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.