Rotary Club of Port Nicholson Bulletin

Wednesday 08 July, 2020

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President
Mike Selvadurai
 
“Together we make a Difference”
 
Kia ora
 
Well, I think my first club meeting as President went reasonably well, despite early scare that our aged computer has had its day! Grateful to Bill, David B and Brent for sorting out the technical issues in the nick of time.
 
I was absolutely thrilled with the fantastic turnout by members and guests– 44 registered. We have been averaging around 80% attendance since we recommenced meetings in June and I encourage members to set that as a base target for the rest of the year. It was wonderful to see Hayley and we all wish her well for the special day, which is just around the corner. Great to also see Louise and Tessa.
 
We meet regularly every week but I wonder how well we really know each other. Hence in my introduction I wanted to tell you something about myself, where I came from, my family and my mission in life which focuses on family, friends and promoting the cause of Rotary. Being aware of each other’s origins and cultural background helps us build understanding and respect for each other. Ignorance feeds misunderstanding and barriers.
 
Darryl and Rick had a successful road trip delivering the ambulance to the shipping agent in Auckland but apparently it was a bit of an adventure – gladly they found relief and solace in the food bags we gave them! They will talk about the trip on Wednesday.
 
Our new Rotary year coincides with Matariki, the start of the Maori new year. Just as Matariki is a season to celebrate and to prepare the ground for the coming year, we shall do so as well as we embark on our journey for the next 12 months. The incoming board will hold its first meeting on 20 July. The main items on the agenda are to set the scene for the year and finalise the budget to carry us through.
 
In closing I would like to share RI President Holha Knaack’s message in his July Presidential message:
‘Rotary is not just a club that you join; it is an invitation to endless opportunities. We believe in creating opportunities for others and for ourselves. We believe that our acts of service, large and small, generate opportunities for people who need our help, and that Rotary opens opportunities for us to live a richer, more meaningful life, with friends around the world, based on our core values’
 
See you all on Wednesday – our guest speaker is the Italian ambassador.
 
ngã mihi
 
Mike
 
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Our President Mike
by Brent Gerrard.
 

"Together we make a Difference"

Mike has taken Rotary’s vision statement to make a difference and added his own flavour so that ‘together we make a difference’.

Mike acknowledged that Rotarians are a group of dedicated, energetic people who enjoy building relationships – together we will Create Ideas and Take Action. With our core values of service, fellowship, ethics and integrity (think of the 4-way test) we can apply those values and increase our effectiveness, achieve diversity, respect and tolerance.

If we use this years Rotary International slogan as a base – "Rotary Opens Opportunities" – we can set a similar vision for our own club to open opportunities for us to do things that are important, meaningful, helps communities and us, are sustainable and ultimately make a better place for us and our children – the future.

These opportunities and generating them enable a compounding and flow on effect for our communities and those who interact with us and who we connect with. We especially like to take the opportunity to connect with youth – one of our clubs stated goals.

Mike announced his Board for the year:

Secretary – David Barnes

Treasurer – Lindsay Chitty

Committees:

Community – Steve Lawton

Membership – Richard Brodie

Youth – Anne Hare

Projects – Tony Robinson

Club Services – David Barnes

Public Image/Communications – Dawn Sanders

Next year is the centennial year for Rotary in New Zealand so we need to get behind some of the wider NZ Rotary projects on the go – Give Every Child a Future (vaccinating up to 100,000 children throughout the Pacific) and the Mana Tangata Rotary History project.

Mike came from Malaysia on his own as a young man to complete his education and build a life for himself, which he done very successfully.

We are again fortunate to have someone with excellent leadership skills at the helm of our club for the year – we look forward to another year of success for our club. 

 

Link to Mike's presentation

A DASH ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Our ambulance is on the way to Samoa. Driver Darryl and navigator Rick took the Samoa bound ambulance on the first leg of its trip to Apia. What was expected to be an uneventful and well-planned drive through to Auckland on Thursday turned out to be a series of small challenges.
 
Leaving Wellington at 6 am! all was going really well making Taihape in a little over 2.5 hours. Then  the fun began. The central plateau was snowed in. Firstly the Dessert Road closed for an undetermined period of time, then the alternate routes were closed due to a truck roll and then a car accident which resulted in a 3.5 hour wait in a long queue.
 
Being in an ambulance did have its advantages and Darryl promoted us from the back of the queue to 3 from front, one kind gent ( an ex Rotarian of course) offered the use of his facilities for whoever we were driving in the back and a few kids got a burst of flashing lights.
 
A little before midday we got the go signal and took off via National Park. While our 4.30 deadline to make Auckland was not a goer and our return air booking of 6.55 was looking shaky we pressed on.
 
Apart from the navigators phone and google maps dying on us 5 minutes from our destination in fading light, road works and peak hour at Auckland airport we got there. Andrea, our contact at the shipping agent in Auckland came to our assistance happily staying at work to open up the yard for us and then dropping us at the airport in time to make our welcoming return flight to Wellington. 
 
Mission accomplished ! We made it, in large part to the well wishes of the club as we could feel the vibe with us and importantly the large quantity of food, biscuits, lollies etc  in the goody bags  presented to us last Wednesday. Thank you again as this sustained us along the way. Also many thanks to a club member who gave us some cash for diesel. Much appreciated.
 
Next stop for the ambulance is Apia via voyage no 477 on the Southern Trader arriving 25 July .
 
 
Presentation of Goodies for the road...
 
Driver Darryl asks Navigator Rick "Which Way??"
 
 
We are all in this together...
 
 
Snow! This wasn't in the plan!!
 
A link to the Samoa High Commission Website where the ambulance features
 
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Women in Tech Breakfast -
"This is life, but not as we know it"

Register now!

IYM is excited to be involved in TechWeek 2020. We are hosting an online Women in Tech Breakfast in conjunction with SSS IT Security Specialists. Our theme - "This is life, but not as we know it".
 

We have three inspiring women who will share their story and how Covid-19 has changed life as they know it.
 
 
DATE:     29 July
TIME:      7 am- 8.15 am
VENUE:  Online event - Registration Link: https://techweek.co.nz/whats-on/2020/women-in-tech-breakfast-653/

Our guests are:

Victoria Crone CEO of Callaghan Innovation. 

Victoria is passionate about making a difference to New Zealand. She has twenty years experience in the Communications and IT sectors, across strategy, partnerships, product, marketing, channels, business development, customer services, communications and brand. She is experienced in all customer segments (Corporate, Business and Consumer), across traditional and emerging products. Victoria is known as a results-driven leader. She has held many Board roles that cover a variety of private, social and not for profit enterprises.
 
Georgia Elliott - Project Manager @ SSS IT Security Specialists

Georgia leads the Project Management team at SSS IT Security Specialists. Her role is managing the translation of technical jargon into a common language for project teams or stakeholders to understand, resulting in success.
Maniaiwaho Phillips - PKI and IAM Specialist @ SSS IT Security Specialists

Maniaiwaho is PKI and IAM specialist at SSS IT Security Specialists. Her role is to enable the management of the lifecycle of identities within organisations including Identity Governance, Public Key Infrastructure, Certificate Lifecycle Management and Privilege Access Management.
There will be an opportunity for a few questions following each speaker.

 
We hope you can join us and our guests for an inspiring and informative start to your day. Don't forget to register!
Speakers
Jul 22, 2020 7:00 AM
Toastmasters Collaboration
Jul 29, 2020 7:00 AM
Zealandia
Aug 05, 2020 7:00 AM
Director General of Department of Conservation
View entire list
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Club Duties and Roster:         
NB: If you are rostered for duty and cannot make it, then please arrange for someone else to take your place and let Brent know at brent.gerrard@outlook.com or 021 725060 Txts are fine too!
 
15 July Duties
 
Desk: Brenda Lazelle
Greeter: Gillian Robertson
Opening Thought:
Howard Tong
Happy Dollars: Anne Hare
Introduction: David Barnes
Thanking: Nick Duncan
Parting Thought: Kamini Hermon
Reporter: John Bishop
 
See below for 4 wk Roster
 
Immediate Past President David awarded some KeyWay Awards. 
 
Lindsay Chitty
 
 
 
Nathan and Winston from the Wellington Club
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Rotary - On The Move Newsletter for July 2020. This is always a valuable and interesting read Click here
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Rotary  - 4 Ways to engage members online: Click here
 
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2020 Wine Options Evening.
 
The Wellington Rotary Club are hosting a fun event where teams compete in wine tasting.
Sunday 16 Aug 2020
Wellesly Boutique Hotel
6pm on the dot with champagne.
$80 cost.
 
Contact Stuart Brooker to register.
 
 
2020 Celebrate Brighter Days Raffle
 
(instead of the annual Auction and Dinner)
 
All proceeds from the raffle will support the Malaghan Institute & the Wellington Children's Hospital 
 
There are 1000 tickets and the tickets are $20 each. We will be asking each member to sell one book of 10 tickets.
There are 12 wonderful prizes and prizes for the person who sells the most tickets.

 
 
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Social Get Together
 
Post COVID social gathering
 
Date:
Jul 23, 2020
6:30 PM  - 10:00 PM
Fee:
$46 a head for entree and main
Location:
Thistle Inn
3 Mulgrave Street,
Thorndon,
Wellington 6011
 
 
Details:
It's back to the Thistle Inn!
Dinner and drinks 
Please RSVP with any dietary requirements by 17 July
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FUNNIES!
and/or
Interesting comments!
 
My horoscope said I was going to get my heart broken in 12 years time 😭
So I bought a puppy to cheer me up.
 

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Fun fact: Bruce Lee has a vegan brother called Broco Lee 

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Ben Baker
- presents Mozart, Sibelius, Martinu and Halvorsen during Lockdown

After several weeks in lockdown Ben has been back into a more familiar rhythm and on Tuesday 23 June he was feeling very lucky to be back on stage!

He felt hugely honoured to be a part of the Wigmore Hall's Online Festival with BBC Radio 3 with the incredible violist and his friend, Timothy Ridout. They played a duo programme of Mozart, Sibelius, Martinu and Halvorsen.

The concert was streamed online through the Wigmore Hall's website, BBC Radio 3, and YouTube (link attached below).

The concert will stay online for at least 30 days afterwards the concert.  Click here to view the concert

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Some more Changeover Picture
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Member Profile - Alan Strawbridge
 
With a need for speed in his youth, Alan Strawbridge was what they called “A Side Car Swinger”. His definition of “hanging out” was decidedly different than most. He meant precariously dangling outside a motorcycle sidecar, his face mere inches from the ground with the world whizzing by at 200 km/hr.  He also had a keen interest as a team rider in motocross and trials while living in Australia. Life moves at a decidedly slower pace now. 
 
Alan left school at the age of 15 but as luck would have it, he was given an opportunity a few months later and successfully challenged the entrance exam to Victoria University where he earned a bachelor of chartered accounting with honours. He later earned a bachelor’s degree in economics as well and a master’s in public policy.  Alan admittedly hated accounting early on but it served him well as entry into international business and eventually, as a solid foundation on which to build his company, Marsden Consulting Ltd.
As boys often will do, Alan is happy to talk shop: cars and motorcycles that is. There is an unveiled pride when he explains that his first car was a 970 Cooper S…fully modified of course. It’s the same pride one hears when he talks about the clients he has served the world over for 30 years and across three generations. It’s a different kind of fun but Alan drives his business at full speed.
Alan is a self-professed workaholic and has a very hands-on approach to running his company, “It’s my way or the highway,” he says. “I prefer to drive it.” An attitude he no doubt shares with many a successful entrepreneur.
Alan is keenly interested in fine wining and dining, a most civilized pursuit.   “I do like good food,” he admits and says he has an “open palate.” But, to be clear, he adds, “It’s not worth eating if it doesn’t have meat in it.” At that, Alan had a bit of a laugh noting he had lost 5 kilos over lockdown.
Alan pairs his love of food and wine with a palate for fine art as well and named the late Lindsay Crooks from Oamaru as one of his favourite artists. However, with a keen interest in economic texts, Alan’s taste in literature is drier than a Muscadet wine. He is decidedly cerebral, but says he’s developing an interest in non-fiction.  
Alan does hope to visit Europe someday, possibly Tuscany, Italy and Provence, France where he says he may taste a few wines. In preparation, he is currently studying a little French and has, in past, studied Italian through Victoria University. “Just the basics,” he says.
Alan knows he’s a lucky bloke, not just because he has a lovely family with four grown children nor because his business has met with obvious success but because, and he adds with a laugh “My wife thinks I’m an adorable guy.” I’m sure it’s true but it will be great to meet Lianne one day to corroborate his story!  
As for Rotary, Alan says it’s all about camaraderie, friendship and fellowship with like-minded people. While the Zoom meetings are good, the interaction between members is what he enjoys most.
 
Rotary Predator Free Waterfront Trapping Schedule
 
Week Ending (Sunday)
Volunteer 1
Volunteer 2
May 24
Jeff Lee
Brent Gerrard
May 31
Jenny Flannigan-Tong
Howard Tong
June 7
Bill Day
Steve Lawton
June 14
David Shackleton
Richard Brodie
June 21
Marc Rands
Bev Wells
June 28
Noel Winsloe
David Shackleton
July 5
Steve Lawton
Dennis Small
July 12
Brent Gerrard
Bill Day
July 19
Brenda Lazelle
Dave Lazelle
July 26
Jenny Flannigan Tong
Howard Tong
Aug 2
Richard Brodie
Peter Whittington
Aug 9
Noel Winsloe
Bev Wells
Please note: I have used Sunday as the service day for the week, but feel free to negotiate an alternative day to suit with your Service Volunteer Partner. If your allocated day doesn't suit please swap. Text Fraser Ebbett (WCC) 021 765 694 when you arrive and leave the site.
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