On Tuesday 3rd July we had our changeover function which was well attended with member's partners, and friends. The theme of mid-winter Christmas dinner was ably reflected in the table and room decorations.
We were entertained by some members of the women's barbershop group Wellington City Chorus, who sang some carols and other pieces from their repertoire. We were all engaged to experienced barbershop. Wellington City Chorus is fundraising to represent New Zealand at a USA singing festival later in the year.
An Honorary Membership was conferred on past member Paul Mears for his service to Rotary and the community.
A Paul Harris Fellowship award was conferred on past president Laura Sommer for her service to Rotary and the community. The presentation was made by visiting DG Elect John Mohi
For more on the past Year in Review by outgoing president Richard Herbert click on Read More --->
For more on the coming year with incoming president Denise Garcia see the following article.
Year in Review by outgoing president Richard Herbert
A weekly programme with a variety of both external and internal speakers was held during the year with a focus on monthly external events and joint meetings with other clubs.
Shared events were held with Rotary Karori, Plimmerton, Johnsonville and Lions Tawa.
I wish to acknowledge the depth of experience of club members with a number of members involved in Rotary at a District level and beyond. These include:
- Past DGs Pat Waite and Martin Garcia
- District committee members: Laura Sommer (Public Image Co-ordinator), Richard Hutcheson (district grants secretary), Tony Heyward (club development and membership), and Gaylene Lines (youth exchange).
I wish to acknowledge with thanks the support of the Board Members for 2017/18:
- Denise Garcia - President Elect
- Andrew Watson – Past President funding requests and liaison point with New World Tawa
- Bruce Phillips – Treasurer
- Liz Sutton – Secretary
- Gaylene Lines – Youth Director
- Don Rushworth – Vocational Director
- Paul Drummond- Membership Director
- Judith Gray – Club Service Director
- Bill Sommer – Community Service Director
- Ian Munro – Public Image
Other members off the Board also played a huge role:
- Bernie O’Louchlan – Programme co-ordinator
- Laura Sommer – website upkeep and weekly Bulletin preparation
- Malcolm Andrews stepped support of Judith and liaison point for the Bowling Club
- Andrew and Martin who have stepped in as acting president.
We welcomed two new members during the year: Lyn Calman and Allister McDonald
Unfortunately membership goals were not reached and we farewelled eight members during the year resulting in a year-end membership of 40: Heidi Mills, Joe Asghar (transferred to Kaukau club), Bill Sommer, Paul Mears, John Sloan (relocated to Australia), Ross Denton , Ant Simons, and Gary Denton.
During the year we made a number of minor changes to the running of club meetings to hopefully make them generally less formal which included:
- Introduced a new caterer
- Dropped a formal Grace before meals in preference for a toast
- Dropped mention of makeups - and attendance is more relaxed
- Dropped use of shrapnel collection as a fundraiser to focus on raffles and sergeant
- Changed raffle to a New World Tawa sponsored meat pack
- Introduced a family membership category.
A focus for me during the year has been support of Youth programmes
- Innovative Young Minds – Three girls from Tawa College attended in July 2017
- National Science & Technology Forum – One candidate from Tawa College in Jan 2018
- RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) – One candidate was identified, but in the interests of time, the candidate was referred to Port Nicholson Club
- RYPEN (Rotary Youth Programme of Enrichment - students aged 14-17. Local student Poppy Walsh
- Inbound Youth Exchange Programme. Olivia Goodridge from Labrador expected to arrive at the end of July 2018
- Outbound Youth Exchange Programme. Tawa college student Jordan Mumby selected to travel to Canada in 2019
- RYDA (Rotary Youth Driver Awareness) – Information gathered and shared with Tawa College
Gaylene & Elizabeth have also volunteered an hour a week to spend lunch hours at Tawa College with the likes of Autistic students
Tawa Young Employee Award (Don Rushworth) – Candidate Diego nominated by Mexted Motors meets the requirements and will be presented with a certificate and gift voucher at the Tawa Civic Awards ceremony on 7th June.
Major Projects through the Year have included:
- Introduction of ClubRunner to streamline Club membership Administration, and more recently the Bulletin, and soon the Club web site.
- Monster Book Fair in October.
- Spring into Tawa
- Following Reformation of Probus Club in Tawa interest meeting 13th November 2017
- Club Services Introduced a New Caterer in the New Year
- 50th Anniversary informal committee commenced
- Toot for Tucker
- Foster Hope
- Umbrella organisation for the establishment of the Pest Free Tawa group
- Tawa members have also participated in a number of street collections recently; including Collection for Wellington Children’s Hospital, Mary Potter hospice, Blind Dog Puppy Training and Popper Day,.
Donations during the year included:
- Life Education Trust Wellington North
- “Bedtime Stories” – a project where mothers at Arohata can read books to their children. Recorded on CD or tape and sent to the child with a copy of the book.
- Support of Tawa College student (Jack Hickey-Brown) towards 10 day development voyage on Spirit of Adventure.
- The Rotary Foundation.
- The Rotary Foundation Polio Plus programme.
Remember - If it’s Fun it Gets Done