Two Guest Speakers on October 4th!
Sarah & John with John’s wife Laurie relaxing at our meeting on Oct 4th.
Sarah Pride’s Experiences at the Aspiring Leaders Conference
Sarah was one of 120 participants at this event held at Parliament. On arriving at the facility they were welcomed by Winston Peters and various other attending Parliamentarians and then split into 16 teams, including facilitators, with the focus being on discussing various aspects of leadership from their point of view.
After watching part of a “robust” session of Parliament in full swing, Sarah’s group then visited an MP in their office and discussed their thoughts on leadership. Sarah enjoyed the opportunity to meet with Jan Tinetti, a member of the Education Select Committee, who she found to be very down to Earth.
Later on the same day they all attended a banquet and had the chance to mingle with other participants and dignitaries.
During the next few days Sarah got to hear from a number of different speakers on a wide range of topics including an especially interesting one titled: “Recipe of Success for Life”.
The groups also visited a unique eleven story Marae set on a hillside and experienced a memorable Pōwhiri. Participants actively assisted with a wide range of tasks while on the marae which ended with a feast.
Overall Sarah found the opportunity to mix with what was a very diverse group of participants from various roles a very thought provoking and valuable experience. She remains in contact with many of them today.
Sarah thanked Papanui Rotary for recognising leadership potential in her and for giving her the opportunity to attend what was a thoroughly enjoyable and valuable and inspiring event.
John Stringer’s Life as a Papanui-Innes Community Board Member.
John, a member of our Club for 5 months, started by sharing that as part of his interesting life he has recently returned from an archaeological dig in Israel. Accompanied by his wife American wife Laurie, he is also kept busy with their 5 children and 4 grandchildren.
In terms of his past, John is a local lad and his working roles have included being a Parliamentary Press Secretary in Britain. He initially studied classics and has developed a strong interest in archaeology. Other experiences include working in the printing, steward and security industries plus post-quake he worked on the development of the inner city container mall. He is also a writer and cartoonist.
With respect to the structure of Boards in Christchurch, John noted that there are currently seven Community Boards with delegated authority to act on behalf of the Christchurch City Council (CCC).
Their role is to be the eyes and ears of the CCC by being in touch with local communities. While governed by the Local Bodies Act, the essence of their role is to be an advocate for communities and to both inform and challenge the CCC with respect to what people are wanting.
The Papanui Innes CB meets regularly with both key groups and individuals in their area to represent them and act as an advocate as well as be the conduit between the CCC and their communities. They are also the 1st point of call as sheer size makes it logistically impossible for of the CCC to undertake this role.
Community Boards are also very involved in a wide range of activities and advise both the community and the CCC to ensure all parties are aware of them.
Some of the specific topics John talked about included roads, reserves, signage and camping etc. Community Boards have a budget and part of this allows them to also support the running of both local and overseas events that are of benefit to the community.
A specific example John shared was the proposed changes to the Harewood Road - Papanui Road - Main North Road area. In order to change traffic flows so it becomes a rapid transit area, parking options will be removed from most nearby roads in order to better handle the 21 busses an hour that travel this route.
This saves time for traffic travelling through this intersection.
One of the challenges for the local community is that, including the Cranford arterial transition, we are a major conduit for North bound travellers and need to find a balance between their needs as well as those of the local community.
To finish his talk, John shared that he has noticed with some interest the large number of animals that have been returning to live in the inner city including cats, owls, water fowl, rats, eels and various types of other birds.
Thank-you, John, for sharing what seems to have been a varied and most interesting life plus your insights into how Community Boards operate.