DG Update - A Week of Variety

Our week began with a visit to the Rotary Club of Paraparaumu for a Robbie Burns night.  This was a chance to get out my Kilt and dress up for a great night of haggis, food, singing and friendship.  It was also a special night as I was able to award on behalf of the club a Community PHF to Rachel Osborne for her services to Youth in the local community.



On Tuesday we had an opportunity to visit our own club of Plimmerton, where Christine taught the club how to make Peace Cranes. This was a great effort to make a good number to add to our growing collection for us to send across to the Children's Peace Monument in Hiroshima.

DG with Members of West
Wairarapa at the Races

Wednesday, Waitangi Day, we attended the Tauherenikau Races in the Wairarapa as guests of one of my work clients.  This was a great day out for us and here we were reminded of the work of Rotary, as the Rotary Clubs in the area help run the event through arranging car parking etc.

The week rounded out with a number of meetings.  I was particularly pleased to be able to attend the Hutt 1 and 2 cluster meeting with AGs Paul and Carol and their cluster Presidents.  These 2 clusters have been working together very closely through the year and it was great to hear of a number of joint cluster projects and planned meeting.

We trust you have a great week ahead.

Regards

Graeme

ROMAC to Feature on TV ONE

District Conference Update - Book Now

Book now for the Rotary District Conference, Rotorua, April 26-28, 2013

  

The 2013 Combined District 9920 & 9940 Conference is only a three months away, and the early bird special price expires on Feb 18, so book today!

This month we'd like to tell you about one of our keynote speakers:

Nadia Lim         

Nadia is now world famous in NZ as Masterchef 2011. She captured the hearts of most kiwis when she won Masterchef due to her delightful personality as much as her cooking skills. She has written a great book, advertises salmon on TV, and is carving out a very promising career internationally. Her website is worth a look, as it's full of interesting stuff such as recipes and her food philosophies: www.nadia.co.nz.

Find out who else is speaking at: www.rotaryconf2013.co.nz/speakers.

Saturday night is party night, with a theme of "Starry Starry Night". 

Pre-dinner drinks, a gala dinner, amazingly themed, outlandish entertainment, and dancing to a great band of Rotorua Morrison fame.

STARRY STARRY NIGHT is the theme, so dress up as your favourite STAR, as if you are attending the Oscars, as your favourite impressionist painter, or even as Don McLean!

Organise your club to select a Special Club Theme for dressing up. Prizes for the best Club.

The sky is the limit for your imagination, so go wild and join in the fun.

Early bird prices are available for the 800 places up until Feb 18, but don't delay, seats are filling up fast.

You can book here www.rotaryconf2013.co.nz/registration.

To get all the info on the conference, view the full website here: www.rotaryconf2013.co.nz

District 9940 Caravan Club

Over the past weekend the District 9940 Caravan Club met in Masterton.  Twenty seven members turned up for a weekend of great weather and fun.

If you are interested in learning more about this group contact District 9940 Caravan Club Chair Bill Russell - see your club directory.

District Conference Speaker Profile - Simon Denny

Makino and Fielding Rotary Clubs - Fundraising to Support Professor Swee Tan

The Makino and Feilding Rotary Clubs are fundraising to support the work of Professor Swee Tan as he works towards his aim of finding a cure for cancer.

Professor Swee Tan works at the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute and specialises in the reconstructive surgery of people, afflicted by disfiguring strawberry birthmarks and sometimes life threatening conditions.

On Tuesday 12 February 2013 from 5.30pm (meeting starts 6pm) at the Rangitikei Club, Bowen St, Feilding, the  Makino Rotary Club are hosting a public invited meeting to hear the amazing story of a young 12 year old girl, Hana Olds, whose aim is to raise $30,000 towards the work of Professor Swee Tan and the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute.

To achieve this, Hana, from Wellington High School, has written an inspiring book entitled

‘If Persistence was a Person’ Her book is now in its third edition.

Hana has already donated $10,000 to the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute

Hana and her mother Bronwyn Olds will be in Feilding on Tuesday 12 February and will be spending time talking with Feilding High School students and meeting the Mayor before addressing the Rotary meeting in the evening.

Everyone is welcome to hear this amazing story from such a young inspirational girl as she confidently promotes her worthwhile cause.

Tickets for this meeting on Tuesday 12 February are $20 each (includes dinner) and are available from the Feilding Information Centre, 10 Manchester Square, Feilding or by phoning 06 323 3318 or email: info@feilding.co.nz.

For more information contact

Nook Yule

Phone: 06 323 9463

Prepared by

Helen Worboys

Rotary Club of Makino

Ph: 027 230 6690

A Weekend in the Wairarapa - the Martinborough Fair

The highlight of our past week was a weekend in the Wairarapa.  Following closely on the footsteps of Wings over Wairarapa the South Wairarapa Club had the first of it's two Martinborough fairs on Saturday.  Chis and I headed over to Martinborough Friday night and camped out with a group of friends in our seldom used tent!  Fortunately another magnificent weekend of weather was turned on for us.  

Saturday we headed down to the Fair where we caught up with members of Rotary, donned a bright orange jacket and lent some assistance.  I quickly learned what a huge undertaking this is for all of the people and clubs concerned.  With 500 stalls present this is a massive undertaking and from what we saw things were running smoothly with the usual minor issues to solve on the day.  The fair has been going for over thirty years and is a great fund raiser for the clubs and local communities.  Being somewhat visible walking around I got numerous queries including where certain stalls were, where the toilets were, and had to assist finding an umbrella for one of the food stalls.  I was also pleasantly surprised in talking to people that they were well aware of Rotary's involvement in the fair and it was a pleasure to get many favorable comments of our organisation and the great work we do in the community.  Our thanks for all of the hard work put in on behalf of Rotary and our congratulations to the South Wairarapa Club and all involved for putting on another great event.

It was also great to see Dave Wilson and his team at the fair manning the ERK display and creating awareness if this very important and worthwhile project in our District.  Again, our thanks for the great work that Dave and his team puts and the support that he receives from all clubs in the District and the local communities at events such as this.

We also managed to get in some sightseeing with a visit down to Tora.

Chris and I have a busy week ahead with visits to several clubs, several meetings and of course a day at the races back in the Wairarapa on Waitangi Day.

We wish you all a great week ahead.

Graeme