To celebrate 100 years of Rotary in Australia and New Zealand, we’ve teamed up with UNICEF to give life-saving vaccines to 100,000 children across the Pacific.
Welcome to 2025; I hope it has been a happy start, with good memories of time with families and friends over the last few weeks.
Since I last wrote here, I've seen Auckland, Whitianga, Hot Water Beach, Rotorua, Waitomo Caves, Mt Cook (after several attempts), Milford Sound, Glenorchy, Haast, Franz Josef, Greymouth, Christchurch and of course Queenstown - and not to be forgotten, Dunedin for a family Christmas Next week I'll be adding the Waipoua Kauri Forest (Tane Mahuta) enroute to the Bay of Islands. The tourists are back! All of these trips involving people/ families with connections to USA (San Francisco Ca., Phoenix Az, and Birmingham Al), In one trip (assisted by club member Julian) a couple from India were reconnecting with the couple from Alabama - a relationship going back about 60 years when the men were at primary school together in a small town in Gujarat (next state north of Mumbai).
My Christmas story now told, I'm looking forward to hearing what other members have been up to in the six weeks since our last meeting - remember the Foundation Auction, PHF awarded to Ron Horner, and Honorary Membership status for PP Tony Brown. Yes, Tuesday this week marks the informal start to the second half of the 2024/25 Rotary Year, and it's at my home (29 Wiley Road) from 5.00 - 7.00. This is not a meal meeting, just an informal chance to catch up with each other with BYO Drinks and a small plate of finger food for sharing.
And while Tuesday is our first club get-together, things have been happening already! We funded the purchase of netting to stop birds eating the crops at Grow Wanaka (see below); Nicola and Elaine have begun a review/update of the process for assessing funding applications to the Club; Deans and his subcommittee look to have achieved a very satisfactory agreement to work closely with the Upper Clutha A & P Society in the running of the 2025 edition of the Winter Crop Competition; funds to complete the fit-out of and signage on the Woman's Health Bus (the last steps) are in the process of being transferred, and of course a band of somewhat bleary eyed members left Wanaka at 6.00am to be briefed and positioned in time for the Cromwell-end Gates and the VIP Carpark to open; and of course there was also the unseen Rotary contribution further along the road at the Public Carpark.
So, fun to be had, funds to be raised as well as a return to regular meetings at The Albie next week - 28th January (which means apologies etc. are needed - you can check the expiry of any extended periods of leave by following the instructions below).
Dates:
Tuesday 21 January - informal gathering at 29 Wiley Road. 5.00pm - 7.00pm. BYO drinks and a small plate of nibbles/finger food
Tuesday 28 January - first formal/meal meeting at The Albie - please remember to apologize if not attending.
Club Duties
Duty roster notes.
1. All active members (not honorary members) are eligible for duties.
2. Rostered members are responsibile for doing the duty, or finding a substitute.
3. Please advise Chris Tempest of substitutions by txt on 027 27 17 862
4. Duties are for 1 week only.
5. Duties are notified in the bulletin 4 weeks ahead.
CLUB DUTIES ROSTER
21st January
28th January
4th February
11th February
Attendance
Alan Richardson's
Tony O'Regan
Graeme Smart
Meet, Greet and Photography
Alan Richardson's
Rod Pemberton
Fran Tate
Introduce Speaker
Alan Richardson's
Noelene Pullar
Chris Tempest
Thank Speaker
Alan Richardson's
Eion Rutherford
Hannah Walker
3 Minute Speaker
Alan Richardson's
George Scott
Julian Warren
Raffle
Alan Richardson's
Chris Scott
Rob Wilton
Parting Thought
Alan Richardson's
Ian Shore
Chris Wright
Meeting Host
Chris Tempest
Chris Tempest
Chris Tempest
Chris Tempest
Audio Visual Support
Ron Horner
Ron Horner
Ron Horner
Ron Horner
Coming up - Club Night Activities
January 28th - Jacob Toomey. Outward Bound Rotary Funding recipient
Hi my name is Jacob Toomey and I am a 16 year old student at Mount Aspiring College, I have recently gone on and completed the 21 day
Outward Bound Mind, Body, Soul course. I went on this course because I wanted to push myself mentally and physically, hoping to come out of it with more experience in a leadership position and meeting new people from around NZ.
February 18th - Ian Brown U.C.R.T. Users
Bio- I came back to Wanaka 22 years ago after a life of working in the venison industry, Teaching, Farming and working for the Ministry of education as a consultant. we sold our farm and having had a house here made the move in about 2001 not really knowing where to next! A local business came on the market and i bought Wanaka Marine. This was to be a 7 year stint however i sold it 21 years later. as part of my community focus i was heavily involved in Rugby for a few years as coach, assistant coach, treasurer, secretary, club captain and vice president and also joined the UCRTUA where i became chairman some 12 years ago- and here i am still. My presentation is about that service we provide - our accomplishments and current issues
Rotary Friendship Exchange. After a hiatus for the Covid pandemic, the Rotary Friendship Exchange programme is underway again.
A South African Rotary couple, a single South African Rotary gentleman, and one New Zealand Rotary couple are coming to Wanaka on the 8th and 9th March this
year and we need some Wanaka Rotarians to host them for the two nights they will be here – Can you help, please?
They are all middle-aged plus, and would like to see what we, as Wanaka Rotary Club, do and are involved in. The 8th March is the Saturday of the Wanaka Show,
so this would be a wonderful opportunity to let them see what a New Zealand A&P Show is all about, as well as our involvement in it.
The NZ couple are looking after the exchanges and are no strangers to Wanaka, so accommodation would be the main requirement for them. They may be known to some of you – Peter Williams, supported by his wife, Pariah, was a past AG for the Dunedin area of District 9980.
Please give this serious consideration, as it is a great way to meet new Rotarians, as well as show off our country.
There is a degree of time pressure to get plans in place, so many thanks for your
prompt offers to: Mike Elliot: 0274 329 243 or melliot144@gmail.com
A Thanks from the Grow Wanaka Community Garden Compost Centre & Education Hub
Our Club donated $1411.00 to the Centre to assist in obtaining shade cloth for bird protection
Kia ora and Happy New Year,
I hope your 2025 is off to a great start.
On behalf of the entire Grow Wānaka team, a huge heartfelt thanks to Rotary for the last minute funding support in 2024. Attached is an official letter of thanks with pics included.
We'd love to host Rotary at the garden this season to show the team what we have achieved with the funding and how it has enhanced the garden and improved productivity. If this is something Rotary would be interested in just let me know when a good time would be and we can schedule it into the calendar.
Thank you again for the ongoing support for our community garden project.
Kind regards,
Emberly
Grow Wānaka Garden Project Coordinator
And for the Lighthearted
President Elect Marie and "Warhammer" Mike are currently touring the British Isles
Oops. Julian lost a fight with a Rabbit poop at Bannochburn. And from Geoff McLeay, the Rotary sign in Melany on the Sunshine Coast
CALLING ALL ROTARY HOARDERS
The membership team would love to have a full set of Club Directories for our Club. We have access to all old copies except these 4 issues. If you happen to have some boxes of Rotary stuff hiding away in your files please look out for these booklets. We’ll borrow them or take them off your hands completely. The missing ones are for 2007-08, 2011-12, 2012-2013 and 2020-2021. Please let Sally know 0274 479 338. Cheers
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