RCPN Bulletin 30 August 2026 (Aug 30, 2026)

Club News

30 August 2026

To ensure your content is included in the next bulletin, please send it to rcpnbulletin@gmail.com by 9am on SUNDAY

Our Duties September
Please note that these may differ from previous notifications

If you are going to be away please record your leave of absence here

	Sept 2	Sept 9	Sept 16	Sept 23
Desk 6.45	Brad Weekly	Peter Whittington	Geoff Smith
Greeter 6.45	Simon Warburton	David Shackleton	Bill Day
Set up/ Pack up	Nick Duncan	Hadleigh Petherick	Aparna Dubey
Kaikohau	Howard Tong	Jane Paterson	Steve Lawton
Opening Thought	Lindsay Chitty	Rob Whitney	Richard Brodie
Introduction	Rod Badcock	Richard Westlake	Dawn Sanders
Thanking	Brenda Lazelle	Heather Lucas	Peter Whittington
Parting thought-	David Quinn	Iona Sammons	Tamaris Livera
Reporter	Marc Rands	Charles Little	Howard Tong
Photographer	Jeff Lee	Jo Douglas	Nick Duncan

Our Speaker this week are:

Bryony James

Vice Chancellor, Victoria University of Wellington

The vision for Te Herenga Waka

Professor Bryony James became the Vice-Chancellor in June 2026. Prior to that she was the Provost at Te Herenga Waka, starting in October 2023.

She has previously held various leadership roles in the New Zealand university sector, including Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Waikato, and Deputy Dean (Research) and Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Auckland.

Over the decades of her academic career her research interests evolved from traditional areas of materials engineering to the intersection of materials, food and nutrition.

Supporting Nepal

The Rotary New Zealand World Community Service has set up an account to which we can donate to help support Nepal to recover.. Here are the details.

Summary: To support Rotary projects to assist the people of Nepal following the deadly flash floods and landslides that have devastated communities and damaged critical infrastructure.
Challenge: Widespread damage in Nepal will take years of intervention and support.
Solution: Rotary Clubs in Nepal will support families and their communities to rebuild their shattered lives.
Long term impact: Support will assist the Nepal community to recover beyond replacing physical homes to restoring their long-term economic, psychological, and social well-being.

Donations to:
RNZWCS Limited Westpac Acc. 03 1702 0192208 01 placing 303N in the ref. field
Swift Code: WPACNZ2WXXX
Rotary New Zealand World Community Service www.rnzwcs.org

Registered Charity CC26860

President David

I am in not-so-sunny Palmerston North for a Justices of the Peace conference as I write this. Surely nothing beats Rotary, but it is so inspiring to meet new people dedicating so much of their lives to help others.

I often hear compliments about the high quality of our speakers at our meetings. I know that, for me, this alone would make me come week after week. These speakers present on a variety of relevant topics and help us stay in touch with the world and meet people we otherwise wouldn't. In an increasingly fractious and divided world, it's even more important we break out of our own 'bubbles' and connect with as wide a range of people as we can.

Many thanks to Heather and Fiona for organising our speaker programne. Oh, and if you catch yourself thinking: "why dont we have someone speaking from...?", then that is your cue to do some research and pass on names to Heather and Fiona.

Thanks to Aparna for another successful book club meeting last Thursday, this time on Australian literature. These short evenings are really enjoyable and add another opportunity to get to know each other better over a drink and the obligatory Wellington Club fries. Our Book Club has a lovely habit of lifting the conversation above the usual small talk and discussing issues that matter; good books do seem to bring out good thinking.

David

The future looks good

Meetings, speakers and events coming up

9 September - Fiona Smith & Simon Warburton - New member presentations
16 September - Dr Melanie Young - Osteopathy and voluntary support for children in need
23 September - Club Forum
30 September Sarah Morris Encouraging participation and community power in response to creeping authoritarianism
7 October - Simon Douglas - Transport issues facing NZ now and into the future
14 October - RADAR awards
21 October (Wednesday evening) 2026 Grand Night Out - No breakfast meeting
28 October -Michael Nestmann Assisted Dying in NZ
4 November -Natalia Fareti International, domestic and regional initiatives supporting young Pacific change makers
18 November -Anna Fifield The Life and times of a journalist and foreign correspondent

2027

21 April - Goal Setters Awards at Te Papa. Early notice for your diary entry

A GRAND NIGHT OUT

is a special night in the Rotary Calendar

An update of the event Wednesday 21 October……….

We now have 18 restaurants who have confirmed their support who will each host a table of 8 people for a 2-course dinner without charge, but guests pay for all drinks consumed, and any other food.

Boulcott Street Bistro, Cable Top Eatery, Coene's, Cuba Street Tavern, Floriditas, Loretta, Fratelli, Le Bouillon Bel Air, Liberty, Logan Brown, Monsoon Poon, Noble Rot, Novotel Wellington, Rydges Wellington, Salty Pidgin, Shed 5, The Regal, Thistle Inn.

A fun and exciting fundraising evening, offering guests an exciting night out. A “blind draw” is held when guests find out where they will be dining for the evening. Tables are matched with a venue, by drawing out a venue name from one hat and a table name from another hat.

GET A GROUP TOGETHER MAKE THIS A SPECIAL NIGHT
FOR YOU, YOUR FRIENDS, AND THE CHARITY
Watch this space for an update of Auction items…

Settling Refugees in NZ

We were fortunate to have Jacob Smythe of the red Cross and Phil McCarthy of Anglican Services (AS) talking today on the work they do to settle Refugees into the NZ society. Our Rotary club regularly donate food items to stock the AS “pantry” from which newly housed refugees are supported for 2 weeks of their settling in period in the accommodation.