If anyone was in two minds about going (or otherwise) to Wanganui last weekend for District Conference - I urge you to book early for next years conference in Lower Hutt with DGEJohn Mohi

The presentation from John highlights a conference that is going to be a ripper.!

 DG Marion themed her conference last weekend around ‘Light my Fire’ and I was thinking maybe the presenters were going to be reformed arsonists. In short, we had speakers from both ends of the social and political spectrum. 

First up was the leader of the Waikato Branch of the Mongrel Mob. She, (yes a woman in the Mob!)  is wanting to change the Mob and its behaviours and where better to do this than from within, and she assured us it is changing fast even calling a truce with the Black Power which means friendly drop-in coffees instead of wars. Watch this space.

Dame Tariana Turia fronted up only two weeks after losing her beloved husband George and she and Chris Findlayson explained why the Whanganui River is now a legal entity in its own right and the process behind what has proven a world first. Retired MP the Honorary Chester Burrows made us think about who we incarcerate and gave us some anomalies that really did make us scratch our heads. He also described the average cell in NZ Prisons and assured us it is no holiday camp. And, there is very little (nada!) effort put into reforming inmates. Chester is an old friend from Police days and I can assure those who did attend, he told it as it is rather than what folk wanted to hear.

‘Rosemary’ had a savage and brutal upbringing and had been the victim of rape and abuse and subsequently then attached herself to every addiction there is. Really did it tough poor thing. But, she has finally pulled herself (and the other dozen or so characters of her personality) back from the abyss. She has nearly 600 children, aunties and mokopuna and works in Corrections as a therapist. 

The emcee was the local District Court Judge and he did a stellar job with his ‘bad-boy’ sense of humour. He well and truly outperformed the visual display ‘clicker’ which was nearly demolished by last up presenter Evan Burrell who gave us a lot to think about. Break some rules and mix things up a bit and become Rotary heroes was basically his message. 

DG Marion closed the conference by saying she really wanted to take us out of our comfort zones as Rotarians and get us thinking outside the circle about our preconceived ideas. She definitely achieved that with our members.