Lots of both. A successful partners' morning by all accounts
President Warren’s Welcome…
Anniversaries: Warren acknowledged the Rotary one-year anniversary for Wendy Lowe
Kiwi Can: Dan read a letter from a parent, thanking Kiwi Can for providing her son with hope and a new pathway, and Dan thanked Rotary for their continued support of the programme.
Treasured Art: Kathy spoke to the debrief meeting for the recent Treasured Art event, which made $12,758 profit for The Graeme Dingle Foundation. Issues and future recommendations have been collated to hand on to the next organising committee. Kathy pointed out that there are thirty-three jobs involved in the nine-month organising period. She suggests these be shared out among club members (although she did all of them herself this year!)
Events Committee update: Les gave an update on the “This is Us’ project, which now
has $12,500 of funding and is at the stage of creating a full implementation plan and timeline, which will be shared with the club in the New Year.
The “Noises Off” performance was a great success and the next social event for club members is the Christmas get-together at Zest next Wednesday evening. It is not too late to register for this event.
There will be another Rialto movie night in February.
The Darwin Rotary club shared a fundraising idea with our club that Les is investigating.
K Valley Cycle Race: Suggestion from President Warren that over Christmas members challenge their friends and family to participate in this event.
Editor’s Update: Dave Woodhouse has put in his apologies for the rest of this calendar year, sends his very best wishes to all members for the Christmas season, and will catch up with us all again the New Year (hopefully).
Kaitiaki Awards
Our Kaitiaki made two awards this morning, the first award, presented by Mary O’Sullivan, was to
Greg Brownless QSM:
The award is for services to Rotary, community leadership and contribution to the local as well as international communities. Mary spoke of Greg’s business acumen, coupled with a ‘hands-on’ approach to community service. His generosity and huge community spirit in establishing the Legacy Charitable Trust for the city means that more than $3million has been donated to charity since the trust’s establishment.
Mary then touched on his time as Deputy Mayor and Mayor and reminded us all of Greg’s work, calling on his funeral director skills, in identifying and repatriating Tsunami victims in Thailand in 2004 and 2005 and similar work on Christmas Island in 2011.
Mary described Greg as a humble, dignified man, highlighting Greg’s varied contributions within the club, his musical and theatrical talent and quirky sense of humour. She described him as having the ‘x factor’ that makes him a very worthy recipient of the Kaitiaki award.
The second award, presented by Sally Morrison, was to Mary O’Sullivan
The award again is for services to Rotary, community
leadership and contribution. Sally reviewed Mary’s time as President, her willingness and ability to go above and beyond the call of duty for fellow Rotarians as well as for family. She acknowledged Mary’s leadership skills, courage and strength, as well as her listening skills and vision. Specifically, Sally attributed the success of fundraisers such as Art auctions and the recent Carrus Tent breakfast to Mary’s ability to pioneer new ventures and to mentor others.
Sally also made special mention of Mary’s role in the care of new members and those with health issues, the time and energy Mary willingly gives to supporting anyone in need. Sally described Mary as someone she can laugh with, trust completely and someone who, as a true friend to so many of us is also a very worthy recipient of the Kaitiaki award.
Guest Speaker: Les Mangos – Jousting with Bureaucracy (Introduced by Phil Mangos)
Les challenged the expectation he believes we are conditioned to accept, that bureaucrats, having trained for their jobs, are always right. He then proceeded to give us some specific examples of taking on bureaucrats and winning (at least in the short term).
As a twenty eight year old councillor in Cromwell, he took on renaming of local streets from their historical link to the counties of Ireland. A significant process for the residents of Gay Street, and the owners of the Gay Motel. He also jousted and won with central government to preserve the location of the main street bridge from a proposed move a kilometre downstream. Cromwell is now the biggest town in Central Otago.
He moved on to fighting, during the construction of the Upper Clutha dam, the raising of the level of Lake Wanaka and worked with Ian Quigley and Norman Kirk to establish the Lake Wanaka preservation act. (That lake is a bit full at the moment – Ed.)
A reclassification of his property as saleable only to the crown saw Les relocate to the North Island, form alliances with Duncan McIntyre and Roger Douglas and set about redefining the organisation of the kiwifruit industry, among other things, bringing Zespri into being. Les is particularly proud of his role in the establishment of the Commodities Levy Act, where the producers levy themselves to cover administration costs.
In terms of physical footprint for Les’s jousting with bureaucracy locally, he outlined for us his influence on the growth of Bethlehem, including taking on the NZ Transport Agency to get a road moved and the installation, with Paul Adams' support of the current roundabout. He also worked with Vince Crossman on the current path of route K!
Time was against us learning more but Les certainly inspired as one who does not just take the route less travelled but makes sure it is the best one for everyone to be on!
Raffle – Michele Beaton
Sergeant: It being 8.00am as the sergeant’s session began, Pauline contented herself with fines for Kathy
Webb (Thirty three people to replace her on Treasured Art), Chris Dever, (although he was no more absent minded than many in forgetting a dinner date he dobbed himself in) and Greg Brownless (sardine presentation in absentia lacked a certain something).
And some word definitions:
Aperitif – pair of dentures
Avoidable – what a matador tries to do
Information – how geese fly
Paradox – pair of doctors or places where you park boats…
Innuendo – Italian suppository
NOT SO EARLY REMINDER:
Santa puts in an appearance on 20 December. Start looking now for a gift (male for male/female for female) for some poor unsuspecting Rotarian to cherish forever (or even until next year.) $10 or thereabouts is the suggestion and preferably gift wrapped in recyclable newspaper
NOTE: Our first unofficial meeting of 2020 will be at The Raft, Chapel Street, Bay Central at 7am Friday 10 January (so no Tauranga Club meetings on 27 December or 3 January either). Format: Order and pay for your breakfast on arrival. Approximate numbers are requested. Please contact Pauline or Dave
And finally.......
Good to see Secretary Warwick and Fireman Ron celebrating Wellington Phoenix's recent win. They kept that quiet, didn't they?