The venue was the Remuera Golf Club. The theme was Movies: Heroes and Villains!It was a fitting end to a good year for the club. We ate. We drank. We celebrated our many achievements.
All the while, dressed in some amusing costumes. There were Bat men and Bat women. We had a visit from Darth Vader. Even Donald Trump turned up! This writer will let you decide if he was deemed to be a hero or a villain.
Later on, the official chains of office were handed over from a Jedi Knight to Wonder Woman ... I think that says it all.
Two prizes were awarded for the best dressed; David and Jane Weikart won for "Tarzan and Jane" and Dave and Robyn Birch won for an amusing play on "Guy Forks" (and no, that is not a mis-spelling).
Immediate Past District Governor, Roger Harvey, added to the awards he presented at District Changeover with a Certificate going to John Meadowcroft and a PHF going to Warwick Leyland.
Our outgoing President Simon spoke of the clubs achievements during the year of which there were many. Thanks were given to the outgoing board for their tireless efforts.
We have had some amazing speakers. We have had some brilliant evening meetings. We have had some great club visits. To the Medical School. To the University.
Thanks were given to Brian McMath and Peter Ross for their help in organising our speakers. It’s not an easy task.
But, its through the committee’s that we each engage in what Rotary Newmarket is all about;
- Building relationships / making connections
- Using those relationships and connections to help others through projects; both locally and overseas.
- Using those connections, those relationships to help us run fun events that raise more money for us to donate to worthy charities and also to use in more of our projects.
As President, you get to see everything that the club does and Simon shared s brief snapshot of what we have been up to because, frankly, the sheer number of things we do is simply staggering.
Through our Youth Committee, we continued to support RYLA (we had a team driving around Motutapu at the time!), we continued our support of RYDA, The Walsh Flying School, MUNA, Science and Technology Forum … among many others. Well led by Ron.
Through our Community and Environment Committee, led by President Elect David Bradshaw, we continued to support the Motutapu Outdoor Education Centre and the Motutapu Restoration Trust. We also gave away the Bob Stewart Environment Award and supported the Sally’s hamper packing. Among other things. Not to mention, we built a house for a family in housing need through the Helping Hands Build project which was run in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity and St Cuthberts College. Well done David and thank you, in particular, on the house build. It was a massive project.
Through World Community Service & Foundation, led by Jeff, we supported the ERK project, The Taveuni Eye Project and we put Wheelchairs in a hospital in Rarotonga, leveraging our connections with other clubs and with the assistance of District. We also agreed to support a building apprentice programme in Fiji. Again, among many other projects. Well done Jeff.
Through our Membership and Vocational committee, led by Elvira, we brought in a number of new members, including a few younger associate members. We took on a Youth Exchange Student (what were we thinking :)). We also continued our connection to the Newmarket Business Association with the further sponsorship of the Art in a Day project and the Young Business Person of the Year award. Well done Elvira.
Our PR and communications team, led by Colin, kept our website and social media platforms up to date. Through the new Clubrunner platform, we have continued to produce our weekly Rapport newsletter. A difficult and thankless task as Colin will happily tell you. We also have new banners, flags and signage for future events. Another job well done.
Through our Fundraising team, led by Neil, we began the planning for the Garden Design Fest which will be in November this year. We ran another successful Circus Quirkus but the committee didn’t sit on their laurels. Apart from meat tasting evenings and the like. We also had the We Are One; Concert for Autism. An event that looks likely, we hope, to be an annual fundraiser. Well done Neil.
We have given away a few other awards as well; the Ross Craig Oncology Award, The Harold Titter Award to name but two. Thanks must go to the Newmarket Rotary Charitable Trust, the Chenery Memorial Trust, the Lois Daly Charitable Trust and the June Gray Charitable Trust for their support through the year in helping us fund these and many of our other activities.
Finally, we have supported our District Governor in all manner of areas. We have also kicked off a District project, supported and continued a few other projects that have become national projects. The AED project and 3D Printers in Schools being two of those.
PHF's
Past President Simon also had the pleasure of awarding a number of PHF's;
- To Past President Patrick Learmonth for his tireless efforts in his year as President.
- To Kevin Peacock for five years as our secretary and for keeping the board in line!
- To Ron McPherson who has been part of the engine room of the club for many years.
- To Boyne Drummond for his efforts, year on year, with the Walsh Flying School.
One further PHF had already been awarded to Anna Wong from St Cuthbert's College for her wonderful work in supporting our many fundraisers and for her efforts in supporting the Helping Hands Build.
Wonder Woman Takes Over!
And so, the chains of office were passed across to Wonder Woman. President Michelle then introduced her board and spoke of her goals for the year.
