A total of 31 members were present on the 22nd to enjoy the fellowship and comerarderie, but primarily to hear from two of our very own members.
First up in the Snap Chatter slot was Treasurer / Secretary, Alex Gatt. In fact we had two Mr Gatts speak!!!
No 1 Gatt was born in 1902 to a Coloured Dad who paid 10 pounds to come to New Zealand, living in Paritai Drive and attending Baradene College of the Sacred Heart, failing 5th Form Certificate and it was at this stage “stand in Scribe of the day", Mr Gary (Gaz) Key, decided that No 1 Gatt had had too much coffee!!
No 2 Gatt, well, maybe bits of the above are true, however, it was our own Beryl R. who collared young Gatt into membership of St Johns, and we will dismiss that Club funds were used to buy his BMW. According to Club Runner, Alex Gatt joined the Rotary Club of St. Johns on 23rd February 2012 and he does not seem to have had a birthday for some time, so maybe 1902 is correct. I will leave that to the readers to decide.
Alex, was married for 50 years and sadly his wife Val passed away late last year, and he took her ashes back to the UK this past May. Alex has 5 children and 6 grand children who keep him on his toes. He is self employed, running a small Accountancy Firm (his words).
Second member up at the meeting, in the Guest Speaker slot, was our very own Club Member Steele Gibson who joined the St. Johns Rotary on 07/11/2013. Steele gave us a detailed photo presentation of his recent attendance at Outward Bound ANAKIWA, during June of this year on a 21 day course. He was a member of "Huria 654 Watch". Steele attributed his decision to attend Outward Bound to our Hon Member and PP Andy McCarrison. Andy had completed an adult course a number of years ago. Steele described in detail the trials and tribulations that they were put through from kayaking, hiking, climbing, enduring a 3 day Solo where you are effectively dropped off in the bush at night with minimal provisions and left to contemplate. It is forbidden that any human contact be made even if you are aware that in some cases people are not that far from you. Steele shared with the meeting his fear of heights and how he overcame, or rather managed that, from Rock climbing to abseiling to narrow tracks across the ridges — Yes I Can – and he did!!! Unfortunately Steele suffered a show stopping severe injury to his medial ligament which limited his further involvement, and over-dosing on Diclofenac did not help, but he made the best of the time cleaning around the camp, and doing as much walking as he could do albeit in pain.
The Outward Bound experience has allowed Steele to reset and refocus, from completing his MBA to now Outward Bound and he is now charting his future endeavours. At only 40 years of age he has the world at his feet!!! Steele then dropped in that at the tender age of just 19 he was a world ranked small bore sharp shooter, and as we know, he is also a keen Mountain Biker.
Thank you to both Alex and Steele for sharing your stories and a big thanks to Gary K for stepping up to cover for Ed. at this meeting.
