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Here For Good – NZ Red Cross
 
Caroline Johnson Fundraising Manager for Red Cross in Christchurch gave us an interesting and informative presentation about the past, present and future of Red Cross in New Zealand and around the world.
 
Red Cross has 14 million volunteers around the world reaching 150 million people.
 
Caroline spoke about the 7 fundamental principles of Red Cross and the various humanitarian -projects that the organisation is involved in including their successful Caring for Refugees and Pathway to Settlement and Pathway to Employment programmes.
 
Her talk was liberally interspersed with a series of excellent video clips. A complete package of information about the work of Red Cross can be found at www.RedCross.org.nz  
 
 
Food Box Packing
 
Keith thanked all those members that assisted with the food box packing at Aotearoa Foodbank. This well-oiled machine is working with speed and accuracy. Well done team!
 
 
Welcome Eden Skipper
 
It was a pleasure to welcome back for a visit, former University Emerging Leader Eden Skipper and past regular participant in club meetings and projects.
 
Eden is now living and working in Wellington where he has joined the Port Nicholson Rotary Club.
 
 
Volunteers wanted
 
Lois is wanting volunteers to assist with the following street appeal:- MS and Parkinson Disease on 3rd and 4th of September. Please let Lois know if you can help.
 
 
Rotary Centenary Planting Day
 
Liz Courtney reminded members of the upcoming Centennial Planting Day to be held on Saturday 7th August. Please note this in your diary and join with other Rotarians to make this project a great success.
 
 
Tree Planting at Papanui Bush
 
Denis McMurtrie reminded members of the tree planting taking place at the Papanui Bush, Langdons Road on Tuesday 10th August. Start time is 9.30 am and please bring your own gardening gloves and a small spade.
 
 
Vintage Fashion Parade
 
Tickets are selling fast. Limit numbers available so contact Lois NOW to get your tickets.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Allenvale Visit
Allenvale School Visitors
 
Allenvale School provides education in a specialist setting for students who have an intellectual disability.  Many also have specific disabilities and/or difficulties. This means they require a highly differentiated teaching and learning pathway which is not available in a mainstream school.
 
We were privileged to welcome Gary Quarless, Principal, accompanied by Bev Wall, parent and PTA member, as our guests last week.
 
 
Gary opened his presentation with the phrase: “Every day starts with a sunrise and ends with a sunset.”
 
The start of a school day at Allenvale is very different to most mainstream schools. From 8:30am, a large number of mobility vans and taxis arriving from all over Christchurch. This can be quite the challenge as the school has one narrow access road and the front area is relatively small, especially with more than twenty vehicles coming and going!
 
In the future, a purpose built school will be built in Belfast but, as this is a 2 year design & build process, the school has to cope with their current setting and ‘make do’ in buildings and classrooms which were not originally designed for children who have special needs. “Having said that, the staff and board have done an amazing job in adapting many of the classroom and outside areas to make them as safe and accessible as possible. In this our PTA and local community have been incredibly supportive, especially Rotary.”
 
Everyone can learn and our goal is to maximise the opportunities for students to learn, achieve and progress throughout their schooling.  As many students are non-verbal and do not read text, many different specialised communication technologies and ways of teaching are used at school.
 
Our most able senior students attend a community based facility near Northfields. Here, the primary focus is to maximise their involvement in and access to their local community and their independence as they are after all young adults.
 
“For example, developing the students’ social and monetary skills enable them use local buses, travel to and use shops or just enjoy a drink in a café with friends.” explained Gary. 
 
With respect to the various causes of the challenges the school’s students face, Gary identified the three main origins as:
 
  1. Global developmental delay – this means there are significant intellectual delays in all areas with students from birth.
  2. Disease and infection, either pre or post-birth resulting in intellectual disability.
  3. Injury or accidents.
 
In the past, many children who had significant physical disabilities or health issues did not live into adulthood but, as medical interventions have improved and developed, many are now living well into adulthood.  “This brings more complex, multi-layered students into our school and requires health professionals to increasingly be part of the team” noted Gary.
 
The school curriculum is based on the NZC (New Zealand Curriculum document) and increasingly focuses on the five key ‘Key Competencies’ for learning:
 
  1. Thinking.
  2. Using language, symbols and text
  3. Managing self.
  4. Relating to others.
  5. Participating and contributing.
 
Two key competencies that the school aims to prioritise are Relating to Others and Managing Self. Tertiary sectors and business have both identified these as essential skill areas they often find lacking in young adults and the MOE is currently looking at the implications of this for all our schools and curriculum.
 
“Over the last few decades, increasing numbers of children are going to school while not being ‘ready to learn.’ Here in Canterbury, many schools have adopted Play Based Learning approaches to address this. At school we are exploring how we can incorporate this into our own practice” shared Gary. 
 
Developing a Rich Communication environment is a foundation block at Allenvale, as is student voice. The latter has been well captured in the consultations regarding the design of our new school, both within our school and the wider community.
 
It is also important to recognise and celebrate students as positive members of our local community and indeed wider society. One way we do this is to hold termly Mufti-Days to support national events, such as Loud Shirt Day or Autism Awareness Day. Donations collected on these day are all sent to the chosen charity, and our students and whānau really do enjoy being able to ‘give back.’
 
“This days can be great fun too” noted Gary with one example being the holding of their own Highland Games event recently.
 
“At the end of each day, we return to what can often look like ‘controlled chaos’ as we support 146 students to access their vehicles for the journey homes” smiled Gary. 
 
In conclusion, Gary noted that one of their biggest issues is obtaining appropriate funding as the school is very reliant on raising additional each year to the standard MoE grants in order to help address the learning, health and family challenges of all students.
 
We then asked Bev for her thoughts as a parent of a child at the school. 
 
 
“You often don’t know what is going to happen to your child going forward and I would like to ensure he has support and that I can trust the staff to look after him” she replied.
 
“I love picking Caleb up when he is smiling and happy as that way I know he is also safe.”
 
 
Lois thanked Gary and Bev for their insights into Allenvale, the challenges they face, and the great work they are doing in ensuring their students receive the very best education possible going forward.
 
Committee July 2019

Committees Reports

 
 
Last Thursday was one of our regular Committees Meetings night. All attendees sat in their committees for the meal and subsequent discussions. Key poiints for the various committees are:
 
ADMINISTRATION
 
Projects:
  • Gift wrapping and Christmas Tree of Giving.
  • Gift Wrapping money collection: Needing three volunteers to pick up the money from the two gift wrapping stations at the end of the day. A roster to be made up.
  • Succession: Gordon Shields and Tony Tizzard wish to relinquish their positions as treasurer and Secretary.
  • Committee Deputies: Deputies to go on a roster to attend a Papanui Club Board meetings.
  • Risk Mananagement Plan: Risk management plan to be drafted for the Papanui Rotary Club.
  • Guest/s at Rotary: If bringing a guest to Rotary club meeting, advise the apology email system.
  • Rostered on Duty?: Not able to do your duty? Your responsibility to find a replacement. Look on the roster two weeks ahead or use your blue book and let the President know who is doing your duty.
MEMBERSHIP AND PUBLIC  IMAGE
 
  • Had a very successful weekend in Hanmer with emerging student leaders from UC
  • Community activities were well received. Now need to build on the goodwill created
  • Club will be assisting Forest Park Camp on Halloween night Thursday 31 Oct
  • Will continue to look for opportunities to build our profile in Hanmer
  • Club will look at the options for livestreaming meetings to reach those who cannot make it along to club meetings
  • Committee is looking at strengthening the mentoring programme and member engagement
  • Looking at an event that will appeal to alumini from Rotaract, RYE and RYLA in past years
  • Committee will continue to look at ways to modernise rotary and innovate to broaden our appeal to prospective members
 
 

 

 
Grant Shoulder

Your Club Chat editor suffers for his craft

Our esteemed Club Chat Editor (Grant Paice) has been out of action for the last three weeks as his aggressive note-taking style and hours of keyboard work has caught up with him. This has meant he has had to have surgery to have a plate placed in his shoulder. This surgical miracle will see Grant back on the keyboard in the next few weeks.
 
An x-ray of the plate is shown on the left.
 
An alternative theory going round is that he had a skiing accident. 
 
Hanmer Students Video Report

Hanmer Video Report Working Bee with University Leaders

 
 
 
Amazing weekend working with the leaders of tomorrow and getting things done at Hanmer Forest Park Camp. This report is on video. Click here to view it.
 
Hans Memories

Hans Lubeck Farewell Presentation

 
At our recent Changeover Night we all said farewell to our popular Rotary Exchange Student Hans Rubeck.
 
In Denmark Hans lives with his parents and two sisters in a relatively small town of 5000 people.
 
On the night Hans gave a presentation on his Rotary year in New Zealand.  The photos above show Hans from his very first meeting when he presented a Rotary Banner to President Jenny through to his last week when he was caught cooking in Tony Tizzard's kitchen.
 
Hans had an amazing year which included extensive tours of both the North and South Islands. He went whale watching and sky diving. His trip included golfing with Evan, skiing with Grant and Dr Larry plus many many more experiences.
 
We understand that Hans has arrived safely back in Denmark. We all wish him well.
 
2019 Convention Report

Rotary International Convention Report

Arie, Janice, Lois, Deryn and Liz all attended the Rotary International Convention in Hamburg at the beginning of June.
 
We were treated to a presentation on 11 July where Liz began by giving an overview of the Convention where 27,000 Rotarians gathered from all around the world in the Hamburg Messe.
 
Each huge hall held 12,000 people at each plenary session. The message was clear that we need to record our volunteer hours for greater impact. We need to reinvent Rotary to continue to be relevant in this fast moving world.We need to reinvent Rotary to continue to be relevant in this fast moving world.

Our goals for the next year should be to increase public awareness, grow Rotary and focus on women joining Rotary and foster Rotaract and young people.
 
Rotary International has a goal for membership to have Rotary at 30% women by 2023.

Rotary will be partnering with Toastmasters International to share their training with Rotaractors to help with confidence building and speaking techniques. This is something we can offer to our younger members to provide a good learning experience unique to our organisations.

Liz also took a Breakout Session on “ Getting Your Story Told” 5 effective and practical ways to tell our Rotary stories. This was well received by an enthusiastic audience from around the world.
 
Janice and Aire talked about re connecting with their Rotary and Exchange students in  both Germany and Holland. Being with young people and talking about Rotary and what it does around the world is of great importance in spreading the Rotary story. They also gave us a great trip around the Avalon Boat trip which was full of Rotarians as it sailed from Basil.

They made friends with plenty of Rotarians from around the world and caught up with old ones !

Lois talked about a Breakout Session on Conflict Resolution within Clubs and gave us an exercise to complete about Listening.

Lois went to 7 Breakout sessions including one on Women in Rotary- Strategies for Leadership.

Rotary International has a goal for membership to have Rotary at 30% women by 2023.

Deryn spoke about the House of Friendship and the  Home Hosting Fellowship Bus tour which both she and Lois went on for two weeks with 35 other Rotarians from around the world. She gave us many great photos of the places they had visited.

Both Lois and Deryn were first time attendees at a Rotary World Convention and were keen to encourage others to go at least once in their lifetime. For Liz, Arie and Janice this was the third Convention for them. The benefits of attending one of these Conventions is that you get to see another country, hear world leaders speak, mix with many Rotary leaders, experience different cultures and hear about exciting projects being done by Rotary. There were so many really wonderful speakers to motivate and inspire you. It gives you a glimpse of the bigger picture of Rotary on the world stage.
 
 
 
2019 Convention Report - Deryn

Deryn's Conference Stories

Day One:  Our bus left Hamburg with 35 on board, 33 Rotarians from US, Canada, Australia, Taiwan and NZ, and our driver and guide, who were both Czech. We set off for Bremen, a very old town with a Brothers Grimm fairy tale about the Four Musicians, a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster.
 
Onward we went to Hamelin where we were to stay our first night. The town was full of rats! Fortunately, these days just painted or brass rats. After dinner we were each given a liqueur glass of rat Poison! It tasted good but one glass was enough, we had to find our way back to the hotel.
 
Day Three. Berlin: Visited The Bridge of Spies. This crossed from East Germany to West Berlin. Off then to Wannsee House where on 20th jan 1942 15 high-ranking representatives of the SS, the National Socialist German Workers Party and various ministries met to discuss their co-operation in the planned deportation and murder of the European Jews, The Final Solution of the Jewish Question. A real eye opener. 
 
On to Cecilienhof Palace. It was here, in 1945, the Summit meeting of WWII victorious powers took place, attended by the Big Three Harry S Truman, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. It was at this meeting they decided on which country was to have which territories, cutting out Germany altogether. That night Lois and I went looking for the Holocaust Memorial, or the Memorial to the Murdered Jews Of Europe. This covers 19000 sq mtrs and has 2711 large concrete blocks representing the people who lost their lives. Not dissimilar, emotionally, to our 185 white chairs.

Day Four. A visit to Meissen, where the first European porcelain was made. 

Dachau Concentration Camp. A bleak place but puts things in perspective. 11,000 people were cremated here over 3 years. Followed by a fun visit to a beer and pretzel bar, Hofbrauhaus Brewery, very famous in Munich. Here we were each served a beer and pretzel. The beer generally came in 1L mugs, too large to hold!

Kehlsteinhaus, or Eagles Nest, Hitlers mountain home where he had built lots of underground bunkers to protect him and his family and friends from the horrendous things that he was orchestrating! This was pretty awful as we looked through the bunkers but the view from the top was beautiful. After most days reaching 30C or very close we were suddenly in snow, however, the air temperature was still very warm, so short sleeves were appropriate.

We had a trip to Salzburg which was nice but a long bus trip there and back. We had heavy rain and hail on the way back. We filled with diesel soon after. We didn’t offer to pay the bill 729.59Euros! for 465L

Then our final dinner together back in Munich.
 
2019 Convention Report - Arie

ARie and Janice Conference Stories

TRIP TO HAMBURG
 
Arie and Janice travelled to Hamburg convention via Singapore and a Rhine River cruise. In Singapore they stopped with friends for 2 days and took time to go The Gardens At The Bay where they visited the massive hothouses - Flower Dome and Cloud Forest and took in the light and sound show in the grove of man made supertrees. This garden down by the waterfront is a must see for anybody stopping over in Singapore. 

From there they flew to Zurich and took a 9 day cruise on the Rhine River to Amsterdam on the Avalon Expression. The trip was wonderful, the food and cabin very nice and the crew ever so helpful – nothing was a problem. There were excursions at every port stop but we also took time to catch up with German students who had lived in our home over the years and their families. Those reunions were very special. 
 
Once in Hamburg they attended convention and a number of the breakout sessions but the special moments were when they caught up with two more students one night in Hamburg, and on another evening a group of 5 Australian PDGs and wives who were part of our year group of governors. That was a big night out at Roxie’s bar. Then on the last night of Hamburg convention we joined district 9920 at the last supper which they do every world convention. That was special - 50 Kiwi Rotarians in one place all wearing their black T-shirts eating and drinking and making a lot of noise.
 

Our rotary moment in Hamburg is when we got talking to an elderly German couple at the bus stop outside our hotel and the wife thought she had met Janice before. We explored further and her husband Bernard and Arie had been in the same year group as District Governors and we had sat next to each other for dinner on the second night of governor training in San Diego in January 2016.
 
The world is a small place when you part of Rotary.
Snippets
 
Verdi is asking for donations of goodies for raffle and auction prizes for the International Committee's Quiz Night on 4 August. There will be gift baskets so he can accept anything you can think of to bring along.
 
 
 
 
 
Upcoming Events you are welcome to attend
 
Club Committee night
The Papanui
Apr 04, 2024
5:55 PM – 7:30 PM
 
Cancer society with running of RELAY FOR LIFE.
to be advised
Apr 05, 2024 9:00 AM –
Apr 06, 2024 4:00 PM
 
Club Car Rally
to be advised
Apr 07, 2024
 
Coffee Club morning
Reality Bites Cafe
Apr 19, 2024
 
South Island Rotary Conference Mixer
Cancer Centre
Apr 19, 2024
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
 
View entire list
Meeting Responsibilities
Duty Roster 28th July 2022
 
Reception
Flanagan, Lois
 
Speakers Host
Courtney, Nick
 
Sergeant
Wright, Max
 
Room Setup
McMurtrie, Denis
 
Banner Setup & Room Tidyup
Sedgley, Ron
 
Raffle Ticket Seller
McNee, Ken
 
Duty Roster 4th August 2022
 
Reception
Wright, Max
 
Speakers Host
McNee, Ken
 
Sergeant
Wright, Max
 
Room Setup
McMurtrie, Denis
 
Banner Setup & Room Tidyup
Sedgley, Ron
 
Raffle Ticket Seller
Mitchell, Keith
 
Duty Roster 11th August 2022
 
Reception
Van Beek, Verdi
 
Speakers Host
Denhard, Gary
 
Sergeant
Bond, Mark
 
Room Setup
McMurtrie, Denis
 
Banner Setup & Room Tidyup
Sedgley, Ron
 
Raffle Ticket Seller
Paice, Grant
 
Duty Roster 18th August 2022
 
Reception
Thomson, Rob
 
Speakers Host
Barltrop, Charles
 
Sergeant
Wright, Max
 
Room Setup
McMurtrie, Denis
 
Banner Setup & Room Tidyup
Sedgley, Ron
 
Raffle Ticket Seller
Skiba, Larry
 
Club Chat from Rotary Papanui
E: papanuirotary@gmail.com W: www.papanuirotary.org.nz
Apologies to rcpapologies@gmail.com      Chat Items to paice@xtra.co.nz
 
Centurions  $100 Payments to Rotary Club of Papanui Charitable Trust
Account number 03 1355 0661945 00.
In details area add your  name and the reference "Centurion".