Environment & Amenities Committee
While Covid considerations limited our ability to get a programme under way during 2021, I can report that we have been successful in moving forward with two very worthwhile projects in 2022.
Stories
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A Job Well DoneOn Saturday 7th May, when we were mulching the plantings on the riverbank, Barrie Littlefair commented to me that the memorial seat looked rather tired and in need of some TLC. |
New Rotary Peace Centre The Rotary Peace Centres fall into two groups. The Masters’ Programme gives scholarships to the specific Peace and Conflict Resolution Studies at our Partner Universities, which are Duke/UNC [who share the 10 awardees in a joint programme], ICU in Japan, University of Queensland, Uppsala in Sweden, and Bradford in UK. |
Hollyford Experience (part two)
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2021 Scholarship Recipient - Makalya Elliot Makalya Elliot - Scholarship Recipient 2021 We received a message via Naenae College from the 2021 Eastern Hutt Rotary Scholarship winner, Makalya Elliot. |
Hollyford Experience (part one) The ‘Hollyford Wilderness Experience’ is a 4-day and 3-night 43-kilometer adventure into the remote Hollyford Valley.
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2021 Christmas Raffle Well, the winner was drawn last night and congratulations go to the two prize winners! A huge thanks to everyone who bought tickets this year. The winning ticket was #13742 Karen from Tawa, and 2nd Prize was #16668 Roxy from Taita. |
AlfredtonRon Hunter's Aunt Gladys has allowed us to publish an excerpt from her diary.
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Two Moments in History I Played a Part in I started working in the Post Office in 1967 straight from college. During my career I was involved in two significant events in New Zealand history. |
Hearts for Hutt City Covid cancellations are happening all around us and many people I have spoken to are feeling “flat” and like they have lost their ‘mojo’. So Rotary Hutt City are solving that problem: |
Environment & Amenities Committee Hutt Riverbank Clean-up Sunday 31st October 2021  An enthusiastic and willing group of club members (and partners) spent the Sunday morning picking up an assortment of paper, plastic, polystyrene, bottles, cans, bicycle parts and other items of rubbish lying on the riverbank area of Te Awa Kairangi/Hutt River. |
Going South About a year ago Robyn (well Robyn) and I decided to plan a holiday down south along the lines of “Don’t leave home till you’ve seen the country”, as if we were going anywhere! “Where” I said, not really wanting to go as I spend a lot of time in Te Tau Ihu. Everywhere was the answer and so the planning began. |
Another Snippet from Bill Boyd Bill Boyd has provided us with some Rotary news about covid and India. |
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Polio and TalibanTaliban have children too The situation in Afghanistan has escalated since a zoom meeting of RI END POLIO NOW Coordinators last week but several messages with great impact were delivered by our senior leaders during that meeting.
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“In the Heights” - a Movie Fund Raiser.
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What has influenced your lifeOtahuhu, South Auckland where I grew up attending Otahuhu Primary School & Otahuhu College was a vastly different place to what we have today with very few if any other ethnic groups other than a few Maoris or Chinese market gardeners.   |
Exploring New Zealand One of my interests leading up to my teenage years was scouting. It got me fascinated in the outdoors as I began working towards the Queen’s Scout award. To walk as much of our beautiful country as I can, still happens.   In those early days I lived in Palmerston North, hiking most of the Tararuas and a little of the Ruahine range. I had one near death experience while walking up the Mangahoa stream near Shannon doing a trip to the Ohau gorge. |
2021 Changeover Tonight was another annual occasion to celebrate the past 12 months and to welcome in Eastern Hutt's new President for 2021-22, Anne Abbott. It was a yet again a little unusual, as Wellington was still under Level Two Covid restrictions but it still didn't spoil a memorable evening those who attended. |
Mike Fackney - Paul Harris Fellow As is often traditional, one or more Members are recognised for their Club & Rotary service and at the President's Changeover evening and this year it was Mike Fackney. He became our Club's newest Paul Harris Fellow. |
Healthy in the Hutt – 19 June 2021
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Wine Tasting Evening A very interesting evening was enjoyed by members and their guests at Avalon Pavilion on Friday 4th June. Even though it was leading up to Queens Birthday, this fundraising event for the Wellington Children's Hospital raised nearly $5,000. |
International Committee Chinese luncheon fundraiser |
Fridges to Hutt Hospital In early October I received a call from Margaret McIver asking if our club would consider raising money for two fridges for the medical ward family rooms at Hutt Hospital. |
Travels in New Zealand
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2021 Walk for Mental Health Around 300 walkers gathered in the grounds of the Wellington Tenths Trust (supporters of the Walk), many of them students from schools around the Hutt Valley. They completed the recent 3-kms walk from Petone’s Hikoikoi Reserve, to the Petone Wharf. |
Rotarians Out and About Rotary has been very active the past few days. Thanks to Jaye's enthusiastic encouragement, we once again turned out to serve the breakfast for the Weetbix TRYathlon at the Hutt Recreational Ground. It's a great children's event and our efforts were certainly appreciated by the organisers. Thanks to everyone for putting aside the time for what was a brilliantly fine Lower Hutt day. |
Home on the Farm I grew up in a large homestead (pictured) on a farm at 'Mahunga' in Masterton with my Mum Olive, Dad George, Twin Sister Janet, and younger Sister Margaret (who was also a twin, but her brother died at twenty-one months) along with sheep, cows, cats, possums, chooks, and horses. |
Dave Comparini's Memorial Seat Something that was not clear was what the Wellington Regional Council's intended programme was around maintaining their plots like this. So last night, led by Richard Perry, members of the Environment Committee and others, started a weeding programme in front of Dave Comparini's chair. |
My Thai Experience It was 2001 and my brother had just married a Thai woman from the rural outback’s of Bangkok. A bachelor for many years he had decided to cut out the dating scene and choose a ‘Mail order Bride' instead.
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Undies for Africa Last year, Ross Barber spoke about the tragic truth around what women are subjected to when they do not have underwear. Thanks to donations from members and friends, we were able to send over a couple of suitcases of both new and pre-owned items. |
What does the acronym PETS mean? For a long time, PETS has been the acronym for 'Presidents Elect Training Seminar'. For us, the new Presidents Elect, this first training was over a weekend held at Massey University on 21st and 22nd November. |
Introducing our 2021 RYLA Candidate We are proud to nominate this year's RYLA candidate, Madi Arps. Here is her introduction: Kia Ora! I am 17 years old (at time of writing), and I am just completing Year 13 at Naenae College. |
Naenae College Prizegiving - 2020 Last Thursday, President Jan attended the senior Prizegiving at Naenae College to present our annual scholarship. |
TV Consumer Advocacy I helped set up NZ’s oldest TV consumer advocacy group Media Matters in NZ, (viewers.org.nz) 27 years ago, a stimulating but often frustrating activity. Pity that so much that is worthwhile on telly is impossible to watch because of the continuous interruption of commercials. |
Compost Bins For Te Omanga Hospice The Hospice had been looking for support to provide it with two sets of 3 compost bins, for the processing of the large amount of leaves grass and other compostable waste generated in their grounds. |
Riding the Trains to End Polio - 2020 Last Friday, 24th October, a party 14 Eastern Hutt Rotarians and partners rode up and down each of Wellington’s train routes, to raise money for the End Polio Campaign. |
RYDA - 2020 RYDA (Rotary Youth Driver Awareness) was a successful event with 78 students from Naenae College participating at the Ricoh Centre on the 13th October. |
US Ambassador - Scott Brown On Monday 19th October, Eastern Hutt Rotary will be proud to host the United States Ambassador to NZ as our guest speaker. This will be a partner's night and also an opportunity to meet some of our future Satellite Club candidates. |
Focus on New Zealand A few days ago I was looking through our bookcase and deciding what should stay and what could go - things you do in retirement! Anyway, I came upon ‘Focus on New Zealand'. |
Michael Jameson Retires Haere Ra, Michael Jameson, PHF. As one who exemplifies all that is best about Eastern Hutt Rotary, it was Michael's last formal attendance as a Member this week. |
Life & Times of Robin Aitken A most interesting "Life and Times". Robin Aitken was born in Glasgow but has spent much of his life at sea. |
Hutt River Bank Clean Up An enthusiastic and willing group of club members (and partners) spent Sunday morning picking up an assortment of paper, plastic and other items of rubbish lying on the banks of Te Awa Kairangi/Hutt River. |
A Life of Learning At the beginning of this year, a trip to Brisbane to see family and life seemed normal. Little did I know that Covid19 was looming. Online I had seen that there was an unusual flu virus in China, with no idea of the impact it would have on me, my family, friends and country. |
Quiz Par Excellence Linda and husband Ray Wallace organised a quiz night based on questions largely about our own Club. |
Purchasing a New Vehicle update On Purchasing a new vehicle, a letter to John Cole. EE lad, you don't know how lucky you were. I went to buy a new (to me) vehicle in 1962. |
Introducing Barry Littlefair Barry's was meant to be a small "life and times" on "Why I joined Rotary", but when the planned main speaker did not arrive Barry's turned out to be the main, indeed only, talk. |
2020 Usborne Dictionary Presentations Recent presentations to Year 4 students at Naenae School to 52 very happy recipients receiving their Usborne dictionaries. Proudly presented by Jaye Howey and Glenda Barratt. |
Purchasing a New Vehicle 1975 versus 2020  Last month I took delivery of a new company vehicle. It made me reminisce about buying a vehicle in the “old days”. |
Richard Perry's 40+ Rotary Years This month, Eastern Hutt Rotary are very proud to honour our Past President Richard Perry for over 40 years of serving Rotary. |
Jenny Thompson, MNZM It was a proud family moment, especially for Secretary David Thompson when his wife Jenny became a Member Of The New Zealand Order Of Merit (MNZM). |
Southward's Wurlitzer The Wurlitzer theatre organ was developed to accompany silent movies. Although expensive, they replaced the various theatre groups of musicians in the larger theatres. They were very popular in Britain and a very few made it to NZ. |
Innovated Young Minds - 2020IYM Online was a great success! Innovative Young Minds Charitable Trust would like to thank Eastern Hutt Rotary for your financial contribution to our IYM Online programme – you made it possible for us to offer a Covid-19 alternative to our students. |
Welcome to 2020-21 Board Jan Palmer was very proud to became the 2020-21 President of Eastern Hutt Rotary and proudly announced her incoming Board of Directors. |
Welcome to Gwen Hoople Originally from the Scottish border town of Jedburgh, Gwen was raised in Hamilton and went to Sacred Heart Girl’s College. |
2020 Changeover Eastern Hutt's 2020 Changeover Evening  What a very memorable evening! Led in by President, Robert Sinclair, a Scottish cord piped in the Haggis. This was superbly orchestrated by Kevin Nelson, who then recited Robbie Burns' famous poem. |
Update from China Former Member, Richard, and Jocelyn, visited the club during a holiday back in NZ on 18 July 2018. Courtesy of Facebook, here is an interesting update from him while travelling within China since Covid-19. |
Welcome to Robin Aitken
President Robert and members warmly welcomed Robin Aitken at the end of June, as our newest Member. He said his memory of Graeme Blick's mantra, “Rotarians are good people, doing good things”, was still fresh in his mind. |
Welcome Barry Littlefair Tonight we welcomed Barry Littlefair as a new member. Barry and Diane emigrated to New Zealand in November 2019 and they now live in Eastbourne. They have 2 sons, one married to a Kiwi, with two children, also living in Eastbourne. The other one is married and lives in Hong Kong. |
Des Darby - Honorary Membership Status President Robert Sinclair and the Board had much pleasure in awarding Des Darby Honorary Membership at tonight's meeting. |
The Rotary World Out There
The Rotary International Board, The Rotary Foundation Trustees, and all their committees will meet online at least till the end of 2020. The Board has recommended that all Institutes and training of incoming officers also be virtual. The ban on the funding of Rotary travel continues. |
Peace Scholarship Foundation Many Rotarians support the concept of Peace [though there is no clear definition of what Peace is]. While the decision to establish a Peace Endowment was made in 2005, it was 2008 before work to fund the endowment began and by 2017 the gifts as at 30th September 2017 are $156,321,477.
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Classifications in Rotary The classification principle goes back to the start of Rotary in 1905 when Paul Harris and his friends decided that members should come from different classifications so as to represent a cross section of society and not become another focused self interest group. |
Tribute to Dave Comparini“Service Above Self” - the Rotary International motto is epitomized by Past President Dave Comparini.  Dave joined the Rotary Club of Eastern Hutt in September 1998. His background was in Construction Management having started his working life as a carpenter in Nelson. |
Mum's Virtual 90th Birthday Party As many of you know, I am from a very large family. On 2nd May, along with a niece, I arranged via zoom to have a virtual birthday party for my Mum’s 90th birthday. Family members dialed-in from all over NZ, plus Australia, Sweden, and Singapore. |
The Positives of My Covid-19 Lockdown Over the past few weeks, here are some positives I have enjoyed during the past few weeks of the Lockdown: |
Trentham Memorial Park Paul and I have been so lucky to live next door to the most beautiful park in the Hutt Valley – Trentham Memorial Park. It is wonderful to have it so close and has been a godsend during these past 4 weeks of isolation. We walk to the park twice a day – a long walk without the elderly dog and a short walk with the elderly dog. |
Our Past Stressful Time Over the last 4 weeks of isolation, I have reflected on how fortunate I am and how I am so pleased that I never experienced a pandemic during my working life. I can only imagine what many people are having to deal with. For some families worried about whether they will still have a job, how will they cope financially and, in some cases, living under less than ideal conditions. |
LIFE IN LOCKDOWN 14-4-20 It’s all happening around me but not to me, which is fine by me. People are behaving badly , but I’m not among them, such a relief. The long arm of the law has reached out to grab a number of people trying to make a run for freedom from Lockdown. I sneakily admire such high jinx but is it really worth the bother? I mean hiring lawyers and ruining your CV? |
The Politics of Covid19 The politics of the Covid19 response have cost a lot of lives internationally. Sadly, in the early days it became a US/China issue and this delayed the preparations for what was inevitably going to happen. I read yesterday that US agencies took two months to issue their purchase orders for items such as ventilators and protective clothing and have since struggled to catch up. |
Polio Update As at 8 April, Afghanistan had 3 cases this year as again 29 for the full year last year. In the month of February there were 6.7 million children vaccinated but 1.9 million children were missed as they were in areas that were inaccessible. They have 19 cross border posts which vaccinated 1.8 million children as the amount of movement between Afghanistan and Pakistan is considerable. In their country they have 2926 social mobilisers, who organise and vaccinate.
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Coronavirus Blues – Flight from Ethiopia
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Rotary International Membership I saw a comment the other day that a Rotarian was querying what was happening at Rotary International level. RI staff are working from home till at least 30th April and there will be no funded RI travel before May 31st. The April meetings of the RI Board and the Foundation Trustees were both held virtually. Not simple because of time zones! All Peace Fellows were asked to return home if possible and somewhere in excess of 1000 Rotary Youth Exchangees returned home early. |
Weetbix Tryathalon - 2020 Inspired by the community buzz we'd enjoyed in previous years, our team of enthusiastic Rotarians once again volunteered in supporting the Weetbix Tryathalon at the Hutt Recretional grounds. Once again, it was so enjoyable. The weather played it's part but sadly, a Hutt Valley power cut brought a new challenge! |
A Favourite Pastime Lawn Bowls is the anglicised variant of a family of sports in which several larger balls or biased bowls are rolled or thrown at a smaller target ball.
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WFMH Report
On March the 1st our inaugural Walk for Mental Health was held. The weather was stunning, the harbour was flat, no wind – everything we could have possibly asked for. |
Patons Rock and Surrounds My Xmas holiday destination of Paton Rock was once again the place to go in 2019. Over the past 20 years the opportunity to Holiday with my good friends at “The Look out“ on the beach is always a delightful experience. |
Simple Music Player Members may recall that Eastern Hutt Rotary, supported by a Regional grant, contributed to a “Music for Life” project in which Rani Allan (therapist) introduced people with early- stage dementia to a radio look-alike named a “Simple Music Player”. |
Walk for Mental Health A dedicated few have been working hard during the holiday period to present this inaugural event. Make it a family event and please share this information with your friends too - especially if you're on Facebook! |
Community Health Monitor Last year, Eastern Hutt Rotary approved a donation towards the salary of a Community Health Monitor. The photo above and others below have been received along with their thanks from Dharamvir Singh in India. |
Pre-Christmas Thoughts 2019 is fast coming to a close and for a lot of us his year has seen many changes in our lives. |
Community & Health Committee report.jpg) Over the past 6 months the Community & Health Committee are proud of their collective activities. Here are some of those we are proud to be involved in: |
Parkinson Collection - 2019 The numbers are in. The collection at Pak’N’Save, Lower Hutt netted a total of $1,516.40. A great achievement, only possible with your support. |
A family affair On 'End Polio Now' day, Ray and I were heading to Brisbane Airport after a short break in Surfers Paradise. We took the opportunity to stop at SouthBank and meet my oldest brother David Goss. He's a member of The Greater Springfield Rotary Club in District 9630 in Brisbane and they were also participating in an event that evening, "Riding The Train to End Polio" - as you can see by his t-shirt. |
Ride the trains to End Polio Now day I’m pleased to say that a good group of Easter Hutt Rotary members participated in the day’s activities. Five members or associates (of all ages) stood collecting from the public at Naenae Station during this day, in shifts from 6am onwards. |
Russian Delight Ever thought of visiting to Russia? Well, I’ll try and change your mind. Mary and I booked Trafalgar’s Wonders of St. Petersburg and Moscow in July and we can’t stop sharing our experience…. |
Wim Julicher - Paul Harris Fellowship award What better occasion to honour someone, than when the District Governor visits. Accompanied by his family, Wim Julicher was presented the Paul Harris Fellowship tonight. It was a huge surprise and there was the odd tear in the eye I believe! |
Duffy Books in Schools - Rata Street School At Rata Street School last week, Eastern Hutt Rotary was once again present to promote 'Books in Homes' and of course Duffy Books. Those included were Annette Ruck, John Cole, Linda Goss-Wallace and myself. |
Strange but True Our first grandchild is due mid-November. The prospect of her arrival would have turned her late granddad into a puddle of unbridled excitement. |
Welcome to Linda Goss-Wallace A very big welcome back in Rotary to Linda Goss-Wallace! Linda joined Eastern Hutt Rotaract in 1985, then a year later moved back to Wainuiomata and joined Wainuiomata Rotaract. Over the next 7 years she held all the board directorships and was President for two years. |
Celebration of Duffy Books Last evening Jaye Howey and myself had the honour to attend Government House to celebrate 25 years of Duffy books in Homes and receive acknowledgment of Eastern Hutt's contribution to such a wonderful cause. |
Healthy Homes - update.JPG) BETWEEN 2015 AND 2017 a dedicated team of footsloggers from the club, supported by HCC and the Health Board, visited about 3000 low income rented tenancies, both private and HCNZ, in the Hutt, to establish which qualified for the Government programme of free or subsidised home insulation. |
Soap Box "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." ~ Edmund Burke and quoted by J.F. Kennedy Please imagine that there has just been a violent bank robbery in Lower Hutt. |
Innovative Young Minds 2019The Innovative Young Minds (IYM) program is run by the Hutt City Council and Hutt City Rotary with some help from other local Rotary Clubs, including us at Eastern Hutt. It provides young women in years 11 and 12 (the old 5th and 6th forms) with exposure beyond the school gates to the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Manufacturing - the STEMM subjects. Traditionally these have tended to be male dominated fields but they are now accessible and available to women if they know about them. Des Darby and I had previously interviewed three Naenae College students, Alaa Loulou, Cindy Zhu and Ilma Aminudeen, all of whom gained places on the course, with our club sponsoring two of them. One of them, Ilma, was in the first cohort and Jaye Howey had the pleasure of hearing her speak on behalf of them all at the Grand Hall of Parliament.   Ilma Aminudeen at the Grand Hall of Parliament, and Cindy Zhu with Alaa Loulou at the Innovation Dragons Den This year the program ran over two weeks and involved eighty students in total. Each week, 20 of the students were local and 20 were from other parts of New Zealand. I had the privilege of being a volunteer on seven of the ten week days. |
Mind the GapIn a little over one year we will be voting in the next general election, and of equal importance, also in the referendum on Drug Reform that will include the legal status of Cannabis in this country. While thinking about this recently, my thoughts went back to my early days at Medical School and to one of our lecturers involved in research of the synapse. This is the microscopic anatomical gap between two nerves and between the end of a nerve and either a gland or a muscle, and one of the unanswered medical mysteries at that time was how does a nervous impulse jump the gap?
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The Auckland Marathon The Auckland Marathon generally attracts over 10,000 participants, all running or walking over the harbour bridge early in the morning. In preparation for this, marathons are held at least five times in different locations on five weekends. It used to be coupled with short distance runs, children’s events and so on, lasting three to four hours. The first practice marathon is usually held at Unitec, and then the others are in different locations around Auckland. The Rotary Club of Western Springs, my former club, has over the last 6 to 7 years been volunteering the marshalling activity for this event.
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Tuesday mornings. Term time.
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President Pat Heffernan's Review of his Year Well where did that year go. Richard said to me at the start of my year that it will go fast and he wasn’t wrong. I have really enjoyed my year as your President, maybe not the first 3 months though, but once I knew what I was doing things were great. It is full on and I was glad I retired to do the job. Dean McMillian told me about 5 years ago not to do the Presidents job while you are still working and that was great advice. |
Serving Rotary
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Outcome of Healthy in the Hutt 2019 This proved to be a very successful day with 20 exhibitors attending. Feedback from the exhibitors is that they really enjoyed the day and would love to come again next year. Feedback from the people who came was that they benefited from the day and would like the event to be run again. |
More support for Te Omanga Hospice At this evening's meeting President Pat Heffernan was pleased to present Biddy Harford, CEO of Te Omanga Hospice, with a cheque for $16,500. Two thirds of this will be used by the Hospice to purchase items for patient care and the remainder will be added to its current need for capital expenditure. The larger part of these funds were raised at our annual Te Omanga Golf Tournament.
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Are we like Janesville?
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My International Exchanges I was invited to join Rotary in 1990 (that’s how it was in those days) and my first committee was International, and this side of Rotary became a huge part of our lives. My Gisborne club, in District 9930, was very active in hosting both GSE (Group Study Exchange) and RFE (Rotary Friendship Exchange). |
What an Experience Some members and friends may remember the year I was District 9940 District Governor (2001-2002). I had a project to raise funds to support the Sewa Sadan Eye Hospital in Bhopal, India. |
Osborne House - Isle of Wight When Mary and I went cruising last year we were based out of Southampton. We had a couple of days on shore between the Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth cruises so together with our travelling companions we headed for the ferry to travel across to the Isle of Wight for an afternoon of exploring. |
Te Omanga Gardening
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My Favourite Food At a recent meeting we had Rachel Taulelai visit and speak to us. She very entertainingly walked us through the 10 foods that represented her and the important memories and things in her life. This got me thinking about what they would be for me.... |
Pink Ribbon Breakfast - Update Thanks to everyone involved in our Pink Ribbon Breakfast, this was an outstanding success! In fact, we had to turn people away as we couldn't accommodate more than 100 people! |
Welcome to Dr. Gregory De Costa Gregory was born and grew up in Colombo, Sri Lanka. After completing a Civil Engineering degree, he went to Japan to do a Masters in Environmental Engineering and PhD in Hydraulics and Hydrology. |
Proud Moments |
A Tribute to Dr. Milne Dr. Graham Milne, OBE Aged 100, Dr. Milne passed away on 19th April 2019 at Golden Bay Community Health. |
Pink Ribbon Breakfast Come along and support this worthy cause and listen to the renowned breast surgeon, Mr. Burton King who we know will give a very enlightening and interesting talk.
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2019 Pride of Workmanship Award On Monday, CEO Justine Tupara of JT Property Wash, was awarded Eastern Hutt Rotary's Pride of Workmanship Award, selected from a group of nominees at an eventful Rotary meeting. |
I'm A Storyteller Unlike others, I don’t have an amazing adventure overseas to tell you about (Well I do, but that’s another story), or a foray into something that will hold you spellbound as you read. Rather I would like to share with you a piece of self-discovery that took one person, one sentence, to help me make complete sense of my life. |
2019 Quiz Evening The recent Quiz Night was a great success, with lots of fun identifying strange objects and substances in the quirky-question sections. Over $ 1,000 was raised for the Duffy Books in Homes programme, thanks to everyone who participated. |
A day like any other? The day started like any other day. There was no indication from the cosmos when I swung my feet out of bed that today would be any different to any other. |
PHF Award - Brian Lummis President Pat with Brian Lummis & ADG Leole Malama-PrasadOn 8th April 2019, Brian Lummis was awarded a double Paul Harris Fellow Sapphire Pin for his outstanding service and contributions to Eastern Hutt Rotary of many years. |
Guests from UK On Monday 8th April we welcomed Past Rotary President Anthony Chick and his partner Immediate Past Inner Wheel President Carole Corless from Carnforth UK.
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Baring Head Lighthouse Following a talk by Colin Ryder one of the Friends of Baring Head Lighthouse, a group of Eastern Hutt Rotary enjoy a trip out there to visit this iconic setting. |
2019 Te Omanga Golf Day President Pat and Hospice CEO Biddy HarfordWhat a great day! We were blessed with a perfect day - warm temperatures, little wind and blue sky.
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My Grandfather HD I thought I might share my recollections of my Grandfather Mr Henry Dargaville Bennett (HD to everyone). |
Special Guest from Philippines Visiting from Manila tonight was Lilian Cruz, accompanied by her daughter Maricel Malinao.
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Weetbix TRYathlon Once again Eastern Hutt Rotary had a team of enthusiastic volunteers at last week's Weetbix TRYathlon, supported by Mayor Ray Wallace and National Candidate, Chris Bishop. |
Quiz EveningThis quiz evening is being organised by the Education and Employment Committee for family and friends. It's no ordinary quiz!! |
Rotary Exchange with New South Wales District Last weekend (4th March) during a discussion over the District 5020 USA/ Canada exchange group I became aware that a NSW group already in Palmerston North needed people to host in the Hutt Valley. I put my name forward. |
It’s Not Worth our While? Since when do we as Rotarians decide whether our efforts in the Community are, "Worth our while, or not"! |
Who's being do what lately |
A Morning in Malmo Here is yet more talent |
RYLA - 2019 This year, Chris Bennett was our worthy sponsored candidate for this amazing leadership training event run by Rotary at the Silverstream Retreat last month. |
Baby Boomer Thoughts My youngest son spoiled me and gave me a battery powered cordless Dyson vacuum cleaner for Christmas - I love it! The same week my 12-year old grandson struggled to understand why you would ever use a crank handle to start a car. |
Lest we forget LEST WE FORGET. A highlight of our recent European tour was a visit to the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. |
Water & Sanitation Group The Water & Sanitation Rotarian Action Group (WASRAG) was formed in 2007 by a group of Rotarians, recognized by Rotary International, and focused on WASH projects. Since then it has facilitated many hundreds of projects – helping clubs find partners, ensuring sustainability, stressing the importance of a needs-driven approach, and developing best practices. We encourage a holistic, integrated approach in which water is not the end in itself, but is rather the means to a better life and livelihood in the community. Most importantly, WASRAG links water and sanitation to improved hygiene, better health, and empowerment of the community – especially women, irrigation and agriculture, education and literacy and, ultimately, child mortality. |
2018 Trailer Christmas Raffle Congratulations to lucky ticket number 10178, this year's major winner of our Christmas Raffle! She was very pleased with her prize and would share it with her family.
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Christ Church Cottage Museum - updated Sadly, Lottery Grants Board aren't going to help with buying the land, or the cottage, but they will likely help with the fitout, which would be great. Thanks heaps for your assistance to date with all this. The text of the official reply reads: |
Christmas past and present
For many of us born in the Northern Hemisphere a summer Christmas takes a bit of getting use to. In the UK, where I come from, Christmas is usually a time of short days and cold temperatures being close to the mid-winter solstice.
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John Terris - PHF No.2 John Terris, QSO, was tonight's recipient of a 2nd Paul Harris Fellow Award tonight, a person who has been a stalwart of the Hutt Valley for many years. A Rotarian since 1997 initially with Hutt Valley Rotary, and then Eastern Hutt Rotary from 2011. |
2018 Trailer Raffle For the 28th year, Eastern Hutt Rotary have their Trailer Raffle at Queensgate Mall, Lower Hutt with prizes value at $5,000, thanks for the corporate sponsors, members and friends. |
My Lucky Life I consider myself to be lucky. Yes, a lot of other stuff has happened too, always resulting in a learning thing becoming luck. |
Housing - the current market
I thought might be topical, with the Reserve Bank removing some of the lending criteria today, to give you all an update on the property market in Lower Hutt in particular. You're probably all sick of hearing about property – the media seem to love reporting on it. Here's my overview of the current situation.
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Letters of thanks!We thought you would like to see just two of the many letters of thanks Jaye and I received have received, following our presentation of the Usborne Dictionaries at Naenae primary.  |
Naenae College 2018 Awards  Brook Waldron Hazel SchapelOn Tuesday 6 November, I represented us at The Naenae College Senior Prize giving. It was heartening to see so many students from a wide variety of backgrounds being recognised for their achievements. The reaction from the student body to the awards showed a heartening generosity of spirit and a happy pride in their school. |
Exploring 'God's Own' Mary and I have been fortunate to enjoy many overseas trips to North America, Europe and a few to Asia. But as they say, "Don't leave home till you've seen your own country", so 10 years ago I decided I needed to 'knock-off' the New Zealand's Great Walks. |
Why International Service Eastern Hutt Rotary does some wonderful things in our local community. That hard work and money is helping kids who might otherwise miss out, or we do any of those other myriad supportive things we are known for, it somehow feels more connected or more personal and perhaps more relevant because it is local. |
Fishing Experience to Remember I was invited to join a 9 person party for a 5-day fishing trip into the Fiordland National Park on the launch Legacy. It was 20 years since I was in the area tramping and shooting and was keen to visit once again and check out the fishing. |
Past President 2005-2006I was very privileged to have been President of Eastern Hutt Rotary Club 2005/06 and recall some of the highlights of that year.  |
Exploring New ZealandMary and I have fortunate to enjoy many overseas trips to North America, Europe and a few to Asia. But as they say, "Don't leave home till you've seen your own country", so 10 years ago I decided I needed to 'knock-off' New Zealand's great walks. |
World Polio Day - 24th OctoberWorld Polio Day - 24th October  Bill Boyd, 2006-07 Rotary International PresidentThis week Rotary throughout the world recognized this day and through his daughter Kathy Bryant, her father Bill Boyd sent a short update on Rotary's & the Gates Foundation's polio eradication programme. |
International travel & rotary There were a number of surprises during my recent 5-week trip to Europe, several of them related to Rotary. |
Rotary Exchange visit between District 9940, and District 5020 (Canada and USA)
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Freedom of Speech |
Rotarians abroad Rotarian's abroad   It's customary to engage Rotary banners when visiting overseas clubs, which is what Jaye Howey, Anne Abbott and Christine Meredith have done recently. |
New Members Month |
Brian Clarke Brian Clarke's formal investiture  Eastern Hutt Rotary members were very proud to congratulate Brian in June for his well-deserved award in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, to the Membership of the New Zealand Order of Merit. |
Tribute to Joe TomlinsonJOE TOMLINSON 40 YEARS IN EASTERN HUTT ROTARY (26 September 1978 – 1 October 2018)
Here is a bit of background to Joe Tomlinson and his remarkable involvement with Eastern Hutt Rotary in servicing his community for the past 40 plus years.
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Duffy Books - update On Wednesday morning I had the pleasure to go to Rata St school for the distribution of this year's Duffy books. It was a first for me and what a great experience. |
Kapiti Island Earlier this year we decided to spend a weekend on the Kapiti Coast . We booked a day trip to Kapiti Island with Kapiti Island Nature Tours. |
Tree plantingEASTERN HUTT ROTARY AND NAENAE COLLEGE Tree planting Project 16 September 2018  Clubs around the World have embraced 2017-18 world president Ian Risley’s call for Rotarians to plant 1 tree for every Rotarian in the world. |
Duffy Books With Hutt Valley Rotary, Eastern Hutt Rotary has been involved with Duffy Books for many years. Conceived by Alan Duffy in 1992, so far in 2018, the programme has reached over 520 Decile 1-4 schools, nearly 300 Early Childhood Centres, over 100,000 students, all financed by more than 200 funding partners and supporters. |
The Dowse disaster Recently I have visited the Expressions Gallery in Upper Hutt and the Pataka Museum in Porirua. The Expressions has had several superb exhibitions, most recently the "Where Children Sleep" and the National Ceramics Finalists, and before that exhibitions of The Photography of Lloyd Homer; Rugby and WW1; The Mona Lisa Story; and the NASA Space photographs. |
Rotary Reminiscences Let me take you back to March 1996 and a Coffee meeting with a referral source in Petone. The conversation turned to Rotary and how he thought I would enjoy being a member. |
What ever happened to common sense? In November 2017 our pharmacy was subject to the customary Ministry of Health audit (in our case this happens about every five years). |
Innovative Young Minds - 2018Once again Eastern Hutt Rotary were very proud to sponsor 2 young women to this year's Innovative Young Minds programme in July. They shared their excited experiences and what inspired them at our meeting this week.  Kathy Bryant, Madeline Arps, Hannah Fleury, and Pat Heffernan
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Is It the Truth? Since the enunciation of the Four Way Test in 1932, generations of Rotarians have been asking themselves "Is it the truth"? |
Life Having recently lost a sibling in a family of five, it has again made me very aware again of how unpredictable life can be and the ramifications that emerge from an event. |
My Working Life I would like to tell you about my working life from 1990 when I retired from the service station industry. It was then that I became at taxi driver before becoming Operations Manager for Hutt & City Taxis. |
Our return back to Gisborne In Mid-July Jenny and I went up to Gisborne, over 2 years since our last visit, and 3+ years since we sold up and moved to Wellington. We took the opportunity to catch up with friends, our farm neighbours and even fitted in a meeting with my previous Rotary Club.
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Upcoming Community EventHere is an upcoming event in support of Te Omanga Hospice.  Lower Hutt 26th Annual Community Concert - Sunday 9 September 2018, from 2-4pm The concert will feature a mixture of entertainment with free admission, but donations will be appreciated and accepted for Te Omanga Hospice, the charity selected by Mayor Ray Wallace. |
33 days with 3 Queens
During the month of June this year Mary and I embarked on an exciting series of cruises with the Cunard Line.
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Queenstown Region Lynne and I together with another couple have spent the last week staying in Queenstown. To me it is the most beautiful region of New Zealand. |
Welcome back Terry Barr Welcome back Terry Barr! President, Pat Heffernan, had pleasure in welcoming him back to Eastern Hutt Rotary. |
World Community Service Rotary all over the Pacific is very active and we often don't realise the extent of this. Take a look at this Link: Rotary World Community Service. |
Visiting Banceny Monastery in Ukraine A while ago, I watched on TV a documentary about a monk in Ukraine who, although he had nothing, he had a dream of building a monastery where he could care for the orphans, the sick and the abandoned children. |
UH Housing TrustUPPER HUTT HOUSING TRUST - HOMAI TE WHAIORA After finding someone sleeping in the St Joseph's churchyard, Upper Hutt churches started a housing trust. |
Colin Alford Colin Alford receiving yet another Award at the District Changeover in Wanganui during the weekend!
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Understanding Poverty While recently working at Taita College one of the teachers lent me a book to read “A Framework for Understanding Poverty” by Ruby K. Payne. |
Christ Church, Taita Our own member, John Terris, shared with us a short history behind the Christ Church in Taita, including the Trust's effort to raise $500,000 for the establishment of a Visitor Centre. |
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Work in the PacificOur Club Has Done Good Things Overseas Well, it has. It has been really active in the past 12 months helping needy people in the Pacific.  |
My Rotary Story In April 1987 our family including Jan’s mother reluctantly moved from Murray’s Bay on Auckland’s North Shore to Lower Hutt. The move was made for sound business reasons and not taken lightly. We left behind good schools, good friends and a good way of life. We had built a lovely wee house on our section for Jan’s mother, she was very happy there. |
More Dictionaries in Schools  Pomare School Naenae School Our annual programme for the giving of Usborne Illustrated Dictionaries has now been completed for the year, with the recent presentations to year 4 students at Naenae Primary School, Pomare School, and St Michael’s School. |
Pink Ribbon BreakfastPink Ribbon Devonshire Tea  Our Pink Ribbon Devonshire Tea was a great success and that was thanks to a huge team effort. We raised $400.00 for this very worthy cause and had a lot of fun on the way. |
Taita Central School The presentation of Usborne Illustrated dictionaries to Year 4 students at Taita Central School this week, was the start of our 10th year of presentations to 4 low decile schools in the Naenae/Taita area. Many happy and excited faces! |
Cataract surgery What is it like to go through cataract surgery in 2018? Have you thought about the medical advances that have happened since 1950, when “Call the Midwife” was written about midwives in the East End of London? |
Kiwi InitiativeKIWI INITIATIVE used for PACIFIC EMERGENCIES   Following is a Rotary Project that new Rotary members need to be aware of and older members need to remember which I was very involved with for many years both in our Rotary Dist. 9940 and also Nationally. |
2018 Rotafest ConferenceA group of 11 Eastern Hutt Rotarians and wives attended this year's Rotafest in Palmerston North.   |
Girls Can Do Almost Anything! Girls can do almost anything! "Two women pilots were flying their Air New Zealand Q300 into Wellington airport. They landed and taxied up to the gate……..Question……..who parks the plane?" |
This Week in the Community  On Anzac Day, I was privileged to lay a wreath on behalf of the Club, at the service on the Anzac Memorial Plaza. Our thanks to the generosity of Rob Sinclair for providing the wreath materials and the hands of Helen Renor who prepared it. |
The Amazing You Wow, what an inspiring evening! After selling their home in Croatia, Dragos and Anca donated all sale proceeds to a local church, then set off on their worldwide adventure. To learn more about his remarkable life so far, HERE is his story. |
Building Washing Robot In 1962 when Joe Tomlinson started his one-man painting business from his home in Epuni he had no idea that 56 years later the company would be what it is today. |
Das Auto Last Sunday my wife and I, along with our daughter and one of her friends, went for a bush walk at a place that has been a family favourite for forty years. It was a beautiful cool but sunny day. We dawdled and got only three-quarters of the way from Catchpool Valley to the Orongorongo River while our daughter and her friend walked the full distance. |
Vera Lynn Concert - update |
We're a team Helen and Howie Thomas – we’re a bit of a tag team and always support each other with our various activities. |
2018 Rotary Youth Leadership Award RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) is a 5-day intensive youth leadership program. Across the 5 days, we took part in a number of seminars and activities. Some of the more memorable ones include: |
Lower Hutt today The most recent GDP figures for the Lower Hutt economy highlighted on your front page last week have been a long time coming and could do with a bit of historical perspective. The whole thing didn’t get conjured out of a hat. |
Duffy Books An expectant “Hush” had just fallen over this Assembly at Rata Street School as children waited for the arrival of this term’s Duffy Books Role Model and the presentation (courtesy of Eastern Hutt and Hutt Valley Rotary Clubs) of 2 books to every child. |
Vera Lynn Concert A reminder to come along and enjoy Vicki Lee sing those legendary songs once sung by Vera Lynn! Alternatively, buy 2 tickets and give them away as a treat to family, or true Vera Lynn friends/fans. |
Great Barrier Island.JPG) Question: Why was a certain quartet of EHR members absent from the Rotary meeting on Monday 13 March? (They did remember to apologise!) |
2018 Te Omanga Charity Golf Tournament Another successful charity event was held last Friday at the Boulcott's Farm Heritage Golf Club, with their brand-new clubrooms opened only 1 week ago. |
Weetbix TRYathalon 1600 students, mainly from local Primary and Intermediate schools, competed in the recent Weet-Bix TRYathlon based at Hutt Rec. and the Huia Pool. |
World Rotary President A group of us travelled to Palmerston North today to meet Rotary International's world President, Ian Riseley.
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A Visit to The Catlins This January, I was fortunate to join a group of experienced and cheerful Rotarian and Probus members, for a set of day-walking trips in the South Island Catlins. |
Quiz Evening - update |
Te Araroa Trail update... Here's Graeme Bocock's account of his final North Island journey on the Te Araroa Trail. A few of us joined him this time, to hear him talk about his travels so far. |
Special Olympics - thanks |
Growing up in a large familyWHAT IT WAS LIKE TO GROW UP IN CANNONS CREEK AND BE THE OLDEST OF 12 CHILDREN It certainly wasn’t a bed of roses, but it was all worthwhile now with over “100 people for Sunday lunch” with brothers, sisters, their husbands & partners, their children and their husbands and partners, children, grandchildren & great-grandchildren. The amazing thing is we all get on!!  |
Graham Bocock - continued |
Te Araroa Trail - Graham BocockSeveral suggested they would be interested in Graham Bocock's 'bucket list' journey on The Te Araroa Trail  Here is an account up to Palmerston North, which will be continued next week, finishing off the North Island. |
A non-tourist visit to SingaporeIn December I made a very different visit to Singapore, mainly so I could visit my daughter Sarah who had moved there with her family in July. My grandsons are 8 and 10 years old. So began a very different visit to that which is normally encountered.  |
2017 Christmas RaffleHere is the 2017 Trailer Raffle being drawn under police supervision on Christmas Eve, and a photo of the very happy winner! .jpg)  It is so wonderful to see it was won by such a young and deserving family, who didn't have any bikes!   Thanks to the community for purchasing tickets and assisting us to provide needed Donations for our worthy recipients. I would personally like to thank Brian Clark for all his effort with the Trailer raffle ensuring a great outcome, and to those club members standing in to help during my illness. Most importantly members, members of Inner Wheel, past members, family and friends for giving up their time to enjoy the company of others while selling tickets. Without your support, this project could not happen. Robert Sinclair, (Raffle Organiser) |
Christmastide 2017
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Robin Fenwick - Paul Harris Fellow  With much pride, Robin Fenwick was presented with a Paul Harris Fellow award for his long and exceptional service as a Rotarian. |
Auction of Promises - Chinese Banquet  Participating in fundraising and offering to help always reminds me of the army motto “Never Volunteer” then another part of me remembers the Rotary Motto “Service above Self”. |
Learning and Leadership “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether 20 or 80; anyone who keeps learning is young.” – Henry Ford Most Rotarians pride themselves as community leaders but as mentors, how many of us have stopped learning? |
Introducing Dragos Bratasanu A big welcome to our new Member, Dragos Bratasanu, introduced by President-Elect Pat Heffernan. |
Introducing Anna Hewitt |
Special Olympics NZ |
Auction of Promises - update |
Train journey across USA  Jenny and I arrived in San Francisco on September 1st to begin our epic journey across the US by train.
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Naenae College - Educational AwardAs President, I had the honour to present our Tertiary Education Award at Naenae College this month, a $2,000 grant to a student selected by the School. |
Holidaying in the USA and Cuba “Almost 6 weeks in the USA and then 8 days in Cuba” was my itinerary as I left New Zealand to fly via San Francisco to Sacramento on 22 September. |
Parkinson's Awareness WeekWe again provided collectors for this year's Parkinson's Awareness Week on 3rd and 4th of November at Queensgate, Lower Hutt. As the organiser, I want to thank the following....
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It’s a hard question; “Are you ready”? How often do we see or hear those words? We’re expecting the devastation of “The Big One” one day so many of us are dutifully prepared. |
Wellington Free Ambulance Thanks received from Diane Livingston, Wellington Free Ambulance, for Eastern Hutt's joint financial contribution towards their new vehicle, "Ambulance 432". |
Asthma Foundation Dr Chris Milne, founder of the Asthma Foundation with their current Chief Executive Officer, Leticia O'Dwyer. |
Naenae Boxing Academy What an inspirational evening! Eastern Hutt Rotary was proud to be guests at Billy Graham's Academy to meet many of his team, members and enjoy a BBQ tea supplied by them. |
Avalon Park The fine weather and the July school holidays has brought out children from all over Wellington to Avalon Park.
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What Have We Done to My CountryMany folk are born in their country and are dutifully proud of it, while some deliberately choose to settle in a country, and have therefore actively chosen some responsibility for it.  |
Innovative Young Minds - Our experience Sponsored by us, Sacred Heart students Hayley Krippner and Pallavi Sami, gave us personal accounts of their Innovative Young Minds (IYM) experience....
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Welcome to Helen Thomas |
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