Happy New Year and welcome to our latest Newsletter, our first of 2026.
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, don't forget to check the Duties Roster (Meeting Responsibilities) below for your nominated duty for our next meeting details of which will be in our next Newsletter, in relation to the meeting on 4 February.
President's Report
Happy New Year! Feliz Año Nuevo! Ngā mihi o te tau hou!
Hope you celebrated well with family, friends or whoever makes up your group. The break provides a great chance to rest and relax after a busy year and to reset ahead of us getting back into it again.
We have got a lot to look forward to with Rotary this year. Our first main project on Friday 27 March will be our Corporate Bowling Day fundraiser at Naenae Bowling Club. We need 18 teams of 3 at a cost of around $550 per team, so gather a couple of friends and look at it as a great sponsorship event which will help raise your business’s profile too. We generally raise around $10,000, but this year, with sponsorship, donations, an auction and raffles, we aim to hit the $15,000 mark. Funds will be distributed amongst Lifting the Lid (our youth mental health programme), Te Omanga Hospice and to the Life Flight Trust.
Any and all donations help. Seb from Life Flight has said that $15,000 buys them a refurbished ambulance, and we can certainly help with funds towards that.
Enjoy the rest of your summer break – it looks like the weather has come to the party.
Look forward to potentially seeing you if you’re out and about in January, and then kicking the year off with our first breakfast meeting on Wednesday 4 February.
Internationally acclaimed author Katherine Mansfield revolutionised 20th-century English short-story writing. She died from tuberculosis in France, aged just 34 on 9 January 1923.
Katherine Mansfield was the pen name of Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp. Finding New Zealand too provincial, she sailed to London in 1908 and never returned. Despite this, she never lost her ties to the country of her birth, the setting for some of her best-known stories.
Mansfield inspired mixed reactions in London literary circles – Virginia Woolf admitted to being jealous of her writing, but the poet T.S. Eliot described her as "a thick-skinned toady" and "a dangerous woman".
She had a stormy relationship with editor and writer John Middleton Murry, whom she eventually married. After her death, Murry prepared her remaining writings for publication, a labour of love that did much for her international reputation.
While Mansfield’s output was small – five collections of stories, and reviews, journals, letters and poems – her works have inspired biographies, radio and television programmes, plays, operatic works and films. The house in Tinakori Road, Thorndon where she was born is a popular New Zealand heritage site (well worth a visit!)
Tree of Joy Christmas 2025
President Katrina wrote on Christmas Eve:
We packed down the Tree of Joy last night as presents were still coming in. We surpassed 3000 gifts this year - a whopper number of donated presents, demonstrating that Lower Hutt people are looking out for each other. Amazing, and if you donated, thanks a million!
Thanks also to those who were stationed at the Tree over the last 11 days, to those who transferred presents from Queensgate to the Salvation Army, and to the team there who sorted and distributed the presents to local charities. Phew! What an effort, but soooo worth it. Merry Christmas to all!
The figure of 3000 represents a massive increase of 20% on 2024's figure.
For the record, presents were distributed to:
Salvation Army
Birthright
Supergrans incorporating the Open Home Foundation
Hutt Valley Hospital Children’s Ward
Barnardos
Oranga Tamariki Upper Hutt
Brent Christoffersen’s new church (Brent used to run the programme at the Salvation Army).
Assembly.......
......
.........Finished!
Thinking outside the Tree box, colour coordinated in blue....................
......... and in pink!
Tree Monitors.........
............
.....and present collectors.
Chris Bishop MP
Stills from the Facebook Video of "Jingle Bells"!!
Presents awaiting collection for the various charities
Christmas Puddings
Christmas Pudding Campaign Convenor Phil Oliver writes:
This is a sincere thank you to all the clubs and individuals that contributed to our most successful Christmas Pudding campaign ever!
In 2024 we sold 1,044 puddings. This year we sold 1,344, a truly remarkable increase. Brian Proffit (Ed: great name!) and his team at the Rotary Club of Upper Hutt led the charge, Christine Hurley and the Rotary Club of Wellington came in second closely followed by the Rotary Club of Karori. Overall demand for the puddings was very strong.
It was also very pleasing to see clubs that hadn't previously participated join with us in this campaign.
Please spread the good news in your bulletin, I have attached a picture in case you want to illustrate the article.
Once again many thanks and best wishes to you all for the year ahead.
For our last meeting of 2025, we ventured to Ignite Sports in Waiwhetu, where we were welcomed by Ignite's CEO Kevin Goldsbury and his team.
They provided a wonderful breakfast for us with Christmas trim and Kevin and his team, led by Ali, gave us a taste of the success of Ignite over the years and in particular the individual success stories and experiences of some of the young people that have been helped.
Looking back over 2025, the Tongariro Crossing expedition that has become a regular programme feature was a highlight, with everyone completing the journey.
But it is not all good news with Ignite set to lose around 25% of its funding with government sources ceasing. This is not uncommon amongst charities and Ignite will need to grow its income from other areas going forward.
Getting ready for breakfast - can we come every week?!
The Ignite team
Pictures of every group helped in the last 25 years - The Game Changers Wall
Clean and tidy office space
Ignite's Sponsors
View over the renovated sports fields, a collaboration with Hutt City Council
Opening Thought 17 December
Presented by Michael Markham
''What the New Year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the New Year".
This is attributed to Vern McLellan, author of inspirational books including Wise Words and Quotes.
Congratulations! Congratulations to Andy Soper and Sue Melville who were married on Saturday 20 December.
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Rotabiz member Michael Markham and to Steve Graves, (Associate Member Kathy's husband).
PKF Kendons comment:-
Steve and Michael have become Fellows of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (FCA) - an outstanding professional and personal achievement.
FCA status recognises a career of excellence, leadership, and unwavering commitment to the accounting profession. It reflects the trust, respect, and influence earned through years of upholding the highest professional standards and contributing meaningfully to the profession and the people within it.
At PKF Kendons, Steve and Michael are valued leaders who consistently go above and beyond — supporting our clients, mentoring our teams, and strengthening our firm and the wider profession. This recognition is a proud moment for them and for all of us.
Congratulations, Steve and Michael, on this well-deserved milestone, we’re incredibly proud of you both.
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.
Richard Nabarro writes:
Although Rotary Hutt City's Board have not budgeted to support this project, they have agreed that we should promote via our Newsletter, and very much hope that some of you might like to contribute/donate.
The Shelterbag Project is a powerful Rotary initiative addressing the growing issue of rough sleeping and homelessness.
The story began in Adelaide, where a local Rotary club identified Shelterbags as a practical way to provide warmth, comfort, and dignity to those sleeping rough. Their success quickly inspired other clubs across Australia, turning a local effort into a nationwide movement. To date, more than 2,900 Shelterbags have been distributed across Australia.
Now Rotary aims to replicate this in New Zealand, working with existing social agencies to deliver Shelterbags free of charge to people living on the streets.
Shelterbags are manufactured in South Africa They are a lightweight, portable, waterproof, and windproof sleeping bag designed to hold an extra blanket for added warmth.
Working alongside social services in Taranaki, Waitara Rotary have already distributed Shelterbags to rough sleepers in New Plymouth — and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. There is also a wider community benefit: as rough sleepers move away from CBD doorways, urban clutter and doorway bedding decrease — a visible improvement for both people and local retailers. Because Shelterbags are lightweight, weather-resistant, and portable, they also offer safer sheltering options outside CBD areas.
The estimated number of rough sleepers in Wellington is 140 (I am trying to establish numbers in Lower Hutt specifically), out of a nationwide estimate of 1200.
Based on the Waitara pilot and current manufacturing and exchange rates, the all-inclusive cost per bag is estimated at $150.
How You Can Support the Shelterbag Project
Rotary clubs and individual Rotarians can support this important nationwide initiative. Your contribution will help meet key milestones and ensure Shelterbags are ready for distribution to those who need them most before winter.
Charitable donations can be made to: ROZOPS Ltd – Special Projects Account: 06-0193-0905286-007
Please include “Shelterbag” in the Particulars field and your club or individual name in the Reference field.
➡️ Donations from individuals are tax-deductible, and a donation receipt will be issued to enable a 33% IRD rebate.
The full background and details can be found here:
"You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give.".
Attributed to Winston Churchill, a search of over 2.5 million words by and about Churchill in The Churchill Society’s research database failed to show that Churchill ever spoke or wrote those words. Equally encouraging, perhaps, are words he DID utter in Dundee, Scotland, on 10 October 1908:
What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone? How else can we put ourselves in harmonious relation with the great verities and consolations of the infinite and the eternal? And I avow my faith that we are marching towards better days. Humanity will not be cast down. We are going on swinging bravely forward along the grand high road and already behind the distant mountains is the promise of the sun.’
Every 90 minutes, heart diseases takes the life of a loved one in New Zealand. That’s almost 6,000 mums, dads, siblings, and grandparents. And there’s something you can do today to help prevent this.
Join the Heart Foundation on Friday 27 and Saturday 28 February as we take to the streets and raise vital, life-saving funds to support heart health in New Zealand. Gift two (or more) hours of your day as a Big Heart Appeal street collection volunteer.
We need your help to improve the way we diagnose, treat and prevent heart disease - and research is the key. Every dollar you help collect will enable us to invest in life-saving heart research and specialist training. You could be part of unlocking the next big breakthrough in heart healthcare.
Every day, dedicated cardiologists, researchers and support teams work towards a shared goal – stopping all New Zealanders from dying prematurely from heart disease.
It is simple to register (see link below which also provides more background information) and you can select when and where you would like to volunteer from the list of our available sites. Once you have completed your registration, our friendly team will take it from there.
We are so grateful for our amazing volunteer street collectors – the impact of your gifted time cannot be understated. Please consider joining us for the Big Heart Appeal street collection today.
- Friday 20 March - Sunday 22 March Finally, planning ahead a little, President Katrina is really keen to get a group together to go to the new ''whole of North Island'' Rotary District Conference in Napier. Do pop the dates in your diaries – I think we can make an impact as a club and have fun together at the same time.
- Friday 27 March Corporate Bowling Day fundraiser at Naenae Bowling Club. We need 18 teams of 3 at a cost of around $550 per team.
- Tuesday 28 April Petone Rotary Club are holding its 75th Anniversary dinner, to which we are invited.
We now know this will be held at The Petone Club on Udy Street Petone commencing around 6.00pm and will include a 3 course buffet style meal.
Further notices will be issued closer to the time and as more details of the program become available. If you wish to register your interest to receive further updates, please contact Gerry Pallo, Petone Rotary 75th Anniversary Convenor at gernpa@actrix.gen.nz
This will further assist in the event planning for catering purposes.
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!
Last Edition, I asked:In the 1967 song "Snoopy's Christmas" by the Royal Guardsmen, what does the Red Baron do when he has Snoopy dead in his sights on Christmas Eve?
He hesitates to shoot, instead forcing Snoopy to land and offering him a ''Merry Christmas, mein friend!
The Baron had Snoopy dead in his sights
He reached for the trigger to pull it up tight
Why he didn't shoot, well, we'll never know
Or was it the bells from the village below?
Christmas bells those Christmas bells
Ringing through the land
Bringing peace to all the world
And good will to man
The Baron made Snoopy fly to the Rhine
And forced him to land behind the enemy lines
Snoopy was certain that this was the end
When the Baron cried out, "Merry Christmas, mein friend!"
The Baron then offered a holiday toast
And Snoopy, our hero, saluted his host
And then with a roar they were both on their way
Each knowing they'd meet on some other day.
Today's question: What is widely considered to be Katherine Mansfield's most famous work?
Chris Bishop MP
