Welcome to our latest Newsletter. This is my first edition for a while as I have now properly returned from my travels. Many many thanks to Sue Colville who has been producing the Newsletter in my absence, and has made it her own! I have a hard act to follow. Richard II
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.
Breakfast costs $25 per person, payable on arrival. Please RSVP to chrissi@roll.nz
Members, please check the Duties Roster (Meeting Responsibilities) immediately below for your nominated duty for our next meeting on 6 August 2025.
Meeting Responsibilities
Greeter
Walker, Chrissi
Reception Desk
Brockelsby, Sandy
Reception Desk
Dong, Robert
Opening thought
Nabarro, Richard
5 min What is my Business?
Tatham, Peter
Intro to Speaker
Colville, Sue
Thanks to Speaker
Walker, Chrissi
Quizlett (6 questions about your industry)
Wilmshurst, Wayne
Closing thought
Avison, Sue
President's Report
Hello to all!
I’m not sure whether it’s a good thing or not to be called ''Madam President'' by a number of you, but it does bring a smile to my dial. 😊
We had a fun catch up for our Fifth Wednesday Drinks. It’s also a great chance for those who can’t regularly make the breakfast meetings to touch base with other members. Thursday, I represented the club at the Te Omanga Hospice where they thanked clubs, businesses and individuals for their generosity over the last year – great to network with other Hutt people.
We’ve got our monthly Board Meeting next Tuesday (let me know if you’d like anything raised), and then on Thursday 7th August we’re having our first Rotabiz Orientation and Strategising meeting at the Chamber of Commerce building – aiming to connect Rotabiz members, introduce Rotabiz(Rotary) and connect with the Chamber themselves.
I’ve booked a mini-fundraiser on Sunday 24th Aug with a show at Circa Theatre – Cringeworthy, the 90s, that has music by the Beat Girls. It can only be good! Please register through the website to prepay for your ticket. The middle block at the theatre is already full, so the sooner we get RSVPs the sooner I can purchase the tickets to get the best seats. A portion of each ticket will come back to the club.
Hard to believe it’s August already – pinch and a punch for the first of the month! We’ve probably still got a bit more winter weather to suffer, but to see us through, let’s compile photos based on this 30 day photo challenge I found (photo below). Feel free to choose a few ''days'' and send me through photos. I’d love to create a photo montage that shows our connections on the screen at each meeting.
.......could have been for Day 6 or Day 8, but too early? (Madam President at Te Omanga Hospice 31 July)
Role of the Almoner for Rotary Hutt City (a reminder)
Hi everyone,
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 at sue@avison.co.nz to have a chat. Remember, when contacting me, please be mindful of a member’s privacy or desire to be contacted.
On 1 August 1987, the Maori Language Act came into force, making te reo Māori an official language of New Zealand.
Until the mid-19th century, te reo Māori was the predominant language spoken in Aotearoa New Zealand. As more English speakers arrived, it was increasingly confined to Māori communities. By the mid-20th century, there were concerns that the language was dying out.
In 1985 the Waitangi Tribunal heard the Te Reo Māori claim. This asserted that te reo was a taonga (treasure) that the government was obliged to protect under the Treaty of Waitangi. The Waitangi Tribunal found in favour of the claimants and recommended a number of legislative and policy remedies.
One of these was the Maori Language Act, which made Māori an official language of New Zealand and established the Maori Language Commission, renamed Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori in 1991, to promote its use. In 2013 there were around 125,000 speakers of Māori in New Zealand – representing about 21% of the Māori population and 3% of all New Zealanders. But the latest 2023 census has shown the numbers rise to over 200,000 (almost 214,000), representing 4.3% of the total population. The Gisborne and Northland regions have the highest proportion of speakers.
At this meeting Rob Cranna had the 3-min Who am I? spot.
Jacquie Harper from IYM spoke about the online programme they have, in addition to their residential one, giving girls an insight into STEM industries. (See last month's Newsletter for news of the 2025 Residential).
Susie Robertson from Kaibosh Food Rescue explained how they pick up unsold food from supermarkets etc and donate it to Foodbanks and the like. It's a full-time job repurposing food.
Susie's complete presentation has been uploaded to our website and you can download the slides by following this link: Kaibosh-Slides-Rotary-July-2025
IYM's Jacqui Harper
Kaibosh's Susie Robertson
Food Insecurity
Kaibosh in action
Come Fly with Me.....................
Following Seb Grodd's talk at Rotary on 18 June where incidentally the personal experience of members gave their undivided support to Life Flight, Immediate Past President Cameron called into the Life Flight Trust hangar for a photo opportunity with Seb to recognise the $600 donation made from quizlet (and more) funds.
A great opportunity for Cameron to check out their aircraft and also their ambulance and ''gratitude wall'' where Rotary gets a mention.
Fifth Wednesday Drinks 30 July Crooked Elm
Next Week's Speaker Ray Tomlinson - Summit Building Wash Technologies 6 August
Founded by Ray Tomlinson, Summit Building Wash Technologies is dedicated to developing innovative, sustainable, and efficient building washing solutions.
Ray's father Joe Tomlinson started his painting business in Lower Hutt in the 1960s, shortly after arriving from Scotland.
Ray therefore began life as a painter but moved on to water blasting. After a stint working with Dulux, he went back to painting but then started his own water blasting firm. With hard work and good organisation he grew his firm and moved into large-scale water blasting, with the likes of The Warehouse, Bunnings, Westfield, Wellington Airport and more.
After a spell of hospital and convalescence from a severe traffic accident while cycling, Ray came up with a new idea. The Summit Building Wash Machine, a robotic machine, is designed to clean buildings faster, more safely and more sustainably than traditional methods, using significantly less water and eliminating the need for chemicals.
The Summit Building Wash Machine is already in use on major commercial properties like Auckland and Wellington Airports and Sky Stadium, and the company is expanding to offer its machines to a wider market.
Welcome to the new Rotary year. It’s certainly been a whirlwind start for me with eight changeovers in one week, including the District one.
I seem to have survived and am ready to get to work with a diary that is filling up fast. I will visit as many clubs as possible if you invite me.
Last Saturday we saw the handing over of the chains from Jocelyn to Carol as the new District Governor. It was a good opportunity for us to get together and there was a great turnout of Rotarians from all around the District, including several past District Governors. PDG Simon Manning came from Queenstown for the occasion which was very special to me.
I talked about my membership goals which are to:
Stabilise the membership and look at how we can increase it.
Welcome new and younger members: invite your spouses to join, invite your children to join.
Invite members from your community and their businesses to join.
Increase our profile in the community. Talk about Rotary and what we do to anyone you meet.
Invite people to come to a meeting or have coffee with them and tell them about Rotary. Make sure you always have collateral with you such as a Rotary card, a flag or whatever so they can get hold of you.
So, it’s onwards and upwards from here. Let’s Unite for Good and have a fun year.
Hutt City’s five Rotary clubs are all about community service, so we are working together to host a ''Meet the Mayoral candidates'' event on Thursday 21 August. It will run from 7-9pm at Boulcott Farm Heritage Golf Club/ Cash bar open for half an hour before and afterwards.
This is your chance to hear from (top left clockwise) Brady Dyer, Karen Morgan, Ken Laban and Prabha Ravi on what they will bring to the leadership of our council and city – and to ask your burning questions. Our aim is to make it a fun and informative event - mark it on your calendars now.
To those of you on Facebook, it would be great if you can please share the link below to your own pages so we can get traction and hopefully get as many people along as possible to this public meeting.
- Rotabiz people, or those members who'd like to bring a potential Rotabiz member along.
Please register here to come along to the HV Chamber of Commerce building (Daly St) on Thursday 7th August for an hour or so's networking and 'introduction to Rotary/Rotabiz' from 5.00 pm.
- Cringeworthy - 90s! at Circa theatre on Sunday 24th August: This has all things 1990s + The Beat Girls singing. We'd love you to join us. Prepurchase your tickets here for Sunday 24th August at 4.00 pm. Cost is $65 per person.
- Join us for a fund raising movie, Downton Abbey Three on Thursday 11th September. More details to follow.
- Quiz night to raise funds for the club and to support Innovative Young Minds (IYM) 16th October
This is a great night with lots of fun to be had, Get a team together and come along and support our club and its projects.
Our club is a member of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, (HVCC) which entitles each of us to access chamber member discounts. Each month, HVCC put together a number of special offers from its members. There are some household names too, like Bunnings, Air New Zealand, 2Degrees, as well as many local businesses of course.
HVCC's Chief Executive Patrick McKibbin therefore has provided us with the following details:
Get Discounts and Offers from the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce network
Being part of a business that is a member of the HVCC gives you access to a range of discounts and offers from their partners locally and around New Zealand.
Chamber App - Your HVCCutt membership also entitles you to get the Chamber App. This includes a range of offers from local and national businesses. If you would like to download the App, please use the QR code on the flyer, complete the short form, and we will send you the download instructions with your unique code.
To access these details, you need the relevant app. and Rotarians can access this by sending an email topatrick@hvchamber.org.nz stating your name and that as a member of Hutt City Rotary you want to sign up for the HVCC app. They will then come back to you with an explanation of the process to be followed.
(Editor: I have signed up with the app, following clear instructions from Patrick).
I'll get my coat, one to beam up...................
Loose change and Buying the Box
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!
Finally, Cringeworthy -90s! In which year did the Battle of Britpop take place, what was it about and who did it involve?
Anyone remember Banana Splits?! Tra la la, la, la, la, la......
