 One of the best attended meetings of the year, 35 members and 8 guests, came to what was the last, and also one of the best, meetings of the year. Before introducing the guest speakers a few formalities were covered off; Club Notices: - A reminder to all volunteers that the New World Lunn Ave Food Bank collection for the GI Food Bank was to commence at 9.00am on Saturday Dec 12th. (This was another huge success - see story below).
- IPP Robyn distributed Chocolate Fish prizes to a number of members who had all paid a significant role in identifying and confirming a great selection of speakers in the year to date.
- This was the last meeting for the year and the first meeting in 2021 will be a breakfast meeting on Thursday 11th of February.
 RYLA 2021: Peter Ross was also in attendance to confirm that plans are well under way for RYLA 2021. Peter introduced Dan (a Rylarian Awardee from 2015), who will be playing a key role in the running of the programme going forward. Dan confirmed that he is looking to other past awardees assisting in the running of the event. If anyone knows of possible individuals who may be interested, please have them contact Peter Ross directly. The dates for next year's RYLA is; 3rd to 10th July and the age group is 20-28, selected to attend this fantastic leadership camp ( see www.RYLA.co.nz). St Johns Rotary will be interviewing candidates in early April so please think about possible nominees from your work or family. Any questions or nominees, please contact Tom Street on 021685651 if you are able to help. Rotoroa Club Trip: Details of this trip were reported in last weeks Bulletin, but Peter B had additional pictures to share and he also wanted to clarify that despite talk to the contrary, there was a significant amount of "work" undertaken on the Island and some reports have this as being as much as 30 minutes a day!!! Well done to all who participated!  Guest Speaker - Brown Buttabean - AKA David Letele:David was truly one of those speakers, that to fully appreciate his story, you needed to be there to hear it yourself. He is known in the Auckland community as the Brown Buttabean, a fitness motivator and life coach for many Pacific people struggling with their weight and fitness. A Samoan, David is also a boxer who changed his life by shedding 100 kilos. He has motivated hundreds of others to follow his lead and as a result he is changing people's lives via health and fitness boot camps, known as "Buttabean Motivation", (BBM). David says he just wants to reverse the alarming statistics among Pacific people suffering from high blood pressure and facing a higher risk of stroke, diabetes and heart disease. Club member Chris H. is also working on a motivation programme with David that, when completed, will be rolled out at Glen Taylor Primary School and, subsequently, other schools in the area. It is early days, but already the results are very positive. Apart from the excellent work undertaken by BBM, David's story of his life growing up the son of the President of the Auckland Chapter of the Mongrel Mob, was very sobering to say the least. He shared with us an array of real life lessons that many in the audience, if not all, found hard to believe on one hand, and on the other, understandable under the circumstances.  David promotes 4 simple rules at his Boot Camps and these can be followed by anyone facing a challenge, and the rules are;
1. Just Start 2. Stay Consistent 3. Surround Yourself With Positive People 4. No Excuses |
A glimpse of what we have in store for the next Rotary year.
I'm so happy to be here.
Smile Robyn, it really is great to be here.
I'm sorry Patrick, but that's my chair.
...and another partner - thanks for coming Katrina and Happy Birthday1
If I look straight ahead and don't move he may not see me.
Great to see you back Francis! Wishing all at Cure Kids a very Happy Christmas.
Who's helping who on the Attendance Desk?!
Last December Troy finished 5.5 years as the National Manager - Retirement Villages, at the Commission for Financial Capability and he now holds a leadership team role with the Financial Services Council. He will reflect on some of the potential "fish hooks" of Retirement villages. 
Just reminding members the final opportunity to assist with food parcel packing is Tuesday 15 December, tomorrow. Time to report is: 10am - 2pm. Please let Robyn know if you would like to join in, all members or partners of members welcome (email: Robyn.ingram@outlook.com). We will combine with Rotary Clubs of Papakura and Newmarket. 
One last request; if you take any fun and exciting Holiday Snaps over the holidays, please forward a copy on to me, so that I may share these in the first Bulletin published next year. Your fellow members will be interested to see what you and your family got up to over the holidays; Email photos to, walshp@xtra.co.nz