We had the pleasure of welcoming and hearing from our District Governor Gary Hopkinson at last week’s meeting.

 

A retired architect, Gary shared that he attended Greymouth High before training at two Universities plus on the leisure side continues to enjoy fishing and sailing.  He has spent over 40 years in the scouting movement and was then asked if he would like to join Rotary on the Coast … and the rest is history.

 

In terms of the ongoing development of Rotary, Gary feels that getting members out and doing “stuff” is important and noted that even small projects can make a real difference for the communities we work with.  His club currently sponsors young women in overseas countries to go to college so as to help raise the education levels of their villages.

 

He also talked briefly about (1) the Centennial project which will involve four clubs from NZ & AU building support for immunisation and (2) looking at the process involved in working towards amalgamating Districts 9970 and 9980 which he feels will be quite the challenge for us going forward.

 

When asked what his best moment was as a Rotarian, he commented with a grin: “Marrying another Rotarian.”

 

Liz thanked Gary on our behalf for taking the time to visit us and share his thoughts going forward.