on July 7th. St. Johns members will be warmly welcomed to attend.
This is a public land planting at Pourewa Valley so details regarding parking/meeting place to be confirmed closer to time. Click on "Read More" for additional details.
The following invitation has been received from District inviting 9920 Clubs to join this fundraising event.
Dear Fellow Rotarians.
Dear Peter Rotary Botany Downs has organised a Girmit Night fundraising function in aid of Rotary Foundation and Dilkusha home in Fiji on the 28th of May at Mangere Centre Park. Tickets are selling at $100 each which includes a 3-course dinner, drinks and live entertainment. District appreciates club’s support for this event , if you have any questions or would like to reserve tickets please let Ritesh.Patel@fbu.com know.
Co-Presidents St. Johns Rotary, Penny McGarry (Ph: 021 702 310), and Lesley Harris (Ph: 027 4935 498)
For the first time in a long-time, our Co-Presidents had the pleasure of inducting, not one, but two new member's into the Rotary Club of St. Johns. Maddy Faber and Alex Billington have been guests at the club at least three times over the last couple of months and today they were formally inducted. Your fellow Rotarians welcome you with open arms! 
Our guest speaker last week was PP Hugh who has recently returned from South Africa, his homeland, having made the trip this time as a tourist, although the primary reason for the trip was to visit his 85 year old mother.
THURSDAY JUNE 9th - BREAKFAST MEETING - GUEST SPEAKER: ZANE RADEMAKER: