February has been a
month focused on training. On the
12th we held District Chair training at Judy Bain’s property at Waitarere
Beach. On a perfect Sunday we held
an interesting day discussing the roles and responsibilities of the District
Chairs. I have attempted to
restructure District committees so that they are more aligned with RI. After a nice walk along the beach at
lunchtime the afternoon was spent discussing some of the issues facing
district.
Over the weekend of
3-5th SP PETS was held in Auckland with 5 of the 6 New Zealand districts
sending their PEs . The weather
played havoc with some of the Wellington and Taranaki participants arriving
late or not being able to attend.
It was an inspirational weekend with some great speakers, notably New
Zealand RI Director Stuart Heal talking about change in Rotary, RI Director Tom
Thorfinnson talking about Rock Star moments in Rotary and Howard Tong talking
about Rotary PR. A highlight was
the Saturday night dinner at which Sir Anand Satyanand was awarded the RI
Rotary Award of Honour by Past RI President Bill Boyd. There were also a number
of District specific breakout sessions discussing the roles and
responsibilities of Presidents and specific issues such as struggling
clubs. It has been great getting
to know the AGs and PEs and we are now beginning to form a close-knit team.
Other activities this
month have been setting the District budget for 2012/13 which will remain the
same as this year except for a $2/member increase to cover PR. At $56/member our District fees are
among the lowest of the New Zealand districts.
Work has also begun
compiling the District Directory, a large job and I am grateful to the work
Adrienne Murray is doing on this.
Work has also started preparing for District Assembly in May. Bob Austin and his team are continuing
to work hard on Changeover in July and our joint District conference next year,
our thanks to the team for their hard work.
The coming month will
see us continuing to focus on the District directory and preparing for District
Conference in Wanganui.
Graeme and Chris
