Saturday night saw a hive of activity at The Packing Shed on Earnscleugh Road. It was a packed house with 125 in attendance. With thanks to auctioneer Alan McCrostie 15 packages or items were sold along with about 50 silent auction items. Our guest speaker Matt Chisholm certainly kept our interest - his choice of words was a bit rough at times but he took us through his life journey. He’s been in some dark places with depression which he tried to hide with drink and drugs.

 

It was an enlightening presentation with a good message for us all to look out and help or get help for people with anxiety problems which can lead to depression and low self-esteem to suicide. Well done John and to all those who contributed to make this evening successful. We look forward to the financial result (see below).

 

 

A brief summary of the Director’s meeting on Tuesday night after a full-on meeting and a visit next door to the brewery of Grant Radka. 5 applications for funds were considered of which two were supported. The Mt Aspiring Education Trust $2000 towards the replacement of the generator and Millers Flat School $1000 towards Year 7 and 8 children going to Wellington which was only a portion of what the initial application was for.

 

Sticks and Stones request for funding to go to a convention in the USA has been tabled until a full application has been submitted. An application from Alexandra Senior Citizens for kitchen equipment was also tabled for more consideration and research. Alexandra Flames Ice Hockey Club submitted a request for funds for a team to travel to Melbourne which was declined. 

 

 

As I mentioned in the last bulletin Hilarie and I have been on a road trip north where we spent a week in Turangi.I trust this story will be of interest to you. We took the inland route as far as Amberley then continued up the Kaikpura Coast. The countryside is all looking great with what would appear to be sufficient feed about as the farming fraternity head into winter. The calm ferry crossing was as planned and running to schedule as was the case on our return 12 days later. Our arrival in Wellington was evening in rain and rush hour traffic which made our trip through the Hutt Valley interesting - a far cry from negotiating our way home in Alexandra! We stayed 2 nights in Greytown which meant we could travel to areas in the Wairarapa where we hadn’t ventured before including a walk out to Castle Point lighthouse. It appears as we all know that small provincial towns are struggling - either shops closed or limited hours 10am to 4pm. Overcast and some very wet days seemed to be the norm which curtailed our activities. Eventually on the day we left Turangi - 7 days later the rain acted and we were fortunate to have blue skies and views of the volcanos covered to their bases with snow. Very picturesque!

 

The trip we did on the Forgotten World Adventure in Taumaranui was a highlight. We were transported in a van to Tokarima deep in the King Country and we returned in a golf cart - 45 carts have been adapted to run on railway tracks. This is a section of the now unused railway line which used to run from Stratford to Taumaranui. It was an interesting journey through many tunnels and little country settlements which all had an interesting history to be heard from the tour guide. Whanganui and Palmerston North were our next stops then an easy drive mid-morning down the recently opened transmission gully highway into Wellington. What a game changer that must be for Wellington commuters.

The final leg we travelled through the Wairau Valley via St Arnauds, Nelson Lakes, Murchison, Lewis Pass, Hanmer Springs and home via Palmerston and Middlemarch (to collect my dog) and home. 3500km later. Now to settle in for the winter and complete my Rotary Presidential year.

 

 

A report on this year’s Charity Dinner from my perspective as MC. The event this year was held at The Packing Shed in Earnscleugh.

 

The preliminary stuff all fell into place thanks to John’s organising and delegation skills. To sell out weeks before the event was well done and if the aim each year is to sell around 120 seats, it may be if it continues to be an event looked forward to, it will hopefully create its own demand.

 

The venue is good for a 120, I wouldn’t like to put any more in there. It was less cramped than at our early events in the Community Centre when we had 130 to 140. The layout is pretty good with the room next door for the silent auction and the bar was well out of the way. It was a lot more “comfortable” at the start. I was a bit surprised to see how quickly people drifted to their tables and in the end, they were ready to “start” before I was.

 

It was a bit cramped at the lectern and this was a little more obvious at auction time, but it wasn’t crucial. We had a hiccup at auction time because we didn’t fire up the projector to display the goodies although I am not sure that the proposed location of the screen would have been ideal. May have to think about that for next year. We also didn’t put out our spotters which made it a bit hard to track the successful bidders and we in fact “lost” the bid on the big painting on the first time it was put up. Not hard to fix that.

 

I thought the meal was great, the lamb was as good as I have tasted in a while, and I thought our waiters/waitresses did very well. The dessert was up there as well so the standard was high. Probably one or two may have gone home a bit peckish. We didn’t have the nibbles beforehand as in the past although I don’t know if they were missed as everyone seemed to get to their tables reasonably quickly.

 

I think the only real weakness for the night was the acoustics. The building itself, with no ceiling, probably didn’t lend itself to the occasion and even with the sound system we had, I had trouble getting everyone’s attention on the occasions I needed. Our speaker Matt Chisolm didn’t seem to have the same issues. I suspect he has had somewhat more experience than me, and they did actually come to listen to him, whereas I was tending to interrupt their fun. A proper sound system will likely solve that issue quickly.

 

The speaker’s time was much longer than the norm, evidenced by a significant number of mainly men needing to take a walk before he finished, but that is largely their issue. All we can do is suggest a time of around 45 minutes being appropriate for the nature and timing of the even. The content of his presentation I found pretty interesting even though I had read his book. There were a few who maybe felt it was a bit raw, but I think they would be a minority. A lot of people came up after to complement him. The topic was different than what we have had in the past, but like Peter Williams he had a message and was not just there to entertain.

 

All in all, it was a very good night and a credit to John and his team of helpers. We are never going to please everyone but I think we went close.

 

 

 

The Tim and Marilyn Fleming Education Trust will be the primary recipient of the money raised at the Charity Auction(about $15,000 this year). This Trust is for the education of health professionals employed by the Central Otago Health Services. 
 
In particular they want to provide ongoing professional training to the hard-working nurses of Dunstan Hospital because they miss out on those opportunities due to location and cost.  For example, their first recipient nurse underwent new wound treatment training that she shared with the rest of the staff.
 
The actions of the Trust will benefit all of the local community through enhanced care at Dunstan Hospital.

 

 

 John