Co-Presidents St. Johns Rotary, Gary Key (Ph: 021 611169), and Graham Fabian (Ph: 021 826292).
Good Morning fellow Rotarians,. As I write this on Sunday afternoon, we thought we would work our weekly Presidents' Pen backwards as follows:
Sunday morning 0900 –1123 Project Apirana Reserve Mulching; thank you to Project lead Peter Buchanan and team, Margaret, Ruth, Miles, Kevin; great job - moved 20m2 to designated area. Ken, Roger and Nanda were very happy with result. We had a fun fellowship afterwards at Browns Cafe.
Saturday; Project Ruapotaka School Sand Pit 0830–1400. Project Lead John Lewisham with thanks to Miles, Kevin, Graham, Claire, Chester (Claire’s Partner), Alex Billington (Maddies Partner), Jon Faber (supplied Trucks, Sand, Yellow Digger) Hayden( Yellow Digger Driver). Report and photos separate story below.
Friday Project End Polio Now - Polio Train 0745 - 1500, Project Lead Murray Hutchinson - well done Murray, enjoyed your company and managed to sell the Raffle Tickets as allocated, yes, we had a captive audience (hard to get off the train to avoid us).
Thursday Evening Meeting; great speakers, but embarrassed with our Club's Turnout!!!
Update on Last Saturday//Sunday Book Fair-we logged 33hrs of Volunteer Time.
Raffle—Project Lead Miles; we have 200 tickets to sell—so Rotarians, ask yourself how many have you individually sold ??? P.S. no excuses.
ATTENDANCE:
1/ If you are not attending Meetings
2/ If you are not attending Projects
3/ If you are not contributing to Fellowship
4/ If you are not contributing to Youth
5/ If you are not contributing to your Community:
Don’t call yourself a Rotarian—Go look in the Mirror!!!
Note From Ed - Unfortunately the dreaded Covid finally tracked Angela and I down last week. This forced us into Isolation and accordingly my absence from attending the meeting on November 7th. Thank you to Lynette for the "Meeting In Review" notes, taken in my absence.
A total of 28 in attendance including 3 guests
Prior to dinner, Co-President Gary recapped club activity and plans for the immediate future.
November 27 is market day at Stonefields and we are wanting volunteers to help with a good club profile - see story below and contact Muriel if you can assist.
On Feb 19 there will be a Stonefields Musical Festival and Muriel and Margaret would like some help for this as well.
Miles and Margaret will attend the Remuera Rotary Club and get recognition for raising money.
Andy had a mishap in the Whanganui River and that contributed to ending his walk of NZ. He is at home now and we all agreed that he had done an excellent job with his walk in the North Island.
The District Conference will be held on March 31 to 1 April and it is essential for all members to get behind this and support DG Allan.
Penny Leyland advised that Gonza sends his regards and he is doing extremely well. He recently sat his 3rd-year medical exams. Unfortunately, his mother was fighting cancer over the Covid lockdowns. We all sent him our best wishes.
Our Guest Speakers were from AUT and specialize in research for developing Walkable Cities, and they also investigate where Auckland sits worldwide on this topic.
Erica Hinckson and Scot Duncan want to create Healthy Cities.
Erica runs a team of researchers to study physical activities and examine air pollution.
She said the high-income cities do better in this and asked the question.....
"Does Auckland have city planning policy frameworks in place to deliver healthy and sustainable cities?"
The answer to this is;
Auckland performed below par on planning policy framework for healthy and sustainable cities!
(If anyone would like a copy of Erica and Scott's Power Point presentation, please contact the Editor.)
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 17TH, BREAKFAST MEETING. Directors to run project driven committee meetings. Be sure to be present to have your say in our future activities.
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 24th, BREAKFAST MEETING, Guest Speaker; Dove Hospice & Wellness Presenters: Stephanie Forde, Clinical Manager of the Integrated Care Team and Dr Graeme Kidd who provides Medical Counselling and specialised medical input into Dove’s Palliative Care and Respite Unit. Dr Graeme Kidd is a GP in Howick with a special interest in Palliative care and metaphysics and has worked for Dove for 15 years.
Whitford Park Golf Club, and the expectation is that this will be a sell-out very quickly as soon as sales are launched. Interested? Diary today and let Dave Hartstone know that you would like to book a team.
We have committed to one more collection this year, for the Glen Innes Food Bank at this very difficult time for so many in our community.
PP Hugh has worked his magic once again and he has emailed an online volunteer booking sheet. If you can commit to a couple of hours on the 3rd, Dec please register your availability now.
This Wednesday, November 16th, and then again on Wednesday November 30th, will be the last two opportunities this year to assist the Salvation Army with their Food Box Packing;
When: Wednesday 16th November and Wednesday November 30th
Where: 18 Allright Place, Mt Wellington
Time: 0900 - 1200
Can you assist - please contact Murray H to register your assistance and to obtain more specific details.
As promoted in recent issues of the Bulletin, the District's "End Polio Now" fund-raising "Train Ride", took place last Friday. The participating Rotarians were farewelled from Britomart at 0745 by Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson. The amount raised has not yet been announced but will be shared once known.
A big thank you to Co-President Gary and Murray H. for waving the St. Johns flag and representing the club at this ongoing, all important Rotary International fund-raising event.
Additional photos recording the event can be seen by clicking on "Read More" below.
The day started at 8.30am at Ruapotaka School, in Glen Innes. with the arrival of the heavy machinery and a dedicated team of St. Johns volunteers. The plan was to remove the old unusable playground equipment, (pictured at left), and scrape off about 100mm of decomposed bark, then lay 80 2m of weed mat, before constructing a new sandpit at the school.
While the above work was being undertaking, the truck collected 3 loads (15cu m) of sand from Pokeno.
The work progressed throughout the day, thanks to the efforts of all St. Johns volunteers. The photos that can be seen by clicking on "Read More" clearly show the magnitude of the project.
A big thank you to Mike, the School Groundsman, for his support and direction which greatly assisted our team on the day, and a huge thank you to Jon Faber for the provision and loan of the heavy equipment
A memorable day, and a great outcome for the school and the community who will benefit from the facility in the years to come.
It would not be unreasonable to think that club members had worked hard enough for one weekend, but there was still more to do. A Working Bee at Apirana Reserve on Sunday!!
From Peter B, who organised the Working Bee, a collective thank you to all for giving up their Sunday morning, putting up with the rain, to help shift 20 cubic metres of broody mulch. We did it though !
The photos, which can be seen by clicking on "Read More", clearly show the magnitude of the workload. Once again- great fun, some healthy exercise, and 'enlightened' conversation including at coffee afterwards.
This week Snap Chatterer is scheduled to be Co-Director Club Services, Lesley Harris. It has been a while since we heard from Lesley, and hopefully we will have the time to hear from her, before or after the Committee Meetings are held.
The Stonefields Family Market Day will be held on Sun 27 Nov 10.30am to 1.00pm . The market will be held near the Pub at 30 Stonefields Ave, corner College Rd.
St Johns Rotary will be present on the day, promoting our community activities and seeking interest in membership from interested and enthusiastic residents.
We are seeking two groups of volunteers;
One group will be manning the Rotary Stand and another group of 6 will be required to help out with the queues at the 3 bouncy castles.
If you are interested and available to assist on the day, and you haven't already registered your interest, please contact muriel@murielroake.com 027 938 1028.
Rotary St Johns, your club, is responsible for hosting this important event so your support is needed by coming along for a great time. The programme is still being finalised but so far it is a wonderful mix of social/networking events and incredibly inspiring speakers. Being close to home it is easy to get to, and the venue is impressive as anyone who has been to Karaka Bloodstock will attest to. So register your place today, especially as you will want to get along to the full programme (Friday night dinner is limited to the first 120 registrants).
Friday: Foundation Dinner and charity auction
Saturday: Conference
Saturday: Past District Governor Cocktail Hour
Saturday: Awards Dinner
More details regarding programme, guest speakers, registration etc. will be shared over the coming weeks, but in the meantime, ensure that you have these dates in your diary.
WATCH THIS SPACE for more information as speakers and the conference programme are confirmed.
To date we have now sold over 50 of the 200 tickets, a good start but a long way to go. In addition to the emailed tickets that have been sold to date, we now have books of 5 tickets to assist the sales process. Please contact Miles for some books of tickets to sell to extended family and friends.
This is an important fundraiser for the club so we need everybody to get behind this.
Through the generosity of our past presidents Mary Ann and Andy, plus contributions to the travel allowance from Donald Bowie, we are offering this amazing mini break experience just 15 minutes out of Blenheim.
Great odds with only 200 tickets.
This is a fantastic way to support the club and a great opportunity to have a chance to win this amazing holiday vacation.
Please share this email and the attached Flyer amongst friends and colleagues.
We have committed to one more collection this year, for the Glen Innes Food Bank at this very difficult time for so many in our community. 
This Wednesday, November 16th, and then again on Wednesday November 30th, will be the last two opportunities this year to assist the Salvation Army with their Food Box Packing;
As promoted in recent issues of the Bulletin, the District's "End Polio Now" fund-raising "Train Ride", took place last Friday. The participating Rotarians were farewelled from Britomart at 0745 by Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson. The amount raised has not yet been announced but will be shared once known. 
The day started at 8.30am at Ruapotaka School, in Glen Innes. with the arrival of the heavy machinery and a dedicated team of St. Johns volunteers. The plan was to remove the old unusable playground equipment, (pictured at left), and scrape off about 100mm of decomposed bark, then lay 80 2m of weed mat, before constructing a new sandpit at the school.
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The Stonefields Family Market Day will be held on Sun 27 Nov 10.30am to 1.00pm . The market will be held near the Pub at 30 Stonefields Ave, corner College Rd.
