Attendance was, to put it politely, sparse. It seems that a number had actually read their bulletins, and as a result, had decided that the better option was to stay at home, in bed. Yes, Our AGM. In some ways, poor attendance at a potentially boring AGM is a sign of a healthy club, in that those who are happy are more likely to stay away.

 

Eric ran the meeting . Ursula was down as being away, but she showed up, in somewhat unaccustomed stealth mode. She will be taking the reins back, soon.

 

Next Week, there is a change of speaker. Our original speaker, Dame Susan Devoy,  has a schedule clash, i.e. she forgot to put the engagement in her diary, so we will have one of our own, the Headmistress herself, Pauline Cowens , talking about her years in education.

 

We have been asked by the Tauranga-TePapa Rotary club to assist with volunteer controllers for the Santa parade, 9-12am on 2 December. Call Barbara to volunteer if you are available.

 

We then inducted our new member, Louise Miller. In an unusual move, she was “pinned” by her husband,  Stewart, supported by her 2 boys.  She was in Tauranga, with the city council from 2013-6, then spent a year back in the UK, before returning to our sunny shores, again with the city council, recently.

 

Then, we had the AGM. Wayne presented his report on last year’s activities. We have discontinued a couple of events that seemed to be past their use by dates, and also lost a few members. Those of us left represent the quality side of things. He thanked those who helped out by running various events, and particularly those who are continuing to work hard at the district level, Glenys, Roberta, and Steve D.

 

We then went on to individual committee reports.

Eric, reporting on membership &club development advised that we had not had much success with an effort to get more young members on board. After last year’s net loss of members, this year we are breaking even, 2 in, 2 out. So, if you know of any potential, preferably younger, members, invite them along, and let Eric know.

 

Dave Robinson, New Generations, reported on a successful RYPEN camp. This year, the Army could not do it, and the current government approach requires licensed practitioners for just about everything, significantly increasing costs. We have sent young people to Outward bound, the RYLA program, the Summer Science school, and have one outbound exchange student. The committee also had some responsibility for the Whisky tasting event, presumably for spending the proceeds, rather than organising youth participation. We are still looking for one Outward Bound candidate.

 

The International Committee report was delivered by Mike Batchelor, as the chair, Pat Taylor, is on a cruise. The Tonga literacy project is proceeding. The District funding application for $5K came back reduced to $2.7K. This will be matched by the same or more from our club, , which will pay for 3 or more schools to be given the required materials. Our contribution to Shelter box is to be made from the donations for the Guess who’s coming to Dinner events, being held over the last 2 weeks. Re ROMAC, our Young lady from Vanuatu, Vina, will be staying in NZ for 6 months for medical reasons. In the meantime, we are hoping to repair a broken water tank in her home village, at a cost of around $500.Also, they are exploring a sister club arrangement with a Japanese club. They also have responsibility for the Save a Life project, with trial runs on 2 alternative sales packages about to commence.

 

The Community service committee report was delivered by Barbara, in the absence of Roberta. Street collections for various charities appear to be going well, and the committee has handled a number of donations from our club to deserving community projects.

 

Warren Scobie then reported for the events committee. They are working on a cycle riding fun family day, and will also be handling the changeover function.

 

Then came the turn of our financial whizz kids Chris Downey made a rare appearance to tell us why we were losing a bit of ground on day to day running costs. Nothing serious, but a somewhat bigger payment may be required for breakfasts. Julie pleaded lack of accounting skills, just telling us where the cash goes to.

 

Rhonda reported on the charitable & community payments made through our trust. Essentially, this arm received $60K from various club fundraising activities, and gave out $65K, nearly a thousand dollars per member.

 

By then, we had run out of time for a sergeant’s session. Just as well, as whoever was supposed to do that duty appeared to have had a diary malfunction.