Visitors
President Denise welcomed everyone with a quote from RI President, Jennifer Jones, “Imagine a world that deserves our best, where we get up each day, knowing that we can make a difference”. She then welcomed Joshua Jackson (Peter and Jenny's son) and Honorary Member, Ron Lucas.
President's Announcements
Denise thanked Philip Whearty for organising the dinner of pizza and ice cream.
It gave her great pleasure to present Peter Jackson with a Certificate of Service from the RI President for 20 years of Service to Rotary and, as she added, to Plimmerton Rotary Club.
This Sunday, 31 August, President Denise will be attending the Area Governors' Network Cluster Meeting that Kay is hosting, as Area Governor. It covers Area Governors from Tawa to Levin so will be a busy meeting.
Next week, Denise will also circulate a survey to glean ideas for our strategic plan. She would like responses to be returned to her within two weeks.
She asked Peter to draw the raffle which had been beautifully created by Tania and was won by Leigh Corner. Raffles will be a feature of future meetings so that we can keep the subs as low as possible - so remember to come armed with plenty of pennies each week, just in case ...
The speaker said …
The speaker who would have been with us tonight has been rescheduled to a new date in September. In place of the speaker Past-President Kay organised a night around some interesting social activities.
First, she passed around pages of photos of babies and young children and asked members to guess who they were. It was hard, especially as one, in particular, was a beautiful baby who turned out to be none other than Graeme Tongs.
Following this, she told a story about the history of a 'person', and members had to guess who it was. It was Josh Jackson who was first with the answer - Volodymyr Zelensky. A great choice for a great man and, for those who did not attend, worth a Google.
Finally, Kay had set up four members to tell a story about an item they have brought with them. Mike, Nick, David, and Wendy tried to pull the wool over everyone's eyes with varying degrees of success.
Viewpoint
Les Callear gave us his Viewpoint tonight about marriage. He certainly gave both the women and the man some food for thought. You can read the advice he had to offer here.
What’s coming up in August and beyond?
Next week, 2 August, will be committee night and everyone will no doubt brimming with ideas to offer to their new committees. President Denise will introduce and induct new member Dieter Timmerman.
On Monday 8 August the Porirua Primary School Leadership Awards will take place from 10.30-12.00 at Elim Church in Porirua. Do come and help honour the achievements of 64 primary students.
And just a reminder that there will be no meeting on Tuesday 9 August.
You can find details of all future events here.
Snippets
Barry McEwen conveyed the sad news that the recent high southerly winds had torn the protectors off a number of plants. He asked for help from a few people to help him on Saturday from 9.30 am to replace them and will be ringing round so please let him know if you can help.
This week’s happenings
We've received a reminder that the Zone 8 Conference will be held in Canberra from 28-30 October 2022. You can find information, and register, here.
The Rotary International Convention will be held in Melbourne from 27-31 May 2023.
District Governor-Elect, Wayne Gordon, who spoke to us last week about the Regionalisation Project that we will vote on in September has noted that the roadshow evening with our club will remain a stand-out in his mind. He considers that we might be the strongest contender for the "Best Ambience" award.
The Almoner said …
We have received sad news of the death of Eileen Stevens, wife of Michael Stevens. Michael has been out of Rotary for a while but he will be remembered for his involvement in the Computers in Homes project with e-Learning Porirua. The funeral service took place on Wednesday. John will send a card on behalf of the club.
And there's more sad news that Jocelyn Moller passed away peacefully on Monday evening. Her funeral will be held at St Andrew's Plimmerton this Friday at 11.00 am. Dan, the Vicar at St Albans, says that Jocelyn's family extends a welcome to all who knew and loved her as we celebrate her life.
Parting thought
John O'Connell provided the Parting Thought tonight. He said, "With the Labour Government coming under fire recently for its spend on public servants, new ministries or renaming current ministries, advertising its policies eg 3 Waters, Zero road toll, etc, I think it is time for a new Ministry to be established, to be called the Ministry of Commonsense. All central government and local government projects, policies, or initiatives must go through a selection process for assessment and approval on a commonsense basis. The Ministry will be responsible for appointing appropriate Commonsense panels of ordinary citizens similar to how we currently appoint jury panels. Each panel must be comprised 60% of retirees. Central government and local government employees, contractors, and their families will be excluded from participating in these Commonsense Panels to prevent unintended bias and 'wokeness'. Time for some good ol’ fashioned commonsense, folks!"
Who’s on duty for the next month?
Unable to do your duty? Please find a replacement and inform Leigh Corner.
If you're a late 'no show' please tell President Denise.
Please arrive at 5.45 pm if you're on Door duty or hosting the Guest Speaker for the evening.
Need to apologise or bring additional guests?
Advise the Receptionist at Professionals before 10.00 am on the Monday before the meeting on 233 9955 or email paremata@dwre.co.nz if you prefer.
Please provide the name (and spelling if necessary). The same applies if you're going to be late.