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.
Stories
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 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. |
 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. |
 I consider myself to be lucky. Yes, a lot of other stuff has happened too, always resulting in a learning thing becoming luck. |
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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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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.  |
  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. |
 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. |
 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. |
 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. |
 Many of you will be familiar with the Christ Church at 73 Eastern Hutt Road Taita. Those who built this were people of remarkable courage and fortitude, who after some very hard times which accompanied their journey and arrival. |
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I was very privileged to have been President of Eastern Hutt Rotary Club 2005/06 and recall some of the highlights of that year.  |
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Mary 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. |
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World 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. |
 There were a number of surprises during my recent 5-week trip to Europe, several of them related to Rotary. |
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Christine Meredith and I met up with the other 7 participants in the exchange at Tsawwassen, the departure point for the ferry to Nanaimo. We were met there by the members of the Nanaimo North Rotary Club, who would be hosting various members of our District.  |
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Freedom of Speech and Searching for the Truth  |
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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. |
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November 2018 is New Members Month  |
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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. |
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JOE 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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 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. |
 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. |
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EASTERN 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. |
 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. |
 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. |
 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. |
 In November 2017 our pharmacy was subject to the customary Ministry of Health audit (in our case this happens about every five years). |
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Once 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 |
 Since the enunciation of the Four Way Test in 1932, generations of Rotarians have been asking themselves "Is it the truth"? |
 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. |
 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. |
 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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Here 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. |
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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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 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! President, Pat Heffernan, had pleasure in welcoming him back to Eastern Hutt Rotary. |
 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. |
 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. |
UPPER 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 receiving yet another Award at the District Changeover in Wanganui during the weekend! |
 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. |
 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. |
.jpg) Preparing one’s online personal data for moving on to greener pastures is often overlooked which might make an already stressful time for family even more so. |
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Our 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.  |
 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. |
  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. |
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Pink 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. |
 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! |
 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? |
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KIWI 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. |
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A group of 11 Eastern Hutt Rotarians and wives attended this year's Rotafest in Palmerston North.   |
 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?" |
  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. |
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 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. |
 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. |
  What a wonderful fundraising event this turned out to be! |
 Helen and Howie Thomas – we’re a bit of a tag team and always support each other with our various activities. |
 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: |
 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. |
 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. |
 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. |
.JPG) Question: Why was a certain quartet of EHR members absent from the Rotary meeting on Monday 13 March? (They did remember to apologise!) |
 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. |
 1600 students, mainly from local Primary and Intermediate schools, competed in the recent Weet-Bix TRYathlon based at Hutt Rec. and the Huia Pool. |
 To begin, just a little bit about who I am.... |
 A group of us travelled to Palmerston North today to meet Rotary International's world President, Ian Riseley. |
 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. |
 Congratulations to the winning Inner Wheel ladies who won last Friday's Quiz Evening! |
 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. |
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WHAT 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!!  |
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Continuing from last week's journal, here is the final one to end the North Island...   |
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Several 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. |
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In 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.  |
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Here 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) |
.JPG) Our traditional cards show snowy scenes, well rugged up choristers singing lustily, and a robin perched on a branch pretending to a merry chirping, while freezing its …um, feet off. But as a New Zealand carol reminds us, here we have an upside-down Christmas. |
  With much pride, Robin Fenwick was presented with a Paul Harris Fellow award for his long and exceptional service as a Rotarian. |
  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”. |
 “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? |
 A big welcome to our new Member, Dragos Bratasanu, introduced by President-Elect Pat Heffernan. |
 Helen Thomas introducing another new member, Anna Hewitt. |
 Volunteering recently at the National Sumer Games for Special Olympics New Zealand. |
.jpg) Rotarian digging for funds! |
  Jenny and I arrived in San Francisco on September 1st to begin our epic journey across the US by train. |
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As 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. |
 “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. |
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We 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.... |
 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. |
 Thanks received from Diane Livingston, Wellington Free Ambulance, for Eastern Hutt's joint financial contribution towards their new vehicle, "Ambulance 432". |
 Dr Chris Milne, founder of the Asthma Foundation with their current Chief Executive Officer, Leticia O'Dwyer. |
 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. |
 The fine weather and the July school holidays has brought out children from all over Wellington to Avalon Park. |
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Many 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.  |
 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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