A quiet week in the home town

I had planned Week 7 to be a quiet week catching our breath at home. What a dreamer. On Sunday I set the cruise control to 104 kph, pointed the car in the direction of Deb Gimblett territory and set off to a Rotary Foundation Board meeting in Foxton. My second key focus area this year is to increase our contributions to the Foundation. It is clear, though, that there is still a certain lack of clarity about the Foundation and its modus operandi, not to mention the Future Vision Pilot Programme. We have decided to address that by offering clubs, in their clusters groups, some clear instruction in a series of workshops. But first we needed to ensure we have clarity ourselves - hence the meeting to prepare the songsheet. Look out for notice of these workshops - they will demystify The Rotary Foundation and the Future Vision Pilot programme for you.

Monday afternoon and I was again travelling the Marangai, Himatangi and Foxton straights at 104 kph, heading to Wellington this time where Margaret and I heard the Chief Coroner, Judge Neil MacLean, address a meeting of Samaritans about our appalling suicide toll, 540, 541 and 558 in the last three years. There must be a role that Rotary can play in reducing these shocking statistics.

Tuesday midday and John Cleese, the voice of our Tom Tom , was directing us in the opposite direction on State Highway 1 to Taihape where we met up with President Jan Byford and Bill. After a quick cup of Dilma Jan and Bill showed us some of the key projects being undertaken by the Taihape Rotary Club. Gumboots seemed to feature in a number of them. A meeting with the Board followed and then we were warmly received at the club's meeting.

I have often pondered the term the 'Family of Rotary' and whether this is as true as we would like to think it is. All doubt was removed in a conversation I had with Brendan Mickleson. Read about the remarkable story of Brian Devane, severely injured in a farm bike accident , in my September newsletter. A heart-warming Rotary story if ever there was one.

Tom Tom told us we would be early arriving at Taihape so Margaret instructed an unscheduled stop -yeah right - to soak up these surplus minutes

Taihape is gumboot burg. Margaret with President Jan Byford pose beside the Taihape icon

The RYPEN Man - Bill Byford. Never underestimate the value of RYPEN and the changes it brings to our young peoples lives

The famous Taihape railway turntable was found lying in a shed at the Hutt workshops , brought back to Taihape and re-built. A joint venture project achieving those Bigger Better and Bolder outcomes we talk about.

 A walking track through Mount Stewart Reserve is another project of the Rotary Club of Taihape.

And just to wind up this edition , a few pics from our Wanganui North visit. Yes, we have been reunited with our camera

Dinner in the Vandercross Lounge, Wanganui North Club

Sporting one of the more colourful ties seen at a Rotary meeting was John van Dale

 I presented a Certificate of Achievement to Past President of Wanganui North, Roger Law

Road Show - Week 6

 Wanganui North
Wanganui North club is the home of Assistant Governor Garth Barlow, also our district treasurer, and it has been fabulous having both Ngaire and Garth accompanying us on our pilgrimage around the 'home clubs'. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately depending on which end of the my camera lens you happen to be looking into, my camera and I have parted company, temporarily one hopes, and I have no photographic record of this club visit. We may correct this shortcoming in future blogs of course.


Waverley-Aotea
Waverley, famous among other things for its Melbourne Cup winner Kiwi, is a township 35 minutes leisurely driving time north of Wanganui with a population of 900. A further 10 minutes up the track towards New Plymouth is Patea, the Aotea connection, with a population of 1200. Patea had a club of its own in more halcyon days, and is now famous for its song Poi- E performed by the Patea Maori Club and Dalvanius Prime. This club has a stunning and impressive record of community projects when one takes its membership into account, the latest being its support of Guide Dogs training. It costs $120 per six months to prepare a puppy for training which takes about a year, i. e. $240 per dog for pre-training. Fundraising includes: growing and selling Christmas trees; selling firewood; and collecting and crushing scrap metal in partnership with the Wanganui Vintage Car Club. The club has also catered for a number of Wanganui Cluster group events, including GSE team dinners. If you are ever passing through Waverley on a Thursday stop off at their club for a make-up. It is unique experience; they meet in a woolshed.

The firewood project

Waverley-Aotea meet in the mezzanine of Marie and John Deadman's woolshed, especially converted for the purpose.

scrap metal is collected

sent on its way

and compacted for sale

Wanganui South

We always feel very much at home at Wanganui South and this visit was no exception.

I was invited to induct new member Leo Brown, always a pleasure of course, but this one was a little different. In a previous Blog I recorded that I had struck the trifecta - a namesake, an Engineer and an old school friend of Margaret's all at one club. Well new member Leo also has a relationship , somewhat unusual albeit, with Margaret. See the explanatory photographs below.

Some people have long memories don't they ? Forty years on, well a little more actually, Graeme Carter, an ex-Sergeant by -the- way, tipped the current Sergeant, who happens to be Past World President Bill Boyd's nephew, that I was a Prefect at Nelson College and gave him a fatigue ( detention) for running in the corridor. That cost me aplenty I can tell you.

For the record I also unmasked this happy night the culprit who had advised Margaret that she was entitled to a $100 a month clothing allowance. I might have guessed it Brian Foley.

Keep up the excellent work Rick Hutton. Rick has two portfolios, Membership and Public Relations and a very large committee from which he has created four sub-committees with specific briefs. I look forward to hearing about some exciting results from this initiative Rick.

Social interaction before the Club meeting at Wanganui South

 

 

Has Leo got a foot fetish? Well yes he has. He is a podiatrist and Margaret is one of his clients

Let's not forget the partners of our Rotarians; new member Leo flanked by his wife Dianne and Margaret

Back to a favourite haunt of ours, The Rutland Arms , afterwards for a coffee

Home Ground

We are on our home turf this week, a patch that we know very well of course particularly from our Assistant Governor days. First up we graced Wanganui Daybreak for breakfast. Before I could reverse the car out of the drive I had to clear it of snow. This is only the second time I have seen snow on the ground in Wanganui City in my 35 years of residence here.

Board Meeting, Wanganui Daybreak style

Chris Wilks queried my allegiance to the Crusaders

International Exchange Student, Praanavi Gunaseelan from Switzerland, joined us for brekkie

The Board meeting was held the night before at the home of Judith Timpany. Thanks Judith and to the Board members who supplied the sumptuous culinary delights.. Daybreak has distinguished itself this year for the numbers of members on District Committees or with District roles, 8 all told: President Christine Omundsen - Convenor of NZ-Australia Matched Student Exchange programme; Past Presidents Colin Pepperell and Val Bartrum - Matched Student Exchange Committee; Past Assistant Governor, Judith Timpany - RLI, Focus on Families and Membership committees; Past President Terry Dowdeswell - Governor's Newsletter Editor; Janice Dowdeswell - Governor's Blog Editor; Past Assistant Governor Robert Gaskin - Conference Entertainment Manager; Jennifer Gaskin - Governor's Wordprocessing Operator.

Actually Janice and Jennifer are not members of the club but they might as well be. A really pleasing and significant representation from Wanganui Daybreak.

A stellar, and not to be missed,  project of the Club is the Last Night of the Proms concert, to be held this year on Saturday 29th October, in the Royal Wanganui Opera House. The event is staged every two years with proceeds going to charities and people travel great distances to be part of the fun. This year the charity to benefit is Life To The Max which fits perfectly with our Focus On Families theme.

Combined Choirs and Wanganui Brass - Last Night of the Proms 2007

Clyde Dixon and Wanganui Brass - Last Night of the Proms 2007

David Brock - compere Last Night of the Proms 2007

Who is joining us in Bangkok 6-9 May 2012?

Howard Tong writes:

"Rotary International Convention in New Orleans was a stunning event and ... I am sure there will be a great number planning to attend Bangkok in May. It is a wonderful experience for new Rotarians and those attending will return to invigorate your Club! The fun of this convention is in the friendship both at the sessions but also in the evenings as we enjoy each other's company and savour the city's cuisine. Do consider joining us. The convention costs are very reasonable this year (only US$160/person before 1 Dec 2011) and if you book your flights early it will be even more affordable. Join Jenny and me and be part of the "Kiwis in Bangkok"."

For more information go here: Preview and Registration Booklet - 2012 RI Convention
And visit the Convention Web Site. 

To register your interest please advise Howard by the end of September so he can look at booking group accommodation.

Farewell to the 'Naki

Stratford is a town of nearly 6000 people within the urban area and approximately 9000 when the rural population is included. Our last club visit in Taranaki was to the Stratford Rotary Club. "The region gives the Stratford Rotary Club tremendous support in terms of sponsorship of its projects. The concern is that this doesn't rub off in terms of new members" laments Board member Peter Doyle. The support given by the community is epitomised by their backing of the Usbourne Dictionary Project, a major undertaking of the Stratford Club. "At present we have embarked on presenting all aged 7-8 year olds in Central Taranaki Schools with dictionaries" President Barrie explained to me. "To date we have presented 5 schools with 238 dictionaries. We have 6 schools still to go". Congratulations Stratford. This is a significant achievement for a small club. Let's see if we can translate that community support into some new members.

And so we said farewell to the 'Naki, ,and we were sorry to do so. As we cruised back to Wanganui on the state highway that I has spent so much of my younger career days improving Margaret reminisced at the lingering smell of the cowshed and the endearing sight of calves and lambs frolicking in the fields.

It was riveting stuff, whatever it was

President Barrie Smith, prospective new member Julian Yuliang Xv, and Stratford Mayor Neil Volske

Coming up, Week 6 and we are in Wanganui ; the home town clubs shape up.

Warmhearted and Wacky Waitara is on a Win

Waitara is a Club embracing change. Faced with a declining membership they have revamped their meetings to better align them with members' needs. This, I believe, will be a winning growth strategy for this very lively club. They are proposing to:
a) Have a tea meeting on the first Wednesday of the month, followed by a Directors meeting
b) Have a Club Forum or fireside meeting on the third Wednesday of the month
c) The other two Wednesdays will be used for social activities, visits to other clubs or visits to businesses of interest.

Board meeting, Waitara style

A key and essential component of this strategy is to also have very visible community projects. Clever move Waitara.

After yet another sumptuous afternoon tea and informative Board meeting Margaret and I were whisked up the road from host Noel Chilcott's home to inspect "The Supershed". The Supershed is the result of three years of planning and research - and took 18 months to build. What is it? It is a state-of-the-art dairy milking operation.

 The 60- bay Rotary milking parlour; milking is completed in
2 hours by one woman milker. 

The nightmare of four-hour milking twice per day has turned into a dream - one person can now undertake the milking in less than three hours. And that person is a woman. Here are some facts to ponder. The centrepiece of the system is a 60-bay rotational milking parlour which revolves once every 7 minutes. It was imported from Ireland. The cows are milked all year round. Four women milkers share the milking; one women can milk the herd in two hours. The milking is done between 5:00am and 7:30am. The 4 women also have day jobs. By the end of September these women will be milking 950 cows.

Haven't I been preaching that we need more women in Rotary?

The operators also employ 3 men, 2 maintenance workers and 2 sharemilkers, Loie and Tony Penwarden. The home-block consists of 150Ha and there are 81Ha of run-offs. A further 80Ha has been purchased and an underpass under Ngatimaru Road is currently under construction. Winter "Herd Homes" are also planned as part of an expanding operation.

Having been reared on a dairy farm last century Margaret's eyes stood out on stalks when she saw this set-up The dairying industry has certainly moved on. So must Rotary.

Following another two-course meal and a lively meeting we were in for another surprise. It was back to the Chilcott's place to clean-up the left overs of the afternoon tea and then: 10 minutes at the mercy of THE BEAST - the Vibromax Super Shaker. Loose those unwanted kilos as quickly as you put them on. Photographic evidence supplied. This piece of gear should become standard equipment for Governors and their spouses.

Ten compulsory minutes on the
Vibromax Supershaker

 before we were allowed to go
home.

Dropping into Inglewood & Failed road pavement

I dropped into the Inglewood Club, home of the Assistant Governor Brian Jackson, on Tuesday. Past AG Ian Wickham is also a member of this club and Ian and Jacqui were present and brought a couple of guests with them. Inglewood is hosting IYE Exchange Student Lidia Rizzo who attends most meetings. Prior to the club meeting and meeting the Board at 3:30, Margaret and I had lunched with President Grant Irwin and his partner Louise, and Brian and Paddy. The girls then disappeared somewhere, who knows where, and I took the blokes off to look at some failed road pavement . They were very interested. Yeah right.

Mel Cook, International Youth Exchange Committee, with Lidia Rizzo , Exchange Student from Sicily.

Failed Road Pavement

High Jinks at Hawera

They were lying in wait for us at Hawera Rotary Club. Past president Doug Hutchinson issued Hi -Viz jackets to all male members present, "to protect them from their partners" and myself with a hard hat and safety mask as he anticipated that I would receive a number of "hard" questions. He also provided ear muffs "in case I didn't want to hear them."

The photogenic Hi-Viz jackets

They are a small but very active and fun-loving Club with a number of ambitious projects in the planning stages, one being a public relations project which will blow your socks off if it comes to fruition. More to come on this.

Inducting Hugh Bower

I was delighted to induct a new member, School Principal Hugo Bower, and to hear that the club has a number of other prospects. They are very supportive of neighbouring clubs, Stratford, Hawera, and Waverley-Aotea, regularly attending each others meetings, and it was really pleasing to see that the Cluster Group is operating particularly well.

Three personal emergency packs ( Eastern Hutt Project) were presented to three managers of Rest homes in Hawera.

Hawera Club is also working effectively in partnerships, which is one of my visions for Rotary Clubs, with clubs such as Lions, Retired Lions, and Rural Women Institute. Val Tarrant, a former world president of Rural Women Institute stunned me when she told me that Rural have a membership of 9 million worldwide.
 
In most clubs I have found a member with surname Smith, or a member who is an engineer, or a relative or past acquaintance of Margaret. This visit I found all three - a trifecta.

Margaret meets an old school mate, Presidents wife Joan Shore

More of the 'Naki

Phase 1 of our Taranaki club visits is complete. We were looked after superbly well by Assistant Governor David Gibson and his wife Rosalie. Margaret and Rosalie hit if off right from the word go and there was a great deal of belly laughter during the 4 days of our stay, which caused some sideways glances and funny looks. I had a good look at one of Davis's business enterprises and may be able to help him solve a small problem. Business networking is one of the core objectives of Rotary of course.

David had organised a meeting with Mayor Harry Duynhoven who is very supportive of Rotary and gave us some thoughts of how we could help the underprivileged in the community. This is right at the heart of RI President Kalyan's focus of Strengthening Communities and I'm sure we will take these suggestions and develop them into community projects. The Taranaki 1 Cluster is working well under David's stewardship. They have formed a Trust to build a Men's Shed and all five clubs are on board with this. David raised this with Mayor Harry who suggested a plot of land where the shed might be established.

I am aware of other Cluster Groups considering Men's Sheds. David would be a good contact for advice as would the Masterton South Club. I was delighted to meet PDG Barbara Williams again, to become acquainted with PDG Nigel Hayton (and to find out he is an engineer) and to present his wife Beryl with a PHF. Back to South Taranaki this coming week with a foray to Waitara on Wednesday.

Noho ora mai.

Bob and Margaret

Fellowship at Fitzroy

A triad of engineers at New Plymouth North: PDG Nigel Hayton ( Electrical Engineer), President Geoff Ward ( Mechanical Engineer), Self ( Civil Engineer) with Beryl Hayton and Margaret.

We are indebted to AG David Gibson and Rosalie for the time they gave to ensure our stay was memorable

Welcome to the 'Naki

"Welcome to the 'Naki " is the greeting as we enter the meeting places in New Plymouth. They are a friendly lot and they have their prioriies right up here - family, work, rugby and Rotary. And I think I might have work and rugby in the wrong order. Taranaki gave Auckland a bath last Sunday and Rotary matters had to be postponed that day! My Aunt and cousins in Auckland will read this but they know where my allegiance is, Canterbury and the Crusaders first and then any team in the Hurricanes franchise. This trip I am visiting 5 clubs in Northern New Plymouth. Here is a photographic record of the first of them.

New Plymouth Club

I receive the Taupiripiri (talking cane) first presented to PDG Stewart Frame , from my Wanganui Club and still a member, back in 1982, from President Brian Sourness, New Plymouth West Rotary Club

With Shamrose from Pakistan, a member of New Plymouth West Rotary Club. A young Rotarian of non-European extraction. We need more of both in Rotary.

New Plymouth West promised me they will be well-represented at Conference 2012. Snapped with Donna and President Brian Sourness

To be continued.

Projects in the Pacific are My Focus

I dropped in to Raumati South on Saturday 23 July to attend the International Relations Committee's meeting. The Committee is keen to increase Clubs' international humanitarian service, particularly in the Pacific, by providing Clubs with the information they need to develop and fund international projects. My goals are for Clubs to match or better last year's funding of Emergency Response Kits, to support an international potable water project and join together as clusters of Clubs, either geographically or by service interests e. g. water projects. The focus for our international projects should be primarily on the Pacific. I encourage Clubs to engage with their local member of the International Relations Committee (details on page 121 of the District Directory).

Left to right: DG Bob, Martin Garcia, Rowland Woods, Dave Wilson, Dot McKinnon, Fraser Paterson, Sandra Bartlam