I’ve learnt that there is always more in me and the only person that’s holding me back is myself. I learnt how to appreciate the environment and the people around me. I learnt that people can motivate and support me to do something, but if I don’t have the courage and effort to do it, I’ll never do it. It is our actions not words that makes a difference. It is not always the big things that count but rather the belief that any action no matter how large or small that enhances lives that counts. I came across these 2 quotes recently and they are relevant today from yesterday.
When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘Happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, I told them they didn’t understand life. – John Lennon
“Are your Dreams Crazy Enough?” – Nike
Pay it forward and the rewards will come when you least expect it.
Another stimulating meeting, well attended by 33 members and four guests.
On opening the meeting, President Allan introduced member Chris Herlihy, (Principal Glen Taylor School), our Snap Chatterer for the week. Chris limped to the microphone as he continues to mend from his recent accident on the Golf Course when he failed to see a small hole in which he tripped on, and tore two ligaments. His pupils where of course very keen to provide sympathy and share some advice to save him from future accidents - "look where you are going". Good advice for all!
Chris shared with us some details on his upcoming visit to China, an education programme designed to help to develop partnerships between New Zealand and China. We look forward to hearing more on your return - the agenda sounds excellent - just watch where you are going!
Next up were the Clubs latest Rotary Leadership Institute graduates having attended the two day training last weekend. Congratulations Cheri and Hugh as well as thanks again to Beryl and Colin for making the weekend another big success.
Our Guest Speaker for the meeting was Karla Paotonu, a professional fundraiser for Outward Bound, (OB) based in Wellington. Karla shared with us details of "Project Refresh Anakiwa", the largest capital project Outward Bound has undertaken in 30 years and when completed, the Refresh will allow for an additional 336 students to be accommodated each year. The financial goal for the project is $3m and they are well on the way to that goal with $2.7m already raised. Although Rotary is not an ongoing sponsor of OB, one of the founding Trustees was a Rotarian and Rotary New Zealand continues to support OB in various forms.
Once again we are in for a treat with 7 St. Johns sponsored RYLA Awardees from 2018 sharing the highlights of their experience - always a favorite meeting. We have also invited 5 Interact Club Members from Glendowie Collage to join us. If hearing from our RYLA Awardees wasn't enough of a draw-card, we will also be hearing from Sam Lucas ONJA, with an update, live from Madagascar, via Skype.
This should be a sell-out dinner, so please register your planned attendance with Brian Fergus asap to ensure we get the catering right and reserve a seat for you!
More Important Dates to Diary: Click "Read More" now;
The first Sunday of Daylight Savings dawned beautifully and the promoted Club Fellowship Event - "The Rotary Walkway" was a great success, at least it was for the very few who participated. Many thanks to Michelle F. for her efforts in organising this outing, it was only a pity more members weren't able to join the group.
Remember if you have any ideas for club fellowship events, don't forget to discuss with Michelle.
Who would have guested it? Member Ben Ng isn't just a valued member of St. Johns Rotary and a hard working Doctor, but he is also a very creative designer with his entry in this years WOW Bizarre Bra section.
Ben has been travelling for 6 months around South America and just got back to New Zealand last week in time for WoW 2018. Although Ben's entry did not win the section overall award, he was a finalist - no mean feat - Well done Ben.
Well Roger is in Fiji enjoying his recently won St Johns Raffle prize. This picture of Roger and Hillary was taken outside the Waiyevo Hospital neo-natal accommodation unit for which your club raised thousands of $'s to make this a reality. Have a great holiday Roger. We look forward to seeing more pictures and a debrief on your Raffle holiday on your return.
Club visit to Hauturu / Little Barrier Island - for a unique and special day trip??
Since the story in the last Bulletin regarding the possibility of a club visit to Hauturu, IPP Peter B. has received a good number of enquires and expressions of interest on joining a group to visit this unique and very special place.
If you are interested, depending of course on date and final cost, we do encourage you to contact Peter B. and get your name listed as a potential visitor.
This is a St. Johns Rotary Club Fundraiser, designed to allow us to raise the funds needed for the myriad of local projects we undertake every year - so it is very important we make this a success. Invite your friends, make up a team and come along to enjoy a fabulous evening!
Also if you haven't already, please put your hand up to help arrange / run the evening. Donald B would like you to volunteer to complete one of the tasks not yet assigned. The more people who volunteer means less work for each of us so contact Donald asap and please ensure that this event is in your Diary!
The "fellowship" team would love to see a large group of St John's members attending next year's District Conference. The theme for the conference is "Keep Rotary Real". Please mark in your diaries now and don't delay registering - space is limited:
2019 District 9920 Conference
Napier Conference Centre
10 - 12 May 2019
Including the Conference, other activities to join in on are:
District Governor’s Golf Tournament
Art Deco Walking Tour
An Art Deco vintage car driving tour
Hawkes Bay Farmers Market in Hastings on Sunday morning
Bike winery tour
Wine tastings at the Conference venue
Registrations are now open! Please "Read More" for links to Registration.
If you are interested in attending, please also advise Michelle Forman - Email: mertie.forman@gmail.com
Rotary is continuing to change, (for the better). The outcome is a greater vibrancy and effectiveness, so how can you make this work to the advantage of our club?
Rotarians taking up leadership roles in their clubs have the opportunity in the lead-up, to learn more about the aspects of Rotary that are a part of these roles.
A new initiative this year is to make use of available technology and periodically hold an on-line panel meeting for any Rotarian, not just club leaders, with questions about Rotary.
The first forum was held in June to assist incoming club leaders with any questions following the district training that they may have had as they created their plans for the new Rotary year.
The second was early August to enable any questions that had arisen now that those plans were being implemented to be asked. Both have provided great advice and support for those attending.
The next meeting will be Chaired by Jennie Herring. The meeting link for 8pm, Tuesday 16 October is https://zoom.us/j/893710266 Please see below for Panel and meeting details.
ZOOM is free, safe and very effective on-line meeting software – if using for the first time you will be asked to download as you use the link so just follow the instructions.
If there are questions re this meeting please contact contact Colin Robinson in the first instance.
We invite you to a private opening night screening of "A STAR IS BORN" starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. Please SHARE this invitation with your club members and anyone else who you think may find it of interest. Thank you!
Date: Thursday 18 October 2018 Time: Starts 8.30pm (Arrive from 8.00pm onwards) Venue: Capitol Cinema, 610 Dominion Rd, Mt Eden Tickets: $20. CASH sales please. Rated: R Running Time: 2 hours 15 mins Nett proceeds to: END POLIO NOW and other Rotary and Rotaract programmes.
The Smiths were unable to conceive children and decided to use a surrogate father to start their family. On the day the proxy father was to arrive, Mr. Smith kissed his wife goodbye. 'Well, I'm off now,’ he said. ‘The man should be here soon.'
Half an hour later, just by chance, a door-to-door baby photographer happened to ring the doorbell, hoping to make a sale. 'Good morning, Ma'am', he said, 'I've come to...'. 'Oh, no need to explain,' Mrs. Smith cut in, embarrassed, 'I've been expecting you.' 'Have you really?' said the photographer. 'Well, that's good. Did you know babies are my specialty?'
'Well that's what my husband and I had hoped. Please come in and have a seat!’ After a moment she asked, blushing, 'Well, where do we start?' 'Leave everything to me. I usually try two in the bathtub, one on the couch, and perhaps a couple on the bed. And sometimes the living room floor is fun. You can really spread out there.'
'Bathtub, living room floor? No wonder it didn't work out for Harry and me!' 'Well, Ma'am, none of us can guarantee a good one every time. But if we try several different positions and I shoot from six or seven angles, I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results.'
'My, that's a lot!', gasped Mrs. Smith. 'Ma'am, in my line of work a man has to take his time. I'd love to be In and out in five minutes, but I'm sure you'd be disappointed with that.' 'Don't I know it,' said Mrs. Smith quietly.
The photographer opened his briefcase and pulled out a portfolio of his baby pictures. 'This was done on the top of a bus,' he said. 'Oh, my God!' Mrs Smith exclaimed, grasping at her throat.
'And these twins turned out exceptionally well - when you consider their mother was so difficult to work with.' 'She was difficult?' asked Mrs. Smith. 'Yes, I'm afraid so. I finally had to take her to the park to get the job done right. People were crowding around four and five deep to get a good look
'Four and five deep?' said Mrs. Smith, her eyes wide with amazement. 'Yes', the photographer replied. 'And for more than three hours, too. The mother was constantly squealing and yelling - I could hardly concentrate, and when darkness approached I had to rush my shots. Finally, when the squirrels began nibbling on my equipment, I just had to pack it all in.'
Mrs. Smith leaned forward. 'Do you mean they actually chewed on your, uh...equipment?' she queried with concern.
'It's true, Ma'am, yes. Well, if you're ready, I'll set-up my tripod and we can get to work right away.' 'Tripod?’, she queried, nearly fainting.
'Oh yes, Ma'am. I need to use a tripod to rest my Canon on. It's much too big to be held in the hand for long.'
Did you join Rotary to do good things in the community?
You can help or join in all projects (whatever the committee), just contact the committee director and/or project team leader. In most cases, you can include family and friends.
On opening the meeting, President Allan introduced member Chris Herlihy, (Principal Glen Taylor School), our Snap Chatterer for the week. Chris limped to the microphone as he continues to mend from his recent accident on the Golf Course when he failed to see a small hole in which he tripped on, and tore two ligaments. His pupils where of course very keen to provide sympathy and share some advice to save him from future accidents - "look where you are going". Good advice for all! 
Our Guest Speaker for the meeting was Karla Paotonu, a professional fundraiser for Outward Bound, (OB) based in Wellington. Karla shared with us details of "Project Refresh Anakiwa", the largest capital project Outward Bound has undertaken in 30 years and when completed, the Refresh will allow for an additional 336 students to be accommodated each year. The financial goal for the project is $3m and they are well on the way to that goal with $2.7m already raised. Although Rotary is not an ongoing sponsor of OB, one of the founding Trustees was a Rotarian and Rotary New Zealand continues to support OB in various forms.
The first Sunday of Daylight Savings dawned beautifully and the promoted Club Fellowship Event - "The Rotary Walkway" was a great success, at least it was for the very few who participated. Many thanks to Michelle F. for her efforts in organising this outing, it was only a pity more members weren't able to join the group. 
Who would have guested it? Member Ben Ng isn't just a valued member of St. Johns Rotary and a hard working Doctor, but he is also a very creative designer with his entry in this years WOW Bizarre Bra section.
Well Roger is in Fiji enjoying his recently won St Johns Raffle prize. This picture of Roger and Hillary was taken outside the Waiyevo Hospital neo-natal accommodation unit for which your club raised thousands of $'s to make this a reality. Have a great holiday Roger. We look forward to seeing more pictures and a debrief on your Raffle holiday on your return.
Club visit to Hauturu / Little Barrier Island - for a unique and special day trip??
The "fellowship" team would love to see a large group of St John's members attending next year's District Conference. The theme for the conference is "Keep Rotary Real". Please mark in your diaries now and don't delay registering - space is limited:
