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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 (commencing 5 February) 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 19 February2025.
Look forward to seeing you there.
Meeting Responsibilities
Greeter
Peterson, Charles
Reception Desk
McKenna, Conal
Reception Desk
Taylor, Chris
Opening thought
Deadman, Craig
3 Minute Who Am I?
Braniff, Judy
Intro to Speaker
Webb, Douglas
Thanks to Speaker
Brockelsby, Sandy
Quizlett (6 questions about your industry)
Hughes, Gaylene
Closing thought
Gray, Darryn
President's Report
I need help from all of you please to promote and sell tickets.
As you are all aware the five Rotary clubs in the Hutt Valley have now set up a Charitable Trust for Lifting the Lid and are working collectively to ensure the Harmony for Hope Orchestra concert on Friday 4th April at the Lower Hutt Town Hall is a success.
The 41-piece ''Orchestra Wellington'' will put on a great show and the music will include well known movie soundtracks. It promises to be a great night.
Currently there is an Early Bird special with tickets available for as little as $67.50per ticket until the end of Febuary.Thank you to all of you that have already purchased tickets.
In order for the Concert to be a success and provide the necessary funds required to operate the Lifting The Lid programme (for Youth Mental health) over the next 12 months, we must collectively sell a minimum of 600 tickets and have only 6 weeks to do it.
(Point to Note: The cost to hire the Orchestra & Lower Hutt Town Hall is around $45,000, so you can see why we need to sell a lot of tickets).
All five Rotary clubs are committed to the Lifting The Lid programme and concert. That means we have set ourselves an achievable target of selling 3 tickets per member (That means Rotary Hutt City's target is 150 tickets).
I am hopeful that our Rotabiz members might consider buying tickets for their staff and/or clients to provide a most entertaining and memorable evening. I will provide you all with regular updates.
I am also hopeful that our members might be able to provide a silent Auction for the night, given this is a charity event.
In addition we are still searching for an event Naming Sponsor, prepared to contribute $10K-$15K. Should you know anyone that could be interested I would be delighted to know.
Why not pop onto the website today and purchase tickets for friends and family and take advantage of the Early bird Discount on offer until the end of the month using the link below. If you have any issues using the website please let me know.
The other way you can help promote the event to the wider community is by liking, sharing and making positive comments when you see Social media (Facebook) feeds come onto your 'phone.
If any of you are part of a probus club I would be keen to come along to promote the event to the members of your club.
My role in Rotary Hutt City is your “Almoner”. This is an old-fashioned term that means to distribute alms to the poor, or in England, it’s a person employed by a hospital to help patients with their financial and social problems. Synonyms include benefactor, fairy godmother, and donor. I can assure you, none of these describe the role of a Rotary almoner!
This role is a pastoral care role. When members are unwell, or their partners are sick, I contact them on behalf of the club. If members are having challenging times or for some reason cannot attend Rotary, my role is to be a liaison between the club member and our Leadership team to see how our Club can support them when they need it most.
For our members to feel cared for, I need to know who might need our support. If you know of someone who might like to know we care, you can phone or text me at 027 3146633 or email me atsue@avison.co.nz to have a chat. Remember, when contacting me, please be mindful of a member’s privacy or desire to be contacted.
Today's Date 14 February (not just Valentine's Day)
After a dawn ceremony and huge anticipation, at midday on 14 February 1998, yachtsman Sir Peter Blake led two children through the doors of Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand, on Wellington’s waterfront.
Thousands gathered to be the first to visit the high profile new building. The radical concept for Te Papa was that it would be a bicultural museum, and incorporate both the national museum and national art collection.
As the biggest ever investment in New Zealand culture and heritage, and one of that decade’s biggest museum projects globally, Te Papa was the subject of extraordinary scrutiny.
What would this new type of museum be like, and would it achieve the vision of its two leaders, Chief Executive Cherylll Sotheran and Kaihautū Cliff Whiting?
From the 35,000 visitors who saw Te Papa on its opening day, to the more than two million who visited in its first year, Te Papa was embraced by New Zealanders.
Since its inception, Te Papa will have had almost 40 million visitors, with plenty rocked by its famous earthquake house and more recently enthralled by the Gallipoli Exhibition.
Te Papa is consistently rated as one of the world’s best museums, and a top attraction in New Zealand. Its approach to storytelling and biculturalism remains a model for museums around the world.
Watching the waka come into the harbour on Te Papa's opening day, 1998. Te Papa.
Stefan (Stef) is Inspector, Planning and Partnerships Manager - National Custody Infrastructure Lead.
He has been with NZP for just over 21 years. The first 16 were spent as a frontline officer in Wellington, Blenheim, Rangiora and Christchurch as a Constable, Sergeant and then Senior Sergeant. The last 5 years have been spent in Police management roles with his current role being the Custodial Lead within the National Property team attached to Police National Headquarters. In that role Stef oversees the infrastructure component of the 131 sites Police use to house detainees in.
His presentation will cover the challenges NZP face when it comes to delivering fit for purpose custodial facilities suitable for the care of people being detained, and for Police staff to work in them.
Stef is then happy to discuss other challenging aspects that relate to maintaining the somewhat historic Police property portfolio.
At our first Breakfast meeting of 2025, Conal McKenna opened the meeting, speaking in Teo Rao about Waitangi Day.
Cameron led us in 30 seconds of applause for Peter McCombs.
Anthony Dong (Robert Dong's son) spoke about the recent RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) four day Conference in January, which he had attended. He summarised his takeaways succinctly:
You can do anything, but you are not able do everything;
We all communicate in different ways;
Resilience and consistency are key;
It is ok to make mistakes, but it is how you react that is important;
Anyone can be a leader.
Ganesh Cherian spoke of his involvement with the Conference too as "House Master", which he always found uplifting. He also pointed out that Anthony had received the Conference's Innovation Award (many congratulations).
Brian Ross gave a short history of his firm, which he had started as just a painting and decorating concern as a nineteen year old in 1979! By the time he was thirty, the firm had grown to having a staff of over fifty, diversifying into all types of maintenance. Hence the firm's slogan:
"Your no 1 maintenance team: whatever your job, we'll do it."
Brian left us with the thoughts that you can never get a chance on a second impression; and you can get anything in life, if you help others get what they want.
Guest speaker at our first meeting was Laurence Edwards, Wellington Water’s Chief Advisor for Drinking Water. He presented on the region’s water supply and demand challenges, what this means for water restrictions in summer, and the future investment needs for the region to ensure a sustainable water supply.
In a comprehensive presentation about the issues, we learnt:
That Wellington Water is council owned;
That demand for water is increasing;
The short term strategy is to manage leaks and maintain the existing system
Medium term strategy is to manage the growing demand, through meterage;
Long term strategy is to build reservoirs.
However, whilst a holistic approach to future investment is promised, sadly we ran out of time to ask just how that might be achieved..................
Did you know (well at least according to Chat GBT!) that:
The first Valentine's Day celebration took place in France?
One billion greeting cards are exchanged globally every year for Valentine's Day.
A survey of pet owners on petnsur.co.nz found that 62%of pet owners would buy a Valentine's Day gift for their dog.
In the mid-1800s, the Cadbury company took advantage of falling import costs and created the first box of chocolates. They subsequently created the first heart-shaped box of chocolates in the 1860s.
We appreciate teachers too so this is one Valentine’s Day fact that comes as no surprise to us! Teachers receive more valentines than even children, wives, and mums!
Up to 250 million roses are grown just for Valentine’s Day.
During the Victorian era, people who did not want attention would send “vinegar valentines” or “penny dreadfuls.” They were intended as an insult to unwanted admirers.
In 1922, U.S. Rotarians organised an attendance contest; the challenge was that the losing clubs would join in giving the winning club a prize.
The Rotary Club of New York City was declared the winner and to them was awarded as a prize a bell from a popular patrol boat, which was placed on wood that came from HMS "Victory," Admiral Nelson's vessel at the battle of Trafalgar.
Since then, the bell used in Rotary meetings started to represent, as on the ships, order, discipline and the time to guide us through the weekly hour and a half meetings. The bell informs us with its sound the beginning of the Rotary meeting, other club rituals and of course the closure of the regular club meeting.
A reminder of Club Meeting Duties: Introduction to Speaker
It’s a good idea to do a little research beforehand so you can set the wider scene for an interesting talk.
Get there early.
Meet and greet our speaker as they arrive and make sure to get their name and pronunciation right!
Before breakfast, introduce the speaker to our President and then to other members.
Make sure their presentation is plugged into the system and test it on the screen (help is always at hand for this).
Encourage the speaker to use the microphone so everyone can hear clearly.
Guide the speaker to get breakfast, sit with the speaker and make them comfortable.
When your moment comes stand to tell members our speaker’s name, where they are from and their topic.
Give the speaker a welcome and relate a little of their background and their qualifications.
Name their topic, say we are keen to hear what they have to tell us. Be brief, and avoid telling of your own experiences or what you know. If you wish, there’s some useful advice here.
Petone club are once again looking for help with marshalling on the streets during the fair, which next year will be held on Saturday, 15 February.
If you would like to help, please contact Andy Soper. It could be as little as one hour standing on a street corner.
The future of Rotary is going to depend on more cooperation between clubs, so we should help where we can. Petone is now quite a small club but they are active, and have made a very reasonable contribution to Lifting the Lid, both with cash and personnel.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
The quote is atributed to Margaret Mead (1901 - 1978) famed American anthropologist who visited Samoa in the 1920s and wrote the highly influential, but controversial, book Coming of Age in Samoa in 1928.
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!
5 March 2025
Our March Breakfast meeting will be with Rumi Shivaz, AI Consultant, as the main speaker. Rumi will be talking on Artificial Intelligence, its history, current applications, future possibilities and challenges.
I asked you last time, which Rotary Club is considered to be the most remote?
Papeete, Tahiti is considered the most remote Rotary club in the world. It's located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
This edition's Question: in what year was the New Zealand Police force established?
