Welcome to our latest Newsletter. I'm back again with Richard enjoying a lovely trip back to London and to his beloved football team, Brentford FC ! I'll be responsible for the newsletter for the next few months until Richard returns.
Contributions to our bulletin are welcome and if you have anything please send to me at sue.colville@gmail.com
And if you have any comments on the layout, content and information provided, let us know, because the Newsletter is yours.
Rotary Hutt City breakfast meetings
Meetings are held 7am to 8.30 am on the first and third Wednesday of the month at Boulcott's Farm Heritage Golf Club, Military Road, Lower Hutt.
Breakfast costs $25 per person, payable on arrival. Please RSVP to annagy91@gmail.com
Members, please check the Duties Roster (Management Responsibilities) below for your nominated duty for our next meeting on 16 April2025.
Meeting Responsibilities
Greeter
Brockelsby, Sandy
Reception Desk
Avison, Sue
Reception Desk
Hurst, Stuart
Opening thought
Colville, Sue
Intro to Speaker
Eaddy, Vidette
Thanks to Speaker
Wilmshurst, Wayne
Quizlett (6 questions about your industry)
Rowell, Bob
Closing thought
McCombs, Tony
President's Report
Well the concert is done and dusted and I think we can say it was all worth the effort. I have had nothing but great feedback about the concert and the Lifting The Lid cause.
The Orchestra was brilliant, providing a large repertoire of music from the classics right through to the very newly released movies themes. I am so pleased that despite the extra expense we decided to include a quality female vocalist at the top of her game. The very talented Kirsten Te-Rito was simply a stand out.
Hayley Burns did a superb job as the M.C and with the supporting addresses by Adrian Gregory from Kapiti Rotary and Toby Stokes, our message to the audience about Lifting The Lid was clear and precise which can only assist ongoing support for the programme by Rotarians and the public alike.
I want to thank everyone in our club who bought a ticket, sold tickets, purchased a box, donated prizes and spread the word. It all helped to make the evening what it was and we should all be proud of our effort. I would like to extend special thanks to Andy Barker for promoting the event and providing the website and tech and overseeing the ticketing and mystery box process and Craig Deadman for harassing PPL suppliers to provide gifts for the mystery boxes and providing great support to me.
Toby Stokes the Principal from South Wellington Intermediate school will be our primary guest speaker this week and will be only too happy to answer questions you might have about the programme in Wellington and will likely tell us why he believes we should consider adding Intermediate Schools into the program.
Haley Burns and David Shackleton and Richard Brodie will also be at our meeting next week to support Toby and answer any question you might have about the Lifting the Lid programme that is operating so successfully in Wellington.
An invitation has also gone out to the Principals of the four Hutt Valley secondary Schools and members from the other Hutt Valley Rotary clubs to attend to hear Toby’s message and ask any questions they might have about the programme.I hope you can all come to next weeks meeting to better understand the Lifting The Lid programme given the importance of the project in the Hutt Valley to improve the mental health of our youth.
Time to focus on some other Rotary business from next meeting
Apollo 13 was launched from Cape Kennedy (now Cape Canaveral), Florida; although scheduled to be the third lunar landing, the mission was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded en route to the Moon.
The crew, with the help of NASA's mission control, had to improvise solutions to survive the journey back to Earth, taking shelter in the lunar module and using it as a lifeboat to sustain them for the return trip.
They successfully returned to Earth on April 17, after the crew used the moon's gravity to slingshot the spacecraft back to Earth. Commander Jim Lovell was the first person to utter the famous transmission, "Houston, we've had a problem," marked the beginning of an intense effort to safely return the astronauts to Earth.
The speaker on the 16th April will be Toby Stokes, the Principal of South Wellington Intermediate School. Toby spoke at the concert last week and has agreed to come to our next breakfast meeting to talk more about
his experiences with the Lifting the Lid programme. He will talk about the impact on the students at the school and will also answer any questions about the effectiveness and flexibility of the programme.
We will also be hearing from Karl Chitham and Jen Craddock regarding the Boulcott Memorial Redevelopment Project
The Boulcott Memorial has stood on the corner of High Street and Military Road for generations. The plaques on the memorial commemorate British soldiers who died as result of a Ngāti Haua raid on a nearby military post in 1846 – an event now known as the Battle of Boulcott Farm.
Four years ago, council was approached by locals concerned that the memorial offers an unbalanced version of history. Now a team is working with the Boulcott family and five iwi groups to redevelop the memorial in a way that redresses that balance, while respecting everyone involved. Hear about progress so far and the challenges still to come in this fascinating local project.
Gaylene Hughes gave us her "Who am I" history. Well they always say that maths and music go together and with a career in accounting and regularly singing in her spare time, Gaylene certainly fits the bill!
President Cameron provided the update on the Harmony for Hope Concert. The break even point had thankfully passed, a $5000 subsidy had been found for schools benefitting from Harmony for Hope, courtesy of the Hutt River Valley Club, around 40 tickets had been purchased by members of local Friendship Clubs in the Hutt Valley and, the 100 ''Mystery'' Gift Boxes, designed to raise $10,000, and which could be purchased at $100 per box, now each had a guaranteed $125 worth or prizes. So each box has that as a minimum, with some boxes having up to $1,000 worth of goods.
Andy Soper talked about his law firm's brand update and new taglines in his 5-min 'Who Are We" segment.
Our guest speaker was Kate McGregor who spoke about her social enterprise, Switch Your Spend, which provides the opportunity for people to redirect the profit from money they are already spending, to charities and other good causes.
Kate described how this incredibly simple idea can make a real impact in the community. Switch Your Spend provides the opportunity for people to redirect where 100% of the profits go from essential everyday purchases. These everyday items such as toothpaste and soap, that you would normally buy from the supermarket, can be sourced through Switch Your Spend with the profits being directly donated to a cause of your choosing.
Are Your Membership Details up to date in ClubRunner?
A message from Doug Webb our Club Site Administrator:-
Have your personal details changed, especially email address and phone number? Take a few minutes to log-in to rotaryhuttcity.org.nz.
Click on the following link for a step by step guide to accessing your member profile.
Tough Guy & Girl Challenge - 24 May: Volunteers please!
Andy Soper writes:
We have been asked again to provide marshals for the Tough Guy & Gal Challenge in Wainuiomata on Saturday, 24 May. Andy Soper is coordinating this.
We need 24 volunteers, to make sure nobody veers away from the course. Your help will raise $2,300 towards our community and youth projects.
The weather can be challenging but there is great camaraderie and it’s such fun to watch competitors struggling through muddy ponds etc 😊
Registration will be through Clubrunner, but for now please just save the date – 24 May – and talk to anyone you know who might like to help. It’s a good opportunity for young people to get involved in a Rotary project.
Another community group has asked for help earlier in the week - Tuesday 20th, Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd from 8.45am - 1.00pm and Friday 23rd 7.45am – 2.00pm.
We will also receive a per head contribution for anyone who can make it on those days.
Wednesday 30th April sees us back at the Crooked Elm for Fifth Wednesday Drinks from 4.30 pm. A great chance to socialise and connect with one another.
Wednesday 25th June is our changeover dinner evening. A chance to celebrate outgoing President Cameron and welcome in your new president, me!
It'll be upstairs at the Speights Ale House, Jackson Street, Petone. $60 buffet dinner with fun and entertainment provided. Would love to see you there - pencil in the date NOW!.
Remember to bring some loose change along to the meeting so you can contribute if you answer a Quizlett question incorrectly :), or wish to "Buy The Box".
If you should have any interesting stories about fellow Rotarians then please pass them onto Craig so he can share them at the meeting. Email: craig@packprod.co.nz
Payment is also now available by Eftpos onsite - no excuses!
Answer to the last edition's quiz: The four basic principles of Rotary are often referred to as the "Four-Way Test. They are:
This weeks question:
Czech composer Antonin Dvorak's most famous work is his Ninth Symphony, which he composed while living in the United States and is commonly known by what nickname ?
