The Rotary year is going very quickly with only the Quiz Night, AGM and Christmas Party to conclude our year.

 

On 8^th October we enjoyed Paddy Ford’s talk on his work in Education.  It was good to hear that it is not all gloom and gloom in the sector and that our kids can read and write (and see below).

 

Dave and Beth Krehic talked to us on the 22^nd October about their work with search and rescue dogs which was pretty interesting and although volunteers, the role takes an enormous amount of time.  It was surprising to note how political it is when it comes to using such services (and see below).

 

 

Loud Shirt Day raised $275 towards supporting people with cochlear implants.  The day raised $75,000 throughout the country.

 

The Barker’s Christmas Gift Packs (picture below right) are selling well with $20 from each sale going to the club which will help to support our community activities.  The price is $135 per pack.  If you are interested, please let me know asap as we will close orders on Quiz Night.  My email address for orders is: jjopp@mouterestation.co.nz

 

It was good to see Rotary recognised in The News recently with an article on the Women’s Health Bus. A project which we collaborated on with the other Central Otago Rotary Clubs.

Thanks to Andrew for keeping the Facebook posts up to date too.

 

Logan Bathurst is moving to Dunedin.  Thank you for all you have done for the club.  We have enjoyed your company and best wishes in your future endeavours.  We look forward to meeting your successor in due course.

 

Nev has the Quiz Night organised for Tuesday12th November.  He is needing:

 The District Club has indicated wine as raffle prizes is not really allowed under their licence, so if you can think of something outside of alcohol that would be good. Meat prizes are well received. We can use wine for winner prizes so if you plan to give this, please let Nev know.

 

The AGM is planned for 29^th November and the Christmas Party on December 10^th.  Please diary these events.

 

We are looking for someone (or a couple of you) to organise the Charity Dinner next year.  John has good records so the handover should be quite easy, and he will of course be available to bring you up to speed.  I’d like to thank him for organising this event for the past years.  He has organised it with aplomb.  It is an important fundraiser with a successful format. 

 

 

There are a number of members struggling with health issues at the moment. Our thoughts are with you, and we wish you all the very best.

 

 

Dave Krehic gave a very interesting talk about the work of LandSAR (search and rescue). He said that this work really came about by chance because he used to spend a lot of time kayaking and mountain biking until he had a few accidents that more or less limited these activities. Because he had spent so much time in wilderness areas it occurred to him that search and rescue would be a good area for him to consider. He met his wife Beth on one of the search and rescue missions that he quickly became involved with. The work is entirely of a voluntary nature.

 

Dave told us about some of the difficult search and rescue jobs he has done, sometimes spending days out in dense bush trying to locate a missing person. He explained that the work would be impossible without a good dog and explained the breeding of dogs that would be suitable for search and rescue work. His current dog Lochy (picture below) at about age 4 is a really good search dog and can follow sents left by lost people sometimes days after they have been there. Dave explained that it is the sent from skin cells that the dogs can detect.

 

Sometimes the search will result in finding a live person but more likely a body. Lochy and dogs that Dave and Beth have had before him have been able to find a body a year or so after that person has gone missing. Dave works closely at times with the police and said that the police dogs are trained somewhat differently to the way his dogs are trained, because the police dogs are trained to find and apprehend offenders.

 

Dave has been working with wilderness LandSAR dogs for 25 years but only moved to Wānaka five years ago, bringing “that extra element” to the well-established Wānaka team. Prior to this Dave worked in Canterbury and was involved with rescue work following the Christchurch earthquakes. Dave and Beth now actually live in Queensbury, not far from Wanaka.

 

With years of training and assessing dogs, puppy selection Dave said is most important, and Lochy (Dave's third operational search dog) was Dave's pick of the breeds. 

Dave said Lochy (a three-year-old mix of pointer/labrador/heading dog) is “a very talented working dog and family pet”.

 

Lochy is a qualified wilderness LandSAR tracking dog and has had this operational status since 2022. The team is evaluated every year by NZ Police to maintain high standards.

Wilderness LandSAR (search and rescue) dog Lochy got a special shout-out from Wānaka Police senior sergeant Fiona (Fi) Roberts for his role in a SAR call-out. Fi thanked the SAR volunteers and gave a special mention to Lochy, who had played an integral role in one of week’s four rescues.

 

Originally from Balclutha, his career in Education has seen him teach mainly in Otago coming to Cromwell initially to complete his country service, on to Oturehua where he developed an interest in duck shooting and curling. He ventured north to Sheffield (Canterbury) before returning to Cromwell and then Dunedin to be more convenient for children’s education options. Finally, to Balclutha from where he retired to Alexandra.

 

At one stage Paddy considered returning to Dunedin to help with his eight grandchildren but made the wise decision to remain in Alexandra.

 

Paddy also became involved in the Principals Association, and he thanks Barry Hambleton for his encouragement in getting involved in it. He rose to the position of President in 2008. In this position Paddy travelled to Australia, Singapore, China United States, England, Scotland and Ireland.

 

A self-confessed passionate “Educationalist”, Paddy has no doubt that NZ is the best place for the education of our grandchildren.

 

Paddy is convinced that Education should be kept outside politics and that money is not the issue but the quality of the people who go into training is more important. He is concerned that the statistics that are quoted comparing our results in classroom internationally, are not calculated on a level playing field. Although we are well above the average in two of the major measuring exercises calculated internationally, many of the “higher performing” countries obtain their numbers after excluding groups of lower performing schools.

 

Having survived a quadruple bypass, Paddy is enjoying his retirement in Alexandra, still dabbling in education through an involvement with REAP as a driving instructor. He is also available to do MC (Master of Ceremonies) work which John Whitaker has duly taken note of for the next Rotary Charity Dinner.

 

Bookworm a 2024 New Zealand adventure comedy drama film directed by Ant Timpson, based on a screenplay by Toby Harvard.^[5] The film was about a young girl named Mildred embarking on an adventure with her estranged American father Strawn Wise to seek out the mythical Canterbury panther. 

 

Tomris Laffly of Variety gave Bookworm a positive review, describing it as "a delightfully quirky father-daughter adventure with the perfect blend of childlike wonder and grown-up bite." Laffly praised Harvard and Timpson's script for exploring the themes of family, fatherhood and adventure. She also praised cinematographer Daniel Katz for capturing the relationship between the two characters and the natural scenery. Laffly also praised the performances of Wood and Nell Fisher.

 

“Best laid schemes o mice an’ men / Gang aft a gley ”  “ Fly me to the Moon” evaporated on the night leading to a quick review, hence “Bookworm”. The Sergeant can follow through appropriately and we raised $600 for Polio Plus.