Note: The Tauranga Club is unlikely to be available to us within 3 months. But we are ok – actually we quite like the Citizens Club.
Visitors: Neil Penniston, Abbey and Fred. YSAR(guest speakers), Nathan Capper ( ex Sunrise member now at Nelson )
Birthdays: Lynda Burch ( Happy Birthday President )
Anniversaries:
Pat Taylor 49th wedding anniversary, Congratulations
Viv Dykes 48th wedding anniversary, Congratulations
Rotary Anniversaries: Nil
President Lynda welcomed all to the meeting
RYPEN
17 to 19 March. Contact David Robinson to assist. There will be a meeting after Rotary this coming Friday( 3rd March ) to co-ordinate.
K VALLEY CYCLE ADVENTURE
Postponed to a later date -to be advised
This will take place on Sunday ______, with funds raised supporting the Graeme Dingle Foundation.
Book Sorting
Contact Ross Brown if you can help with this on Saturday 4 March at Sally Morrison’s residence in Matua.
CYCLONE RELIEF
Donations appreciate to the Rotary Relief fund.
Food items may be left at Good Neighbour
Bob’s Barbq – currently on hold until future notice.
Guest Speaker, Neil Penniston, Youth Search and Rescue
Neil was introduced by Barry Fredheim, who in turn introduced Abbey and Fred, two of the youth who are part of the group. Neil’s regular job is in an orthopaedic rehabilitation unit. He is originally form the UK where he had a military background.
YSAR has been established for about 12 years and the age range of the participants is from 15 to 18 years. Neil is also an instructor in Land Search and Rescue.
Abbey is from Papamoa and plans to be a DOC Ranger. She is also a speed climber.
Fred lives in Omokoroa and wants to study engineering and leadership skills.
YSAR’s tagline is Survive, Thrive and Save Lives. Its purpose is to empower the next generation of SAR.
Its values are Growing our People, Conserving our Planet and Committing to Progress.
The programme is for 3 years and covers 4 levels.
Level 1. Fieldcraft, survival, navigation and basic first aid
Level 2. Develop search methodology, outdoor first aid and coastguard qualifications.
3. Creating leaders, emergency management incident command and control.
Volunteers deliver the YSAR programme, a mix of emergency services personnel and professional educators. There are NZQA recognized qualifications.
Outdoor activities are undertaken in the Kaimai Ranges and they accommodation on a farm on the Matamata side.
YSAR works with other organisations such as the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, Scouts and many others.
They have worked with Marin County Mountain Rescue in the Yosemite area.
The feedback to YSAR from Student participants is excellent.
There are plans to expand to other parts of NZ including Christchurch, Dunedin, Wakatipu, South Auckland and Northland.
Sergeant Bryan 
Bryan illustrated the GDP under various USA Presidents. The Democrats tended to have higher GDP.
He then looked at NZ and statistically the best GDP growth was under Michael Joseph Savage.
Bryan stressed these were statistics and not political.
Our newest
JP our very own Shiv Thammalla,
trained and inducted by Pat Taylor
and supported by fellow JP Chris Dever
A joke from our very own Scribe- Greg Brownless
Parting thought: Ron Fyfe Best thing about getting old is all the things you wanted when you were young, you no longer want.
