Club News 16.10.22 (Oct 16, 2022)

This week's meeting

Paul Ash

Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Cyber in Aotearoa New Zealand

On 15 March 2019 a terrorist attacked two mosques in Christchurch, killing 51 people and injuring 50. The horrific event was livestreamed by the terrorist for 17 minutes, and was viewed over 4,000 times before being removed. This terrorist attack made clear the harms that can be caused by terrorist and violent extremist content online.

Paul Ash leads the Christchurch Call team based in NZ, and works with over 120 governments, online service providers, and civil society organisations to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.

If you do not register or specify your dietary needs in the comments section of your registration, please accept that these may not be catered for.

Member Duties

For the meeting at The Wellington Club at 7am on 19 October:

Desk -- Yon Yi Opening Thought -- Candace

Greeting -- David M Introduction -- Lindsay

Buy the Box -- Heather Thanking -- Marc

Club Reporter -- David B Parting Thought -- Andre

Please contact Brent to arrange a replacement if you are unable to complete your duty this week

Interact Fundraiser

Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan, in Bong Joon-ho's 2019 film, Parasite.

Watch at Penthouse Cinema on October 19 at 5.30pm.

Watch the trailer here

Order your tickets here

Oceania Chapter meeting

Will be at 8.30pm on 18 October, with guest speaker Sarah Moran, Head of Engagement at the Electric Vehicle Council of Australia. Sarah will talk about the situation with EVs in Australia and NZ, Government support, and is available to all Rotarians and others interested.

Please book through Humanitix, and use this link to join.

Secretary Search

Please contact Dawn if you are interested in taking on the role of Club Secretary, potentially in a role-share capacity. This role needs to be filled urgently, so anyone and everyone's application is most appreciated.

Attn Paul Harris Fellows!

There will be a photo taken of all our Paul Harris Fellows this week, so please bring your Medals to wear for it.

RYLA 2023

Please contact Darryl if you know anyone who may be interested to participate in this fantastic opportunity.

More info on RYLA here

Thank you!

This week, David received the following update from Anne Schumacher, Chief Executive of Dementia Wellington Charitable Trust:

"..thank you so much for your support of Dementia Wellington , having willing collectors makes life so much easier! We really do appreciate your help and by now you would have received Sarah’s email letting you know that we raised $6,450, so a great effort."

Thank you to those of you who helped out with collecting donations recently. It is clear how important our work is to the organisations we support.

Ukraine update

In case you haven't seen it in your inbox, here is an update of the fantastic work Rotary is doing in the Ukraine, and how you can continue to contribute.

It's good to have an excuse!

We have had a special offer of some aged wine bin ends, to help raise money to End Polio.

The wine is a Hawkes Bay Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon blend from the 2016 vintage. Drinking very well at the moment showing nice fruit, soft tannins and a lovely finish.

The wine is offered at $90 per 6 pack; this includes a contribution of $15 to End Polio. Effectively members are paying $12.50 per bottle of wine and contributing $2.50 per bottle towards End Polio.

Please see the flier for more info on how you can place your order.

The Randell Cottage Writers Trust need our help!

Are you available on 27 or 28 October to help set up the Rotary Gazebo in Thorndon for The Randell Cottage Writers Trust's 20^th anniversary? They need some strong, able bodied folk to take the gazebo to Thorndon and erect it, so that it can be dressed in preparation for an event on Sunday 30th. Please contact Linda if you can help.

From the president

Congratulations! How pleasing it was to see David Barnes receive a Paul Harris Fellow Award and a 2^nd Sapphire PHF Pin to Peter Whittington, whose outstanding service to RCPN is in many capacities.

His roles with regard Perambulators have extended from not only organising hundreds of walks, and ‘walking the talk’ his intrepid self, no matter how inclement the conditions! As was noted in his Citation, following the trek by members of RCPN in Nepal, Peter went on to organise building projects in Nepal through to arranging their guide, Pem Sherpa (below) to come and talk to our Club. Generous with wine from his vineyard, whether donated or discounted, Peter supplies bottles of Brookfield for many of our events and weekly raffle. Coordinating the offer of some aged wine bin ends from Hawkes Bay, Peter is making a donation from each bottle of $2.50 towards End Polio. Yet another example of his Service Above Self.

It was impressive to hear from IPP Marc at the AGM last week about all that was achieved in his year, especially given the fact that it was still being disrupted by Covid. Having PDG Martin Garcia and DGN Mark Wheeler there meant they both not only presented the PHFs, but also heard about so many of RCPN's activities.

It is lovely to see Jo Douglas returning to Wellington and our Club, and Bev Wells visiting while over from Nelson. It seems that a large % of Club Members have already taken advantage of the opening of the borders, with overseas travel tales being hot conversation topics at our Breakfasts.

A quick reminder to adhere the Wellington Club Dress Code, outlined in last week's Bulletin and to book for Breakfasts. A note that Ben Baker will be attending our Breakfast on 26 October for those keen to catch up with him.

Enjoy the return to those longer evenings and even the odd early BBQ!

Dawn