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New Plymouth West Rotary Club had a very special evening with the handing over of the Presidency of the club from John Ritchie to Ian Smiley and the Past District Governor Marion Johnstone handing over the chain to incoming District Governor John Mohi.
Rev Albie Martin told the story of the Taupiripiri (the speaker’s cane) and presented it to John Mohi.
Taupiripiri is the cane of the Chief Spokesman and recognises the qualities of leadership and authority inherited or vested in them.
The name in simple terms means ‘walking arm-in-arm, togetherness’ - it embraces all those things that give people dignity and worth, symbolising creation, family, community and society.
The Innovative Young Minds (IYM) program is run by the Hutt City Council and Hutt City Rotary with some help from other local Rotary Clubs, including us at Eastern Hutt. It provides young women in years 11 and 12 (the old 5th and 6th forms) with exposure beyond the school gates to the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Manufacturing - the STEMM subjects. Traditionally these have tended to be male dominated fields but they are now accessible and available to women if they know about them. Des Darby and I ( Annette Ruck) had previously interviewed three Naenae College students, Alaa Loulou, Cindy Zhu and Ilma Aminudeen, all of whom gained places on the course, with our club sponsoring two of them.
The Rotary Club of Whanganui Daybreak meets 7 am on a Monday, twice a month.
Membership has been pretty static for some time and late last year the club began looking around for new opportunities to grow their membership.The club members agreed that working people with families are the community members they wanttoseeinvolvedin Rotary and who aren’t wellrepresented in the town’s other two Rotary clubs, both of which meet weekly – one at lunchtime and the other in the evening. Having made that decision, the club looked hard at their culture, venue, meeting structure etc; what changes could be made to be more attractive and to make Rotary membership easier for their ‘target market’?
Then, a new café opened not far from the old venue
Sometimes the kids even make a presentation to the meeting
Photo of Alex, the son of Rotary Club member Shane King, addressing the meeting.
An extra special event for the evening was the surprise presentation of new Paul Harris Fellowships. It had been kept very secret from all the recipients. Paul Harris Fellowships were awarded to Denise Fleming, Vicki Ingles, John Ritchie, Ian Smiley and the first ever one awarded from our club to a Non-Rotarian – Bill Clerkson. George Mason is already a Paul Harris Fellow but he was awarded an additional pin.
Rotary District 9940 is delighted that Dr Matt Wheeler, a young doctor specialising in haematology (clinical and laboratory and tutoring) at Wellington Regional Hospital has been awarded a Rotary International Global Grant Scholarship worth US $30,000 to enable him to take up a prestigious clinical research fellowship at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, for a year from August.
McMaster University is the pre-eminent world centre of excellence for thrombosis (blood clots) research and clinical practice.
Story by: Jim Robinson, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Rotary Liaison at ShelterBox
I want to tell the story of our partnership with Rotary, through the recent response to Cyclone Idai in Malawi.
At the core of how ShelterBox operates is the principle of partnership – for an effective and timely response, it is crucial. Responding in Malawi was built on this principle.
President Eric Chinkanda, RC Limbe (centre) with ShelterBox Response Team (Mick Dunn and Sonja Hughes)
Wairarapa teachers packed into the Carterton Event Centre auditorium for a full day workshop about dyslexia.
Photo and accompanying story: Emily Norman, Wairarapa Midweek Carterton, Wednesday 17th July 2019
DGE Gillian Jones commented:
'Well done Wairarapa Rotary Clubs for funding a teachers' workshop to enhance understanding of teaching children with dyslexia. As Carterton Pres Alan Butler says, 'It fits nicely with Rotary's focus on education and literacy'. Great stuff!'
Masterton Rotary Club welcomedRotary International Youth Exchange student Rebekka Ekberg from Switzerland. Rebekka is pictured with President Alan and Secretary Rob Stockley (her host). Rebekka will also be hosted by Masterton South Rotary during her year in the Wairarapa and will be attending Wairarapa College. The college has been extremely supportive of our IYE students over many years.
Dame Gaylene Preston was guest at South Wairarapa Rotary's 50th Anniversary Celebrations and Changeover.
Dame Gaylene said it was 'an honour and a privilege to be with us on our 50th Anniversary'. South Wairarapa Rotarian, Ted Preston, introduced Dame Gaylene Preston, who is his sister. In 1969. She went to the UK where she studied and applied art therapy. When she returned to New Zealand she hustled her way into the male establishment in order to make her own films and was a trail blazer for women in the film industry. She is a producer and writer as well as a director and her work has a theme of how ordinary New Zealanders in challenging situations do extraordinary things.
She is unique in making only her own films in New Zealand. One of her mantras is "If we don't tell New Zealand stories then who will?" She has won many awards and held many film and radio related positions and is a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Photo: Pamela Messervy who thanked Dame Gaylene and Steve Davis, chair of our wonderful Fellowship committee.
A chance to hear one of the most exciting and inspirational speakers that Tawa Rotary has hosted – 19-year-old Matthew Strawbridge, founder of Dyslexia Potential at age 13, Young New Zealander of the Year nominee at age 15, and recently back from being a key-note speaker at Australia’s National Youth Leadership and Business Summit. Matt is a coach, mentor and entrepreneur. His company, Dyslexia Potential, was created to empower and enrich the lives of dyslexic children. Matt also runs nationwide empowerment events and is a co-founder of TutorBook, a tutoring company that connects NZ school children in need of academic support with university students.
Join Tawa Rotary and Matt for a buffet meal on Tuesday 27 August at 6pm at the Tawa Bowling Club,Davies St, Tawa. Cost: $25 per head, payable on the night.
RSVP: tawa.rotaryapologies@gmail.com by 9pm, Sunday 25 August.
A big thankyou to Pearl Newman RSE Ltd; RYDA Coordinator extraordinaire.Welcome to our new Road Safety Education Ltd; Lower North Island RYDA Coordinator, Natalie Alabaster, and welcome aboard Tararua College as our newest RYDA College - supported by Pahiatua Rotary - taking place at Tararua College on 9 August 2019!!
If I was to include, within the Bulletin, the full extent of our District Rotarians contribution to the community over the span of one month, it would fill a library.
September will be Basic Education and Literacy month.
Please ensure that all contributions for the September Bulletin are forward to me no later than Friday 6th September. Freya Kerr Ed;