It is good to be back in the country and I am writing this from Rotorua enjoying their superb mountain biking with a bunch of friends. Yes, it’s good to be back.
 

Bernie Lepper said to me that she hadn’t laughed so much at a Rotary meeting for a long time, and that was our club night!  We were addressed that night by our district gov Phil Gully, ably assisted by his lovely wife Anna and he stressed the importance of fun. We got that thanks to Les, Kevin and Stu. And for those who attended our French Meal at that buzzing cosmopolitan centre of Omakau, it too was a lot of fun. Thanks, Mark, for organising that. 
 

Phil also stressed flexibility around Rotary and thinking outside the square in terms of activities and structure to help make clubs more innovative and attractive to new members. Let’s work on that.
 

And it was great to see Phil present to Gil the shield (see picture below), rivalling that of the Ranfurly Shield, for the Bulletin of the year for the new District 9999.
 

We did do some business and that was addressing the important issue of Regionalisation where our Zone 8 is one of the international Guinea pigs for a new structure. The key change is greater collaboration with likeminded clubs to make Rotary more relevant and to raise our profile. There was some good discussion around a geographic cluster of Central Otago Clubs with the same values as us and a desire to make health a focus for collaboration. This will play out over the next year. It did reinforce to us that we have already collaborated successfully with clubs in the past, the change will be to do it at a closer level.
 

Our most recent Board meeting had us turn down more applications for funds than we granted (Haehaeata), we are quite mindful of our stretched funds. I believe we do need to look at further fundraising which we will discuss possibly next meeting.
 

We will also be forwarding to all an overview of the Vince Ashworth Trust to help newer members understand how it all hangs together.
 

 

 

 

Phil Gully is a charter member of the Whakatū Club in Nelson and will be the second District Governor for D9999 – the South Island of NZ.

He originally joined Rotary in Hastings in 1989 as a member of the lunchtime Hastings Club, and after moving to Nelson in 1991 joined the Nelson Central Rotary Club (now the Rutherford Club), before becoming the first vice-president of Whakatū in 2003. Phil is a past Assistant Governor, past President of both the Whakatū Club and of the Nelson Chamber of Commerce.

 

He had a long career in broadcasting before finishing his working life in real estate.

Phil’s interests are cricket, golf and fishing. He is a member of NZ International Fellowship of Cricketing Rotarians and played for “NZ” in the NZIFC tournament in Vapi, India in 2012. He is the world’s most inconsistent golfer and loves to fish for snapper in Tasman Bay.

 

Phil’s wife Anna is the Immediate Past President of the Nelson-Tasman Justices of the Peace, Past Whakatū Club President, Past Assistant Governor and RDR (Regionalisation District Rep) for D9970 in 2021-22.

Phil’s goals for 2023/24 are to have fun, plan, encourage clubs to be bold and moreover be creative.

 

 

 

Barry took this picture in Pike Place Market in Victoria British Columbia whilst on sojourn with Nola to Canada and the US recently. They stayed with Tim Flemming and wife at one stage for a few days.

 

A new venture for Rotary (see picture below)???

 

Actually, it was just a trick, only advertising a Rotary grocery area in the market.

 

 

 

The Rotary Quiz is coming up on the 7^th of November at the District Club.

What we need between now and then are the following: -

 

Prizes suitable for raffles and placing

Members to approach potential sponsors

Members available on the night to help with selling raffles and marking

Members to make up teams

 

If anyone has access to a photocopier and could do some photocopying for me, please let me know.

Any prizes can be passed onto me on Rotary nights or dropped off to me at 2 Thyme Cresent.

 

The District Club has advised that wine as raffle prizes is not allowed under their licence.

Therefore, if you can think of something outside of alcohol that would be good as prizes that would help. Meat prizes for instance are well received.

We can however use wine as winner prizes so if you plan to give this, please let me know, so I can make sure that we don’t end up with too much.

Many thanks in anticipation and I will keep in touch along the way to update everyone on progress.

 

 

Rotary New Member Talk on Tuesday 22/8/23 

 

My travelling adventures began when I was sixteen, flying to Mt Cook.

After completing my Enrolled Nursing training, along with my friend Sue and her sister, we went to South Africa and Rhodesia, working and travelling. Then off to London, England, where we worked and travelled around Europe and the UK.

I visited many well-known landmarks and saw the Mona Lisa in the Louvre Museum in Paris. After three years, I purchased a plane ticket with ten stopovers and returned to New Zealand through Europe and Asia.

Then came marriage, farming and four children. About 2006 one of my daughters was working in Fiji, so I went to visit her. I realised that I still had the travel bug. Since then, I have been to Australia many times and also visited Japan, Chatham and Pitt Islands, been on an Antarctic cruise and visited the Galapagos Islands.

Rarotonga was my first overseas trip since Covid and in July I went to my son’s wedding on the Sunshine Coast.

After arriving in Alexandra in 1012, I worked at the Secure Dementia Unit in Ranui and did ‘End of Life Care’ for the Central Otago Hospice.