BE INSPIRED TO CREATE A RIPPLE AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE …

The inaugural Future Leaders’ Seminar in New Zealand on Monday 15 October 2012 is open to any Rotarian wanting to grow their leadership skills in Rotary, the volunteer or business environment.  The focus is on leadership, incorporating Rotary aspects where relevant. 

Future Leaders’ Seminar is a fast-paced interactive day of networking, shared ideas, presentations by leaders from the highest levels of Rotary International and other high quality speakers with impressive business and/or volunteer sector leadership experience with a special message to share.  The goals of this seminar are to:

•                  Inspire a hunger for leadership

•                  Excite people about Rotary

•                  Open up the wider world of Rotary

•                  Revitalise and help shape the future of Rotary

Future Leaders’ Seminar participants are encouraged to make the most of the special opportunity to also attend Rotary Institute from Friday 12 October 1pm to Sunday 14 October 1.30pm. This is a rare opportunity to hear amazing presenters and experience the internationality of Rotary, while meeting and socialising with senior Rotary leaders from around the world, including the Rotary International President Elect plus District Governors, Past District Governors, Governors Elect and Governors Nominee from throughout New Zealand and Pacific Islands.  

Additionally Future Leaders’ Seminar participants can attend a no cost Future Vision Seminar on Sunday 14 October 2-5pm led by a Rotary Foundation Trustee, the Rotary International Future Vision Launch Manager, and The Rotary Foundation Coordinator. 

QUICK FACTS ABOUT FUTURE LEADERS’ SEMINAR

Date: Monday 15 October 8.30 for 9.00am to 5.15pm, followed by an optional dinner that night

Venue:  Ascot Park Hotel, Corner of Tay Street & Racecourse Road, Invercargill, New Zealand  

Investment:  Future Leaders’ Seminar and dinner $75 (or seminar only $45).  Rotary Institute registration, transport and accommodation etc are additional to these FLS costs.

Registration:  Use only the Future Leaders’ Seminar Registration Form via www.rotaryinstitute.org.nz

Further Information:  Go to the Future Leaders’ Seminar link via www.rotaryinstitute.org.nz  or to www.futureleaders2012.rotarysouthpacific.org

Future Leaders’ Seminar Contact:  PDG Beryl Robinson (FLS Committee Chair) 021 652 802 or berylrobinson@rotarydownunder.co.nz

Note:  Future Leaders’ Seminar can only be attended once by a Rotarian, and although held in association with this annual Rotary Institute, FLS is not necessarily held every year.  So please join us in Invercargill. 

Some proceeds from Sir Graham Henry's book go to Rotary

Week 2 in Wanganui

DG and Barrie Fowke at the site
for the proposed fitness track

During this week we visited the 5 clubs in the Wanganui Cluster.  It is traditional to visit the PDGs club first but in a break with tradition we visited Wanganui Daybreak first followed by PDG Bobs club second.

We were struck with the large amount of work that all of these clubs do in the local community and some planned projects for the future.  These included developing a fitness and wellness track, providing clear numbering for businesses in Victoria Ave, and a project to bring native birds back into the city.

We visited Rumah Brooke (Brooke House) where we heard of the remarkable history of the Brooke’s of Sarawak and there their lifelong focus Peace Through Unity www.peacethroughunity.info/background_brooketrust.html  

DG and President Dave Towers
Waverley-Aotea Club

A proposal is being developed to provide an opportunity for Peace Scholars to come to Wanganui to study at Rumah as a retreat.  We were privileged to spend time with Gita Brooke in this amazing haven tucked away in Wanganui.  The final club we visited was Waverley-Aotea.  While only a small club of 9 they achieve a huge amount in their community.  They have a great operation with their firewood project and are also looking to distribute fertilizer as a fundraiser.

It was also pleasing to take part in presenting several Paul Harris Fellows to club Members and induct several new members into Rotary.  Our thanks go to all of the clubs for hosting us and especially our local AG Garth Barlow and Ngaire who looked after us for the week and hosted us at each club. 

Visiting the Coast with the Waverley Club - view along Cave Beach

Week One

Tawa Changeover with new President
Laura and Bill

It is surprising to think that it is now a week since District Changeover.  We have been preparing for our first week of visits, which begin in Wanganui.  Over the last 2 weeks we have also had the opportunity to attend a number of Club Changeovers.  These have reminded us of the tremendous work that Rotary does in the community.  It was pleasing to see a number of Paul Harris Awards being given out to club members and people in the community.

Graeme, Chris and Mr fox

It was great to return to my hometown, Petone, for the Rotary Club of Petone’s changeover.  We had the privilege of sitting beside my old primary school headmaster, Brian Fox, and swap a few yarns.  It was also great to catch up with an old class mate.

Porirua Sundown Changeover with
new President Gordon and Kath

It was special event for Porirua Sundown when their Changeover coincided with their 50 year anniversary.  They had a great turnout with past members and representatives from the other clubs in the cluster.  A great night was enjoyed by all.

The week ended on Sunday enjoying the Rotary club of Marton’s Changeover with a Greek Olympic theme.  We then headed to Wanganui to start our year of visits.

District Changeover

Sunday 1 July dawned fine and calm after a very wet winter week.  This was a fitting start to our year and District Changeover.  A huge amount of effort and planning had been put into the event by our Changeover committee led by Bob Austin from the Rotary Club of Plimmerton.  Attended by 270 Rotarians, friends and family we were hosted in the new Te Rauparaha Arena, Porirua.  This proved to be a fitting and appropriate venue for this event.

Mayor of Porirua, Nick Leggett was invited to open the proceedings.  Lunch followed and an opportunity to mix and mingle.  After lunch then DG Bob gave an account of his year and awarded trophies and certificates.  This was followed by the formal changeover ceremony where the chain of office was passed across to the new DG Graeme.  DGN, Deb, became DGE and DGNN, Anthony became DGN – we do complicate things as Master of Ceremony Philip said bring a touch of humour to proceedings.

A great performance by the 40 strong Kapahaka performers from the Kura Maori O Porirua School who are the regional Kapahaka champions. It was a stirring performance thoroughly enjoyed by all present.

DG Graeme then gave his inaugural speech to those present.  He introduced the new RI theme for the year – Peace Through Service.  Using an orange as an analogy he went on to describe that we needed to get back to basics and that Rotary was at an crossroads.  He described how he wanted to take a new route and challenged us to ‘Push Boundaries’ and ‘Make Change Real’.

It was a great day and the beginning of a wonderful year ahead when we will promote change in Rotary.  We look forward to visiting clubs, sharing our Rotary journey together, and having a lot of fun along the way.

Vocational Training Team (VTT) Exchange with Canada

One of the important programmes I would like to see re-established in our District is the GSE programme, which has not occurred for the past 2 years due to funding changes for these teams under the Future Vision Pilot Programme.

In 2012/13 we plan a GSE/VTT exchange with District 5370 covering the Alberta B.C, Northwest Territories, and Saskatchewan areas of Canada.  We are sending a vocational team that will focus on youth education to District 5370 in September while District 5370 will be sending a traditional GSE team to New Zealand in April 2013.

In June final selections were held for Team Leader and Team Members. Both selections were keenly sought after with a high calibre of candidates.    Jan Lockett-Kay from the Rotary Club of Pukekura Breakfast in New Plymouth has been selected as Team Leader.  Jan is Head of the Faculty Humanities at the Western Institute of Technology in Taranaki and she will make an excellent team leader with her interests in education. 

One of the team exercises - the spiders web

Four Team Members have been selected.  Amanda Burgess who is a senior Policy Analyst with NZQA has a strong professional interest in education, specifically in areas around qualifications, policy development and standards based assessment.  Amanda Williams is a primary school teacher at Windley School in Porirua East who is passionate about raising the literacy achievements in schools.  Aroha Darroch from St Pius School in Titahi Bay is also a primary school teacher in a small school and has an interest in politics in education.  The fourth member Lani Evans is involved in many service projects and is currently Regeneration Trust Co-convenor.  Lani plans to gain experiences that she can bring back to the Trust.

The final team sec election day with GSE chair
Andy Watson, Janand DGE Graeme.

Over the next few months the team will be preparing for their month long exchange in Canada where they will be hosted by local Rotary clubs and will have the opportunity to visit organisations specialising in their chosen professions.

We would like to wish the team well and look forward to hearing of their experiences when they return to New Zealand.

DGE May Update

May has come and gone and now we are into the final run to Changeover on 1 July when our year will begin in earnest.

Chris and I enjoyed a couple of weeks break in the UK and Rome where we caught up with our daughter Stephanie.  I had some business in the UK and a conference in Rome while Chris and Steph did the sights of Venice, Florence and Rome.

Upon returning to New Zealand our first priority was District Assembly, which was held in Palmerston North on the 20^th.  There was a good turnout with over 300 Rotarians attending.  District Assembly was run a bit different this year with a project fair and a PEs stream where we focused on ‘Making Change Real’.  We have received lots of positive feedback from the event and I hope these will be a feature of future District Assemblies.  My thanks to Dexter Bambery,  the District Training team, and everyone else who helped make this a very successful event.

Maxine Walker who facilitated
a session with the PEs on
change in Rotary.    

The next major event is Changeover and Bob Austin and his team have been putting the final touches to this event, which is being held on 1 July at Te Rauparaha Arean in Porirua.  Again, my thanks to the team for the huge effort that is being put into making this a successful event and hope to see you there.

The other major focus this month has been preparing the Directory for 2012/13 and again just collecting all of the information has been a big task in its self.  My thanks to Adrienne Murray who has been working hard on this task.

Earlier in the month we were privileged to be asked to attend the Changeover of the Awapuni Rotary in Palmerston North.  Their Changeover had been held early because their president, Dr  Anand Srivastava had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.  Sadly, Dr Anand passed away only 2 weeks after the Changeover.  He was a very special man and will be sadly missed by all those who knew him.  Awapuni is only a small club but both Chris and I were impressed with the huge spirit  and innovation in this club and also the huge amount of work they do in the community. 

In the coming month we will be preparing for Changeover, completing the directory, and hosting the DGEs  in Wellington when they will be here for a RNZWCS meeting.

And then the year begins!

Graeme and Chris