A CELEBRATION OF LITERACY AT HILLCREST

Hillcrest Primary School in Pahiatua sits on top of the hill in a beautiful setting and the pupils are enthusiastic about reading. 

Recently the Education Review Office commented on the improvement in the reading levels at the school, and the Rotary Club of Pahiatua was moved to recognise that effort.  The Rotary Club of Pahiatua celebrated this success with the staff and students at Hillcrest by presenting nearly fifty Usborne illustrated dictionaries to the school to help the budding word-smiths enjoy their reading even more.

The dictionaries were presented by Past District Governor Bill Carthew, who happens to be an old-boy of the school (when it was the district high school) and Past President Glynis De Castro, Director responsible for Youth Programmes.  Mr Carthew took the opportunity to reminisce about some of the things that had happened when he was a boy - looking to strength from the past.  Ms De Castro, on the other hand, took the opportunity to welcome the Year 8 students moving on to Tararua College next year – in essence looking to strength from the future.

The passion for books was obvious.  After the presentation of a dictionary to each student who represented Hillcrest School it was difficult to regain their attention as each youngster explored the book with interest and enthusiasm.

Principal Mrs Janie Roche expressed her appreciation to the Rotarians.  She and her staff seemed as contagiously enthusiastic about reading as the students.

Women in Rotary

The following two submissions were requested by Editor Mark Wallace for Rotary Down Under magazine:

"Being a woman in Rotary is one thing, but being a young (in the sense of Rotary) one with young kids is another. My funniest memory is attending my District Governor Elect training in San Diego January 2009. Our son Brayden was only 9 months old, who travelled with us, so first we got the strange looks of travelling with a child, & then when asking husband Mike questions on Rotary District 9920, & him advising that you had better talk to the wife, as she is the DGE, I seriously thought there would be a few heart attacks happening.

We are old school though, as remember the badges for the DGEs were rimmed with blue, while spouses were pink. Honestly, while times are changing, for Rotary sometimes not fast enough. How I dealt with this, was trying not to laugh, & have to admit, loved shocking many of my fellow DGEs. Coming home to be District Governor, I am sure there were many that wondered what our Nominating Committee had done, but did enjoy showing them in the end that age doesn’t matter. If you have the wonderful team I had, are organized & love what you do, the world is your oyster. It was the best year of my life."

- Leanne Jaggs, Past Governor of Rotary International District 9920 Inc, and member of Rotary Club of Manukau City Sunrise Inc, Auckland, New Zealand

----------------

“My husband Colin was a Charter Director of our Rotary Club of St Johns in 1989. Members at that time were perplexed to be asked “should women be invited to join or not?”, as everyone thought that women should be a part of Rotary, and that feeling remains today.

Apart from one isolated example since becoming a Rotarian in 1993, I have simply been treated as a Rotarian, so being a woman in Rotary hasn’t been an issue.

Rotary has gone from strength to strength since women were admitted to Rotary. We have added another dimension and a different perspective. One amusing memory about a then male-only club that I visited as District Governor in 2004-2005 was when kindly offered a drink, I replied “a red thanks” (meaning wine). My face obviously dropped when handed a Lion Red beer, that was quickly replaced, and undoubtedly someone else enjoyed the beer!

Rotary should represent the demographics of its surrounding community, so a logical place to start is a closer gender balance, meaning we need more women in Rotary, and while we tend to next think of ethnic groups or younger people in our community, another demographic is families – specifically more couples in Rotary.”

-  Beryl Robinson, Past Governor of Rotary International District 9920 Inc, and member of Rotary Club of St Johns Inc, Auckland, New Zealand.

Blog Editor's comment:  Beryl and Colin Robinson are members of the same Rotary club, and Leanne and Mike Jaggs are also both Rotarians, but in different clubs.

Related Links:

www.rotarywomen.org.au

Rotary Video Magazine - Women in Rotary

Getting Smart

 

 

 

The Zone 8 and 7b - Australia and New Zealand Rotary on the Move newsletter for February is a great read - Click Here to open

This newsletter is for anyone with an interest in helping to strengthen Rotary in Australia and New Zealand.

If you want to receive future editions of the newsletter direct to your Inbox, please e-mail Noel Trevaskis n.trevaskis@bigpond.com requesting to be added to the circulation list (likewise to unsubscribe contact Noel on this email).

Please let other Rotarians know about the newsletter and promote it as being available via the web page at www.ROTM.rotarysouthpacific.org (e.g. publicise in your club bulletin, district newsletter and membership training)



Tauranga Heritage Walk

Kevin Manville + Josh Stewart of Traffic Signs

Visitors to Tauranga, New Zealand can discover the city’s historic gems, thanks to 30 direction signs along the 3km Tauranga CBD heritage walk from the i-Site in Willow Street.

The heritage walk was established three years ago, and had only been promoted with brochures. Now brown signs in the international tourism colour point visitors in the right direction to 18 points of interest, including leading them to the old Post Office, Te Awanui Waka, the old Bond Store, Monmouth Redoubt, Robbins Park and Elms Mission Station, which is the jewel in the crown of this walk, then the Mission Cemetery, before returning along Dive Crescent.

The Rotary Club of Tauranga organised and funded this project which included website development of www.taurangaheritagewalk.co.nz.

Tauranga Rotary project coordinator Neil Goodwin hopes that a lot more people will discover the walk by following the signs or using latest technology on smart devices.

Activity and commitment to the community abound at Wanaka Rotary Club

It has been another busy few months at the Rotary Club of Wanaka as members undertook a number of projects for the community and fundraising for community activities.

A lot of the focus this year has been on raising funds for the CT Scanner Suite Appeal for Dunstan Hospital. December 2012 saw the Annual Duck Race, a Buck Shelford Night promoting men’s health, and the Rotary Book Sale which have raised over $30,000. The community hasn’t been forgotten in all this fund raising with the addition of the roof on the BBQ area to finish off Wanaka Rotary Club children’s playground at the western end of the lake front.



Wanaka Rotary Club Book Sale

Christmas you would think brings a well-earned rest from club activities, but a 4WD trip fund raiser early in the New Year, and catering for 1,200 hungry competitors at the Wanaka Challenge prize giving, kept members on their toes. Fundraising for the CT Scanner Suite Appeal will continue with a Monster Charity Auction and Garage Sale in February throughout Wanaka, Cromwell and Alexandra in conjunction with all local Rotary and Lions Clubs.

The club still has time and energy left for fun and fellowship, including fishing trips, BBQs and their club Foundation Auction Night.

Making a difference in Vanuatu

Fencing: Rotary Club of Takapuna North International Director
Stuart Kendon with two local helpers, working on fencing
the Centre for the Vanuatu Society for Disabled People. 

Two Australian volunteers working with people with disabilities found a little girl sitting in the dirt in a village on Efate. Her legs, severely burnt from a candle lit under a mosquito net which caught fire, were deformed by scar tissue. Lack of treatment has tightened the scars. Her legs have become badly infected because she sits in the dirt, unable to move.

This is one of many sad cases in Vanuatu, where a lack of funding sees young and old with disabilities in life-threatening situations.

Men at work: The Rotary Club of Takapuna North NZ working
party (from left) International Director Stuart Kendon, Murray
Pearson and President Elect Phil Brosnan worked for a week
with Port Vila expat Derek Hodder (second from right) on the
first stage of upgrading the Centre for the Vanuatu
Society for Disabled People. 

A skeleton staff hangs on to keep the Centre for the Vanuatu Society for Disabled People (VSDP) open. Every day they turn up to work with little hope of remuneration, to a building that has been condemned in parts as unfit for public use.

Last July, the centre was humming with the sound of weed-eaters, electric drills and saws, and the smell of fresh paint permeated the air. The working bee on Children's Day was a statement to all: our centre is going tobe something our people can be proud of, and there are people who will make
this happen.

The Rotary Club of Port Vila, a new NGO called Friends of People with Special Needs, and the Rotary Club of Takapuna North from Auckland, NZ are working together to rebuild the centre.

This will provide premises from which field workers and volunteers can operate from, a centre where those with disabilities can come for workshops and help with healing, and a centre for building a team of people who will give support and hope to those who can't help themselves, through no fault of their own.

Three Kiwi Rotarians from Takapuna North Rotary, International Director Stuart Kendon, Murray Pearson and President Elect Phil Brosnan, worked the entire week to complete Stage 1 of four stages. They fixed up holes and did a lot of maintenance work, so the centre could keep functioning.

At the Children's Day working bee, local expats who included many Rotarians and their families, came to lend a hand. Friends of People with Special Needs provided lunch and also helped with the clean-up. There were a few special activities at the centre while some of the local Rotarians' children grabbed paintbrushes and spruced up a couple of rooms with the help of theirparents.

VSDP Director Elison Bovu organised the cutting down of trees to make way for a fence to define the boundary and prevent people from using the property as a right-of-way. During the week, Stuart and a couple of local helpers dug fence post holes in the heavy coral strata and rebuilt thefence.

Stage 2 at the end of last year involved 12 NZ Rotarians. It included the construction of an undercover play area for the early intervention programme - the Pikinini Group.

Stage 3 is the construction of a new office, kitchen and bathrooms, and Stage 4 is the demolition of the older section of the building. It is hoped that Stages 3 and 4 will be completed by the end of this year, according to the NZ Rotarians.

If anyone wishes to help on this project, please contact Marg Smith on margsmith@vanuatu.com.vu

Note:
There are no reliable recent figures for the number of people with disabilities in Vanuatu, but as estimated by the World Health Organisation,10% of the global population has a disability. Given Vanuatu's currentestimated population of 243,034, it is likely that 24,303 people living in
Vanuatu have a disability.

- by Marg Smith who runs the NGO, Friends of People with Special Needs, in
Port Vila

Matamata Skateboard Park Six Way Partnership



Eli Hughes of Matamata performing skateboard tricks
 during a demonstration at the opening of the park

Matamata youth have upgraded skateboard park facilities, thanks to the efforts of their local Rotary club plus many businesses and organisations in the New Zealand Waikato town.

Originally built in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Matamata in the late 1980s, the area was in need of an upgrade, so after several years of planning and facilitating, an ambitious $94,000 upgrade was undertaken over three months which culminated in the official opening of the area in early November 2012.



Concrete work being undertaken to form
the skateboard park bowl during construction.

The local Matamata-Piako District Council contributed $50,000 to the upgrade with Rotary putting in $20,000 while local businesses, trusts, Kiwanis and Lions clubs came up with the balance of the funding.

Matamata Rotary President Graeme Guilford told a crowd of about 200 at the opening that the project was a shining example of what could be achieved if community groups worked together towards a common goal.

The ribbon was cut by Joyce Wheadon, widow of late Rotarian Jim Wheadon (PHF), who was a leading light in the original skateboard park construction in Matamata.

Matamata Rotary also took the opportunity at the event to award a Paul Harris Fellow to Rotarian Ross Bay, who was the driving force behind ensuring the upgrade was completed on time, below budget and to a very high standard. Ross put his heart and soul into the project, spending countless hours assisting the paid contractor to complete the work.

The proof of the upgrade success is seen in the numbers of young people enjoying the facility, and the crowd at the opening was treated to some highflying aerobatics by several of the more accomplished Matamata teenagers before more than 70 youngsters also took to the concrete to conclude the opening.

Canterbury Rotary clubs combined to bring a bit of colour to Christchurch

From this

The brainchild of District 9970 Ashburton Rotarian Walter Van Der Kley, ColourMe Christchurch was born on November 4, 2012 because, since the devastating earthquakes, parts of Christchurch had become an unattractive city of vacant land and dust.

Step in 15 local Rotary clubs and 15 vacant lots plus hundreds of volunteers, and by the end of December this landscape had changed to one of beauty.

To this

ColourMe Christchurch set out to plant wild flowers with attractive borders around each plot.  The borders were designed using large truck tyres painted terra cotta, each emblazoned with the Rotary logo.  They were placed around the edge of each plot and filled with Petunias. 

In all more than 100 truck tyres were donated and used.  Behind these, liberal quantities of wild flower seeds were sown (totalling more than 30 kgs).




Done by these Rotarians

Each participating club was involved in the watering and maintenance of their plot.  In most cases, this meant members arriving with various containers of water, and in some instances members of the public emptying their water bottles as they went to work.



The largest plot was nearly 2000 square metres, and it was planted out with more than 1000 Sunflower and 3200 Petunia plants, plus more than 4kgs of wild flowers. On this site we were able to tap into the local water supply and some makeshift irrigation was installed. 

and letting the commuity know who their supporters are

ColourMe Christchurch signage was erected at each site that listed our major sponsors and the contact phone number for enquiries about membership.  We have received a lot of good publicity from the written media, and also a couple of spots on both local and national television. 

Our goal to make a difference has been achieved. Christchurch can be proud once again to call itself “the Garden City”.

 

-          By Gordon Hooper, District 9970 Governor 2012-13

Related links:
http://www.christchurchdailyphoto.com/2012/11/09/colour-me-christchurch/ 

District Conferences 2013 a huge draw-card

This post is to illustrate that Rotary conferences in the New Zealand-based districts are varied and a packed full of Rotary, social and recreational activity.  Rotarians and partners will have a lot of fun at their district's 2013 conference!

District 9910 - Norfolk Island

http://rotaryconference.co.nz/

 

This isn’t actually a conference. With only four mornings of Rotary business scheduled over the course of a full week on Norfolk Island, it’s really a fabulous holiday in the company of good friends with some conference-like activity thrown in.  Let’s call it a ‘holiconfriday’.



Joint Districts 9920 and 9940 - Rotorua

http://www.rotaryconf2013.co.nz/

 

The conference theme is “Pushing Boundaries” creating an atmosphere of action and achievement to make Rotary relevant in today’s changing world, and make real change with an emphasis on Family and Youth.

 

District 9930 - Napier

http://www.9930conference.org/

 

The international Family of Rotary conference.

 

 

District 9970 - Methven

 

  

District 9980 - Invercargill

http://www.9980conference.co.nz/

 

The theme of the Conference, “Wild 45 South” has been chosen with many thoughts in mind:

· ...wild southern food;

· ...wild southern weather (possibly);

· ...and some wild (but also warm and friendly) southern people

 

· ...our District straddles the 45^th Parallel

Footnote:
These conferences are a small illustration of the social aspect of Rotary. 

Members usually meet weekly for breakfast, lunch or dinner, which is a social event as well as an opportunity to organize work on their service goals. 

Then there are the specific social events organised for members and their families that a club might have during the year with an amazing variety and level of innovation going into these.  Rotary International holds an annual Convention, next in Lisbon, which is open to any Rotarian with their family plus there are over 99 vocational and recreational "fellowships" that Rotarians and their families can belong to - examples of popular recreational Fellowships in NZ-based districts are Caravanning, Yachting, Cricket, Flying, Motorcycling etc.  And there are many more social opportunities for Rotarians.

 

Keep success to the forefront

The Rotary brand is who we are, what Rotary does, and why it matters. Enhancing public image and awareness is one of Rotary International’s three strategic priorities and strengthening Rotary’s brand is a critical part of this. Rotary Down Under has the goal of promoting the Rotary brand as described above. The stories of successful projects and events told through articles and pictures contribute significantly to promoting the Rotary brand with direct benefits back to the clubs and projects.  

The wider the distribution of such articles the better and the positive contribution towards achieving district and club goals around membership and publicity and their flow-on effects is significant. The Rotary Down Under magazine and the Rotary success stories blog at www.rotarystories-nzandpacific.blogspot.com   are a significant part of keeping success to the forefront.

RDU continues to welcome articles specifically created for the Rotary Down Under magazine but it is also appropriate for those sending articles to other media such as the local newspaper or the district newsletter to simply add berylrobinson@rotarydownunder.co.nz   to that email’s CC. line so that Rotary Down Under can support the club or project through additional publicity. It is good practice to have the best quality you can for all articles and picture and for the magazine this is no more than 300 well written words and attached pictures of at least 300dpi in jpeg format (ie. attach the picture as it was taken by the camera).

The current issue of the Rotary Down Under magazine is packed full of useful Rotary information and Rotary success stories. The on-line version is available via www.rotarydowunder.org  and subscribers can choose to receive their magazine digitally if they wish – this is as simple as requesting the change via the club Secretary.

Related links:
RI Strategic Plan Update