Meeting In Review - April 21st 2022

Our annual ANZAC themed breakfast meeting was enjoyed last Thursday with 31 in attendance consisting of:  20 members, three partners, seven members of the extended McGarry Clan and Roger McGarry (the guest speaker).

 

Everyone was warmly welcomed and enjoyed the delicious breakfast and lively conversation at tables beautifully set with rosemary centrepieces and decorative red-poppy serviettes.  Heartfelt thanks to member Michele Mann for her annual contribution of the table decorations and to Michelle Forman who supplied an RSA poppy / donation box.

 

Rosemary has particular significance to Australians and New Zealanders as it’s found growing wild on the Gallipoli peninsula and in Australia.  It is often worn in commemoration of our Service Men and Women (more particularly in Australia). The Red Poppy symbol is well known in NZ and it was lovely to see many guests with red poppies as part of their attire.

 

Our Co-Presidents opened the meeting with directors updates:

 

Community – John L advised a connection had been made with Spiral Drillers who have the ‘diggers’ required to remove an old playground and prep for a sandpit install at Ruapotaka School.  It is hoped work can proceed after the school holidays.

 

Environment – Kevin advised the old bark due to be removed from Ruapotaka School will be recycled and used as mulch at Apirana Reserve in Glen Innes, where our club is regularly contributing to clean-up, weeding and planting.

 

Youth - Gary reminded members ‘Have A Go Sailing’ will commence on 5 May.  Any member interested in spending time at Akarana or on the water along with Yachting NZ are most welcome.

 

Club Services - Robyn advised of the upcoming schedule of speakers and activities over the next four weeks.  Details will continue to be highlighted in each week's Bulletin and members were reminded about timely response to RSVP requests.

 

District Conference - Co-Presidents Lesley and Penny advised a group of 10 from our club have now registered for District Conference in Wellington and urged more to join in what is always a great Rotary fellowship event.  (Talk to Penny or Lesley for more details).  Lesley also reminded us that two prizes of $1000 were up for grabs at the Conference as Talent Contest prizes for pre-recorded entries.  She urged members to get creative and come up with ideas to ‘win’ that money, which would be an extremely welcome fundraising opportunity.

 

In lieu of Sergeant’s session - Club Members were given the amazing opportunity to purchase retro “Great Kiwi ANZAC Day Breakfast” mugs, a box of which had been unearthed from member Michele Mann’s storage unit.  Many members present took the opportunity to do this, and will happily be charged $7.50 per mug.

 

Also ‘liberated’ from storage was a rather large ANZAC themed painting which was (ha-hum) snapped up via silent auction.  Funds from the painting are to be donated to the Orakei RSA along with $10 from each breakfast fee collected from our annual ANZAC breakfast.

 

Guest Speaker - Co-President Penny then introduced our guest speaker Roger McGarry. Roger is well known to our club.  Brother of Penny, Roger was ‘Camp Father’ in the year we hosted RYLA and has presented to our Club twice before.  His first presentation (at very short notice) was on his exploits to Antarctic to count Skuas; and back in October last year he entertained us (via Zoom) with stories of his adventures at Bonneville Speedway, Utah.

 

This time, Roger was delighted to have the opportunity to share stories of his Grandfather:  2nd Lieutenant WT Palmer from the Auckland Mounted Rifles.  Roger explained, a tidy up after his death led to the discovery of a box full of letters and photographs his Grandfather had written while serving. The letters revealed details of the transport to Gallipoli; what conditions were like travelling with a ship packed full of horses; and once landed the daily struggles and later descriptions (such as the censor would allow) of his exploits in the trenches.

 

Roger took up the challenge to transcribe and collate the letters, researching his Grandfathers War Records and then presenting the findings (and story) in a booklet for his family.  He made some revealing discoveries, uncovering how incredibly mentally strong and brave 2nd Lieutenant Palmer had been during the Gallipoli Campaign where it is reported a total of 8,556 New Zealanders landed on the peninsula – of whom 7,447 were killed or wounded.  A staggering casualty rate of 87%.

 

Also in attendance on Thursday was Kath McGarry (Roger’s mum), daughter of 2nd Lieutenant Palmer.  Kath is in her 90s and she contributed to the story by telling us how her father NEVER spoke of the war.  She explained he was a farmer at heart, and she knew him as a very loving, fair and hardworking family man who occasionally rubbed a leg that still held shrapnel and despite having a hand missing three fingers, easily milked cows and worked wood!

 

While giving the outline of his Grandfather’s time at war, Roger displayed extracts of the neatly penned and descriptive letters he had written, along with photographs his grandfather took with a pocket camera.  He also had his Grandfather’s Ceremonial Sword and original photographs on display for members to look at.

 

It was very poignant to Commemorate ANZAC Day (early) with our ‘breakfast’ and hear this ‘family’ story.  Our Club is very thankful Roger and Kath were happy to share this story with us all.