We welcome to our meeting on Tuesday 23 February at Marsden, Michael Smith, Chief Executive of the Wellington Division of the Cancer Society. The Rotary Club of Karori has worked closely with the Wellington Cancer Society in promoting public cancer education programmes over the years and we look forward to continuing that work later in the year.
Unfortunately, we were forced to postpone a couple of events last week due to Covid restrictions, however, we have been able to reschedule our business breakfast with the deputy Prime Minister, Grant Robertson, to the 18th March, and we will arrange our social event with the Rotary Club of Tawa, a visit to the Wrights Hill Tunnels, later in the year.
We are still going through challenging times with Covid requiring some quick decision making in the interests of health and safety and to give people plenty of notice of changes in plans. Let’s all hope things settle down with the arrival of vaccines so we can finally get on top of this pandemic.
At our meeting on 09/02/21 club members remembered the life of long time member Alex Watson.
The memorial was led by Allan Frazer, other club members also contributed their memories of Alex.
Allan led off with his memories of a Burns Night Supper held in Jan 2015 with 65 people present. Elaine served Scottish Oatcakes with Haggis along with slow braised shanks, rumbledethumps - potato, cabbage and onion, roasted root vegetables and green salad. Before eating the party heard the Selkirk Grace.
“Some hae meat and cannot eat. Some cannot eat that want it: But we hae meat and we can eat, Sae let the Lord be thankit.”
Alex grew up in Pittenween which is East of Edinburgh in the Fife area of Scotland. At the age of 21 he paid one pound for a sea voyage to NZ to take up a job with the ANZ bank. During this time, he studied to gain his accountancy qualifications and then set up in private practice and over many years handled the personal finances and tax returns for many Club members.
His wife, Barbara says that both she and Alex greatly enjoyed their involvement with Rotary and in particular enjoyed hosting 3 Rotary exchange students – Alejandro from Argentina, Mieke from Germany and Stephen from Denmark. She went on to say that Alex celebrated his 90th birthday last year but in recent times his quality of life had deteriorated. I met up with him a few weeks before he died and we were able to share some good times.
He was President for the 1994-95 year. In this role he presided over the Club running the second Karori Rotary Garden Party at the British High Commission in Homewood Ave; also, this was during the Trees for Survival Rotary District programme with the planting of the trees in the Battlehill Reserve at Pauahatanui. Alex and Club members assisted the Marsden School girls here growing native plants from seed.
Alex took on the role of Club Treasurer for many years. And without fail he would rattle the coins collected from the Sergeant’s session during the meeting. Also, he served as Club Secretary from 2011 to 2013. His office also recorded member apologies for a number of years.
Alex was a regular attendee at Club meetings listening to some excellent speakers but also the occasional boring one He enjoyed his Scotch whiskey and donated good bottles of whiskey for club auctions.
Alex and Barbara were very sociable and invited many Club members to their beach house in Waikanae for BBQs.
Earlier I mentioned the Burns Night Supper which Alex and I organised. Alex played a key role including reciting Burns’ famous poem To A Haggis, with great enthusiasm: the first verse goes
“Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o the puddin’-race! Aboon them a’ ye tak your place, Painch, tripe, or thairm: Weel are ye wordy of a grace As lang’s my arm.
When he reached the line ‘an cut you up wi’ ready slight’, he cut open the haggis with great flourish. At the end of the evening we all sang Auld Lang Syne and in remembering Alex I would conclude with reciting the verse:
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And auld lang syne?
Alex had a private family funeral service. We extend our love and heartfelt thoughts to Barbara who is also at Selwyn Sprott and their family.
Our guest speaker, Lynda Murray, a recent inductee to our Club, was introduced by fellow member and near neighbour, Andrea Skews.
Lynda is working with Te Te Ora Hou in Wellington, having previously worked with the World Wildlife Fund. Te Ora Hou is a youth, one stop shop, that includes a number of government agencies and community groups working collaboratively for the good of young people people and their whanau.
Lynda gave us a very full account of her advocacy and support work for our young Māori and Pacifika community in the capital through numerous programmes. These include English language classes, learner driver licences, and bridging the digital divide. She is enjoying the challenges, being part of a team to create healthy and creative facilities for families to learn and engage and to build strong identities. Key to this is the development of strong connections; identifying opportunities for learning; growing leadership; and giving back to others.
Members appreciated Lynda’s warm and engaging address and the opportunities for Rotary to consider help with projects to fulfill these objectives for youth and families.
It was a great pleasure to induct Mark Wood back into Rotary. Mark had previously been a member of the Rotary Club of Wellington for 10 years. Over the last few years he has engaged in management consultancy work in Thailand. When circumstances permit he is planning to return there for up to six months a year. He has maintained his Rotary service in Thailand attending local Club meetings. We are pleased to have Mark in our Club. He is residing in Karori with his daughter.xxx
The Rotary District 9940 Conference will be held in the beautiful Wairarapa from Friday 19 - Sunday 21 March at the Carterton Events Centre.
The full programme and list of speakers has now been published and can be found at https://rotary9940.org/Page/conference-2021-programme
Go to the Rotary District 9940 website to register now. Be prepared to be entertained, informed and challenged. Enjoy a Taste of the Wairarapa – food, beverages and sights. There will be a range of activities around the Wairarapa throughout the weekend including A Taste of the Wairarapa on the Saturday afternoon and a Swing Fling on Saturday evening.
Help celebrate our centenary - come along and enjoy what this weekend has in store.
Sunday 21 February, Rotary Club Of Wellington Centennial Dinner
Dragons Restaurant, 25 Tory Street, 5:30 for 6:00pm. Guest speaker Prof Michael Baker MNZM.
Tuesday 23 February at Marsden
Our guest speaker will be Michael Smith CEO Wellington Division Cancer Society.
Tuesday 9 March at Marsden
Barbara Mulligan and Richard Bentley from the Karori Cemetery Trust.
Thursday 18 March, Business Breakfast At Karori Park Cafe
The first Rotary/ANZ Business Breakfast for 2021, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson. Unmissable insights into the post Covid world.
Friday 19 - Sunday 21 March, District Conference At Carterton
For full details please see elsewhere in this bulletin.
Tuesday 23 March at Marsden
Marsden students who attended the National Science Forum in Auckland in January
Tuesday 13 April at Marsden
Anna Roberts, Manager Enliven Huntleigh Karori.
Tuesday 27 April at Marsden
Our guest speaker will be counciller Simon Woolf from the Wellington City Council.
April at Karori Park Cafe
Planned Business Breakfast, speaker to be confirmed.
