Welcome to our latest Newsletter and my first since March. My warmest thanks to Sue Colville for making sure you know what has been happening in the meantime.
This should reach you a day early as there is notice of a memorial service tomorrow 31 July, and an urgent request for two volunteers for Ryda, at the Ricoh Centre on 4/5 August.
Contributions to our bulletin are welcome and if you have anything please send to Richard at nabbo_123@hotmail.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. Please RSVP tochrissi@roll.nz.
For those of you who have not pre-paid, breakfast continues to cost $25 per person, payable on arrival to Chrissi Walker this coming week.
Members, don't forget to check the Duties Roster (Meeting Responsibilities) below for your nominated duty for our next meeting on 5 August.
Meeting Responsibilities
Greeter
Cherian, Ganesh
Payment Taker
Walker, Chrissi
Reception Desk
McKenna, Conal
Opening thought
Wilmshurst, Wayne
5 min What is my Business?
Walker, Chrissi
Intro to Speaker
Webb, Douglas
Thanks to Speaker
Ross, Brian
Quizlett (6 questions about your industry)
Dong, Robert
Closing thought
Tatham, Peter
President's Report
Well, my first meeting as President is officially under my belt... and I'm pleased to report there were no major dramas! I'll take that as a successful start. Phew!
It was great to see you all at Boulcott Farm, enjoying breakfast, and hearing engaging presentations from our guest speakers. These mornings are a reminder of what makes our club special – good company, interesting conversations, plenty of laughs, and the opportunity to make a real difference in our community. Thank you to everyone who helped make the meeting run so smoothly.
As I mentioned at the meeting, one of my goals over the next 12 months is to grow our membership. Like many service organisations, we need to continually welcome new people, new ideas and new energy if we want to remain relevant and continue making an impact.
Having a quality growth strategy is required, and I’m working on that with our board, but the challenge I'd like to set for every member is a simple one: think of one person who would enjoy what we do and invite them along to a breakfast meeting. They don't need to know anything about Rotary, and there's certainly no obligation to join.
They simply need to come along, meet some great people, enjoy breakfast, and see what we're all about. Most members of our club joined because someone extended an invitation. Perhaps it's time we all did the same for someone else.
In my first Report, I explained a little about a significant new project -Bee in the City. and you may remember hearing about this when Life Flight's Seb Grood visited us on 1 July. This exciting initiative will raise much-needed funds for the Life Flight Trust. You can find even more about this forthcoming project in the article below.
I am pleased to report therefore that Rotary Hutt City have contributed $7,000 towards the project by sponsoring one of the Bee sculptures that will be on display on the art trail, throughout the 12-week program.
What we hope to gain, apart from making the financial donation to Life Flight Trust, is exposure for our club: and exposure for our Rotabiz members too, who have offered rewards for when people scan our Bee, using the app which is highlighted in the article below.
The donation to the Life Flight Trust replaces the money we would have raised (and donated), if we had held the Bowls Day, which we unfortunately had to cancel due to lack of support.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to another enjoyable meeting next week and continuing to build on the positive momentum we've started. Thanks again for your support.
Volunteers Wanted for Ryda: Ricoh Centre Fraser Park 4/5 August
Message from Sarah Parkinson, Programme Co-Ordinator for Ryda: Lower North Island
I am just reaching out to see if you have any members keen to volunteer at workshops happening in Lower Hutt next week? I am really excited about the growth and participation in Lower Hutt this year with lots of new schools coming on board. Next weeks schools are all new so it would be great to have the support from your club. I have reached out to the other clubs and they havee confirmed volunteers.
Tuesday 4th August – 2 volunteers required
Wednesday 5th August – 2 volunteers required
These workshops are with Hutt Valley High School and being held at the Ricoh Centre at Fraser Park. It would be great of all volunteers can be onsite by 8.50am for a briefing. The Day should be concluded by 2.15pm We will provide all volunteers with morning tea and lunch so please provide any dietary requirements.
In March, we reported that longtime club member Peter Saunders's wife Monica had passed away.
We are therefore sad to announce that on 26 July, Peter died too. They had both been living at Bob Scott’s in recent times. Very short notice, but a service to celebrate the life of Peter will be held in Cornwall Manor, corner of Knights Road and Cornwall Street, Lower Hutt this Friday, 31 July at 2.00pm.
The following puts President Craig's message in his report above in context. We have just had an update aboutBee in the City, and the following include some of the main points made by Caroline Lee in her latest News bulletin. Caroline is Life Flight's Project Manager for Bee in the City.
Spring 2026 will see the capital transformed into a vibrant outdoor art gallery as Mills Albert Bee in the City takes flight. Over 40 giant Bee sculptures and 20+ Mini Bees created by schools and community groups will appear across the Wellington CBD for eight weeks, free for everyone to explore. But this isn’t just an art trail – it’s a way for Wellingtonians to give back. At the end of the trail, the sculptures will be auctioned to raise vital funds for Life Flight Trust, the charity that operates the Westpac Chopper and Air Ambulance Planes, providing time-critical care to over 1,700 Kiwis each year.
The hive is truly buzzing as we enter the final stretch before Bee in the City launches! With artists putting the finishing touches on their creations, exciting events on the horizon, and activity building right across Wellington, the anticipation is growing by the day.
Life Flight have again benefited from the annual (running for 29 years) Champions Charity luncheon at Tākina Conference Centre, which has this year raised awareness of Bee in the City.
There will bee sculptures of Bees alll over Wellington! Designed by artist Tim Christie and signed by the 2026 All Blacks squad, this special sculpture (below) is sure to be a crowd favourite. Combining creativity with a touch of All Blacks mana, the 'A Bee' Bee will take pride of place at Tākina during the trail. The trail opens on 14 September.
Our marketing and public relations campaign is gathering momentum, withBee in the City set to feature across major news outlets, radio, and digital platforms from early September. Local businesses, restaurants and bars will be supporting the trail.
The Bee in the City app is coming together beautifully and is currently receiving its final polish ahead of launch. Visitors will be able to use the app to navigate the trail, unlock rewards, track their progress, and engage with bees across the city in a fun and interactive way.
It's been another busy season for the Life Flight team, both in the air and on the ground. Our crews continue to respond to emergencies across the region, providing critical care and transport when it matters most. It's incredibly rewarding to see Bee in the Citybringing people together to support these essential services. Alongside their operational work, team members have been engaging with schools, sponsors, and community groups, helping share the story behind Life Flight and the impact community support makes possible.
More information can be found on the website: Bee in The City
Today's Date 31 July
Today marks author J.K. Rowling's birthday who is 61.
Of course, Harry Potter's official birthday is the same day, born according to those who know about the Harry universe in 1980, making him 46!
For President Craig this one, working at Trident studios in London, England, (with its 8-track equipment, EMI was still using 4-track recorders), the Beatles recorded four takes of a new Paul McCartney song called ''Hey Jude........''
Looking Back 15 July
.........President Craig has opted for musical trivia as an opening to his thoughts, rather than the travel theme used by Past President Katrina. (Editor: makes sense, an A-Z of boxes and packaging might not be that exciting!)
He said that Rotary's theme for the coming Rotary year was to ''Create Lasting Impact'' and a sign for the lecturn would appear soon.
Sandy Brockelsby gave us her life story in 5 minutes with her ''Who Am I.'' She worked for almost 20 years at the TAB before moving to the NZ Police, becoming a programme and project manager.
Dan and Matt from Brick Engaged talked about their charity, helping neurodiverse children through using Lego.
Operating out of an 80 square meter space in Upper Hutt, the focus is to provide dedicated therapeutic sessions and holiday programmes using Lego bricks to assist neurodiverse children.
More detail can be found at their website Brick Engaged
(Fact: Lego based therapy was developed by Dr. Daniel LeGoff in the mid 1990s as a structured social develoment programme for autistic individuals and those with social communication challenges).
Our guest speaker was Kate Milford from the Aphasia charity. Born in Calgary, Kate has lived in New Zealand for 28 years.
Aphasia is the loss of a previously held ability to speak or understand spoken or written language, due to disease or injury to the language area of the brain, and is often acquired after a stroke (one third of cases), brain injury, brain tumour or degenerative brain disease.
More detail about Aphasia can be found at their website Aphasia
Sue Colville introduced herself in her new role as ''Revenue Collector,'' taking over from Craig. She has several ingenius ways to raise funds, especially for those who regularly travel abroad. In future they will need to pay an arrivals and departure tax for Lower Hutt!
Looking Back 23 July - Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce
Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, with whom we are keen to work together, hosted a networking evening with a guest panel, including Mayor Ken Laban. The night focused on what is really happening in business right now - growth drivers, shifting customer behaviour, current challenges, and where the opportunities lie across the Hutt Valley over the next 12–24 months.
The evening was hosted by Rotabiz member Adam Berman from Carnmore Hotel (Angus Inn).
Looking Forward 31 July 2026 - Peter Kyle, Rotary Emeritus and more
Doug Webb writes:
Peter is a New Zealander who has had a long and varied Rotary history viz:-
Member of Rotary clubs in Auckland, Manila, and Washington DC;
District Governor;
Board member of Rotary International;
Member of many Rotary International and Rotary Foundation committees;
International Assembly Training Leader; and
Chair of the Rotary Peace Centres Committee; and
Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar.
He will be speaking on the state of Rotary worldwide, Rotary ‘s relationships with international organisations, and Rotary’s global programmes – highlighting its peace initiatives.
Breakfast Payment Reminder
Membership invoices have now been issued.
Your membership invoice will include your annual subscription plus five months of breakfast costs (10 meetings), covering meetings through to mid-December.
We'd greatly appreciate if you're able to prepay your breakfasts going forward. The club is invoiced for 30 breakfasts at every meeting, regardless of attendance, so prepayments help support our cash flow and allow us to continue focusing our funds on serving the community.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
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A reminder of Club Meeting Duties: (Reception Desk)
The Reception Desk is normally positioned just inside the entry door to our meeting room. There is quite a lot to do which is why we have two people looking after the desk.
Start early (Suggest be there by 6.50am at the latest)
• retrieve our ''stuff'' from the first cupboard in the rear meeting room
• put the President’s brass bell and gavel at the front
• set out the name tag box on the desk for members to pick up their own tag
• there is a second smaller box for our member partners
• place a small cup on each table for the Quizlet money later in the meeting
• greet members as they arrive and help them find their name tag
• while you write their name tag, ask visitors and guests to add their details to the Guests and Visitors form and give them one of our blue Club pamphlets
• of course, be enthusiastic and give any other help you can!
As the meeting starts
• give the Guests and Visitors form to the President for them to be included in our welcome.
After the meeting
• collect and organize the name tags ready to be put away. Chase up as needed
• collect the Quizlet cups - pass any cash on to Linton Adams or our President to be banked
Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen."
Apparently, the quote was delivered as a witty, impromptu response to a journalist early on in Churchill's political career in 1902. A reporter approached a 27-year-old Churchill, who had only been a Member of Parliament for about a year, and asked what are the desirable qualifications for any young man who wishes to become a politician?
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!
It's the Return of the Quiz!!
Michael Seresin, the prominent Wellington-born cinematographer, served as the director of photography for which Harry Potter film?
