Club Bulletin 12 March 2014 Weekly Meeting: A very well attended meeting last night saw a good night had by all. We had three guests being Aunty Nga from Internal Affairs and chair of Are Pa Metua (brought along by Mousie), John Pohl from NZ Ombudsman’s Office (Rod) and businesswoman Vaiana George (Thomas). It was Vaiana’s second visit as a guest so hopefully we were well behaved enough for her to come back again! Also nice to see Harry and George there tonight (President Mike did pass the comment that sitting side by side as they were, they reminded him of Waldorf and Statler from the Muppet Show. Harry replied he will be showing the new Muppet movie soon – perhaps we should all go as a character for a night out!). The wine raffle, surprisingly was won by John Mc and the Joker Jackpot by Mousie, although she very generously decided to pull out the Ace of Hearts to allow someone else the chance to win the jackpot (currently $276) next week. A big round of applause for her generosity. The speaker for the evening was James Beer, the newly elected MP. Unfortunately, I had to go early so did not hear him speak but an email from Mousie this morning indicated that it was a lively and interesting talk. Here is hoping he is as effective in the House. Next week’s talker is Susan Tealby, a journalist with CI News who has spent time as a war correspondent and archaeologist in Greece. Projects: Quite a bit on. Last week saw a number of members (and one husband) water blasting Are Pa Metua in preparation for the visit for the Rotary Club of Belfast, Christchurch and the project was supposed to be Avana. However; that was completed by another group so it was decided to attend to the outside painting of Are Pa Metua. There are a number of activities planned for the group including vaka sailing, Highland Paradise Cultural night and a BBQ at Aro’a Beachside Inn. Please contact John to join any of these, especially the BBQ. If Harry and George are Waldorf and Statler, who are John and Wiiggy? These two have not only recently finished replacing the Rotary wheels back at each end of town and were there getting wet and wild with the water blaster on Saturday but they have got permission from the Port Authority to erect a diving platform in the harbour in front of Raro Fried Chicken for the local youth. Our club Marine Design Engineer (Wiiggy) has been putting the plans together and the club Engineering Department (Wiggy and John) will oversee construction. Sponsorship of all six sides of the platform is available with tenders to be sought for the spots. Rotarians will be given first right of refusal, with President Mike apparently being allocated first rights to the bottom side of the platform for his advertising. I am sure there is a pun or smart comment to be made there about computer geeks but I can’t think of one at the moment. Perhaps a free can of lemonade at the next club meeting for whoever gives the Sergeant the best one. The Bernard Bowden project is now under way with our nominees due to go next month, as are our RYPEN nominees. Apparently the students that are going are so excited that they come and see Thomas almost everyday to make sure it is true they are going, one of them having never been off the island. We also have a candidate for RYLA that we are going to submit and are looking for one more. Nominations for this need to be in by the end of the month. $2150 has been received by Pres Mike from District Govenor to assist in the rebuild of the schools that were the target of the arson attacks last year, and the club is going to match this so that will be $4300 from Rotary in total. The 18 cartons of Ranfurly Library books that have been cluttering up Sharon’s office for several months, which were intended for Avatea School, are now to be sent to the Outer Islands. Apparently, Avatea have been inundated with books. A letter was received at the board meeting on Monday from a local optician advising that a Tereora College lad was in need of glasses to assist with his reading but that the family could not afford the $350 it would cost. The board discussed the matter and decided not to set a precedent and potentially open up a floodgate but to put it to members on club night to see if they wished to donate towards the cost. When the matter was raised last night, Thomas, who had brought the letter to the board’s attention, explained the circumstances more and advised that the boy had a history of learning difficulties, disrupting classes and had been put in the too hard basket. It came to a head one day when a teacher saw him sitting on his own at lunch time, asked him why and got the reply that it was not worth being at school because he wasn’t learning. The teacher took him along to Thomas (our School Counsellor), who after talking to him, discovered he could not see the board properly and took him to the optician. The option found his eyesight was so poor he needed bifocals, something that had been undiscovered for years and left this boy to drop behind with his academic and social growth. On hearing of this, the mood of the club members was to support the purchase of the glasses and it was left to Pres Mike to work out to what extent with Thomas. Membership. Just a reminder, President Elect Bob Taylor is still settling on his team for the incoming year and so far he has the following volunteers: Sec: Sharon Reichardt Treasurer: Mike Pynenburg. Rotary Foundation Chair: Mousie Skews PR & Membership: Ronnie Siulepa Please contact Bob if you would like to be part of his year. Also, membership dues are still due, so if your dues are overdue, pay your due dues!!!!! General: I have no more apart from asking forgiveness for any spelling mistakes. I have had Office 2007 installed on my desktop and the spellcheck is not working. Usually I am fine but I seem to be getting dyslexic as I get older, and I have been doing this in between interruptions so who knows what is in there! One last thing, Barbara Fergusson is back in hospital if anyone is able to go up and visit. Bulletin Person Rod Fox
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 00:21:19 +0000
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