Treasured Art:  The Art collection is  going well.  What we need are SPONSORS. Also, Raffle Prizes. And Cooks . Talk to a member of the Committee if you can help with any.  

There is to be a pre event. Create an artwork in an hour. 1 April, Red Square. No, not an April fools event. Volunteers required for a number of roles, except that of model , but if you are feeling photogenic, then you can apply for that post as well. .  

 

Collections: Saturday 25th March, yes, next weekend. Tell Neil, or put your name down on Friday.

 

Romac: Glenys advised that here are currently 5 kids in Starship Hospital under the scheme. Great going. 

 

Robyn Skelton, from her new home, over the hill, told us about her new scheme, to bring Kiwi Can to Rotorua. She has been working really hard, and has 5 Rotary Clubs in Rotorua on board. They have raised $55k out of the $85k required to get going. Great news. 

 

John Mayson, one of our veteran members, and a real mover & shaker over the years for the club, has resigned.

 

Our Speaker was Gary Benner. In a long and interesting talk, he led us along his life's path to his project, a disaster warning system , called Tsunado.  The path started in his genes. His great grandfather was the post master and telegraph operator at Maketu, who reported the Mount Tarawera eruption to the rest of the world. His youth was spent building radios, and listening to the then pirate radio, Radio Hauraki.  Two  virtually simultaneous events, a fire at home, and the 2004 killer tsunami in Asia  led him into thinking that there must be a better way. A number of false paths were followed, but now he has the prototype of a small radio which emits a loud warning sound, on receiving a coded message from a radio station and then switches to a radio broadcast on which the emergency services can broadcast the relevant warning message. Unfortunately, the powers that be seem intent on taking a different path, involving mobile telephones & txt messages. All very well & good, but who normally runs their mobiles at a volume level high enough to wake them up? Also, the mobile phone networks are not at all good in surviving earthquakes. It seems to me that Gary's device would be much more effective.

 

Our sergeant was Ron Fife. Unfortunately,  attendance at the recent NZ golf open had rendered his memory inoperative. So, having forgotten that he was on duty, he was forced to tell us old golfing and Irish jokes, it being Saint Patrick's day.  For an impromptu act, it was really well done.

 

Parting thought. From Ron Devlin. Fancy him quoting an Englishman, especially on Paddy's day.  The quote was from Francis Bacon: "Fame is like  a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and sad".

 

Reminder: Special Meeting on 24 March. A formal vote to approve Julie Hignett as our treasurer. Unless, of course you want to take on the job.