34 members and guests enjoyed a very busy and stimulating meeting with the speaker being our new 9920 District Governor Gary Langford, who was accompanied by his wife Jan, making their first formal visit to St. Johns Rotary as DG.  

 

Garys home club is Auckland East, with whom St. Johns have a very close relationship.  Gary's address to the club focused on the District and their activities as well as talking about the strength of Rotary world wide and a few specific successes and important projects, such as the Rotary Foundation and the End Polio Now project.  He encouraged all members of the club to keep doing good work in the community and telling our story which will attract more interest and members to Rotary.  He also asked all Rotarians to never forget the "Rotary Four Way Test", and to practice this in all we do.

 

Gary's motivating talk ended with an invitation to all, to attend the 9920 District Conference, May 15 - 17 2020 to be held in the Owen Glen Building at the University of Auckland.  He also mentioned that if anyone was contemplating attending the 2020 Rotary International Convention in Honolulu June 6 - 10, to get in quickly to register, as accommodation will be at a premium!   

 

Other guests at the meeting included Peter Garrett, Past DG 9910 and member of the Rotary Club of East Coast Bays, Peters wife Elaine, who is DG Elect for 9910 and ADG 9920 Dennis Mallard. 

 

It was also our first introduction to Lauchlan Kerr, a 17 year old year 12 student from Sacred Heart College, who has recently been selected to spend a year in Argentina under the Rotary International Student Exchange programme, sponsored by St. Johns Rotary.  Lauchlan, who was accompanied by his Mum and Dad Tessa and Damain, introduced himself to the club and as President Robyn said, "we have a good one here".  He will leave for Argentina in January and we look forward to seeing a lot more more of him over the next few months.

This past weekend saw a flurry of club activity;

 

 

 

 

 

A significant number of members participated in these activities and, in fact, some participated in more than one of the activities - some even managed to undertake participating in three of these!!  

 

To all who participated, helping to top up the club funds which will help us complete our large number of projects, and those who participated in the community activities which will help make our community a better place for all - a whopping big thank you!!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The August 15th Meeting also saw President Robyn induct her first new member of the Rotary Year.  John, was introduced to the club by Andrew Robertson who he has known since he was 9 years old!  John  has attended several meetings over the last few weeks and lives in Kohi.  He has recently retired, leaving lots of time to join in the numerous St John Rotary activities!! 

 

We were very fortunate that the induction coincided with DG Gary's club visit and John was honoured to receive his pin from Gary.   We all look forward to having you as a member John and getting to know you.

 

During his visit to our club last week, DG Gary Langford challenged President Robyn to Bungy Jump off the Sky Tower - and before she had time to consider what she was about to say, she accepted the challenge!  Gary is endeavouring to get as many District Club Presidents as possible to make the jump on October 5th as part of a fundraising event for Cure Kids.  Well done Robyn - we are all here to support you, albeit our support will come from ground level!!

I’ve just realised that I’m coming up to my 15^th anniversary at The Club in December. “15 wasted years for us,” I can hear Nigel Robinson booming out.  He and the late Frank Pinson were two people I could always count on to put me back in my box, particularly in my three turns at Sergeant (“the highest rank in Rotary”, in my warped view).

 

I joined after Beryl’s presidency; our first lady boss, in the middle of her DG reign. As a writer, I was immediately dragooned into writing a play to be performed at Conference in Rotorua. I wasn’t interested until I heard the first Rotary project was a men’s public toilet.  You couldn’t wish for a less pompous project…..something I remind myself of when a grandiose strategist comes along to tell us what we need to step up to!

Sadly, I never saw the play performed because we had a booked family-holiday which clashed. It never got an award, so maybe not so sad?

 

In quick succession I was chosen to be Sergeant by the next female presidents, Lynda, Toni and Mary Ann. The Club was less PC in those days, so our reputation for fun (and funds…we broke records which still stand)…. mainly, I should add, because these days Sergeants don’t do the full year.  When Ainie came along, she didn’t ask me to be her ‘sarge’. I was a bit put out, until she explained she wanted me to handle Youth Education for her – with the ultimate “compensation”, awarding me a Paul Harris Fellowship.  Ainie was and continues to be an incredible driving force in schools and youth leadership in our Club.

 

Have also had stints helming Community and Club Services, plus a number of fill-ins, mainly in education.  I also sit on the Glen Taylor School Board, based on my World Bank experience with Adopt-a-School programmes.  The incredible role educational improvements have made already, through technology and evolving techniques, backed by seriously high-quality teachers and leaders – and Club members -- Chris Herlihy, a Fulbright Fellow; Richard Dykes Glendowie boss and head of the School Principals Association; Liz Gunn, Churchill School leader and deputy principal at Glendowie, David James, gives you some idea of the contribution our professional educators make….way over and above our own supportive efforts.

 

Our Youth Committee is continuing to work away with consolidating Glendowie Interact, via Megan’s great coaching and counselling, plus using her influence with the Tamaki Regenerate Project, the site for our first chance to have Trees for Survival.  Clean Water trees and shrubs planted in a polluted stream running into the Tamaki Estuary, nearby.  Murray (with help from Alex) will guide that through the red tape.  The best backup any committee could have, is the ever-present Isabella, who recalls watching trees planted in the Eastern Suburbs, when she was a gal, growing up ‘over a number of decades’…..I promised her I wouldn’t speculate on the time-frame!  She feels a proud owner every time she passes them.  Many more will have that pleasure soon.

 

The other new project which I asked for help on, at last week’s meet, is to grow the Empty Lunch Box project, currently only established at Glen Innes School.  We plan to pilot an expansion into Ruapotaka School, the poorest in the region, and Glen Taylor, which is always willing and able to make its facilities and staff available, at no cost, will be the other.  After that we intend growing it to expose as many kids as we can, in our “parish”, to a delicious, healthy lunch instead of their current fare.  This could have a significant health impact in years to come.  Psst: I think Brian Fergus will help out with this, on his return; fingers-crossed. He is highly experienced in this niche!   

 

Membership Engagement, along with attracting new members, is critical for the success of the club.

 

Accordingly, President Robyn and the Board have decided that the membership “portfolio” and the dynamics of it is so important, that we will be better positioned to address the issues by breaking the responsibilities into smaller bits and spreading these across a specially dedicated Committee.  In this regard President Robyn has announced that a Committee titled MEMBERSHIP, will be formed immediately.  This committee will be co-directed by Donald Bowie & Rosemary Such. 

Our President recently received the following e-mail and has asked that this be circulated, just in-case there may be some starters!