Duties

Duties Tuesday 26 March, at Marsden From 5:45pm
Guest Speaker: Dani Lim, PhD student, speaking on Brasilia
Please bring a guest and a prospective member
 
If Necessary Please Arrange Your Own Substitute
Apologies to: DWatt@xtra.co.nz, 027 246 6339 by Monday 25 March at the latest
 
Setup Tables And Chairs: David Watt and Mark Wood
 
Bar Duties: Julian Barkham
 
Opening Thought: Allan Frazer
 
Raffle Prize: Jay Jaiganesh
 
Introduce Speaker: Bob Hamilton
 
Thank Speaker: Jim Johnston
 
Parting Thought: Doug Langford
 
Kitchen Duties: All Hands
 
Wash Glasses: John Barton
 
Duties Phil Oliver 2024-03-20 11:00:00Z 0

Gardening At The Marsden Club

Saturday 2 March saw a band of volunteers from the Rotary Club Of Karori performing gardening duties at the Marsden Club in Newcombe Cres.
 
The Marsden Club and the associated Chelsea Club in Lyall Bay, provide day care for people suffering from dementia, thus providing a day's respite for their normal carers.
 
The enthusiastic team weeded, trimmed, cleared up and spread mulch, leaving the garden in a much tidier state. This is an activity that ticks all the Rotary boxes of service to the community. We are planning another session next spring.
 
Our special thanks to Allan Frazer for his organisation, to Denise and Angela from the clubs for morning tea and to Penny Darwin's son Harry and his girl friend who transported much of the mulch.
 
Gardening At The Marsden Club Phil Oliver 2024-03-06 11:00:00Z 0

History Corner

Our Club in its earlier years strongly supported District Conference events and party night was always a hit. Here a group of Karori members and partners showing off at DG Hamil Kinvig’s District Conference at the Lower Hutt Civic Centre in March 1989.  Hamil Kinvig was Jeannette Souter’s brother, and brother in law to Brian, our Charter and Life Member.

Can you name the grey -haired Rotarian in the middle of this photo?  He is still an active member in our Club.
 
History Corner Phil Oliver 2023-10-18 11:00:00Z 0

Donations Made From The Sunshine Fund

In the absence of President Jay, PP David Watt chaired proceedings introducing four principals representing schools in our catchment area who came to receive  discretionary grants from the Club to schools. Left to right in our picture are Andrew Graham, deputy Principal at Makara Model school standing in for principal Caro Wills, Pip Cook principal at St Teresas, Melissa Teirney, acting principal of Karori West Normal and Conrad Kelly principal at Karori Normal School.

Andrea Peetz, Principal at Northland School and Peter Hijzeen at Cardinal McKeefry gave their apologies for this meeting. Payment of grants from the Club have been made directly to school on- line accounts.

Each pricipal outlined some of the key activities being undertaken at their schools, including camps for learning activities, garden projects, youth leadership development, musical events bringing together large numbers of pupils and families and supporting local community events on behalf of the school.
 
The principals stayed to hear Area Governor David Shackleton give us a run down on the formation of a Rotary project group ‘Lifting the Lid’ on Youth Suicide. This initiative was formed over two years ago by the Rotary Club of Kapiti. A number of Clubs have since joined  with four clubs in Wellington currently providing funding to pay counsellor advisory services – namely Wellington North, Port Nicholson, Wellington South and Mt Victoria.The aim of the project is to help secondary students facing self-harm, to help develop programmes to assist those identified in need of help with counselling services and support. Rotary funding is going to support the administration and provision of services by professional people.
 
In 26 months since the project was launched 22 applications have been received for support assistance on behalf of 20 students in the Greater Wellington area. Rotary has approached all the public secondary schools in the Wellington except Wellington College, who are open to consideration of the project plan. In the discussion that followed questions covered costs and size of grants being given, opportunities to seek Rotary District grants and international grant assistance to increase funding support and to look to extend to primary and intermediate schools. It was felt also that an approach could also be made to Lions Clubs in the Greater Wellington area in partnership for the project.
 
Donations Made From The Sunshine Fund Phil Oliver 2022-10-05 11:00:00Z 0

Father Don Morrison

Members who were in the Karori Rotary Club back in the mid -1980s, will remember with affection Father Don Morrison who joined the Karori Club in 1986.

Past President, Doug Langford says Don was a member for around three years and had a quirky sense of humour. He left the Club when he was transferred from the Parish of St Teresas in Karori back to Featherston.

Father Don passed away on 15 August last year at the Joseph’s Home of Compassion in Upper Hutt in his 90th year. A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at the St Teresa of Avila Catholic Church in Featherston on Sunday 14 August 2022, followed by a dedication of his Memorial at the Featherston Lawn Cemetery.

Father Don is pictured with his faithful companion Harry, who he walked daily around the streets of Featherston. He served for over 60 years as a priest. He said that his first posting was to Pahiatua where the then parish priest advised him that “the less you say, the more you say.” In the course of his 60 years in the Church Father Don served in Kilbirnie, Opunake, Takaka, Featherston from 1976-80, Picton and Karori. He returned to South Wairarapa in 1990.
 
Father Don Morrison Phil Oliver 2022-08-03 12:00:00Z 0
District Changeover On Saturday 25 June Phil Oliver 2022-05-18 12:00:00Z 0

Last Call For District 9940 Conference

The District 9940 Conference will be held on 8-9 April 2022 with the theme: Shaping Our Future, Together

If you haven’t registered you still have time before tomorrow. Go to https://www.eventspromto.co.nz/Rotary2022

The registration cost is $60pp and is largely going to pay for the technology to support this online event. You need to register to receive the link. No charge for partners.
 
Last Call For District 9940 Conference Phil Oliver 2022-04-06 12:00:00Z 0

From The President's Pen

Our meeting on Tuesday, 8 March, will be one of the most important for members in this Rotary year – to consider pathways to make our Club potentially more attractive for new members, as well as more stimulating for present members, partners and friends of Rotary.

Your board has been considering this issue, our history of evening meetings, together with 4-5 community business breakfasts in the years when we have been able to hold them, largely impacted by Covid since 2020. It is time to look at moving forward with a substantially reduced membership on earlier years and how we can better engage and offer more to those who could consider joining Rotary.

We are in a fast changing world, people have different commitments and interests from what we have experienced over past decades. Today’s world has changed for younger people in the workforce and what they are prepared to commit to today.

I have personally favoured evening gatherings for fellowship, with a dinner, and hearing a good speaker.  We have had excellent meals provided by Elaine Harris. I know that has appealed to many, but there are others with different preferences.  I also like the breakfast model, where we can achieve all these things at the beginning of the day, meet up, network, share ideas, and plan for projects etc and get on our way knowing we can avoid bottle necks at lunch time and in the evening rush. Trialling breakfasts at Marsden School is an option, which has support from the School and from our caterer if we would like to go in this direction. It could be an attractive option to those thinking about Rotary, or people we could approach.

At the end of the day it is for all of us to try and get some consensus around what we would like to do in the future, help President-Elect Jay plan her year with more certainty, and build support and interest in our club around new projects, new social activities.

I want to extend the thanks of the board to Mark Wood and Allan Frazer for ideas they have brought together in a paper coming to you to look at on social activities for the Club. I would like to see an exchange of views at our forum on social activities and a pathway forward for future meetings of the Club.

Finally, I wish to record our regret that long serving member, Henk Rood, has resigned his membership with the Karori Club after 39 years, however he will be staying in Rotary with a transfer to the Wellington Rotary luncheon club. Henk says he would like to stay in touch with our Karori Club through our breakfast programme and social events. We are working on plans to celebrate our 40th anniversary in June this year, so more on that as we progress towards this event.

Take care,
Warm regards,
President David.
 
From The President's Pen Phil Oliver 2022-03-02 11:00:00Z 0

Rotary To The Rescue In Tonga

Whenever there are significant weather events affecting the Pacific Islands, all hands are on deck to provide aid, Governments around the world, community agencies and service organisations. Rotary for many decades has played a major role in providing many forms of aid, often with little public recognition. Rotarian leaders are frequently disappointed that our support is not properly recognised. Rotary has provided millions of dollars of funding aid over the years, shelter equipment, new building construction, in the aftermath of disasters that have hit our Pacific nations.

Rotary New Zealand World Community Service as a first responder following cyclones, floods, volcanic eruptions and other disasters, has stocks of Emergency Response Kits strategically positioned around the Pacific.
A stock of 538 ERKs as we know them, were made available for distribution to families in need following the recent volcanic eruption and tsunami. These have been distributed by the Rotary Club of Nuka’lofa and other partners.

As a club we will consider the donation of a couple of ERKs as we have done previously for Pacific causes, either for immediate use, or to replenish stocks for future disaster events.

Each ERK costs $NZ600 and donations are sought for this purpose for a whole or part of a box. For details on how to contribute, go to www.rnzwcs.org
 
Rotary To The Rescue In Tonga Phil Oliver 2022-02-02 11:00:00Z 0

High Spirits At The Christmas Function

Spirits were high as we enjoyed getting in a Christmas mood with the Harbour Capital Chorus.

At our Christmas function on 4 December Anthony Currington, musical director, led the Chorus through a good half hour of lovely music, songs developed through the year together with all their favourite Christmas Carols. The Chorus included Club member Richard Oldham and Doug Langford who has recently left the Chorus joined in with the carol singing. It was a great occasion and enjoyment for the Chorus which has lost many opporunities during the year to perform due to Covid restrictions.
 
Doug Langford later received his Five Sapphire Paul Harris Fellowship award from President Graeme on behalf of the board for his long and loyal service to Rotary extending over 39 years from 1982 when Doug became a charter member of the Club. His citation touched on many achievements over that time, offices held, various awards, helping the establishment of Probus Clubs in the City, the development of the Marsden Club and Chelsea Club for dementia patients and his long commitment to the financial management of the Club and Charitable Trust.
 

President Graeme who held office from June to December handed over the baton to a fellow Past President, David Watt, who will steer through the first six months of 2022, a period which will also include the 40th anniversary for the Rotary of Karori  in May 2022.
 
High Spirits At The Christmas Function Phil Oliver 2021-12-15 11:00:00Z 0

Wellington City Mission

Pack the Bus! Time again to help the Wellington City Mission.
 
At our meeting on Tuesday 23 November members donated several cartons of Christmas Puddings to the Wellingotn City Mission. Above is Phil Oliver handing over a carton to the City Missioner, Murray Edridge.
 
Visiting the WCM is a real eye opener and we can still do more to help those less fortunate.

Bring to our Christmas function at Marsden on Saturday 4 December, Christmas foods and children’s gifts for families who otherwise have a tough time at Christmas. Be someone’s Star this Christmas. Bring unwrapped new toys and gifts for children and teens and/or Christmas food items to the meeting.

Good gifts for children/teens are vouchers for the zoo, pool and book stores, toys, books, balls for netball or rugby, or football, puzzles, board games, rattles for babies. Good food items are single adult Christmas cakes and puddings, fancy biscuits, crackers, chocolates, nuts, chippies, pavlova and meringues.
 
Wellington City Mission Phil Oliver 2021-11-28 11:00:00Z 0

From The President's Pen

The spread of Covid community cases recently from Auckland and Waikato down into central New Zealand towns shows how vulnerable we are to this delta variant. As the Government and health officials have been saying, it is not a question of if, but when. With several cases in Taranaki  and elsewhere, from people who have been in the Auckland environment shows that a change in our status of alert in the capital could happen at any time. It is very likely that we will be in the new traffic light system before Christmas. That being a strong possibility we must be protected and we must care for others to ensure they are similarly protected from this deadly strain.

At our recent meeting with Brent Alderton, Chief Executive of the Mary Potter Hospice we learned how they are tackling palliative care in today’s environment for people faced with uncertainty and for many nearing the end of life. The legislation which came into force this month allowing for End of Life Choice under strict conditions indicates a different world from what we have known in the recent past.

There are significant pressures on medical professionals working hard to get our Covid protection to 90 plus percent as well as dealing with other pressures on our health system through changes in law passed by our Parliament. Through Rotary, we engage with many communities facing health challenges. This is an area of service where we can be justly proud of our efforts to provide funding for vaccines, for new facilities in hospitals to support patients and for ancillary services for patients in the community. This will continue to be a key objective for the Rotary Club of Karori going forward as we come to our Annual Meeting of the Club next Tuesday and looking ahead to select a President-Elect for the new Rotary Year in 2022-2023. Please do your best to be at this meeting.

We need to be conscious of the role we play with other clubs to serve and support people who need health care and who look to service club leaders to increase resources for the sustainability of health systems in New Zealand and in the Pacific Basin that is part of our Rotary strategic focus.

Warm regards

President Graeme
 
From The President's Pen Phil Oliver 2021-11-17 11:00:00Z 0

Murray Edridge, A Man On A Mission

Murray Edridge, Wellington City Missioner, entertained us with humour and breath-taking drive as he outlined his purpose to address problems that many with physical and mental health issues face in our city when he addressed the Club on 13 July. From a family with a Dad as a Rotarian, Murray has known service for most of his life.

Life is hard for many people and the capital city bears this out every day. Murray says it is a constant challenge. What responsibility do we take for this? How do we respond? He is the first non -cleric leader of the Wellington City Mission, but his associates believe he has all traits of his predecessors, personality, passion and empathy to those calling on the help of the City Mission.

Murray said City Missions are changing and moving to reflect society of today. He said his three main goals are empowerment, transformation and fullness of life. He traversed key issues faced in Wellington – housing, debt, food insecurity, social isolation, physical and mental health conditions, family and relationship problems, and child welfare.

The Club was especially interested in the steps taken recently by Murray and the board of the City Mission to open a social supermarket in Newtown for the food needs of their clients. This was in keeping with their key objectives to try and make a difference to lives that everyone has a right, and others can help achieve that. We could have listened to Murray for hours. The Club will surely offer its future help when called on by Murray to take these initiatives forward in the City.
 
Murray Edridge, A Man On A Mission Phil Oliver 2021-08-04 12:00:00Z 0

From The President's Pen

What a fun night we had, nine Karori club members, joining the Mt Victoria Club at their meeting at The Arborist in Willis St on 8 June. It was great fellowship, a night of surprises and prizes. More on that in our bulletin below.

We are all set for our long awaited Quiz Night at One Fat Bird on Sunday 20 June. It will be a great occasion with a maximum number of teams and support from other Rotary Clubs. And of course the event will raise further funds for the new Wellington Children’s Hospital. My thanks to everyone who has pitched in to support this event.

We convey our deep sorrow to Michele Sutherland, David Watt’s partner, with the loss of her brother, Dr John Carter. Dr Carter was a professor of medicine and former head of haematology at Wellington Hospital and at the Wellington Blood and Cancer Centre. He died from a massive heart attack, aged 70 earlier this month. John was an incredibly fit person and news of his death came as a great shock to all, his medical colleagues, family and friends throughout the world. John came to speak at our club last year when Dr Matt Wheeler, a work colleague returned to New Zealand from Canada because of the covid pandemic, having earlier received a Rotary International grant to extend his thrombotic disease research.

Our Karori Club, worked with John Carter to prepare the grant application for Matt to RI. We were delighted that the application for US$40,000 was successful. John Carter achieved many successes in medicine including the establishment of the New Zealand Blood Service and implementation of new techniques for bone marrow transplants for leukaemia patients. At the time of his passing he was also deputy chair of the Malaghan Research  Institute and had been a former member of the Rotary Club of Wellington South.

On Tuesday next we look forward to welcoming our new business breakfast partners Forsyth Barr to come and join us at Marsden to talk about their work in the financial advisory and stock broking world. This is also an opportunity to discuss future community ventures we can join forces on.

If you haven’t responded to me yet regarding our changeover dinner at Marsden on Saturday 3 July, please email me as soon as possible.

Best wishes to you all, Phil.
 
From The President's Pen Phil Oliver 2021-06-16 12:00:00Z 0

Mana Tangata, Official Launch

The centennial history of Rotary in New Zealand and the Pacific, Mana Tangata People of Action, by Dr Stephen Clarke, was launched at a very enjoyable celebration event at the National Library in Wellington on 12 May. The event was attended by over 200 Rotarians from our District and other Districts of New Zealand. MC’d by co-centennial Patron, former Governor General and member of the Rotary Club of Wellington, Sir Anand Satyanand, other guest speakers were co-patron and Past Rotary International President, Bill Boyd, of Auckland, centennial committee member, Tony Caughey from the Rotary Club of Auckland, and 17 year old Steph Edlin, of Wellington. Steph, who is aspiring to be a Wellington City Councillor, spoke the language of youth and belief, looking forward to meeting Rotary needs in different ways from past generations.

Book launches are not always inspiring affairs, but this one had all the hallmarks of a special celebration of Rotary achievements and wanting to do more in a different world we live in from the early years of the 20th century.

The foreword to the book Ka mua, ka muri says it all- Walking backwards into the future. It was a special moment, the launch, for Craig Horrocks, current DG 9920 of Auckland, as it was his great grandfather, George Fowlds, a former minister of education and public health, and a self-made businessman from Auckland who became the special commissioner appointed by Rotary International to launch Rotary in New Zealand.

District 9940 DG Gillian Jones had the honour of opening the Rotary centennial exhibition following the book launch.
 
Mana Tangata, Official Launch Phil Oliver 2021-05-19 12:00:00Z 0

Mana Tangata, Official Launch

The official launch of the Rotary Centennial Book 'Mana Tangata' for district 9940 will take place on Wednesday 12 May at 5:45pm in the National Library, Molesworth Street. Thanks to those who volunteered to act as exhibition hosts in the period following the launch. The exhibition runs from 13-26 May from 9:00am to 5:00pm
 
This is a free event hosted by the Rotary Club Of Wellington. We are limited to 8 people, including partners and we must RSVP by Monday 3 May. To keep things under control please contact me (phil@PraxisSoftware.co.nz) in the first instance and I will coordinate our group response.
 
The book is now available we have copies available for a special price of $40. Three of our members feature on Page 214 on behalf of the many others in the Rotary Club of Karori  who contributed strongly to the development of the Karori Sanctuary, now known as Zealandia, and in the construction of the predator free fence which goes around the this wonderful environmental asset.
 
Mana Tangata, Official Launch Phil Oliver 2021-05-05 12:00:00Z 0

Business Breakfast With Grant Robertson

A full house of over 70 people heard the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Grant Robertson, tell us that we have performed pretty well given the challenges of this past year. All indicators put us in fairly good shape going forward.
 
He clearly indicated to the assembled audience at our first business breakfast for the year on 18 March that the roll out of the Covid vaccine and addressing the housing crisis with an emphasis on new builds for first home buyers were the Government’s top priorities.
 
The Minister fielded some very spirited questions on economic performance and priority spending issues.
 
Business Breakfast With Grant Robertson Phil Oliver 2021-04-07 12:00:00Z 0

Congratulations Krystle


Krystle Crimmins, the key player in the club's Epilepsy Project, was invited to an afternoon tea at Government House hosted by Community Networks Wellington on 17 March 2021.

The member organisations encompass over 400 professionals and volunteers working in the Social and Community sector. The occasion  celebrated their tireless work in the Wellington region over the Covid 19 period.  Krystle, pictured with the Governor General Dame Patsy Reddy, was representing Epilepsy First Aid.
 
Well done Krystle, the Rotary Club Of Karori salutes your achievement.
Congratulations Krystle Phil Oliver 2021-04-07 12:00:00Z 0

Barbara Mulligan, Karori Cemetery Trust

It was a pleasure to welcome back Barbara Mulligan to again speak to us on 9 March.  A passionate conservationist, Barbara has earned great kudos for her untiring work conserving graves in the Karori Cemetery. This is the second largest cemetery in New Zealand after Waikemete in Auckland, and largest by number of interments.
 
Of special relevance are the graves of those who perished in the 1918 Flu Pandemic. With a team of friends and volunteers Barbara did a wonderful job cleaning up hundreds of graves in time for the centennial commemoration of the Flu pandemic in late 2018.

Barbara does a great job running guided tours of the cemetery. The trust reaches out to the wider community to help preserve its many heritage features. The friends of the cemetery have formed a trust to preserve, protect and enhance all aspects of the cemetery.
 
If you want to help please contact Barbara at friendskaroricemetery@gmail.com
 
Barbara Mulligan, Karori Cemetery Trust Phil Oliver 2021-03-17 11:00:00Z 0

From The President's Pen

Frustration continues as we move up and down the Covid Alert levels, with widespread disappointment at failure for a positive case to properly isolate in the Auckland community. Of course we all need to look carefully at our own activities to ensure that we are playing our part. At the last board meeting, board members carefully considered what actions we should take for our next meeting on 9 March. The probability is that we will be back at level 1 and will be able to meet as usual. In the unlikely event that we remain at level 2 we have decided that we will still go ahead but with strict social distancing. In addition special arrangements will be put in place for our meal, these have been discussed with Elaine. This is in line with other clubs and I hope the decision will meet with your approval.
 
At our next meeting we will welcome back a leading Karori community conservator, Barbara Mulligan, Vice Chair of the Friends of the Karori Cemetery. Karori cemetery is the second largest cemetery in New Zealand for interments. Barbara will talk to us about their further work in the cemetery and the development of a Trust for future conservation and preservation.
 
Once again let me draw you attention your attention to the upcoming District Conference and the Carterton Rotary Golf competition. Both events are featured in this bulletin.
 
The release of our centenary book Mana Tangata is imminent and there will be an opening round of centenary events in May.
 
Our meeting on 23 March will be a special general meeting to consider the election of a president elect. This is advance warning only, an agenda and meeting details will be advised shortly.
 
Best wishes to you all, Phil
 
From The President's Pen Phil Oliver 2021-03-03 11:00:00Z 0

Michael Smith, Wellington Cancer Society CEO

It was a great pleasure to host Mike Smith, CEO of the Wellington Division of the Cancer Society at our meeting on 23 February. Our thanks to Jay Jaiganesh who is a Cancer Society board member for arranging for Mike to speak to us.
 
Introduced to the meeting by Allan Frazer, Mike gave us a very comprehensive picture of the work of the Society. This work is carried out in conjunction with the other Divisions of the Cancer Society operating around New Zealand.
 
Mike is a local Karori resident with his wife and family and has been active as a school trustee at St Teresa’s in Karori. He previously held the CEO position at New Zealand Red Cross amongst other top Not for Profit positions.
 
Michael Smith, Wellington Cancer Society CEO Phil Oliver 2021-03-03 11:00:00Z 0

Rotary Carterton Ambrose Gold Tournament

Rotary Carterton in conjunction with New World Carterton are holding an Ambrose Golf Tournament
 
Date:   Friday 26 March 2021
Time:   11am
Venue:  Carterton Golf Club

The tournament is limited to 36 three-person teams and features a shot gun start. This is for golfers and non-golfers wanting to have fun.

Entries to john.reeve48@outlook.com (tel 021 560 461) by close of business 19 March please, stating your team name, players’ names, club ID number and handicap index, and if no official index, whether you are a non-golfer. Individuals entering will be placed in teams trying to ensure they are teamed with at least one experienced golfer.

Entry fee is $25 per player (payment on acceptance of entry), with proceeds going to support community projects undertaken by the Rotary Club of Carterton.
 
Rotary Carterton Ambrose Gold Tournament Phil Oliver 2021-03-03 11:00:00Z 0

Centennial Year District Conference

 
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.
 
Centennial Year District Conference Phil Oliver 2021-03-03 11:00:00Z 0

Social Event With Tawa Rotary

Greetings to you all and best wishes for the new year.
 
As you will see below we already have a packed forward program for 2021. In addition I have mentioned several events organised by other clubs that might appeal.
 
Our first meeting for the year will be a social event with the Tawa Rotary Club. We have organised a guided tour of the Wrights Hill Tunnels. These are an important part of our local history and are well worth a look. The cost for the tour is $12 and Elaine will deliver a light meal to the site afterwards. Most importantly please rsvp to David's email by Saturday so that we can firm up on catering numbers. Partners are welcome to come to this event.
Don't forget our district conference is coming up in March. Based in Carterton there will be opportunities to sample the delights of the Wairarapa as well as attending to Rotary business. Discounted early bird registration is available until the end of January. Please see below for the details.
 
Details are:
Tuesday 26 January 2021
Please assemble at 5:45
Access to the tunnels is via Campbell St, right into Verviers St, left into Kano St, right into Wrights Hill Road
 
I look forward to catching up with you all and to socialising with our colleagues from Tawa.
 
Social Event With Tawa Rotary Phil Oliver 2021-01-19 11:00:00Z 0

Charity Golf

Are you a keen golfer? The Rotary Club Of New Plymouth invites you to join in their charity golf competition in support of Heart Kids. Full details are in the flyer below.
 
Charity Golf Phil Oliver 2021-01-19 11:00:00Z 0

Christmas Function

 
75 gathered for our combined Christmas function at Marsden with members of the Mt Victoria and Rotary on Cuba Clubs. It was great to combine forces for this celebration, to make new friends and to welcome back previous members of the clubs.
 
 
Our highlights were the engagement again of the Harbour Capital Chorus for Christmas carols and presentation of three Paul Harris Fellow Awards, one in the Mt Victoria Club and two in Karori. It was very pleasing to award charter member and oldest member of our Club, Clive Hesketh with a PHF and a surprise for our President Phil in his second year as President of our Club. Members and guests warmly acknowledged these presentations.
 
 
Christmas Function Phil Oliver 2020-12-16 11:00:00Z 0

Christmas Pudding Results

 
This has been one of our best ever years with 900 puddings distributed to friends, family and other clubs. Thank you to everyone involved in the promotion and sales.
 
Christmas Pudding Results Phil Oliver 2020-12-16 11:00:00Z 0

Club Meeting 10 November

 
Our meeting on 10 November was an enjoyable occasion having 18 members of Karori Lions join us at Marsden for an annual dinner together and to welcome our guest speaker David Shanks, New Zealand’s Chief Censor. David is a highly respected business leader with wide experience in both private and public sector including time as Chief Legal Adviser for the State Services Commission and the Ministry of Social Development. He gave us a comprehensive picture of the work of the Classifications Office which he heads and the challenging world of social media, TV, film, games, videos and written material.
 
As David said to us, the challenge for the Censor and his office is getting balance between individual rights and what is perceived to be wrong behaviour reflected throughout the world and in our own country.
 
He talked about pressures on young people, the growing amount of pornography and violence in communities, and increasing rates of suicide. Very useful handout material gave us an insight into the education messages being imparted in New Zealand around conversations we need to have going forward, showing respect, listening to concerns , learning about the perils of social media, and building patience to resolve issues affecting all ages in society.
 
Club Meeting 10 November Phil Oliver 2020-11-20 11:00:00Z 0

Business Breakfast With Sharon Zollner

 
At our next business breakfast on Tuesday 17 November we are looking forward to welcoming Sharon Zollner.
 
Sharon is the Chief Economist at the ANZ and is in high demand as a speaker and commentator on the New Zealand economy.
 
Now that we are post the General Elections, attention turns to the recovery of the New Zealand economy and we will be interested in Sharon’s views on how she sees the big issues ahead for our government.
 
Business Breakfast With Sharon Zollner Phil Oliver 2020-11-03 11:00:00Z 0
Book Fair, 13-14 November Phil Oliver 2020-11-03 11:00:00Z 0

Casino Night

For a fun night out, the flyer says it all.
 
Casino Night Phil Oliver 2020-10-20 11:00:00Z 0

District Governor Gillian Jones, Official Visit

 
We are delighted to welcome District Governor Gillian Jones to our meeting on Tuesday 27 October. This will be her official Governor visit to our Club.
 
Gillian has been a close friend to Rotary Karori, stemming back to her time as an Assistant District Governor to David Watt in his year as Governor in 2009-10. We have met often with Gillian and joined Gillian and husband Kevin at our combined Christmas function with the Wellington South Club.
 
Gillian has many good ideas to take our District and Rotary forward and we are keen to hear from her.
 
Partners are welcome and encouraged to attend the meeting but please advise Doug Langford for catering purposes.
District Governor Gillian Jones, Official Visit Phil Oliver 2020-10-20 11:00:00Z 0

Polio News - Ride The Train

 
Last year the District 9940 Ride The Train project raised $30,000 to help end polio. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation matched this 2 for 1 meaning that $90,000 went to help end Polio. Africa has now been declared free of Polio in the wild leaving only Afghanistan and Pakistan where the disease persists.
 
You can help by supporting Ride The Train. Buy a tee shirt and cover the 62 stations between Palmerston North and Masterton or sponsor someone who will. A suggested donation of 50 cents per station will raise $31. Wearing the tee shirt means you can ride for free.
 
If you can't ride the train, there will be a stall selling bacon butties at Wellington Station. Sign up for a couple of hours at
 
https://rotaryportnicholson.club/volunteer/managevolunteercontacts?VolunteerSignUpId=59dfa807-c04c-4841-b9b3-378759a5e658&Token=JFN3HJi1hcWMjFQD5vW4SlgHKGeLDoNqfJMcZontNcMl4awOAwB4t6nyeQReHcuh0Ua1WlZFttBpbW0FC3IoyQ==
 
By the way, Polio only exists in human populations. When eradicated it will be only the 3rd disease eliminated from earth, after Smallpox and Rinderpest (a cattle disease).
 
Polio News - Ride The Train Phil Oliver 2020-10-06 11:00:00Z 0

Business Breakfast With Meng Foon

 
After months of not being able to run our breakfast programme, we were delighted to be back at Level 1 to host former Gisborne Mayor, and now Race Relations Commissioner, Meng Foon, at our business breakfast event at Karori Park Café on 24 September.
 
Meng delighted us with his down to earth approach to life, his “humble” beginnings as a son of well-known Chinese market gardeners in Gisborne, his early schooling at Makaraka just outside of Gisborne city, and education at Gisborne Boys High before he took up various business interests working in the city. From two terms on the Gisborne District Council Meng became Mayor and served six terms from 2001-2019 when he was appointed Race Relations Commissioner in August last, succeeding Dame Susan Devoy. He and his wife Ying still maintain their family home in Gisborne.
 
Meng gave us a taste of issues coming across his desk and working through strategies to try and reduce amongst other big social issues a high and unacceptable level of bullying prevalent in schools and in the work place in New Zealand. He said he enjoys face to face meetings with people to try and build respect to work together with other agencies in the country for some better and more sustainable outcomes in behaviour patterns.
 
Meng was well received by an audience of 50, with quite a number of our regular attendees not able to attend this event.
 
Business Breakfast With Meng Foon Phil Oliver 2020-10-06 11:00:00Z 0

Candidates Election Meeting

 
Once again we had one of the biggest elections meetings in this triennial cycle of meet the candidates for Wellington Central. Close to 180 people attended at the Karori Baptist Church on 1 October.
 
Ten candidates across a broad spectrum of party and individual stances gave us their platforms. The seriousness of their planned addresses was mixed with good humour and lots of light hearted moments for the audience to join in.
 
Michael Appleby, a lawyer and leader of the Aotearoa New Zealand Cannabis Party said that finally after campaigning for close on 20 years to get into Parliament and to get on the Wellington City Council he believed had achieved his objective of an acceptance of cannabis as shown through of a referendum at this general election on cannabis which he believed would be carried and passed in to law by Parliament. Other candidates were quick to tell him, not so fast Michael. This would not have been the first time Michael has stood up on this issue in 2020 as all the candidates would have met several times in the capital to this point. Michael in his impish humour took the sting from other candidates including sitting MP for Wellington Central Hon Grant Robertson that the outcome on cannabis was far from over at this stage. There was lots of laughter for the audience when Michael got all candidates to indicate if they had ever tried out cannabis in their lives. Most indicated they had, but pushing it back to their younger years of life.
 
In all it was a good night and a well run meeting by chairman Doug Langford, to give the sizeable audience time to weigh up candidates and their platforms on growth as a country, numerous social issues, housing being a major topic, and economic recovery.
 
Candidates Election Meeting Phil Oliver 2020-10-06 11:00:00Z 0

Club Forum 22 September

Even though we had a small attendance, there was a good sharing of ideas for our forward Rotary programme.
 
President Phil outlined our achievements in the year to date. Despite the significant period of covid lockdown, we have achieved a growth in membership, assisted the promotion of the booklet on epilepsy education aid, our support for the Sunshine Club to Schools, and support to the Rotary vaccine project ahead in the Pacific. We also had support for upcoming events such as our business breakfast programme and General Election meeting.
 
Krystle Crimmins gave the meeting thoughts from a meeting of our recent induction of new women members. Her presentation contained new ideas to take to the board emphasizing greater flexibility in Rotary for members.
 
Members also raised some ideas that had worked well for the Club in the past including getting to know other members and partners well through the Guess Who Is Coming to Dinner programme and building up interest in associate membership in the Club as a way for some to consider full membership in Rotary. Allan Frazer suggested he would take up an almoner role to keep in touch with past members.
 
Club Forum 22 September Phil Oliver 2020-10-06 11:00:00Z 0

Guest Speaker, Dr Matt Wheeler

 
We are delighted to welcome our guest speaker Dr Matt Wheeler.
 
Matt and his family went to Canada in last August, to study haematology, assisted by a Rotary International scholarship. Covid 19 has interrupted his study his study at McMaster University in Toronto and he has returned to New Zealand continuing in medical practice in Tauranga. The University is looking forward to Matt’s return to Canada.
 
Marion Eades, a Past President of the Rotary Club of Wellington chairs the District 9940 RI Scholarship Committee and both Marion and Immediate Past Governor, John Mohi advanced Matt’s successful nomination to Rotary International. Our Club was delighted to learn midway through last year that Matt had been granted this prestigious award in medicine to undertake study at McMaster.
 
Partners are welcome, and encouraged, to attend this meeting but please be sure to advise Doug Langford of extra numbers for catering.
 
This is going to be a busy meeting, including the induction of Lynda Murray.
 
We also anticipate a "raid" from members of the Rotary Club Of Wellington as part of their centennial celebrations.
 
Guest Speaker, Dr Matt Wheeler Phil Oliver 2020-10-06 11:00:00Z 0

Polio News - Ride The Train

 
We have recently had the good news that Africa has been declared free of Polio in the wild.
 
The final push is needed in South East Asia to rid the world of this disease.
 
Locally Rotary has organised a Ride The Train event on Friday 23 October. I urge you to support this event by signing up to sell Bacon Butties at the Wellington Railway Station. You can sign up for a 1 hour slot here
 
https://rotaryportnicholson.club/volunteer/managevolunteercontacts?VolunteerSignUpId=59dfa807-c04c-4841-b9b3-378759a5e658&Token=JFN3HJi1hcWMjFQD5vW4SlgHKGeLDoNqfJMcZontNcMl4awOAwB4t6nyeQReHcuh0Ua1WlZFttBpbW0FC3IoyQ==
 
I have also received some interesting documentation on the Polio fight and I'll distribute that as attachments in a separate email.
Polio News - Ride The Train Phil Oliver 2020-09-14 12:00:00Z 0

Club Forum

 
Greetings all.
 
With the planned relaxation of Covid levels we will meet again at Marsden on Tuesday 22 September. In addition to being able to talk to each other again this meeting is important for 3 reasons.
 
1    Lynda Murray will be formally inducted as a member of the club.
 
2    The meeting will be a club forum. This is a chance to review our progress and to look in detail at the way ahead. We can use the opportunity to explore our forward planning and to provide input on projects and future events. It is important that we have this engagement, please make every effort to attend. There are exciting possibilities ahead as we move into our centennial year.
 
It's important that we keep faith with Elaine Harris our caterer, this has been a tough time for her business. If you can't make it please send your apology to apologiesrotarykarori@gmail.com.
 
3    I will be seeking nominations for president elect. If you would like to consider taking on this role I am happy to talk to you about what the job involves. As our membership grows it is imperative that we place ourselves in a strong position for the future so that we can continue to serve our community. Rotary provides excellent training for the role at SPPETS (South Pacific President Elect Training Scheme). It's a great opportunity to become more involved with the Rotary organisation.
 
Finally take a minute to look at our forward program, there have been changes due to Covid. Also give some thought to volunteering for the Polio ride the train event, details below.
 
Best regards, Phil
Club Forum Phil Oliver 2020-09-14 12:00:00Z 0

Club Meeting 25 August

We were pleased to welcome Gabrielle Gunn, Head of Science at Marsden School along with Aishani McGrath and Michelle Lee, Year 13 students from Marsden, who attended the National Science Forum in Auckland back in January, on our Zoom meeting on 25 August speaking to us out of the School Library. Aishani and Michelle were due to speak to us back in March but we went into lockdown and had to postpone their reporting back on the Forum.
 
Aishani and Michelle spoke of the opportunities at the Auckland Forum to build new friendships with others, the team work required as part of their elective groups and being able to be introduced to a wider world of science. They were in awe of their young tutors and lecturers who took their courses and challenged them to learn for pure enjoyment. They both agreed in response to questions from Club members that this exposure to others they had never met before over the two weeks together strengthened the fun they had, at an experience that has certainly helped to build their confidence in this their final year at Marsden to be well prepared for University in 2021.
 
Aishani also outlined to the Club her involvement in voluntary work in the community helping to run a homework club set up at St Peter’s Church in the City, to use her skills and those of others for young students wanting help with their school work and challenges. They have been working with students from Mt Cook and Te Aro Schools.
 
Club members commended this initiative and wished Aishani and Michelle well for the remainder of their year at Marsden and for their choice science studies ahead.
Club Meeting 25 August Phil Oliver 2020-09-02 12:00:00Z 0

Guest Speakers From The Science Forum, Tuesday 25 August, Zoom

Well, here we go again, trying to stay safe and to rotect our families and members of the wider community. Although the lock down is not as severe this time, the requirements for social distancing and contact tracing ae still quite onerous.
 
Your board has decided to use Zoom for our meeting on Tuesday 25 August.
 
Many of you will have received an invitation to join a Zoom meeting from 16:30 - 17:00 on this date. These details are incorrect.
 
The correct details are meeting from 17:00 - 18:00. Copy and paste
into your browser. Let me know if you are unsure, we can arrange a trial 1 to 1 session.
 
To this meeting we warmly welcome Aishani McGrath and Michelle Lee. These Marsden pupils attended the Rotary National Science & Technology Forum in Auckland in January this year. We look forward to their presentations and experience at the Science Forum and to learn about their plans ahead.
 
As you can imagine the Covid resurgence has had a major effect on our forward program. Some events have been cancelled while others have moved to different times. Please take a minute to check the forward program in this bulletin. Further changes may occur and these will be announced in the bulletin.
Guest Speakers From The Science Forum, Tuesday 25 August, Zoom Phil Oliver 2020-08-19 12:00:00Z 0

Club Meeting 11 August

We were pleased to welcome back as guests to the Club Christine and Nick Hurley, both members of the Rotary Club of Wellington, well known in Rotary and diplomatic circles. Nick was High Commissioner for New Zealand to the Solomon Islands, Samoa, the Cook Islands and Tonga.
 
Christine has a background in public service and NGO management and worked in development aid with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and strategic HR management with the State Services Commission. Later in her career she was Chief Executive of Interpreting New Zealand, training and employing new migrants and refugees to deliver interpreting services. While in Samoa Christine headed up the Samoa Cancer Society and during their time there and in the Cook Islands Christine was a member of the Rotary Clubs of Apia and Rarotonga.
 
Christine is representing Wellington on the steering group of the centenary immunisation project, Rotary Gives Every Child a Future, and chairs the New Zealand engagement and fund raising committee. This a joint Rotary New Zealand/Rotary Australia centenary project which aims to immunise 100,000 of the most disadvantaged children across the Pacific over three years.
 
 
With UNICEF as technical advisers, Rotary will help introduce three life saving vaccines across nine Pacific countries; Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. These vaccines will help prevent cervical cancer, deadly diarrhoea, pneumonia, blood infections such as sepsis and meningitis. A total of $2.17m has been raised so far with the target to raise around $5m. Christine pointed out to members that for $45 a head this would help save a single life, and for a grant of $4500, 100 children will be vaccinated.
 
All donations for these vaccines will be matched with funds from The Rotary Foundation. The Club expects to hear more and be engaged as plans further develop for the immunisation programme, and to be part of Rotary New Zealand’s commitment in our centenary year and beyond.
Club Meeting 11 August Phil Oliver 2020-08-19 12:00:00Z 0

Rotary And The Disability Sector

Following on from our help to Krystle Crimmins, along with support from other Rotary Clubs in District 9940 in funding and circulating Krystle’s publication on Epilepsy Aid Education for Schools, discussions are moving to see if we can become more fully engaged in assisting the Disability Sector in general nationwide as a project to take into our Rotary Centennial year.
 
David Watt and Krystle Crimmins have been meeting with other Rotarians at a District level and this has been taken up further with Immediate Past Governor John Mohi who has spent a considerable amount of his working career interfacing with the disability sector to looking to develop a strategy for Rotary engagement, which will include high level discussions with Government agencies and enlisting support from the other Rotary Districts in New Zealand.
 
There is quite a gap between the grass roots and policy making levels in this sector with an opportunity to help those whose employment and lifestyles are significantly affected by disability can get help to achieve their objectives.
 
Watch for further developments on this front.
Rotary And The Disability Sector Phil Oliver 2020-08-05 12:00:00Z 0

Congratulations To Michael Fagg

The Rotary Club of Karori extends its warmest congratulations to Michael Fagg, a former member and Past President of our Club, now with Otaki. Michael received a second Sapphire PHF pin from District Rotary at the changeover event in Masterton for his outstanding service as District Coordinator for fund raising and awareness for the eradication of Polio. Michael initiated many fund raising events for Polio and earned high respect for his energy in this area not only in District 9940, but throughout New Zealand and in Australia.

The Club looks forward to catching up with Michael and Heather at a social event in Karori in the near future and to extend to Michael best wishes on his further term as Assistant Governor for Kapiti and Horowhenua.

Congratulations To Michael Fagg Phil Oliver 2020-08-05 12:00:00Z 0

Club Meeting, 28 July

Graeme Titcombe introduced our own member and Past President, Prof Jim Johnston, Professor of Chemical and Physical Sciences at Victoria University with a long list of outstanding achievements Jim has chalked up in an outstanding career to date in chemistry in New Zealand, including the Bayer Innovation Award in 2009 for Research and Development, Wellingtonian of the Year for Science and Technology in 2008, and the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry Industrial Chemical prize in the year prior, and several more recent prizes for achievements in his field of work in New Zealand.
 
Jim opened his address on the current energy scene in New Zealand by not offering his personal opinions to our energy challenges, but to give a comprehensive picture of the varying forms of energy being used and the facts as presented to us by Government reports and strategies up to 2030 and to 2050.
 
It was very clear from the picture Jim gave us of our long dependency on fossil fuels and the huge costs to industry and the nation, from the development of hydro dams and requirement for water, of electricity charges, and looking for alternative means of power that New Zealand still has a long way to go to step up to some of the more cleaner means of power delivery, namely the harnessing of geothermal power, the use of solar power and the development of wind power from wind farms across the country. Jim said we are clearly world leaders in the growth of geothermal power and this is this growth path that we need to watch closely over the next few decades in New Zealand.
 
Jim spent a considerable amount of his presentation on developments at Wairakei and the work that he has been doing there with his PhD students extracting silica from geothermal power generation to process into specialty silica products to be used as fertiliser additives on farms. This has been a very exciting development with very significant marketing returns for our agricultural industry and for export. Geothermal power and what we may gain from the further expansion of wind power will be closely watched.
 
Questions from members closed in on the strategies being set for New Zealand up to 2030 and 2050, very much dependent on our future political leadership. It certainly had members thinking deeply as we have yet to see how we are going to recover from covid 19 and the huge expenditure invested in our the economy for survival in the short term and how we progress from here towards a long term energy vision for New Zealand.
The Club has always enjoyed these presentations from Jim setting us up for important debates.
 
Following this presentation members were given an update on possible plans being discussed with the Wellington City Council around tree planting at Ben Burn Park, more information to come further meetings and consultation with residents in the area.
 
Club Meeting, 28 July Phil Oliver 2020-08-05 12:00:00Z 0

Guest Speaker, Christine Hurley, Tuesday 11 August, Marsden

 
We welcome back Christine Hurley, from the Rotary Club of Wellington. Christine will speak about the Rotary immunisation programme, Rotary Gives Every Child A Future. This seeks to save lives by vaccinating 100,000 children, across nine Pacific Island countries. The programme is part of Rotary’s celebration of 100 years of service in New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific.
 
Guest Speaker, Christine Hurley, Tuesday 11 August, Marsden Phil Oliver 2020-08-05 12:00:00Z 0

Guest Speaker, Jim Johnston, Tuesday 28 July, Marsden

Members, we look forward to hearing from our own Past President, Jim Johnston, Professor of the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences at Victoria University.
 
Jim is going to talk about the energy scene in New Zealand. This is a topic close to Jim’s heart and is especially relevant with so much happening with our economy post lock down. Energy supply will affect the future of many key industries in this country with many under threat.
Guest Speaker, Jim Johnston, Tuesday 28 July, Marsden Phil Oliver 2020-07-27 12:00:00Z 0

Ben Burn Park Replanting

Progress continues with plans being finalised for the replanting and upgrading of Ben Burn Park. On Tuesday 21 July Phil Oliver representing Rotary and Andrea Skews representing the Karori Residents Association met with officers from the WCC to discuss options. The WCC will manage the project with assistance from community groups. At this stage it looks like the WCC will be carrying out most of the work. There is however room for community involvement and the WCC will keep us posted as the work is scheduled to be performed.
 
Many of you will be aware that troops departing for the Boer war left from Ben Burn park and discussions are ongoing with the RSA and other interested partied to upgrade the commemoration of that event.
 
The men camped at Campbell’s Farm, as Ben Burn Park was formerly known. A picture of the plaque to those who went away to the Boer War and photo of some of the soldiers who made up the First contingent are shown above.
 
Ben Burn Park Replanting Phil Oliver 2020-07-27 12:00:00Z 0

Club Meeting, 14 July

Members expressed their pleasure being back at Marsden following a period of lockdown and several weeks of meeting on Zoom.
 
Our guest speaker, Wellington City Councillor, Rebecca Matthews.
 
Rebecca is a new Councillor for the Wharangi Onslow-Western Ward, and lives in Ngaio with her husband and family. She has brought a considerable amount of experience to the council table having worked with trade unions and a wide range of community groups.
 
Rebecca has an ebullient and energetic nature and she engaged in a free exchange style of meeting with questions and views expressed throughout her address. These covered a wide range of topics including strengthening costs for the Wellington City Library Building, the challenges between the governance and policy setting role of councillors with the operating arm of Council carried out by staff. She got onto a number of other touchy subjects including water reticulation, cycle ways in the city, and other matters high on the Council’s agenda which sparked an interesting dialogue between Rebecca and our membership.
 
Rebecca is the Council’s portfolio leader for community engagement and she also sits on a number of key committees of Council. President Phil praised Rebecca’s commitment to issues faced by Council and for her leadership to help many community groups with difficulties with their lives getting access to key social services. The Club looked forward to keeping in touch with Rebecca on various issues going forward.
 
We also welcomed our new Assistant Governor, David Shackleton, of Karori, immediate past President of the Port Nicholson Rotary Club,to our meeting. David spoke to us about his responsibilities and future engagement activities.
 
Club Meeting, 14 July Phil Oliver 2020-07-13 12:00:00Z 0

Change Over 2020

Karori members, partners and guests, joined members of the Wellington South Rotary Club for a very enjoyable end of Rotary year dinner and changeover event at The Pines on Tuesday 30 June. It was a get together that our members are keen to repeat with the Wellington South Rotary Club in the near future. We had a good number attending with the evening addressed by Honorary Wellington South Member and Rongotai MP, Paul Eagle, on the impacts of Covid 19 and its effect on community life in Wellington, and the formal changeover of the chains of office for Wellington South from President Francis Fanning to Ash Bhasin, back for a fourth time as President of the Wellington South Club, having first held office in 2005-06.
 
President Phil Oliver gave a summary of achievements for the Karori Club over the past year and thanked board members and the Club for their support. He acknowledged getting into the swing of things after a period of office which will stand him in good stead carrying on for a second year as President for 2020-2021.
 
Change Over 2020 Phil Oliver 2020-07-09 12:00:00Z 0

Club Meeting, 23 June

 
President Phil Oliver gave us an opening thought around Covid 19 with an expression of the widely differing attitudes prevailing in the world to risks and consequences of the virus. He said that permeated our own society, but was very prevalent in countries with Federal and State controlled governments, such as in the United States and Australia. The differing views and actions are hindering efforts to get Covid 19 under control.
 
 
We welcomed guest speaker, Jay Jaiganesh, one of our two new members and a Senior IT consultant for Ernst & Young. Jay is from Trichy in India, a temple town in Tamllnadu. Jay gave us an insight into her home town and background, she loves singing, reading, gardening and travelling. She is also a board member of the Cancer Society Wellington, and a board member of the Lower Hutt Women’s Centre and a Sustainability Committee member at E&Y.
 
Her work as a senior It consultant has very much involved her in engineering dashboard design projects and communication working across crown entities, and wider public sector. A very big focus of her assignments is on future strategies of work with her client base and developing tools and data to assist clients on trends and direction of business. She has been a specialist in the education field with developing data to assist teaching and learning and providing help to underprivileged students.
 
Jay took her discussion into where E&Y is headed beyond 2020. She touched on such topics as decarbonisation, the techonomic cold war, behavioural economies, synthetic media, and a very broad area of future thinking.
 
The many questions from members fielded by Jay showed considerable interest in her field of work and impact that E&Y is having in these areas is having world- wide.
 
President Phil extended the Club’s warmest thanks to Jay and then outlined a few key messages – future planting in Ben Burn Park and discussions with Council, seeking a new representative to go on the Karori Liaison Group with the Karori Community Centre and calling for nominations for the Karori Youth Awards in September.
 
Club Meeting, 23 June Phil Oliver 2020-07-09 12:00:00Z 0

Cancer Society Daffodil Day

This year is the 30th anniversary of Daffodil Day and we'd like to celebrate this milestone by adding a splash of yellow into homes and businesses around the city.      

During the next few weeks we will be calling businesses to ask if they would like to purchase a beautiful bunch of fresh daffodils.  These daffodils will be delivered to their business on Tuesday 25 August. 

Daffodils will come in bunches of 50 and be sold for $55 per bunch which includes delivery.  Members of the public can order bunches too. 

Cancer Society Daffodil Day Phil Oliver 2020-06-18 12:00:00Z 0

Coming Events

Tuesday 23 June at 5pm, Club Meeting via Zoom
 
Guest Speaker Jay Jaiganesh
Jay will give us some of her background and discuss the life and times of a Senior IT Consultant at Ernst and Young.
 
To join this meeting copy and paste the URL below into your browser
 
 
OR
 
use meeting id 934 9097 9441 and password RCK
 
 
Duties (please arrange a substitute if you can't attend)
 
Opening Thought : Henk Rood
 
Speaker Introduction : Barry Taylor
 
Viewpoint : Luke Yiavasis

Tuesday 30 July at 6pm for 6:30pm, Changeover Dinner, The Pines, Houghton Bay
 
A combined changeover dinner with members from Wellington South and Courtenay Place clubs.
 
Tuesday 14 July at 6pm, Club Meeting, Marsden School Hall
 
Speaker – Jim Johnston on the energy scene in New Zealand
 
Tuesday 28 July at 6pm, Club Meeting, Marsden School Hall
 
Rebecca Matthews, Wellington City Councillor, Onslow-Western Ward
 
Tuesday 11 August at 6pm, Club Meeting, Marsden School Hall
 
Speaker Christine Hurley, Rotary Club of Wellington
“Rotary Gives Every Child a Future Project”
 
Thursday 27 August at 7pm, Election Meeting, Karori Normal School Hall
 
In conjunction with the Karori Residents Association we will be running a meeting for the Wellington Central parliamentary candidates. Keep this date free to question the candidates prior to what is shaping up as important and interesting election.
Coming Events Phil Oliver 2020-06-17 12:00:00Z 0

Club Meeting, 9 June, via Zoom

John Barton opened the meeting with some interesting thoughts and quotes. He cited Shakespeare by Bill Bryson which made it clear that pandemics are not new. In the 1500s and 1600s many towns and cities in the UK were in lockdown with the city gates in London closed at 4pm. Even theatres and brothels were closed, so isolation was not a new thing. John closed with an interesting saying that he found during lockdown time, “Don’t join the circus unless you can ride two horses at the same time”.

 

Adrian Humphris (above) gave us a presentation on the history of Karori. Adrian is President of the Karori Historical Society, Team Leader for Wellington City Archives, and a prominent writer on the history of our capital city. He gave us an outline of the role and achievements of the Karori Historical Society over many years since its formation in 1973. Adrian took over the Presidency of the Society from Judith Burch who wrote the History of Karori and its people some years ago. He said their priorities were to promote and share the history of Karori with its citizens and to support historical projects and to advance research and the study of people and places associated with Karori.

 

Like many organisations with older members, Adrian said the challenge was finding younger people interested in their history and to engage them in projects that they would like to advance. In response to members on the future of such activities Adrian agreed that they wanted to engage more with schools and to get out and about more in addition to their meetings with speakers. He pointed to the success of recent publications about Karori which has provided a great platform for people to learn more about Karori’s history, Judith Burch’s publication and update of the book on Karori Streets history first produced by Will Chapman and Kitty Wood, with updates last year by Judith.

 

He pointed to activities being undertaken by the Friends of the Karori Cemetery, the second largest cemetery in New Zealand, the growth of interest in Wrights Hill and its military history, and gaining the support of Rotary and other community leadership groups to enhance support for new initiatives and to bring in wider community support and appreciation for our suburb and its place in the history of Wellington.

Club Meeting, 9 June, via Zoom Phil Oliver 2020-06-17 12:00:00Z 0

David Stephens, Life Member

It was a great pleasure for me as President, along with Past Presidents Doug Langford and David Watt, on behalf of the Board and the Club to present a Certificate of Life Membership in the Rotary Club of Karori to David Stevens for his outstanding service and commitment to Rotary, at his apartment in Molesworth St on Wednesday 10 June.

 
 

 

David and his wife Ann, greeted us with an afternoon tea and a sharing memories in Rotary activities. David has been prevented for health reasons from continuing his active membership in the Club, but we will welcome their attendance as best they are able to future events that we put on.

 

David joined the Rotary Club of Karori in 1989 having been in senior management in the National Bank of New Zealand and a Rotarian in Dunedin and the Downtown Rotary Club in Auckland prior to moving to Wellington in 1989. David was made a Paul Harris Fellow by the Downtown Club in 1988. He has maintained active involvement over many projects for our Club down the years and he recently took over the chairmanship of the Charitable Trust following the passing of Rowland Woods. His knowledge, skills and experience on wider financial management issues has been invaluable to the Club over the years.

David Stephens, Life Member Phil Oliver 2020-06-17 12:00:00Z 0

Vale Pat Duncan

Members, wives and partners in the Rotary Club of Karori were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of a former active member of the Club, Pat Duncan, earlier in the month.

Pat and Lyn Duncan were popular members of the Club and within our Karori community. Pat, who owned a signwriting business in Karori, had been ill for a short time and passed away peacefully in Hutt Hospital, aged 83, on 10 June.

 

He joined the Rotary Club of Karori in the 1991/92 Rotary year and was active throughout his membership helping numerous projects and providing signage for many events that the Club engaged in. He was made a Paul Harris Fellow in 2003.

 

Pat and Lyn lived on Karori Road, close to the offices of Ray White Real Estate. After selling the signwriting business some years ago Pat and Lyn moved to Eastbourne where Pat joined the Pencarrow Rotary Club and continued his active involvement in Rotary and in other community activities in Eastbourne. Lyn also took a deep interest in the Pencarrow Club and was its bulletin editor for some time. She has continued her deep interest in craft work.

 

Pat maintained his close association with Rotary in Karori, with his many friends here and helping our Club with the promotion of the Karori Community Book Fair.

 

A memorial service to celebrate Pat’s life will be held at a later date.

Vale Pat Duncan Phil Oliver 2020-06-17 12:00:00Z 0

Are We There Yet?


While the signs are good that the Covid-19 crisis is winding down there are still a number of uncertainties. Will we get a spike in cases? How quickly will the government relax the restrictions so that the economy can restart?
 
Your board met on 02/06/20 and decided that we would continue to meet via Zoom during June with a view to meeting face to face at Marsden as soon as possible after that. Please note that our next 2 Zoom meetings will start at the slightly later time of 5pm. We hope this will assist people who are moving back to their work places to attend. Unfortunately the continuing uncertainty has meant that we have had to cancel our business breakfast meeting on 25/06/20
 
So our immediate future looks like this.
 
09/06/20 Zoom Meeting at 5pm. Guest speaker Adrian Humphris.
Our speaker this coming week will be Adrian Humphris, Team Leader, Wellington City Council Archives, who will speak to us on local issues, wearing his hat as President of the Karori Historical Society.
 
To attend this Zoom meeting, copy and paste the URL below into your browser
https://vuw.zoom.us/j/96972825030?pwd=Yi80ZGlla3IrZjZrRWxIcEs1TG9qUT09
 
OR use meeting id 969 7282 5030, password RCK
 
23/06/20 Zoom Meeting at 5pm. Guest speaker Jay Jaiganesh.
Jay will speak on her kife and times as a Senior IT Consultant at Ernst and Young.
 
To attend this Zoom meeting, copy and paste the URL below into your browser
https://vuw.zoom.us/j/93490979441?pwd=YnpsQUV4TGZuSExUWE9rNXNHOWNMQT09
 
OR use meeting id 934 9097 9441, password RCK
 
14/07/20 Face To Face Meeting At Marsden (to be confirmed), speaker Jim Johnston
This meeting is subject to negotiation with the school and with our caterer. Please watch this space for further details.
 
Are We There Yet? Phil Oliver 2020-06-04 12:00:00Z 0

Rotary Zoom Meeting On 26 May

 
It was great having our recently inducted member,  Andrea Skews, speak to us on our Zoom meeting as new Chair of the Karori Association. Andrea has had a long involvement in residential real estate sales consultancy work and is currently working for The Professionals in Wellington.

Prior to Andrea’s address, Club Secretary Barry Taylor gave us his opening thoughts on the current Covid19 pandemic. He said he was looking for lessons to be learned from the past, statements made at the time of a world economic crisis, by one of history’s great leaders, American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who in 1937 said: “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little”.

Andrea gave us a comprehensive overview of the role of the Karori Association, its current focus of community work and future projects. The Association which had its roots in Karori many years ago as a ratepayers group went into abeyance for a while but was resurrected in 2014 with Lesleigh Salinger as chair.  Andrea came on board as new chair last year and there is a committee of six members currently each with valuable skills to take the executive committee forward. She said they were an umbrella group to help give a voice to the community on a wide range of issues and projects for the betterment of Karori.

Since joining the Association, Andrea said they have been active on submissions to Council on plans for the Karori Town Centre, the development of the former Training College land by Ryman Healthcare, and the New Events Centre, noting that the Footnote Dance Coy will be the anchor tenant of the building, under the ownership of the Wellington City Council. Andrea traversed a range of other important issues , the planned removal of car parks in Beauchamp St for extended bus stops; stream and waterways management in Karori and a key concern of pollution of the Karori stream by wastewater going into the storm water system. The KRA is doing battle with the Council on this matter.

Andrea also addressed tree planting in Karori, in particular plans for Ben Burn Park, consultation with neighbours around new initiatives for the Park and working with the Council. The Karori Association is busy with its submissions to the Annual Plan to get the Council to control its expenditure and to focus on core infrastructural needs. The KA is also part of an umbrella group with 30 other residents groups in Wellington working together in response to issues with the Council. Other matters brought up included community patrols in Karori, memorials, beautification on the Karori main road and future development of the Karori Mall.

Andrea was thanked for this full enlightenment and for the opportunity for Rotary to work with the KA on future projects.

President Phil ended the meeting with a brief update on the plans for an electronic noticeboard in the heart of Karori, with future funding potential for Rotary projects from the operation of the Pickle Jar business in Parkvale Road, and seeking nominations for this year’s Karori Youth Awards.

Members were canvassed at the meeting on their support for returning to Marsden for meetings in June and for arrangements to be put in place to host this year’s General Election Candidates Meeting in Karori, in partnership with the Karori Association.
Rotary Zoom Meeting On 26 May Phil Oliver 2020-05-23 12:00:00Z 0

Getting Back To Normal?

Rotary Zoom meeting on 12 May

 

Graeme Titcombe provided us with an opening thought on the use of PPE, the new norm in hospital care dealing with Covid 19 cases around the world. Graeme with his background in public health management traversed the issues around staff protection and the debates worldwide on the rapid advance of Covid 19 and health protection. He said the debate was still live on the use of masks outside the hospital environment an issue which members were no doubt following through the daily reports on the virus from the Director General of Health.

 
 
 
President Phil welcomed Lizzie Wilson our guest speaker, Senior, Comms and Engagement Advisor to the Environmental Protection Authority, EPA. Lizzie, who grew up in Karori, covered a wide range of environmental issues facing people at home and in the work and recreation areas and used a series of power points to cover her key messages.
 
She spend some time on the question of chemicals safety in the home environment and cited statistics for young children 1 in 3 under the age of 5 admitted to hospital were for chemical related injuries. The safe handling and storage of chemicals was a crucial issue. She opened up a debate around “green cleaning” methods and a published list of recipes the EPA had received from sustainable management workshops for application on surface cleaning. This raised issues with members around the viability of some products and methods in dealing properly with significant viruses the public were confronting. In response Lizzie offered to return with other work colleagues to further engage with the Club on some key environmental management issues.
 
Members welcomed this further dialogue later in the year.

 

Club messages to members included the National Rotary programme for tree planting. This will involve opportunities to plant trees at Ben Burn Park.

 

The new partnership Rotary has established with Toastmasters in Wellington will give members an opportunity to improve public speaking.

 

Members were invited to attend the Zoom meeting on 19th May as a social event and to bring a glass of wine or coffee to that session.

Getting Back To Normal? Phil Oliver 2020-05-23 12:00:00Z 0

District Governor Nominee 2022-2023

 
The Rotary Club of Karori extends its congratulations to Marilyn Stevens (Rotary Club of Kapiti) on her seletion as District Governor Nominee for 2022-2023. Marilyn is a very experienced Rotarian, having served for many years on District Committees, she is a Past Assistant District Governor, and  is currently Chair of the District Interact and District Youth Exchange Committees.
 
Marilyn will become the sixth woman District Governor for our District. She is also currently in her third term on the Otaki Community Board.
 
She has worked in management in the early childhood sector, with an electrical company and in joint ownership with husband Wayne of a compressed air and construction equipment company.
 
From July this year, Marilyn will join District Governor 2020-2021 Gillian Jones, and District Governor elect Mark Wheeler, on the Governor team for our District.
 
District Governor Nominee 2022-2023 Phil Oliver 2020-05-23 12:00:00Z 0

Reaching Out With Zoom

Club Zoom Meeting on 28 April

 
We had a very successful beginning to our virtual meetings on Zoom,brought about because of Covid19 and I want to thank all members who were able to join in on Tuesday 28 April. I hope you will be able to come together for our ensuing meetings this month on Zoom until we know when we will be able to resume our normal face to face dinner meetings at Marsden School.
We were delighted on Tuesday last to welcome District Governor Elect Gillian Jones, Rotary Club of Wellington, and Richard Stephen, District IT and ClubRunner Manager, Rotary Club of Hutt River Valley, who  joined us for this meeting which was also a special occasion for the Club and for me as President also to induct two new members, Andrea Skews and Jay Jaiganesh. This was a very unique occasion of doing this on Zoom and not in the normal ceremonial way we have been accustomed to at a Club dinner meeting.
 
Past President Allan Frazer led off proceedings with an opening thought on Leadership and he quoted some notable world figures including General Montgomery –with “ the capcity and the will to rally men and women to a commonon purpose and the character which inspires confidence. And Rosalynn Carter, wife of President Jimmy Carter with “ A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be”
 
Allan had three phrases for us to remember – rally men and women to a common purpose; be non partisan; and reliance on science.
 

Introducing DGE Gillian Jones

DGE Gillian in her address to us drew on the leadership quotes given by Allan and reminded us that despite the difficulties everyone is going through we should not waste a good crisis. She referred to the Rotary International theme of connecting the world and for next year of Rotary opens opportunities that are there for us to reach out and make changes. She said there are huge opportunities for Rotary to be more attractive to different demographics.
 
She spoke about projects close to home for Rotary’s centennial year – Rotary Giving Every Child a Future, the planned vaccination programme for the Pacific in 2021, global funding support for this and encouraging clubs through each member to be donating to this project and the hope that $45 per member can be gathered before the end of the Rotary year in June. Gillian also referred to the new Children’s Hospital being built in the capital and Rotary’s commitment to that. That project has a significant Rotary funding investment.
 

Induction Of Two New Members

We followed with the induction of Andrea Skews and Jay Jaiganesh. Their membership of the club was greeted with acclamation following their investiture.
 

Rotary IT And ClubRunner

Richard Stephen enlightened us on the considerable steps taken to improve our technology and storage of Rotary information through ClubRunner and through our mobile devices to have information on Rotary at our fingers tips. ClubRunner provides a complete platform to help clubs to operate and to communicate. He said that in the current climate of  covid19 Rotary members had resorted in droves across the country to meeting electonically and in particular on Zoom meetings and that these are a very successful way of getting together.
 
Richard said there is growing confidence in clubs througout New Zealand to build their knowledge on IT in Rotary to enable opportunities that DGE Gillian outlined to take us forward in the 21st century. He offered to further provide information to the Club to assist all Karori Cub members access this information on phones and other mobile devices to help the growth of our club.
 
The Zoom format has enabled us to successfully bring in speakers to join us and we will be continuing to do this through this uncertain time until we can get back to some normality in our lives.
 
We will keep in close touch, take care, and we look forward to meeting again soon to keep up our commitment in Rotary.
Reaching Out With Zoom Phil Oliver 2020-05-07 12:00:00Z 0

Club Meeting, 11 Feb, Jenny Vowles

 
 

The Club welcomed Jennie Vowles from Karori Lions to its last meeting to speak on the Lions recycling of spectacles programme to the Pacific. This is an International Lions project with three clubs in New Zealand, including Karori Lions and Ferrymead in Christchurch playing a leading part. Jennie gave an excellent presentation on a project which has been her passion for many years. She receives cooperation from wide sections of the community to send appropriate recycled spectacles to Fiji for use by locals in need.

 

Jennie has travelled to Fiji to see the dispensing of glasses and the great joy on the faces of young and old to receive this gift from New Zealand. She gave a full account of the checking and processing conducted here in Wellington, with thousands of pairs of spectacles on hand at any one time. Quite a large number have to be disposed of as being unsuitable to send to Fiji, but the percentage of acceptance is still high and very rewarding for this on- going project. Support for transportation to the Islands has come from shipping friends in Auckland and Tauranga to ensure they arrive at their destination and clear customs requirements. Jennie said she would welcome the support of Rotary in forwarding surplus spectacles through to the Lions Club to process for use in Fiji.

 

 

 
Club Meeting, 11 Feb, Jenny Vowles Phil Oliver 2020-02-18 11:00:00Z 0
Meeting 25 Feb, Guest Speaker, Richard Fletcher Phil Oliver 2020-02-18 11:00:00Z 0

Rotary District 9940 Conference

 
 

Early bird Conference registrations are now open for Rotary 9940 District Conference in Lower Hutt.

 

Go to the District website for details including a very exciting programme of speakers, including new Race Relations Commissioner, former Gisborne Mayor, Meng Foon.

 

This will be a great experience for our Club members, so register early.

 

 

Rotary District 9940 Conference Phil Oliver 2020-02-18 11:00:00Z 0

Bowling At Tawa Rotary

 
Graeme Titicombe And Allan Frazer Line Up Their Shots
 
 
 
We had an enjoyable get together with our friends in Rotary at the Tawa Bowling Club on 28 January. The Karori members attending had kept their form from last time we met in Tawa with some good results on the green.
 
Allan Frazer, Graeme Titcombe and Doug Langford in particular showed their skills in helping their respective teams score well on most ends before we left the misty and damp weather rolling in to enjoy a few drinks and
a BBQ dinner.
 
This is an event we have always looked forward to with our Rotary colleagues.
 
 
Bowling At Tawa Rotary Phil Oliver 2020-02-01 11:00:00Z 0

Business Breakfast

 
Our next Business breakfast will be held on Thursday 27 February at the Karori Park Cafe, 400 Karori Road. The speaker will be Wellington's new Mayor Andy Foster. Email KaroriRotary@GMail.com with 'Business breakfast' in the subject line to reserve your place.
 
 
Business Breakfast Phil Oliver 2020-02-01 11:00:00Z 0

Karori Karnival

The Karori Karnival will be held at Ben Burn Park on Sunday 16 February. As usual Karori Rotary will have a stall. Please reserve a couple of hours to help out at this important fund raising event.
 
Further details will be issued shortly.
 
 
 
Karori Karnival Phil Oliver 2020-02-01 11:00:00Z 0

Jenny Vowles

Our guest speaker for our next meeting on 11 February will be Jennie Vowles from the  Karori Lions Club. She will speak on their project recycling spectacles in Fiji.


Jenny Vowles Phil Oliver 2020-02-01 11:00:00Z 0

Christmas Puddings

We can report excellent sales with our puddings campaign for 2019 with just a handful of puddings left which can be used for mid- year solstice activities. Many thanks to all Rotarians who helped the big effort to get puddings out to other clubs, to family and friends and to assist our great public sales in the Karori Mall before Christmas.
Christmas Puddings Phil Oliver 2020-02-01 11:00:00Z 0

Christmas Pudding Sales

 
As District coordinator for Christmas pudding sales the Rotary Club of Karori has been doing the rounds delivering puddings and running its own pudding stands at the Karori Mall on 7th and 14th December engaging with our local community. Unfortunately bad weather prevented the Khandallah Fair taking place on Sunday 8 December so an opportunity was lost there to help our friends in the Rotary Club of Kau  Kau with pudding sales. Nevertheless our community leaders were very supportive of the Club with new Mayor Andy Foster buying from us and also National List MP Nicola Willis pictured on our sales stand in the Karori Mall on 14 December with Henk Rood, Krystle Crimmins, David Watt and President Phil Oliver.
 
We are looking forward to a good return on pudding sales to help our commitment to community projects. With a good break post Christmas we will be back in full gear again working on our Rotary plans and support for important causes in Wellington.
 
Christmas Pudding Sales Phil Oliver 2019-12-22 11:00:00Z 0

Fun And Laughter At Our Xmas Function

 
Thirty people gathered for our pre-Christmas event at Marsden on 7 December. We were delighted to also have Life members Wally Simmers, David Sercombe and Brian Souter present with their wives, and to also welcome Gloria Biggs, and past members Bill Joyce and Doug Webb and their wives at our dinner.
 
The Harbour Capital Chorus again entertained with the addition of Karori Rotarian members Doug Langford and John Barton. Fellow Chorus member Richard Oldham and Pip were away for this function.
 
Plenty of festive spirit came to us from the rich voices of the Harbour Capital  Chorus with a full range of Christmas songs.
Fun And Laughter At Our Xmas Function Phil Oliver 2019-12-22 11:00:00Z 0

Club News

 
I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all our members, spouses
and partners and families a joyous Christmas and New Year
and safe travels. Thanks to Elaine especially for her great support
for our Club and for her wonderful meals during the year.
 
Thanks to you all for your support, advice and participation in our projects.
 
Kindest regards, Phil
Club News Phil Oliver 2019-12-22 11:00:00Z 0

Irish Ambassador HE Peter Ryan

 
HE Peter Ryan At Business breakfast
 
 
At the Rotary/ANZ Business Breakfast meeting on 21 November the audience was treated to an address by the Irish Ambassador, HE Peter Ryan, with the Ambassador being formally introduced by Luke Yiavasis.
 
Ambassador Ryan gave a wide ranging address. Stressing the similarities between Ireland and New Zealand HE touched on common values. He talked about strengthening the relationship between our countries through trade and travel and the influence that Irish migration had had in various parts of the world. In New Zealand approximately 14,000 people are Irish born. Many opportunities exist for the 2 countries to co-operate and the ambassador identified the creative space, high tech industries and tourism. Both countries face similar issues with the stewardship of large marine zones and with their approach to climate change.
 
On the trade front the Ambassador discussed the turbulence times caused by Brexit question and the pathway that Ireland is looking to over the coming years in trade and the country’s well-being.. Senior ANZ executive, Andrea McDonough moved the vote of thanks to the Ambassador from the meeting.
 
This was a well attended meeting. Our thanks go to the Irish Ambassador and his staff, also to our friends from the ANZ and from neighbouring Rotary and Lions Clubs.
Irish Ambassador HE Peter Ryan Phil Oliver 2019-11-21 11:00:00Z 0

Visit To Wellington Childrens' Hospital

Wellington Children's Hospital Under Construction
 
Thirty eight Rotarians from Karori, Port Nicholson and Mt Victoria Rotary Clubs gathered at the Wellington Regional Hospital on 12 November to learn more about the construction of the new Wellington Childrens' Hospital due for completion in April 2021.
 
Fellow Rotarian and Chairman of the Wellington Hospitals Foundation, Bill Day, welcomed everyone and gave an outline of the progress to date to build the three story new Childrens' Hospital with the generous funding of $50m from property developer and philanthropist, Mark Dunajtschik, supported by Government funding and community giving.
 
 The new hospital will cover an area of 7500 sq metres, using 950 tonnes of structural steel, 1.2kms of floor beams and 45 base isolators to deal with seismic activity. The new hospital will have a 900,000 population coverage area from Whanganui across to Hawkes Bay down to Nelson and Marlborough.  The Foundations has in addition sought funding support from a wide group  of community organisations including Rotary in District 9940 to raise $6m for fit out purposes. The hospital will have two rooms given by District Rotary for family use.
 
Rotarians viewed the construction works from a balcony at the hospital on a beautiful Spring evening then joined together for a meal at the Wishbone café in the hospital.
 
Paediatric Surgeon, Brendan Bowkett
 
Well known Wellington Hospital Paediatric Surgeon, Brendan Bowkett, is pictured speaking to the group of Rotarians about the importance of the new Hospital to provide holistic care for children with all sorts of needs and attention. Brendan has worked prominently with Rotary through the ROMAC programme bringing in children to Wellington Hospital from  the Pacific Basin and elsewhere in urgent need of surgery .
 
Visit To Wellington Childrens' Hospital Phil Oliver 2019-11-19 11:00:00Z 0

Meet The Candidates

 
Over 230 people turned up at the Karori Baptist Church on Thursday night  to one of the biggest election meetings held in Wellington for this year’s elections, organised by the Rotary Club of Karori, to hear 43 candidates standing for Mayor, Wharangi Onslow- Western Ward, the Wellington Regional Council and Capital Coast District Health Board.
 
The audience heard some strong platforms on city leadership, dealing with the bus debacle in the city and future policies around public healthcare and questions were largely focussed in these areas.
 
 
Meet The Candidates Phil Oliver 2019-09-22 12:00:00Z 0

Karori Youth Awards

 
The Rotary Club of Karori was pleased to give its support to the annual Karori Youth Awards held this year at the Karori West Normal School. This is the last year for principal Janice Shramka to host the awards before she takes up retirement next year. There was a great crowd of families and friends present, with many worthy candidates for awards from schools and community groups in the local area.
 
The Karori West Normal School kapahaka group set a great tone for the evening with an outstanding presentation at the start of proceedings.
 
President Phil Oliver did the honours in making presentations to a junior age group for their service to the community and to a group nominated by the Baptist Church for their community service.
 
Rotarian David Bain on behalf of the Karori Cricket Foundation also presented awards to community groups for their service. The guest speaker for the occasion was Daniel Olive from Ignite Sport  with some strong messages around personal beliefs and commitment to do well in whatever pursuits young people took up.
Karori Youth Awards Phil Oliver 2019-09-22 12:00:00Z 0

Nicola Willis

Kay Webster, Heather Baldwin, Alex Powell, Phil Oliver, Nicola Willis, Gail Dewar
 
At our meeting on 13 August the club hosted Nicola Willis, National Party List MP. Nicola is the party spokeswoman for Early Childhood Education and Youth Development.
 
Donations were also made by the club to assist the Karori Youth Awards and to Gail Dewar, principal of Makara School from the Sunshine Fund.
 
We were grateful that Nicola found time to address the club after returning from a visit to Dunedin to meet with Dr Richard Polton who heads the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study. Their discussion revolved around the science of youth development. She is looking to use these methods to assist disadvantaged schools.
 
Nicola didn't always want to be involved in politics, however she has always loved debating, an essential skill in politics. After completing a post graduate degree in Journalism she joined the National Party Research Unit. Asked by Gerry Brownlee where her interests lay she replied Education and was assigned to work with Bill English. Later she ended up working for John Key.
 
A move to Fonterra helped her to understand the farming industry and international trade.
 
Nicola commented on the life of a list MP. They can act as advocates, taking a longer term interest in their areas of expertise.
 
Nicola lives in Karori with her husband and 4 children and loves being part of Wellington.
 
Nicola Willis Phil Oliver 2019-09-07 12:00:00Z 0

Club News

Members, Greetings
 
Club News
 
Tuesday 10 September Club Meeting
Just a reminder that we will meet for our usual meal at Marsden but will depart for Karori West Normal School to support the Karori Youth Awards. We have been asked to assist with the clean up afterwards. Please be prepared to spend a few minutes replacing chairs etc.
 
Thursday 19 September Candidates Meeting
We are organising this meeting in conjunction with the Karori Residents Association. Turnout is expected to be heavy and we will be looking for a commitment of time to make the meeting a success.
 
Tuesday 24 September Club Meeting
We will hold our normal meeting at Marsden. The speaker will be Bill Day who will discuss developments at the Wellington Childrens Hospital.
 
Saturday 5 October Blood Pressure Campaign
We will be organising Blood Pressure Monitoring at our usual spot in the Karori Mall. This gives us great exposure in the community as we support the nurses doing the testing. I'll be looking for a commitment of time at our next meetings.
 
For more information please click below
 
Related Events
 
Saturday 28 September
The Port Nicholson Club are running a casino evening. This will be held in the Wellington Bridge Club Rooms at 6:30 for a 7:00pm start. Port Nicholson are raising funds to supply an ambulance to the hospital in Apia, Samoa. This is a chance for our club assist with an international project that we would be unable to manage by ourselves.
 
For more information please click below
 
Thursday 24 October
Michael Fagg, our district co-ordinator for the campaign to eradicate polio is organising a 'Ride The Train' event. The train will depart from Palmerston North, travel to Wellington and then return through the Wairarapa to Masterton. He is looking for volunteers to gain sponsership at the rate of 50 cents per person per station (there are a total of 62 stations). Tee shirts are available. Don't forget any donations attract a 2 for 1 contribution from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
 
For more information please click the links below
 
Club News Phil Oliver 2019-09-05 12:00:00Z 0

Donations To Schools

Members, greetings
 
Some important reminders for immediately forthcoming events
 
Meeting 13 August
You are cordially invited to bring your spouse to this meeting. Our speaker is Nicola Willis, spokesperson for early education and youth. The club will be making donations to the KYA and to Gail Dewar, principal of Makara school. It's important that we have a good turnout for this meeting.
 
Please bring any books you have that are suitable for sale at the book fair (see below). Good saleable material only please, no junk.
 
Book Fair Friday and Saturday 23/24 August
This will take place at the Baptist Church Hall. On Friday we'll be open 12:00 - 20:00 and Saturday 9:00 - 16:00. Please plan some time to attend and make our first fund raising activity for the year a success.
 
Dinner With The Lions 28 August
The Lions are hosting us on Wednesday 28 August at the Karori Park Cafe. Please note the date. This will be instead of our usual meeting on 27 August. The speaker will be Grace Taylor talking about her PhD subject, a Karori survey.
 
Our programme for September and October is looking very busy, further details in the next bulletin.
 
Donations To Schools
 
 
The Rotary Club of Karori was pleased to welcome five principals in our catchment area to join the club on 23 July to receive annual Rotary grants to the schools. Janice Shramka, Karori West Normal School, Mary-Angela Tombs, St Teresa’s School, Conrad Kelly, Karori Normal School, Tania Savage, Cardinal McKeefry School and Jeremy  Edwards, Northland School, joined members in fellowship and the dinner prior to receiving their grants. Gail Dewar, principal of Makara Normal School was unable to attend as she is recovering from recent surgery. The Club looks forward to having Gail at a future meeting to present our grant to her.
 
President Phil Oliver expressed the Club’s joy in being able to assist the schools in our area in a variety of ways and to contribute to key projects being undertaken in the school. A plea was made to ask the schools to publicise in their bulletins to parents and others the support that Karori Rotary is giving to their respective schools by way of grants and other activities.
 
Jeremy Edwards, who had to leave the meeting early pointed to the major redevelopments happening at the school which will transform their playground areas to provide more activity space. He welcomed Rotary’s support to their school programmes. Conrad Kelly said the grant money would greatly assist their out of school programmes such as camps for students. His school is likewise undergoing major refurbishment over the next few years. Janice Shramka who has had close ties with Rotary largely through the Karori Youth Awards programme is in her last year as principal. She thanked the Club for its long support of Karori West Normal through youth activities, being on the school council as trustees and the development of well- being programmes, strongly supported by Rotarians. Mary- Angela Tombs spoke about access to support services and developing opportunities for children to deal with changes in their lives and to question details in programmes that they are learning about. She said this was exciting for their learning skills. Tania Savage said Cardinal McKeefry was further developing its gardening and kitchen lunches programmes, work being undertaken by students at the school. She welcomed Rotary to come and enjoy the experience that the school is providing.
 
Rotarian David Bain followed with a view point summarising the recent World Cricket Cup matches and he outlined the journey the Black Caps had to get to the final and a breakdown of that match. David with his great attention to detail gave us a very good presentation of the events that unfolded around the Black Caps for that final encounter with England at Lords.
 
 
 
Donations To Schools Phil Oliver 2019-08-09 12:00:00Z 0

Club News

Members, greetings
 
Thanks to all who attended the club forum on 9 July. It was very pleasing to get such positive feedback.
 
Club Membership
Much of the discussion revolved around a three pronged approach to increasing our membership.
 
1    Make contact with the members who have been on long term leave of absence. A special vote of thanks to Brian Souter who will make the initial approach.
 
2    We will comb through our business breakfast attendees to try and identify Rotary prospects. This is still a work in progress.
 
3    We will each identify 2 email addresses of businesses/people that mmight be persuaded to join our club. These addresses will form the basis of a trial email campaign. Let me be the first to say that the personal approach is preferred for new members. However with so many members living outside Karori I feel we have to try something a bit different.
Where do you get the email addresses from? Neighbourly seems a good place to start but a Google search of 'businesses in Karori' should yield results. Once you have a couple of addresses please go to RotaryKarori.club log in to gain access to the member area. Click on Contacts in the top row of tabs, then Manage Contacts in the second row. When the page loads you'll see Member prospects on the left hand side. Enter the details for the prospect. Let me know if you need a hand.
 
Matt Wheeler
 
The Rotary Club of Karori is delighted that Dr Matt Wheeler, a doctor specialising in haematology (clinical and laboratory and tutoring) at Wellington Regional Hospital has succeeded in being awarded a Rotary International Global Scholarship worth up to US $35,000. This will enable Matt take up a prestigious clinical research fellowship at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario for a year from later this month.
 
This is the pre-eminent centre of excellence for thrombosis (blood clots) research and clinical practice in the world.
 
Past Presidents David Watt and Jim Johnston moved his application through to the Rotary District Scholarship programme and were delighted to learn from District Chair Marion Cowden, and new DG John Mohi, that Dr Wheeler’s application had been successful.
 
This is fantastic news for all who have been involved in Rotary in assisting Matt in his application. We look forward to meeting Matt on his return from Canada in a year’s time.
 
Upcoming Events
 
Chinese Teachers, early August

As part of the Rotary Club of Hutt Valley’s ongoing Teacher Exchange Programme with schools from Miyun District (near Beijing) in China and Lower Hutt, four teachers from China will be arriving in Lower Hutt on Saturday, 3 August for two weeks until Saturday 17 August.  The teachers will be spending their time at various schools in the Hutt Valley where they will be involved in day-to-day school activities.  During the middle weekend, our Club has organised a number of tourist activities.
 
While in Lower Hutt, our plan is to host the teachers with Rotarian families which will give them some experience in the New Zealand way of living.  We are, therefore, seeking Rotarians who would be prepared to host the incoming Chinese teachers for one week, either from 3 August to 10 August or from 10 August to 17 August.  In the past, although this is not essential, we have hosted the teachers in pairs which has worked very well as some of the teachers English can be quite limited.
 
Should you have an interest in this hosting opportunity, can you please contact Barry Girvan (Rotary Club of Hutt Valley) on 0274 478 262.  Prior to the teachers arriving, we will obviously meet with the host families to provide full details of their programme while in New Zealand.
 
Book Fair, Friday 23 August, Saturday 24 August
 
This is our first major fund raising event for the year. Further details will follow but please keep some time free on these dates.
 
 
Club News Phil Oliver 2019-07-18 12:00:00Z 0

Diane Calvert

At our meeting on 11 June Councillor Diane Calvert gave us an overview of her work as a city councillor. She represents the Western Ward together with Andy Foster and Simon Woolf. Cr Calvert has taken on special responsibility for community engagement and community planning.
 
Wellington City faces many tough challenges in the coming years driven by an estimated increase of 50-80 thousand new people in the next 30 years. These challenges will require solutions that in turn will need to be agreed with the community of ratepayers and citizens.
 
Some of the challenges are
    The refurbishment of the Town Hall
    The reorganisation of the city library
    Improving cycling and walking facilities
    Mass transit, Railway Stn to Airport
    A solution for the Basin Reserve
    New Mt Victoria tunnel and Ruahine St
    Climate change
    
Cr Calvert stressed the willingness of the council to share information with public as a starting point to building a consensus.
 
She ended her discussion with report on progress measured against the key aspects of her portfolio.
    Improved community engagement
    Integrated suburban community planning
    Online suburban community plans
    Advisory groups repurposed
    Toolkit for community led planning
    
The meeting ended with a wide variety of questions.   
Diane Calvert Phil Oliver 2019-07-04 12:00:00Z 0

HE Bernard Baker

 
Business Breakfast Reminder
 
Please advise soonest if you wish to attend on 18 June. The guest speaker in the Hon Grant Robertson, Minister Of Finance. This will be a post budget address and looks like being a sellout.
 
 
 
 
His Excellency Bernard Baker
 
On 28 May His Excellency Bernard Baker, High Commissioner for Singapore, accompanied by his wife Susan addressed the club on the subject of life in Singapore. HE comes from a family of ambassadors and has served in India, South Africa and New Zealand.
 
Bernard has appreciated the plain speaking of New Zealanders. He prefers to speak plainly himself stressing the need for honesty in relationships between countries. He has 15 months left of his term in New Zealand. His family has been very happy here.
 
Singapore is almost unique amongst the countries of the world. Seemingly unimportant, without natural resources it is a secular nation in a Muslim sea. Yet Singapore is one of the most impressive success stories of the 20th and 21st centuries. The country recognised early on that it would have to rely on its human resources. Many foreign academics were imported to strengthen the education system. The economy start by relying on light industry. This gradually changed to a service economy. Further changes are underway to transform into a digital economy. Overall Singapore has done well, achieving a high GDP per capita and annual economic growth of 2.5-3.0%.
 
Because of its geographical position foreign relations are carefully managed. It cultivates contacts in the Commonwealth and with other small island states. HE spoke of the value placed on Singapore's relationship with the New Zealand military. New Zealand's role in the defense of Singapore in WW II is still remembered.
 
Singapore remains a confident outward looking nation while recognising that significant challenges must be met in the near future.
 
HE Bernard Baker Phil Oliver 2019-06-06 12:00:00Z 0

Maddie Faber, Rotoract Wellington

Business Breakfast Reminder
 
Please advise soonest if you wish to attend on 18 June. The guest speaker in the Hon Grant Robertson, Minister Of Finance. This will be a post budget address and looks like being a sellout.
 

Wellington Rotoract
 
 
Our Club welcomed Madison (Maddie) Faber, President of the Rotaract Club of Wellington back to a Karori meeting to talk about the revival and interest in Rotoract Wellington.
 
Maddie has been President for this past year and will continue in 2019-2020.  Maddie’s parents are Rotarians in the Rotary Club of Papakura Auckland. She is buzzing with enthusiasm and has a great leadership style which is helping to attract new members to the Club. Maddie is in year four of a double degree in Law and Arts at Victoria University. She is working hard to establish working committees in Rotaract to pick up planned projects and to build closer relations with Rotary Clubs in Wellington. The Club under Maddie has already establish strong relations with the Rotary Club of Wellington and Port Nicholson Club and she is keen to work closely with Karori, to have our members attend and give advice to members and for Rotaract members to also attend Rotary meetings. The club is presently 75% female with half being students at university.
 
Wellington Rotoract membership has grown strongly to 40 and they have a fortnightly meeting each Monday. Meetings are for one hour with no meal. They consider themselves to be young people wanting to make a difference and want to develop their skills to achieve that. Maddie sees a logical step for members to go on and join Rotary.
 
Maddie Faber, Rotoract Wellington Phil Oliver 2019-05-21 12:00:00Z 0

Steph Dyhrberg, Wellingtonian Of The Year

The latest in the series of ANZ Bank - Karori Rotary business breakfast meetings was held on 19 February with guest speaker Steph Dyhrberg, Wellingtonian Of The Year.
 
Steph has been recognised for her leadership role fighting sexism and worse in the legal sector. Steph charted her career in law including working for Russell McVeagh 28 years ago starting as a summer intern. Although the work was enjoyable, after 7 years hard work it was made apparent that she was not partner material. Even then a thread of sexism existed, there was a glass ceiling and these conditions were perpetuated by a very evident old boys network. Clearly this culture has never changed until it recently came crashing down.
 
Steph, who specialises in employment law, has assisted several young women who were assaulted in their work places. Steph sees no reason to doubt these bright, attractive (but not provocative) young women. To make matters worse the scandal was handled badly by the firms. Attempts were made to cover up the matter and the options open to the young women were not explained.
 
Steph feels driven to try and stop this behaviour but she also recognises that people can learn and are generally not totally evil. Feminism is the drive to recognise the inate right for women to be treated equally and with respect. In addition to the question of basic human rights it just makes no sense to treat women in a way that will diminish their productivity.
 
This was a difficult topic to tackle but everyone at the meeting came away with a stronger determination to achieve the goals that Steph is fighting for.
Steph Dyhrberg, Wellingtonian Of The Year Phil Oliver 2019-02-20 11:00:00Z 0

Freedom Alarms

David Bain thanking Linda Sheldon
 
At our meeting on 12/02 Linda Sheldon brought us up to date with the latest developments in medical alarms. In particular she addressed her work with Freedom Alarms and their joint venture partners Wellington Free Ambulance and HHL.
 
Linda has worked in many health care roles over the years but loves working liaising with customers for Freedom Alarms. Wellington Free Ambulance is the largest free to patient ambulance service in the Southern Hemisphere and the joint venture partnership provides significant benefits to Freedom Alarm users. The service is primarily aimed at providing a rapid medical response to people with a diagnosed need. Freedom alarms receives referrals from GPs and other health professionals. Users have a wide age range, the alarm is based purely on the level of disability.
 
Freedom alarms has approximately 3000 clients in the Wellington and Wairarapa areas. There are approximately 2000 alarm activations per year, with around half treated at home and half at hospital.
 
There are many benefits to using an alarm both to the user and to society at large. Timely intervention when needed is key. This reduces recovery times and allows people to live in their own homes longer. This in turn reduces the pressure on rest home spaces. The service provides a triage assessment ensuring the efficient use of resources. Finally the alarms provide peace of mind for family members.
 
The service must meet international standards. It uses equipment manufactured in New Zealand. Alarms are transmitted using the GSM network with battery backup that will last 2 days.
Freedom Alarms Phil Oliver 2019-02-20 11:00:00Z 0

Flyer - 8 February 2019

Forth Coming Events
We have a full programme  through to the end of April. Please mark your diaries for these events in the immediate future.
 
Tuesday 12 February: Meeting
Meeting at Marsden School Hall. Our speaker will be Linda Sheldon discussing Freedom Medical Alarms and the Wellington Free Ambulance.
 
Anna Reed, our Marsden School student who we chose and supported to attend the Rotary National Science and Technology Forum in Auckland in January this year has confirmed she is able to talk to the Club at our meeting on Tuesday 12 March. Gabrielle Gunn, Head of Science at Marsden School will accompany her.
 
President Jim has asked members to contribute items for raffles to be held at the Karori Karnival on Sunday 17 February at Ben Burn Park. Please refer to Jim's email dated 05/02/19. Volunteers are still required for this event.
 
Sunday 17 February: Karori Karnival
This is our first fund raising event for 2019 and we want to get the year off to a good start. As noted above contributions of time and goods are still required. The venue is Ben Burn park from 10:00 to 15:30. Setup from 9:00.
 
Tuesday 19 February: Rotary/ANZ Business Breakfast
This promises to be a most interesting and topical address. Steph Dyhrberg, 2018 Wellingtonian of the Year Supreme Winner and Partner at Dyhrberg Drayton Employment Law will speak on “Diversity issues in the workplace”.
 
The venue is the Karori Park Cafe, 400 Karori Road from 7:15. Please refer to David's email dated 15/12/18 for details.
 
Please advise David Watt of your attendance.
 
Flyer - 8 February 2019 Phil Oliver 2019-02-07 11:00:00Z 0

Goodbye 2018/Hello 2019

Goodbye 2018
 
The final event of 2018 for Karori Rotarians was our Christmas function held at the Wellesley Hotel. A full turnout of guests and members made this a memorable way to end a successful year. During the evening entertainment was provided by the Harbour Capital Chorus singing a selection of Christmas carols.
 
 
 
 
In addition to bringing the year to a close several top Rotary awards were made.
 
The Paul Harris Fellowship (Rotary's top honour) was presented by District Govenor Marion Johnston to David and Winifred Bain, of Thorndon. The award was presented for outstanding service to the Rotary Club and to the community. David and Winifred have been strong supporters of Rotary community programmes and have provided assistance to new settler families in Karori assisting them with language needs and becoming an integral part of a large community. David has given long service to the Club as Secretary and Winifred through her skills with flowers has earned respect throughout Wellington with wonderful floral arrangements for various private and public events.
 
Marion made Rosemarie Ashton, of Khandallah, and Wally Simmers, now living with his wife Margot at Rita Angus in Kilbirnie Life Members of Karori Rotary.
 
Finally it was a great pleasure for Marion to induct Krystle Crimmins, of Karori as a new member into the club.
 
Hello 2019

The new year kicked off with members competing at the pitch and putt course in Karori. Individual scores will not be mentioned but a fun time was had by all.
 
 
 
 
Some of us left wondering where their shot went?
 
An updated list of events through to April will be published shortly. In the meantime a reminder of our next meeting at Marsden School Hall on 14/02/19 with speaker Linda Sheldon, Freedom Medical Alarms, Wellington Free Ambulance.
 
 
 
Goodbye 2018/Hello 2019 Phil Oliver 2019-01-31 11:00:00Z 0

Karori Cemetary And The 1918 Flu Pandemic

The Rotary Club of Karori hosted Barbara Mulligan of Karori last Tuesday evening, a former Port Nicholson Rotary Club member and a “one person champion” restorer of the graves of the 1918 Wellington flu victims in Karori cemetery.
 
Over the past year Barbara has been hard at work with the support of a few friends and volunteers preserving close on 700 graves  of those who perished from the flu pandemic  in a period of just over two months from mid- October to mid December 1918.
 
The so-called ‘Spanish’ influenza killed an estimated 50 million people world- wide. New Zealand lost nearly 9,000 people to influenza, about half as many New Zealand military deaths over four years in World War 1. The 1918 flu pandemic was the worst public health crisis New Zealand had seen. Barbara showed graphic pictures of graves that had suffered from years of neglect and the outcome of hard work to restore them. Many of these graves are in an area down on the eastern side of the cemetery with gum trees overhanging and where considerable damage has occurred over many years. The flu attacked and killed people who were in their prime of life, not just the very young or elderly. Housing conditions in the capital, places of work and being around people who carried and spread the virus made people very vulnerable and there were many deaths of working people in their 20s and 30s.
 
Karori Cemetery, owned and managed by the Wellington City Council, is one of the largest cemeteries in New Zealand, over 40 hectares containing some 85,000 interments. Barbara showed many slides especially of the servicemen’s section, where in a space of four weeks in late 1918 row upon row of victims of the flu pandemic were buried, many of them having come from the Trentham training camp which was heavily hit by flu in the latter stages of the war.
 
Barbara is hoping to encourage the formation of A Friends of Karori Cemetery to care about conservation, preservation and a full interpretation of this vast cemetery.
 
The restoration project led by Barbara  culminates in a special Influenza Centennial Commemoration at Karori Cemetery  on Sunday 18 November at 11am and again on Sunday 25 November with a public service in the Services section. Mayor Justin Lester and Wellington Central  MP Hon Grant Robertson will give addresses and with the addition of an address by Professor Geoffrey Rice, author of two major publications about the Flu pandemic in New Zealand, ‘Black November (1988) and an updated version,  Black Flu 1918: the story of New Zealand’s worst public health disaster, published last year.
 
Karori Rotary Club member, Henk Rood, gave a viewpoint following Barbara’s address with a focus on whether members of Rotary have perceived any advantages from moving to meeting only twice a month. Her said that on a recent make up meeting at Rotary on Cuba, a club which still meets weekly they were most interested in whether there had been gains from moving to only two meetings a month. He said the jury was still out on this question in his view.
Karori Cemetary And The 1918 Flu Pandemic Phil Oliver 2018-11-20 11:00:00Z 0

The Good Samaritans

At our meeting on 23/10 Rotarians were addressed by Dion Blackmore and Peter Barker. Dion was sponsored by the club to the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. Peter is the Wellington Board Chair of the Samaritans organisation.
 
Since attending RYLA in Jan 2018 Dion has been on courses at Outward Bound and at the Aspiring Leaders Forum. He found both courses were very challenging but also provided great experiences. Serving others is the best foundation for a meaningful life.
 
The ALF course took place over 4 days and included a wide range of activities. Amongst these was time spent at parliament with MPs, workshops and sporting activities, community service and a barn dance. Day 4 wrapped up the course, leaving with the thought 'You make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give'.
 
Dion will be working at Morrison and Company over the summer and invites us to stay in touch at DionBlackmoreKiwi@gmail.com.
 
Peter's presentation was rather more somber.
 
He joined Samaritans 24 years ago and has held various positions both operational and managerial in the organisation. He highlighted the huge scale of suicide in NZ and what the Samaritans organisation does to help people that seek help in difficult circumstances. Samaritans are part of a global network that provides round the clock phone counselling for lonely and suicidal people. In NZ 1 in 5 will experience problems with mental health or addiction. In 2017 this contributed to 12 suicides per week a truly stunning statistic.
 
Peter stressed that suicides are preventable provided early assistance can be provided. Depression is often the first step towards suicide, marked by; persistent low, sad or depressed mood; loss of interest; irritability; change in sleeping habits and physical agitation.
 
Help can be obtained at www.depression.org.nz. Samaritans will listen and offer compassion and understanding. The service is completely anonymous and confidential. The organisation is always looking for volunteers who will go through a selection and training process.
 
The Good Samaritans Phil Oliver 2018-11-06 11:00:00Z 0

Mayor Justin Lester At Business Breakfast

 
 
The latest in the series of ANZ Bank - Karori Rotary business breakfast meetings was held on 17 October with guest speaker the Mayor of Wellington, Justin Lester.
 
Justin's presentation entitled 'Back To The Future' gave a very upbeat assessment of the direction in which the city is heading.
 
Starting with transportation he highlighted the speed with which transport modes can change. As an example the horse and cart was replaced by the motor car in less than 15 years. In Wellington we are starting to see another major transport change with the movement towards electric cars. The city is adapting by encouraging charging stations for the new vehicle type. Light rail is also being kept under review.
 
Justin dealt with changing demographic changes. There has been a lack of investment in low cost housing. This must be addressed. A lot more people will be living in the city centre and despite some growing pains this is starting to pay off. The council is striving to make the city centre an attractive environment for these new inhabitants.
 
Along the way the occasional mistake has been made but these have been offset with some significant successes. The environment has benefited from the predator free movement. The has been significant progress with Te Tauihi Te Reo Māori policy. The shift from Guy Fawkes to Matariki has been largely accomplished.
 
Finally the Mayor gave an overview of the plans that are being developed for Karori and summarised the responses received from community consultation.
 
A vigorous but friendly question time brought the meeting to a close.
Mayor Justin Lester At Business Breakfast Phil Oliver 2018-11-06 11:00:00Z 0

Polio Plus Quiz Night

Polio Quiz Night
 
On 9 October Michael Fagg, chair of district 9940 Polio Plus ran an entertaining and informative Polio quiz.
 
Michael stressed that although we are making progress the fight is still far from over. Starting back in 1985 the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has been a long hard fight. The remaining cases are occurring in countries that are at war or where there is social unrest. Once a country has eradicated Polio a period of 3 years must pass without further cases before the country can be declared disease free by the WHO.
 
The Polio virus occurs only in human beings. Eradication of Polio will be only the third disease to be eliminated, after smallpox and rinderpest. The economic benefits of eliminating the disease are huge.
 
Most enticingly Michael had on display a jeroboam of wine to be auctioned early next year together with any other wine donations received.
Polio Plus Quiz Night Phil Oliver 2018-10-15 11:00:00Z 0

Blood Pressure Monitoring

 
Many thanks to everyone taking part in the blood pressure checks on Saturday 6 October at the Karori Mall. Most importantly we thank RNs, Judith from St Johns and Elizabeth from Massey who performed the BP checks. Thanks also to Chirag P for organising the location and providing us logistical help with the campaign.
 
We managed to get over 100+ people through the Blood Pressure checks in the Karori Mall.
 
Highlights of the day
  •     A young man, hesitant to get the check done but finally referred to his GP for low blood pressure. Judith and Richard expertly advised him.
  •     A lovely lady who did her last check when the campaign was run 2 years ago and was wondering if we will continue to run the campaign every year.
  •     The campaign was a mix of people from different genders and ethnicities with however most young people opting out of it.
  •     A lady who had a very high reading but was expertly handled by Judith and Beth, advised not stress out as she was looking well, but was referred to check with GP.
  •     A guy expertly predicting his BP before the check.
  •     Quite a number of people who advised they regularly do the BP checks.
  •     A person who told us he has a BP measurement machine at home, we just came across one such case.
Blood Pressure Monitoring Phil Oliver 2018-10-14 11:00:00Z 0

Joint Rotary/Lions Dinner

 
 
Karori Rotarians hosted a joint dinner with Karori Lions on 2 October. The evening's highlight was an address by the Britsh High Commissioner, HE Laura Clarke.
 
HE talked of the cultural links between our countries, stressing that these cannot simply be taken for granted but must be recognised and built on where ever possible. One of her main roles is to futire proof the relationship between the countries.
 
HE spoke of three main areas of concern. The first is to strengthen business links and to encourage growth of trade in goods and services. Part of this will be to investigate the prospects for a free trade agreement. The second area is to ensure cooperation in response to events on the world stage. This includes intelligence, climate change and cyber crime. The UK is currently establishing 3 new High Commissions in the Pacific. The third area is to encourage exchanges in the arts and in culture. These are all aspects of a broad and rich relationship between the UK and NZ.
 
An example of the outreach on a personal level was to run a competion 'Be The British High Commissioner For A Day'. This attracted a large number of entries and was won by a girl from Rangiora. She was able to meet with various political figure and to take part in the celebrations for International Womens Day.
 
Inevitably discussion turned to Brexit. Although negotiations are going through a bumpy phase HE stressed that there is a lot at stake. These issues simply have to be worked through. Many of the problems will be resolved simply by using WTO rules.
Joint Rotary/Lions Dinner Phil Oliver 2018-10-14 11:00:00Z 0

Karori Community Centre - Under New Management

At our meeting on 25 September we welcomed Kay Webster who has been recently appointed to manage the Karori Community Centre.
 
Kay has stepped into the job after working in the Anglican Church for many years and in various roles. When asked about the change in jobs she replies that she has always asked 'What do people need to be the best they can be?' This the approach that she intends bringing to the Community Centre. In her previous roles Kay explained that she had developed a sense of timing when moving from one to the other. It seemed to her that this was the right time to move on to a new job.
 
Rather than reciting a list of job functions Kay chose to tell the story of her time at the KCC by telling us about some of the personal interactions she had had with people at the Centre. These included a conversation with a Saudi woman with very little English. Despite this and the cultural differences they were able to have a joyful interaction. On Monday morning the Centre hosts a sewing group. The group specialises in taking fabric that would otherwise end up in the land fill and turning it into useful items. More importantly the women are able to share their skills with one another. Younger members of the community can find an accepting environment over a game of bowls.
 
Other activities that Kay mentioned at the Centre include the Citizens Advice Bureau, the toy library and a food bank. Above all Kay wants to encourage a warm human environment at the Centre.
Karori Community Centre - Under New Management Phil Oliver 2018-09-30 11:00:00Z 0

Book Fair

A successful Rotary/Lions book fair was held at the Baptist Church hall on Fri 14 and Sat 15. The financial result will be determined in conjunction with the Lions. However it appears that the Saturday take was down on Friday's take. This follows the pattern of trading in previous years.
 
Watch this space.
Book Fair Phil Oliver 2018-09-30 11:00:00Z 0

Community Projects

We welcomed our guest speaker Councillor Andy Foster to the meeting on 11 September and Andy took the opportunity to outline the proposal to formally establish a Karori Environmental Association. The aim is to protect and enhance the natural environment of Karori and its surrounds, including landscapes, waterways, indigenous vegetation and to encourage public involvement in projects, access and enjoyment of the natural environment.
 
Andy outlined several key projects that community groups have already indicated their interest in being involved in and he encouraged our Rotary Club to pick up and lead out on the opportunities that he presented to the Club . He was keen to see various organisations in Karori to come together and participate in a range of project ideas.
 
Reserve areas in Karori need improvement and this attracted interest from members who wished to take up the challenge and to discuss some specific ideas more with Andy. One statistic of interest was the number of traps that Karori residents have on their properties bordering reserves, bush areas and Zealandia to trap environmental predators, with 1000 traps noted at last count in the suburb.
 
The Club expressed its thanks to Andy for his presentation and gave a strong indication that the Club would certainly like to lead out on some of the project challenges on offer.
 
Community Projects Phil Oliver 2018-09-18 12:00:00Z 0

Karori Youth Awards

Karori Rotary was delighted to support and join the large attendance at the recent Karori Youth Awards on 5 September at the Marsden School auditorium. We extend our warmest congratulations to all award winners and in particular to the Supreme Award winner, Elliot Gonzales, for his leadership in building up the Karori Kung Fu Club.
 
We thank our Rotary representative Allan Frazer for his sterling work and involvement on the Youth Awards committee for this year’s awards.
 
Karori Youth Awards Phil Oliver 2018-09-17 12:00:00Z 0

School Grants

 
At our last meeting on 11 September we welcomed principals of schools in our catchment area to receive grants from the Club. Present were Tania Savage, Cardinal McKeefry School, Jeremy Edwards, Northland School, and Jane Reddish, acting principal of Makara Model School.
 
All schools are doing environmental projects with an emphasis on full pupil participation. Tania gave us a power point presentation on their special garden project.The grant funding from Rotary will assist future work on these projects.
 
The principals of St Teresas and Karori Normal will be coming to our next meeting to receive grants and from Karori West Normal at a later meeting.
 
School Grants Phil Oliver 2018-09-17 12:00:00Z 0

The Pursuit Of Dreams

 
 
At our meeting on 28 August we were treated to a talk by Dr Dragos Bratasanu from the Eastern Hutt Rotary Club on the 'Pursuit Of Dreams'. The 'Pursuit Of Dreams' is also the title of his recently published book.
 
Dr Dragos was born in Romania in the last part of the communist regime. His early upbringing took place amongst some poverty. Although the regime provided the basics of life, food and shelter, they also took away all other freedoms. Dragos said it took him a long time to understand what his environment was doing to him and that it is the environment that produces the result.
 
He eventually made his way to a job at NASA but still suffered from a lack of money, having to read books by surreptiously reading them in book shops. Now in his mid 20s he began to ask himself, what is his dream? This crystallised into a dream to visit the North and South poles. This was a serious ambition given that he had only $200 per month. He gave himself a year to try all his options also deciding to wait until the last day of the year before evaluating his decisions. By leveraging all his options he was able to fly from Argentina to the South pole. This led to an invitation to go to the North pole flying from 24 hours of light to 24 hours of darkness.
 
Returning to Romania he spent time travelling to various monastries coming to realise that your dreams are about your unique expression in spirit and truth. When dreams come from the heart they will always working in the long run. Dragos played a short movie in support of the idea that there is nothing that we can't achieve and that it is never too late to start.
 
Dragos dealt with the reasons he moved on from jobs at NASA and Telecom in pursuit of his dreams. He has a strong concept of service to others (similar to Rotary) and believes that service to others is always repaid.
 
The Pursuit Of Dreams Phil Oliver 2018-09-03 12:00:00Z 0

Club Meeting, 14 August

General
At our meeting on 14 August President David outlined a full program of projects and forth coming events (please see the side bar and plan your support). He also welcomed Coral Anderson, past president and member of the club for 19 years who was visiting from the Wairarapa.
 
Anant Bhatnagar
Our main speaker for the evening was our own Anant Bhatnagar. Anant gave a brief assessment of his personality and described his career in IT in the US, UK, India, Australia and New Zealand. Anant is currently working for Datacom, a large, international IT services company. His role is a team leader responsible for the Transition and Transformation team. This is an essential role in a company that assists local industry to outsource their IT infrastructure. Managing the change from in house IT systems to outsourced systems presents multiple challenges that must be carefully managed for a successful project. Datacom has successfully managed projects for ACC, MBIE, DIA, Chorus and Parliamentary Services.
 
Anant screened an amusing video illustrating the pitfalls of outsourcing and showing the importance of keeping focused on the job at hand. This encapsulates the Datacom strategy of acting as a local outsource.
 
The talk concluded with a light jab at the project management of the new bus time tables. Several of the questions revolved around AI and Anant agreed this would have an increasing influence on all our lives.
 
Karori Youth Awards
Allan Fraser spoke about the importance of the Annual Karori Youth Awards. These will be held in the Marsden School Auditorium at 7pm on Wednesday 5th September. Rotary Karori is the core sponsor of the awards and this is our 20th year of supporting this event. We are particularly keen this year to have a great turnout to celebrate the 20 young Karori people who have been nominated for Awards this year. We are working hard to get more community participation in line with the vision developed in the Karori Project to move towards being a more connected community. One action to bring about change is to involve more people in community events such as this.
 
Richard Oldham presented a viewpoint that focused on cycles in the economic sphere.
Club Meeting, 14 August Phil Oliver 2018-08-20 12:00:00Z 0

Sue Chetwin, Consumer Champion

 
Our Rotary/ANZ business breakfast was thoroughly involved in the world of consumer rights when Sue Chetwin, CEO of Consumer New Zealand addressed a good size attendance at the Karori Park Café on 1 August. Sue has brought strong consumer advocacy and journalism skills to her position as Chief Executive. She joined Consumer in 2007 following two previous outstanding chief executives for the organisation, in David Russell and Dick Smithies. Dick was a member of Karori Rotary for a number of years and was a renowned public speaker and debater. Sue Chetwin previously had more than 25 years in print journalism in New Zealand and made her mark as editor of the Sunday News, Sunday Star Times and the Herald on Sunday returning to Wellington to take up her present role as head of Consumer New Zealand..
 
Sue said her key role as the public face for consumers is to ensure Consumer New Zealand remains relevant and continues to be an important part of kiwi lives. She got our gathering into action with a quick fire knock-out quiz, asking everyone to stand  and take part in questions on consumer rights, products and guarantees. At the end of this quite exciting icebreaker, one figure remained standing in the room, with all the right answers – guess it had to be a lawyer, our one and only Luke Yiavasis who earned himself a free subscription to Consumer.
 
Consumer New Zealand is an independent, non-profit organisation dedicated to getting New Zealanders a fairer deal. Established as the Consumer Council in 1959 it was set up to protect and promote the interest of consumers of goods and services. Sue said that when she looked back at one of its first editorials in 1959, the organisation  can fairly say it has continued on the track it was set up to do.  With the strength of her public relations skills and years of engagement in tough decision making faced as a major newspaper editor, she sailed through many examples of issues she put to the meeting that have confronted Consumer New Zealand on things like misleading pricing,  small print and conditions confronting consumers at the retail counter and the high level ethical challenges that have emerged from research on huge ranges of consumer products.
 
Membership of Consumer New Zealand has grown significantly and it now has over 100,000 members and supporters.
 
Sue constantly takes the battle to Parliament on behalf of consumers in New Zealand leading submissions on various bills affecting consumer rights on goods and services, an area of work which has taken up a lot of her time and that of her team colleagues and Consumer New Zealand Board. One area of concern as our audience agreed being the cost of consuming electricity.
 
Questions flowed from the floor around misleading advertising from some very significant service providers in New Zealand, about product testing and maintaining high ethical standards in the exchange between supplier and recipient of products and services.
 
One of our best meetings to date and very well received by our breakfast supporters.
 
Sue Chetwin, Consumer Champion Phil Oliver 2018-08-12 12:00:00Z 0

What Lies Beneath, Archaeology In Wellington

Mary O’Keeffe, our guest speaker, gave a very animated presentation to members and guests with an address entitled “What lies beneath”. Guests from Johnsonville Rotary included President Neil Haydon and 8 other members. Attending from Wellington Rotoract were President Madison Faber and Samatha Cleary. Minneke Rood, Jeanette Souter, Michele Sutherland and Clara Yiavasis, partners of Karori members also attended.
 
Mary has been an archaeology consultant for over 20 years working on  major infrastructural roading and  building refurbishment projects around the capital. She has worked extensively on the Kapiti Expressway, Transmission Gully, the Wellington City By pass, the building of the new Wellington Regional Hospital and redevelopment work at Government House. Mary traced the history of Government House, being the site of an early lunatic asylum, with images of early buildings, walls and gardens, and sites of building redevelopment in Willis street, uncovering a lot of history around early settlement in the city, how people lived with examples of bottles, plates and clothing found, and wells located deep in the ground for inorganic material which were very common around inner city properties.
 
The Club also saw images of skeletal finds and remnants of middens, shell beds and cooking ovens on the Kapiti Coast, the extent of dune erosion and construction work turning up early Maori burials. Under Government legislation all pre 1900 sites in New Zealand are deemed archaeological sites which must be protected when new development work is proposed. Archaeological authorities are approved for redevelopment with mitigation conditions. Mary fielded many questions which highlighted considerable interest in her topic and presentation to the Club.
 
Allan Frazer followed with a view point on rural and urban environmental impacts in New Zealand urging the importance of bringing both communities closer together to resolve issues for sustainability and benefit for all society, especially for urban residents to gain a  greater appreciation of the rural environment around them. Too few people living in inner cities are getting an appreciation of life on farms and enjoying the values presented  by our rural landscape.
What Lies Beneath, Archaeology In Wellington Phil Oliver 2018-08-06 12:00:00Z 0

Club Forum 10 July 2018

President David announced that Anant Bhatnagar and Barry Taylor had joined the board, Anant as Club Services director and Barry as Secretary.

We have been advised that Clubs can provide their own volunteer nurses, paramedics etc this year to assist with the Blood Pressure/Stroke Foundation Awareness Day in October, run in conjunction with New World Supermarkets. Karori has made such an arrangement for 2018.  More details to be announced over the next few weeks.

The meeting on 24 July at Marsden will be a joint meeting with the Rotary Club of Johnsonville. Partners are also invited. The guest speaker will be Mary O'Keeffe, consultant archaeologist. Her topic will be 'What Lies Beneath Wellington'.

Allan Frazer reminded members that applications for the Karori Youth Awards close on 5 August. Applications are open to youths in the age range 11-25 and can be made at the community centre web site.

Members then considered the Revitalisation Plan for the club. As membership has declined and more engagement for members was being sought, the need for the plan has become increasingly urgent. President David spoke of the survey returns from members and a focus group meeting chaired by District Club development chair, Tony Heyward. This workshop reinforced messages that came through the survey results. The plan going forward was prepared in response to member responses and opened up discussion at the Club Forum.  Recommendations from the Board sought support for the principle objectives of the club going forward and to seek support for a move to a breakfast format which could provide more interest and support for the club from people who have busy lives, may have difficulties getting back to Karori for evening meetings and generally have other commitments  including family needs which may prevent attendance at the Club’s evening engagements.

The current costs for meetings at Marsden with a reduced membership, were outlined by treasurer, Doug Langford. It was likely that the dinner cost for members could increase and the cost for use of the Function Room at Marsden had not changed for some considerable time. Doug indicated there were implications for the Club of costs on a reduced membership. The club currently has a membership of 22 but with 4-5 other members not attending at present, the numbers at Marsden meetings had reduced to around 16-17 which put quite a lot of pressure on the club, including attracting top speakers. President David said the Board was aware of 3-4 possible new members so hopefully that may help to arrest the decline in recent membership numbers and give the club a base to build for the future.

Discussion looked at options of moving to a breakfast format with a potential for club growth – a breakfast meeting was possible at Marsden on Wednesdays. Alternatively, following the business breakfasts being held at the Karori Park Café, which are attracting good numbers, that venue could provide more regular breakfasts for the club. The business breakfast appealed to people with more pressing commitments at other times to meet. Quite a number of members expressed a reluctance to move away from the present formats being offered by the club.

Members generally wished to continue to meet at Marsden as at present, to maintain the partnership business breakfast with ANZ and community groups, and to review the situation again in 6 months, meantime committing to the Plan objectives to have more member involvement with community projects, seeking to grow membership and support of the Club to offer fun and friendship opportunities for members and partners through social activities and to working together with other Rotary clubs.

 
Club Forum 10 July 2018 Phil Oliver 2018-07-16 12:00:00Z 0

Change Over Dinner 30 June 2018

 
Rotarians and their partners met on Saturday 3 July to mark the passing of the presidency from Graeme Titcombe to David Watt. Graeme welcomed our guests; Assistant Governer Linda Wellington and her husband Craig, Sandra and Cliff Daley, Tristram and Joshua Langford and Christine Murdoch.
 
After reviewing our progress over the last year Graeme passed the presidency to David Watt who outlined some of his plans for the new year. In particular he stressed the importance of the club forum on 10 July urging all members to attend.
 
The committee now comprises
    David Watt, President (until December)
    Jim Johnson, President Elect, Community And Youth
    Graeme Titcombe, Immediate Past President
    Barry Taylor, Secretary
    Doug Langford, Treasurer
    Anant Bhatnagar, Operations And Services
    Phil Oliver, International
 
During dinner we were entertained by Joshua Langford show casing his outstanding talents on the piano.
 
After dinner the results of the silent wine and flower auctions were announced with a generous amount contributed to club funds.
 
The meeting ended on a high point with the award of Paul Harris Fellowships to
    Jamie Milne
    Henk Rood

    Doug Webb
 
 
 
Change Over Dinner 30 June 2018 2018-07-03 12:00:00Z 0

Future Directions

Following the recent member survey and workshop, a club forum will be held on 10 July to discuss the conclusions and next steps.
 
This will take the place of the regular club meeting scheduled for that evening.
 
Future Directions 2018-06-12 12:00:00Z 0

Celebrating Matariki and the start of a new Rotary year

A reminder to members to register for the upcoming mid-winter solstice evening on 30 June, which is also the changeover event for the beginning of the new Rotary year. 
 
Registration can be performed by selecting the event on the Rotary Karori website home page and following the prompts.
 
The closing date for registration is 27 June.
 
A silent wine auction will also be held to raise funds for community activities. Donations of interesting or valuable wines should be made to Lewis Weatherall.
Celebrating Matariki and the start of a new Rotary year 2018-06-12 12:00:00Z 0

Bowel cancer - not often talked about, but common

Bowel cancer is the second most common form of cancer in New Zealand after prostate cancer, with 3000 new cases each year. Early detection and treatment is critical, and it is important to be aware of the risk factors and the symptoms.
 
Stefan Corbett, a Karori resident, bowel cancer survivor, and community ambassador for Bowel Cancer New Zealand, spoke at Rotary Karori on 12 June. Bowel Cancer New Zealand is a national charity for those affected by the disease. It works to raise awareness of the symptoms, promote early diagnosis, and encourage fair and affordable access to treatment.
 
Stefan spoke of his own journey, the failure of several GPs to identify his symptoms, and ultimately the detection of a major tumour. Fortunately, surgery and follow-on treatment have resulted in a positive outcome.
 
His experiences motivated Stefan to volunteer to work with Bowel Cancer New Zealand in promoting awareness through sharing his story and information about the disease.
 
The key risk factors associated with bowel cancer are being 50 years of age or older, having a personal or family history of bowel cancer, and genetic factors associated with the disease.
 
Though the risk of bowel cancer increases with age, there is also an increasing prevalence in young people. 
 
However, the risk can be lowered by a healthy diet (including plenty of vegetables, fruit and cereals), regular exercise, 
quitting smoking, and minimising alcohol intake.
 
A free national screening programme for bowel cancer is being rolled out around the country. Screening will be offered every two years to men and women aged between 60 and 74 years, who are eligible for publicly-funded health care.
Bowel cancer - not often talked about, but common 2018-06-12 12:00:00Z 0

Graeme John Titcombe – ONZM, Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2018. 
 

Graeme Titcombe, current President of the Rotary Club of Karori, has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to the home support sector and the community.

Graeme had an extensive career in the electrical and electronic manufacturing and service industries in New Zealand and Australia before becoming CEO of Access Home Health, now Access Community Health. ACH is a provider of homer-based health and disability services owned by Rural Women New Zealand. Graeme was CEO from 1999 until 2015 during which time he led the consolidation of a range of rural support services into a national service and oversaw significant growth in those services in New Zealand.
 
He was President of the New Zealand Home Health Association from 2001-2006.
 
Within the Karori community in Wellington, Graeme was a charter member of the Rotary Club of Karori in 1982. He has been Club President twice, and is a PHF with sapphire.  He has been Treasurer of the Rotary Karori Sanctuary Discovery Area, Chair of the Karori Community Bus since 2007, a founding Trustee of the Karori Community Hall Trust, and provides accounting services for the Marsden Day Care Trust.
Graeme John Titcombe – ONZM, Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2018.   2018-06-03 12:00:00Z 0

Rotary Looking Outwards

Nick and Christine Hurley addressed Rotary members highlighting the activities of 9940 District International Services Committee and introducing an exciting new international project.
 
The aims of the committee are

To act as a centre of excellence for clubs in the lower North Island, providing advice and information on international matters.

To promote support and collaborate on sustainable development projects, mainly in the Pacific.

To promote Rotary NZ emergency response kits for disaster relief.
 
Christine and Nick Hurley with Graeme Titcombe (centre)
 
There are six areas of focus for international projects.
    Peace and conflict prevention/resolution
    Disease prevention and treatment
    Water and sanitation
    Maternal and child health
    Basic education and literacy
    Economic and community development
 
The committee works closely with other organisations such as VSA and MFAT and with other Rotary organisations in New Zealand and Australia. These partnerships include the global project Stop Polio Now and the SkyHydrant water filtration system to provide clean drinking water. Currently the committee has assisted the Mobile Medical Health Centre in the Cook Islands, helping to secure a Rotary Foundation Global Grant. The MMHC will be oficially handed over by the Prime Minister on June 18.
 
Emergency response kits contain more than 60 non food items to assist with survival immediately after a natural disaster. The ERKs include such items as tarpaulins, spade, fishing tackle, cooking and cleaning materials, clothing and mosquito nets. Most importantly the ERKs have been pre positioned in the Pacific Islands for immediate response. Since 2007 5,588 ERKs have been distributed. Restocking ERKs calls for an ongoing need for Rotary funds.
 
Christine introduced a new ground breaking and unique partnership, Project Vision. To celebrate the centenary of Rotary in Australia and New Zealand Rotary in partnership with Unicef and the Asian Development Bank will support the introduction of 3 new vaccines in the Pacific region. Immunisation rates in the Pacific are poor. In Kiribati nearly 1 in 18 children die before their fifth birthday.
 
The vaccines are for
    Rotavirus
    Pneumococcal Disease
    HPV (Cervical Cancer)
 
Funding requirements are estimated at $US3.5m over a 3-4 year time frame. A digital campaign is planned, visit EveryChildAFuture.com for information and to donate. To achieve our goals we will need local and district support, Rotary Foundation support and matching grants from corporations and philanthropists. The later provides an opportunity to promote rotary.
 
Rotary Looking Outwards Phil Oliver 2018-05-23 12:00:00Z 0

The passing of a true Rotary friend and achiever

The Rotary Club of Karori mourns the loss of Bob Murdoch who was a member of the Club for over 25 years. Bob passed away on 10 May aged 76.
 
He provided outstanding leadership in the local Karori community on many projects, namely the redevelopment of Karori Park, with new play areas and seating, the planting of trees at the Park through the Rotary programme of Trees for Survival, and the installing of paver bricks near the Karori Library, a project in which school children and their families donated bricks for the walkway, commemorating the first settlement  in Karori and the centenary of the transition of the Borough of Karori to the Wellington City Council 1891-1991. Bob was also a member of the committee leading out on the mural project on the wall by Marsden School.
 
Bob joined the Rotary Club of Karori in the 1990-91 year and in 2005 he was made a Paul Harris Fellow by the Club for his outstanding community work.
 
In 2009 he was invested with the Insignia of an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to manufacturing and to the community in the Queen’s Birthday Honours that year.
 
Bob is pictured (right) receiving his honour from the then Governor-General, Sir Anand Satyanand.
 
Prior to his retirement in 2013, Bob worked for the Industry Capability Network (ICN), working across New Zealand and Australia to give suppliers and purchasers access to a range of project opportunities and industry expertise.
 
Bob was a strong supporter of the Rotary Karori/ANZ business breakfast programme and worked with the Club in its establishment and continuation.
 
We extend our love and deepest sympathy to Christine and all her family on the passing of Bob.
 
The passing of a true Rotary friend and achiever 2018-05-15 12:00:00Z 0

Judge Andrew Becroft, Children's Commissioner

The Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft outlined some of the challenges posed by child poverty at a Rotary Karori/ANZ Bank business breakfast meeting on 1 May.
 
Judge Becroft began his talk by referring to the 'I Have A Dream' speech by Martin Luther King, how he put to one side a prepared speech and urged on by Mahalia Jackson gave his most famous speech from the heart. There is a need in New Zealand for us to have a dream moment for our children.
 
 
 
 
New Zealand has dropped out of a group of countries that had good outcomes for all their children. Instead we have arrived at a state where 70% of children can be said to do well or very well, 20% do much less well and 10% do badly or worse than children in other Western countries. The latter group are commonly subject to abuse, neglect and family violence. This has taken place against the background of a changing society which has become much less homogeneous. There are approximately 1.23m children (0-17 years) making up about 23% of New Zealands population. Its clear that far too many of our children are being left behind. The number of children is rising but the percentage of children is falling due to older people living longer.
 
Judge Becroft spoke of the importance of the first 3 years of life. Yet paradoxically women receive tax breaks when they return to work. There are many studies showing that childhood poverty leads to poor outcomes in later life.
 
Childhood poverty is often thought of as being difficult to measure, this is not true, There are 17 internationally agreed factors used to measure child poverty. Similarly income poverty is defined as less than 60% of the median income. By these definitions 26% of children are affected by poverty compared with 20% of the overall population. We do well for old people but statistics measuring the ratio of deprivation between young and old tell a shocking story. In many comparable countries this ratio is in the range of 1-2. In New Zealand the ratio is 6 showing that children have far higher rates of deprivation than old people.
 
Increasingly however governments have recognised the problem. Halving child poverty by 2030 is one of our sustainable development goals. However the problem is massive and urgent. Judge Becroft showed several slides of adverse social gradients that were clearly dependent on poverty. Finally Judge Becroft made an appeal for us all to listen more carefully to childrens' voices. Their inclusion can lead to surprisingly beneficial outcomes.
Judge Andrew Becroft, Children's Commissioner Phil Oliver 2018-05-01 12:00:00Z 0

Wellington Regional Children's hospital

Bill Day is the chair of both the Life Flight Trust and the Wellington Hospitals Foundation. He is also a member of Port Nicholson Rotary. Bill spoke at Rotary Karori on 28 March.
 
Wellington has had a purpose-built children's hospital since 1912, the first in New Zealand. The building was demolished in 1988 and replaced with a children's ward, now in need of replacement.
 
In 2020, a new Wellington Regional Children's Hospital will open.
 
The story of the new hospital reflects the ambition and vision of the Foundation and the generosity of Wellington businessman Mark Dunajtschik. In June 2017, it was announced that Mark would pay for, build and gift the entire facility.
 
The Government will fund supporting infrastructure while the Foundation is raising $5 million for the fit-out of the hospital and state of the art equipment including wellness and child friendly areas. 
 
 
The hospital has been designed with the needs of children and their families in mind. The goal is that the rooms should be the least clinical looking as possible.
 
Once opened, the hospital will serve a regional catchment including Taranaki across to the Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa, Manawatu, Wellington and Marlborough.
Wellington Regional Children's hospital 2018-03-27 11:00:00Z 0

Mobile Medical Health Centre

Mobile Medical Health Centre
 
The Mobile Medical Health Centre (MMHC) destined for the Cook Islands is nearing completion. This major project has been carried out under the auspices of the Masterton South Rotary Club but has relied on contributions from Rotary clubs in the region. Rotary Karori has contributed $1,500.
 
The self contained health clinic has been constructed in a large bus and is due for shipment to the Cook Islands in May.
 
Members are invited to view the finished project at the completion ceremony to be held on Sunday 15 April from 9:45 am at the Essex St car park outside the Masterton RSA.
 
 
Mobile Medical Health Centre Phil Oliver 2018-03-27 11:00:00Z 0

AD SUMMA

Narelle Umbers, recently appointed principal at Marsden College, shared her vision for the college with Karori Rotarians at their meeting on 13 March.
 
Narelle is only the 12th principal in Marsden's 140 year history. A short video showed that the school welcomed Narelle in grand style. The ceremony included a powhiri and entry with Narelle wearing a recently aquired  feathered korowai.
 
AD SUMMA Phil Oliver 2018-03-14 11:00:00Z 0

The Dementia Story

With the ageing of the population, increasing numbers of New Zealanders are experiencing dementia, a group of symptoms leading to changes in brain function. Women are at significantly greater risk than men.
 
More than one percent of the population are estimated to be dementia sufferers and this is expected to increase steadily with greater longevity and improved diagnostic tools.
 
The resulting economic cost to the country is around $1.7 billion a year, and this is forecast to increase to $4.6 billion by 2050. 
 
Dementia Wellington is a non-profit organization working to making life better for people affected by dementia in the Wellington region. Anne Schumacher, the chief executive of Dementia Wellington, spoke at a Rotary Karori meeting on 27 February. 
 
While there is some institutional support for dementia patients in retirement villages, and through support groups such as the Marsden Club in Karori (backed by Rotary Karori), the majority of dementia patients live at home with assistance from carers. Without support, dementia patients can become isolated from the community. 
 
Dementia is progressive and cannot be cured or slowed. There is though evidence that the onset risk can be slowed through maintaining good heart function, remaining physically active, dietary changes, mental stimulation, and social activity.
 
Dementia Wellington can develop individual tailored plans for each individual, including assistance with maintaining community connections, information and in-home support. It also works to educate the community and health care providers.
 
As a non-profit, Dementia Wellington relies on membership fees, fundraising and grants to supplement the partial funding it receives from DHBs. It also relies on volunteers to assist with fundraising or to work with dementia patients. Anne invited Rotary Karori members to consider supporting this work.
 
 
The Dementia Story 2018-02-27 11:00:00Z 0

Rotary Science And Tech Forum/RYLA

Karori Rotarians were treated to some youthful snap, crackle and pop at our meeting on 13 February. Karori Rotary supported Sarah Philp-Wright and Anjali Gentejohann from Marsden College to the Rotary National Science And Technology Forum and Dion Blackmore to the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. These three young people reported back on their experiences. What a delight it was to share their enthusiasm.
 
Rotary Science And Tech Forum/RYLA Phil Oliver 2018-02-15 11:00:00Z 0
Welcome To 2018 2018-01-26 11:00:00Z 0

Aged Care and Support at Home

Esther Consedine, General Manager of Elder Family Matters and a Karori resident, spoke at our meeting on 28 November. Elder family Matters provides support and care for elder people at home or the place they call home in a village or independent living environment.
 
The demographics of ageing are compelling: the 65+ age group has doubled since 1981, and will double again in the next 30 years. With this change has come an awareness that the needs of this group are becoming much more diverse, with elder people increasingly wishing to be active, socially engaged, and often continuing in paid or unpaid employment.
 
The meaning of 'growing old' is changing.
 
At the same time, the ability of elder people to access and exploit these opportunities continues to be constrained by factors such as income, health, housing and transport. With greater longevity, there will be an increase in conditions such as dementia that affect older people.
 
The retirement village sector in New Zealand is responding with more diverse services for residents and with specialist care facilities. At the same time, the majority of older New Zealanders would still wish to live in their own accomodation and look after themselves as much as possible.
 
Innovate solutions include cohousing, where private homes are clustered around shared facilities. This encourages intergenerational mixing and sharing of the responsibilities of home ownership and maintenance. In some cases, elder people choose to directly share their home with younger people.
 
Elder Family Matters is a part of this evolving mix of living options, focusing on providing companionship, care and support for elder people who continue to live at home but require assistance. 
Aged Care and Support at Home 2017-11-28 11:00:00Z 0

Canine Drug Detection

At our meeting on 14 November Rotarians were given an insight into the world of drug detection. The presentation was given by Wayne and Lydia Severn assisted by drug dog Nick.
 
Wayne gained a PhD in chemistry at Victoria University. After involvement in K9 handling and search and rescue Wayne founded Scenttech a company specialising in drug detection.
 
Wayne Severn, Nick giving Graeme Titcombe a sideways look
 
The company's MethCheck function involves chemically testing houses that may have been used for the manufacture or consumption of methamphetamine. Senttech's DrugCheck function involves the checking of urine and saliva samples. Scenttech also provides a dog based drug detection service. The dogs used are German Shepherds and Malinois. The Malinois are like a smaller version of the German Shepherd. Great care is taken with the selection and importation of the dogs.
 
Dogs are used for a variety of reasons. They have a superior scenting ability, almost a third of their brains is devoted to processing olfactory inputs. Dogs can perform dual roles, able to identify stashes as well as indicating individual drug users depending on personal hygiene. They can provide probable cause for further testing and they provide a highly visible deterrent.
 
Scenttech get their dogs independently validated to international standards on a bi-annual basis. They hold licenses from the Ministry Of Health to hold limited quantities of drugs for training purposes.
 
Scenttech operate in a wide variety of environment. The dogs can distinguish competing scents in engineering workshops, factories, warehouses, ships, the transport industry etc where safety is paramount. The dogs are also used in white collar environments where drug use is often affordable. The dogs can be used in apartments to sniff under doors in order to meet insurance requirements.
 
Dogs have many advantages. They are quick, non invasive, they will work around staff and are very cost effective.
 
To round off the evening Wayne, Lydia and Nick gave a practical demonstration of drug detection. Wayne then answered a wide variety of questions from the floor.
 
 
Canine Drug Detection Phil Oliver 2017-11-14 11:00:00Z 0

US Ambassador H.E. Scott Brown At Business Breakfast

At last weeks ANZ Bank - Karori Rotary business breakfast the meeting was addressed by His Excellency Scott Brown, US ambassador.
 
After an introduction in Te Reo H.E. outlined his career, including 3 years in the senate, a period in the National Guard, running a law practice and providing input to Fox news. H.E. has been a life long Rotarian and praised organisations such as Rotary and Lions as filling an important gap between government and the community.
 
H.E. spoke of our common inheritance and common goals which have generally worked well since World War II.
 
H.E. noted some of the criticisms of the Trump Administration but also pointed to some recent successes including getting 3 votes on North Korea through the UN Security Council.
 
US Ambassador H.E. Scott Brown At Business Breakfast Phil Oliver 2017-11-11 11:00:00Z 0

Providing legal help to everyone

Being able to obtain legal advice is a basic right for everyone, and cost should not be a barrier. Community Law Centres o Aetearoa has a network of offices throughout New Zealand and provides free legal help for people who don't have much money. 
 
Elizabeth Tennet is the Chief Executive Officer of the national organisation. Prior to taking up this role, she has been a trade union official, a Member of Parliament, a tourism owner and operator, a regional development adviser, and industry advocate. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Wellington and spoke to Rotary Karori on 24 October. 
 
 
The twenty-four CLCs serve 50,000 clients a year. Family law issues predominate, along with employment law, tenancy, debt and immigration issues.
 
The CLCs employ around 88 lawyers and a large number of lawyers working in law firms also volunteer their time and expertise.
 
The work of the CLCs is funded by Government, and Elizabeth noted with pleasure the commitment in the Labour-New Zealand First coalition agreement to an increase in that funding.
 
Elizabeth is also the chairperson of the Bushy Park Sanctuary near Whanganui. The sanctuary is a 100 hectare predator-free native bird sanctuary, set amongst virgin lowland forest. Elizabeth challenged Rotary Karori members to join with Whanganui Rotarians for a working visit to the sanctuary.
 
Providing legal help to everyone 2017-10-24 11:00:00Z 0

Joint Meeting with Karori Lions

 
The annual joint meeting of Rotary Karori and Karori Lions members was held on 11 October. Rotary Karori members were warmly welcomed and President Graeme reciprocated with thanks. He also took the opportunity to hand over the Karori Lions' share of the net proceeds from this year's book fair.
 
Beth Anders of Karori Lions gave a powerful and passionate presentation on Camp Quality, a volunteer organisation providing camps and recreational activities for children suffering from cancer and their families. Camp Quality was founded over 30 years ago with the assistance of the Lions Clubs of New Zealand.
 
The Wellington Region with which Beth is associated conducts a summer camp, a picnic, and a reunion day for senior campers. It also runs a weekend training camp for volunteer companions who are assigned to each child attending a camp.
 
The focus is on children aged 5 to 13 years. Seventy children are enrolled for the January 2018 summer camp. Camps provide a stress-free and caring environment for the children, where fun and friendship are combined with achievable challenges. Camps also provide a respite period for families.
 
Camp Quality is dependant on fundraising to meet the annual costs for the Wellington Region of around $140,000. Lions clubs contribute around one third, while the balance is raised through a wide range of events and fundraisers. 
 
Beth concluded with a message of hope and commitment to the lasting impact of these camps and an invitation to Rotary Karori to consider providing support.  
Joint Meeting with Karori Lions Douglas Webb 2017-10-11 11:00:00Z 0

Visit From District Governor, Mitch Brown

At our meeting on 26 September District Govenor Mitchell Brown outlined the challenges facing Rotary, together with some potential solutions.
 
After a greeting in Te Reo, Mitch introduced Taupiripiri, a carved talking stick owned by the New Plymouth West Rotary group. Carved by a master carver the stick comprises several sections. At the top there is a bird with it beak shut 'listening'. Other sections represent the creation of the world, our environment and finally an uncarved section representing the future. Mitch also referred to the chains of office and some of the individuals that had worn them.
 
The most critical challenge facing Rotary is membership. The average age of club membership is increasing. To conteract this we will push the theme 'Go Wild About Rotary'. Further interaction with our communities is key and the Rotofest event will be held in Palmerston North on 11-13 May. This will include the opening of the Wild Based Recovery Centre on the Friday. Social events will feature the Roger Fox Band and food trucks parked around the square.
 
Visit From District Governor, Mitch Brown Phil Oliver 2017-09-28 11:00:00Z 0

Cuba - New Zealand Relations

Ambassador Mario Alzugaray Rodrigues, Cuban Ambassador to New Zealand, was welcomed to our meeting on 12 September. The Ambassador is a career diplomat who was posted to New Zealand in 2015, following postings in Beijing and Shanghai.
 
In introducing the Ambassador, we acknowledged the tremendous losses of life and property in Cuba as a consequence of Hurricane Irma, and extended our sympathies to the Cuban people.
 
Cuba's history has been shaped by its central position in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to four centuries of occupation by Spain, domination by the United States from 1902 until the Cuban Revolution in 1959, and post-revolution the US trade embargo, that largely continues until this day.
 
The trade embargo is the most comprehensive set of sanctions imposed on any country, and imposes barriers both large and small on dealings between Cuban businesses and people and not only the US, but also other countries and people. 
 
In this context, New Zealand is a welcome trade partner, the main export being dairy products, while tourism is growing rapidly. Cuba is also seeking to tap the New Zealand experience in economic and social reform.
 
The Ambassador and his family are enjoying the lack of formality and relaxed lifestyle in New Zealand.
 
 
(pictured; l to r: Ambassador Rodrigues and David Watt, Rotary Karori) 
 
Cuba - New Zealand Relations Douglas Webb 2017-09-12 12:00:00Z 0

A mobile medical health clinic for the Cook Islands

David Baker and Michael Blundell of the Rotary Club of Masterton South made a presentation to our 12 September meeting on a proposed mobile medical health unit to meet significant unmet needs for easy access to primary health care in Rarotonga, the Cook Islands.
 
They are seeking financial support for the purchase and fit-out of the clinic, with the target of delivering the clinic to the Government early next year. The government will supply medical personnel, and will meet the operating costs of the clinic.
 
 
(pictured; l to r: Michael Blundell and David Baker; Ambassador Rodrigues; President Graeme Titcombe; David Watt)
A mobile medical health clinic for the Cook Islands Douglas Webb 2017-09-12 12:00:00Z 0

Celebrating the Karori Youth Awards 2017

As it has for the last 20 years, Rotary Karori was the lead sponsor for the 2017 Awards, presented at a well-attended ceremony on 5 September. The Awards are the brainchild of former Rotarian, Wally Simmers, along with Heather Baldwin of the Karori Community Centre.
 

 
The Awards recognise the achievements of Karori young people in service to the community, arts and sports, academic improvement after overcoming obstacles, courage and bravery, and contributions to other young people. This year, 26 awards were made, including the Supreme Award to Lily Marsh. The award citations featured social activism, mentoring and leadership. 
 
A keynote address by Zara Maslin of Attitude NZ stressed that young people should find their strengths and use their potential to do something meaningful beyond themselves. 
 
"It won't always be easy - the right thing isn't always the easiest, and the easiest thing isn't always right. The most important things in life are what you do for other people."
 
Celebrating the Karori Youth Awards 2017 Douglas Webb 2017-09-05 12:00:00Z 0

Karori Book Fair

 
The annual Rotary Karori/Karori Lions book fair was held over two days on 25-26 August. With a new venue this year and a large number of good quality books, the fair attracted many buyers from Karori and beyond. 
 
The book fair continues the successful partnership between our two clubs, allowing us to do more together for our community.
 
Additional support for the book fair was provided by Karori New World and other local retailers.
Karori Book Fair 2017-08-27 12:00:00Z 0

Archaeology At The Mount Street Cemetery

 
Karen Adair (shown with President Graeme Titcombe and Douglas Langford) addressed Karori Rotarians on the history and current work at the Mount Street Cemetery at their meeting on 22 August.
 
Karen is a policy manager at the Ministry Of Culture And Heritage. She has a family connection to Rotary Karori through her parents Robin and Yvonne Adair.
 
Mount Street Cemetery is a little known cemetery adjacent to Waiteata Road in Wellington. Both the Mount Street and Bolton Street cemeteries  were created in about 1840 or 1841 and consecrated by Bishop Jean Baptiste Francois Pompellier.
 
Mount Street Cemetery is the final resting place of a complete cross section of society, and remains church property to this day. The 1840s saw many soldiers buried there, many gold miners were buried there in the 1850s and many Irish Catholics in the 1870s. The earliest surviving headstone belongs to Captain O'Connell and is dated 1850. In total it is estimated that 950 graves are contained in the tiny plot of land.
 
Archaeology At The Mount Street Cemetery Phil Oliver 2017-08-27 12:00:00Z 0
General Election Candidates' Meeting 2017-08-27 12:00:00Z 0

Creating the Future

At the Rotary Karori/ANZ Bank business breakfast on 17 August, Professor Graham Le Gros,  Chief Executive of the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research and Dr Robert Weinkove, consultant Haematologist, spoke about the work of the Institute.
 
It is vital that New Zealand continues to have an independent research organisation carrying out the active biomedical research programme being undertaken at the Malaghan with the support  of Central Government,  businesses and community organisations alike. The Malaghan Institute is now into its fifty-first year of research operations in New Zealand.
 
Graham Le Gros, a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow, said the Institute has built a strong foundation in basic biological research and through decades of investment and support for its research into the human immune system the results are paying off.
 
The research staff have an understanding of the immune system that is making it possible to use the body’s own systems to heal itself. Their work is focused on cancer, asthma and allergies, and brain health research. In the next decade or earlier, we will see an immune-based approach applied to treating conditions such as multiple sclerosis, autism and diabetes.  
 
The Malaghan operates with 100 staff at its base in Kelburn. Graham Le Gros acknowledged his board colleague in the audience, Port Nicholson Rotarian Ian Paterson, along with wife and fellow Rotarian Jane.  Ian has contributed large sums of financial support to research at the Malaghan from sales undertaken by his real estate company, Just Paterson.
 
Dr Robery Weinkove, Clinical Director of the Institute's laboratory team generating GMP-grade human dendritic cells, spoke on the Car T cell therapy programmes being undertaken at the Institute and provided a picture of how international research agencies, especially in China, are also leading on immunotherapy research. 
 
He said their task as a team at the Malaghan Institute is to roll out new cancer therapy  treatments, to build new cures for allergic diseases and to build the Mayo Clinic in the South Pacific.  Their goals are to build manufacturing capability, clinical experience and quality management, and to collaborate with all other research groups.
 
The audience had many pertinent questions to our speakers on the future of the research programme at the Malaghan and were left in no doubt that the Institute is recognised globally as a world leader and is well supported by strongly interested philanthropic individuals and organisations who want to see the Malaghan Institute for Medical Research play an important role in shaping New Zealand’s future.
 
Creating the Future 2017-08-16 12:00:00Z 0

RYLA registrations now open

The District RYLA team has announced that it is seeking highly motivated 18 to 24 year olds who have already illustrated leadership potential.
 
Guide to RYLA is available, with information on the application process along with recommendations on how to interview and select deserving candidates. For programme costs please refer to the Rotary Clubs Guide to RYLA.

Key Dates;
Now -            Seek expressions of interest 
October -       Interview and select your clubs applicant(s)
31 October -   Submit your applicant(s) to the RYLA committee 
20 November - Early bird payment closes

For more detail, go to www.ryla9940.co.nz, or contact Ganesh Cherian, Programme Director (Hutt City) on ganesh.cherian@gmail.com.
RYLA registrations now open webb 2017-08-08 12:00:00Z 0

Improving bodily function through movement

Alan Cameron is a certified Feldenkrais practitioner and spoke at a Rotary Karori meeting on 25 July 2017. Feldenkrais is an educational approach that aims to help people who have physical limitations to understand why they feel the way they do and to learn how to move differently to overcome the problem. 
 
Feldenkrais is not a medical treatment and is different to massage and chiropractic, which work directly with muscles and bones. It is about working with the nervous system and the coordination of movement.
 
Using the ability of the brain to relearn, and using gentle, slow body movements, habitual patterns of movement that are inefficient or causing discomfort are identified and modified.
 
Areas of focus are balance and stability, coordination and flexibility, and chronic pain.
 
 
Improving bodily function through movement Douglas Webb 2017-07-26 12:00:00Z 0

In Memoriam

Rotarians around the world have been saddened by the sudden death of the President-elect of Rotary International, Sam F. Owori. Sam was a member of the Rotary Club of Kampala, Uganda, for 38 years. His term as Rotary's 108th President would have begun on 1 July 2018. He would have been the first Rotary International President from Uganda. 
 
David Watt met him when he came to our District 9940 Conference in Foxton in 2014. Sam was due to come to the 2017 Rotary Institutes in Darwin and in Auckland in September this year.
 
Rotary is establishing a memorial fund in Sam's honour and more details will be available soon.
In Memoriam Douglas Webb 2017-07-15 12:00:00Z 0

Changeover 2017

 
Changeover 2017 was memorable for the award of two sapphire pin PHFs: one to Jim Johnston, presented by former District Governor Martin Garcia, and the other, a double sapphire, to Doug Langford, presented by President John, in one of his final acts as President.
 
Jim's citation noted that he received his first PHF in 1998. This second award is in recognition of 20 years of service to District 9940 science programmes and forums and 10 years of service as District Chair of the Rotary national Science and Technology Forum.
 
Doug is a foundation member of the club and received his first PHF in 1991. He has served  as President and Treasurer, and has held numerous club offices. Most recently, he has been the Rotary Karori liaison to Rotary Kaukau, and has been instrumental in the formation of a new Probus Club in Wellington.
 
Keeping it in the family, we were entertained with an accomplished piano accompaniment      provided by Doug and Allison's grandson, Joshua.
 
 
 
 
Past-President John reflected on his year as President before gratefully handing over the chain of office, and the responsibilities that go with it, to President Graeme.
 
The evening was also notable for the theme of US Independence Day, with Allan Frazer emerging a clear winner for most outstanding costume, notwithstanding a strong challenge by David Watt.
 
Changeover 2017 2017-07-04 12:00:00Z 0

Grant Robertson And The Future Of Work

Grant Robertson, the popular Wellington Central MP, addressed the members of Rotary Karori on Tuesday 20 June. After a brief biographical introduction, Grant moved on to his main topic of the evening, his work as Chair of the Future Of Work Commission. The Commission is a Labour Party initiative that has taken place over a 2 year period. The Commission has produced a 78 page report that attempts to break out of the 3 year electoral cycle and to look at the big picture for employment trends.
 
Grant contrasted the speed of change in various eras, from the printing press to the internet. Automation is increasingly gaining traction and is popping up in surprising places. Not only is automation becoming dominant in large scale manufacturing but also areas such as accounting and medicine. The report contains 63 recommendations focusing on inclusion, resilience and adaptability. The full report can be found at http://www.futureofwork.nz/
 
Grant stressed the importance of careers advisers to assist young people preparing to enter a rapidly changing work place. Sadly this advice is largely lacking at the present time, with teachers often expected to carry out this function as an addition to regular teaching commitments.
 
Grant Robertson And The Future Of Work Phil Oliver 2017-06-21 12:00:00Z 0

Rotarians Participate In Karori Planning Exercise

 
Karori Rotarians hosted Counciller Andy Foster at their meeting on 13 June. Also present were Council Officers Cally, Bo and Tim. The meeting was designed to elicit thoughts and ideas that would contribute to the forward planning processes for the Karori suburb.
 
Andy, a long time stalwart of the Karori area, started out by providing context for the Wellington City Councils planning processes, stressing the need for dialogue. This was the first of a number of sessions planned for the Karori suburb. Similar sessions will shortly be launched for Miramar and Kilbirnie. However Karori faces a number of critical decisions in the short term including those for infrastructure, transport and education.
Rotarians Participate In Karori Planning Exercise Phil Oliver 2017-06-14 12:00:00Z 0

Rotary - a reliable partner

At our new members' evening on 9 May, Rotary Karori and Rotary Kaukau Presidents (John Barton and Russell Law) presented to Jacqui Jago, Karori Branch Coordinator, Bellyful, a grant made by the two clubs. Bellyful provides meals for families with new-born babies and families with young children struggling with illness. 
 
Christoph Zintl, Karori Youth Centre, spoke at the same event of their work with young people and thanked Rotary Karori for its continued financial support for the Centre.
Rotary - a reliable partner Douglas Webb 2017-05-10 12:00:00Z 0

Youth Night At Rotary Karori

Karori Rotarians were treated to some youthful snap, crackle and pop at our meeting on 11 April. Three young people who had received Rotary assistance reported back on their experiences and a candidate for the RYLA spoke of his background and of his hopes for the future.
Youth Night At Rotary Karori Phil Oliver 2017-04-17 12:00:00Z 0

Club visit to the Life Flight Trust

Rotarians from the Karori and Kau Kau Rotary Clubs had the opportunity to view first-hand the rescue fleet, the Westpac Rescue Helicopter and fixed wing aircraft at the Wellington Life Flight Trust base, Lyall Bay, on Tuesday night. The questions put to Sebastian Grodd, Marketing and Fund-raising Manager, and the crew of the Life Flight fleet, clearly indicated a deep interest in their business.
 
Club visit to the Life Flight Trust Andy Nicoll 2017-04-01 11:00:00Z 0

An Inside Perspective on the Trump Presidency

 
Our speaker on 14 March was Roy Ferguson, Wellington North Rotarian and former New Zealand Ambassador to the United States. Roy spoke on the recent US election and the inauguration on 20 January this year of the 45th President - Donald John Trump, a 70 year old businessman and television personality. 
   
 
   
 
 
An Inside Perspective on the Trump Presidency 2017-03-15 11:00:00Z 0

Supporting the work of the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute

Rotary Karori is proud to be a supporter of the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute. We have recently made a grant to the Institute towards the travel costs of an Institute staff member who will visit the Salk Institute in the United States in order to learn more about recent advances in stem cell technology that allow the creation of new healthy tissues. 
Supporting the work of the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute 2017-02-26 11:00:00Z 0

Helping young people in Karori

 
 Rotary Karori places a high priority on working with young people in our community. We recognise the challenges faced by many young people and look for ways to provide mentoring and positive and supportive advice. One of those is the Karori Youth Centre operating out of the Karori Community Centre.
 
 At our meeting on 14 February, we heard from Christoph Zintl, Youth Development Adviser at the Centre. Christoph was accompanied by Heather Baldwin, chair of the Community Centre (l to r: Christoph Zintl; John Barton, Club President; and Heather).
 
 Christoph has been working with young people for many years, initially in Christchurch and later in Karori. During this time, he has noted that the age range of young people at the Centre has expanded over time, and now is from 11-25 years. He observed that "young people need encouragement to do better." Through helping young people, "you get involved - what you get behind the scenes is very different to what you see." 
 
 
 
Helping young people in Karori 2017-02-13 11:00:00Z 0