Rotary Club of Port Nicholson Bulletin

Wednesday 19 May 2021

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President
Mike Selvadurai
 
“Together we make a Difference”
 
Tena koutou katoa
 
Firstly, thank you to our Grand Master Howard, for presiding over the breakfast meeting last Wednesday- as one member mentioned ‘it was a class act’! No one can deny the dynamo Howard is and the spark he ignites in us!
 
President Elect Marc gave his member presentation as a lead up to him taking office in July.  I am told ‘he amused us with his animated history, giving us a greater appreciation of his past and current role at the Royal Society’.
 
On Saturday I attended the opening session of Interactors Day, which was held at the Royal Society- thank you to Marc for making the facility available and supporting the event. The Interact Club of Wellington (12-18 yrs), made up of students from Wellington Girls and Wellington College, was initiated by Port Nicholson Rotary, as sponsor, and is now stewarded by Gillian, Darryl and Paula who have a passion for youth and expend a lot of time and effort behind the scenes which largely goes unnoticed by most of us.
 
President Mike addressing the Interact Day
 
My message to them in my welcome speech was simple, they are the future leaders of Rotary and careers they pursue and encouraged them to use the event to learn from each other, develop skills and above all have fun whilst doing that. Many thanks to Tori from Port Nicholson and Tessa from Rotaract who also attended and spoke about their Rotary experiences and undoubtedly as inspiration for the youngsters.
 
On the matter of youth, I recently received a report from Inglewood Rotary Club on the RYPEN (Rotary Youth Programme of Enrichment) course for students 15-17 held in Inglewood in March and attended by fifty students from 27 colleges around the lower half of the North Island. We sponsored two of them, Unique Edmonds (St Mary’s) and Liam Maitland (St Pat’s) who spoke to us last Wednesday on how worthwhile RYPEN was to them. A copy of that report is attached elsewhere in the bulletin.
 
The board held its meeting on 17 May. It reviewed the strategic objectives and goals I set for the year and concluded that we have completed much of what we set out to do. I will summarise the results and overall performance of my year at the 30 June breakfast meeting. It is also intended that we formally hand over the donations from funds raised at the charity auction to the Malaghan Institute and the Children’s Hospital at that meeting.
 
A group of 17 members and partners enjoyed a great night out at our social dinner on Thursday at One Red Dog. Lots of time to chat and enjoy each other’s company and a bit of joviality with Julian attending for the first time adding his inimitable sense of humour and Paula arriving late after going to the wrong One Red Dog! Great to have had honorary member Bob Moffat and Elaine attend as well.
 
Karori Rotary is hosting a Quiz night to raise funds for the Children’s Hospital at the One Fat Bird Restaurant in Karori on Sunday 20 June at 7pm- $25pp for a team of six. This is part of District 9940’s commitment to raise $400k by March 2022 (Port Nic’s donations to date, including funds from the charity auction go towards this cause). If members & partners are interested in forming a team and having a fun night, please let me know by 11 June.
 
I am looking forward to seeing you all again on Wednesday after two weeks of absence.
 
Kia Kaha
Stay Safe
 
Mike
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Guest Speaker 
Dr Marc Rands, President-Elect
 
 
Those who missed this week’s speaker missed a treat. Incoming President Dr Marc Rands shared with us a brief glimpse of his family history on both sides – and the many journeys that shaped who he is today.
 
In 1857, Marc’s great grandfather was born in Yorkshire. After their marriage, he and his wife sailed to New Zealand where they settled in Methven in Canterbury and had eight children. One, Henry (Jnr), became an industrial chemist and a government research scholar. In 1917 he was asked to go to England – to Manchester University where he worked with Ernest Rutherford on the project that resulted in splitting the atom. Post war Henry returned to Wellington where he married and had 3 children including Marc’s father – Richard.  
 
 
On his mother’s side, his great grandfather was born in Ukraine in 1870. He joined the Tsars army at the age of 17, but eventually joined the Ukrainian army against the revolution. After the signing of the Treaty of Versailles he became the Ukrainian Ambassador for Hungry and Romania. He had two children including Marc’s grandmother Natalie. Political unrest saw them fleeing firstly to Paris (where Marc’s mother Clair was born) and then to Canada near Toronto.
 
When Richard travelled to Toronto he met and married Claire before returning to Wellington where Marc was born in 1967. Some years later when the marriage ended, Claire took Marc and his sister to the UK where she had aspirations of becoming an artist. They spent a year travelling through Asia on route to the UK and were kidnapped (only once) and were released when the ransom was paid!
 
Marc eventually went to St Andrews University in Scotland – where he met his future wife Ann. He joined the Royal Society in Edinburgh where his role was to investigate and provide expert advice on the issues of the day such as the foot and mouth outbreak.
 
Marc and Ann have two sons Douglas and Alexander. As a child, Douglas spent 5 years in and out of hospital after being diagnosed with leukemia. Thankfully he has made a full recovery.
 
In 2010 Marc and his family moved back to Wellington to the NZ Royal Society. Here he has continued to provide expert advice on issues such as climate change, gene editing and artificial intelligence although his role has now transitioned to overseeing awards and recognition of our science excellence.
 
Brenda Lazelle
Club Reporter
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RYPEN Report 2021
 
Click here to read the report. 
 
Further to President Mike's comments in his report, the two student's attended Rotary on 19 May and gave a short address about their time at RYPEN. They both were very grateful to the Club and had really benefitted by being selected and attending the weekend in Inglewood. Thanks to Everard Aspell for organising.
 
Unique Edmonds (St Mary’s) and
Liam Maitland (St Pat’s)
 
Unique and Liam with Everard - a happy trio
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District 9940 Interact Day
Wellington 22 May 2021
 
The Port Nicholson Interact Club Co-Presidents
Kieran and Evelyn addressing
the group at the beginning of the day
 
Representatives came from Otaki and Palmerston North. The day went extremely well ending in a tour of Parliament. It was attended by the DG Elect Mark Wheeler and DG Nominee Marilyn Stephens. As mentioned above President Mike and President-Elect Marc also attended. 
 
A credit to the Interact Group and the wonderful guidance by Gillian Robertson, and Darryl Ross. 
 
 
 
Discussion Groups
 
DGElect with Daniel                  Tori
A group of Year 11s          Pres Rotaract PN
 
 
Well done everyone!
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Speakers
Jun 02, 2021 7:00 AM
Jun 16, 2021 7:00 AM
Super Conductors in Space TBC
Jun 30, 2021 7:00 AM
View entire list
Upcoming Events
Perambulators walk the Hutt Valley Eastern Hills
May 30, 2021
9:30 AM – 1:00 PM
 
Rotary Weekly Meeting 2 June 2021
The Wellington Club
Jun 02, 2021
7:00 AM – 8:30 AM
 
Rotary Meeting 9 June 2021
Wellington Club
Jun 09, 2021
7:00 AM – 8:30 AM
 
Flashback Friday at Waitoa Victoria Street
Waitoa
Jun 11, 2021
12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
 
Tree Planting - Friends of Tawas Bush Reserves
Tawa Bush Reserve
Jun 13, 2021
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
 
Rotary Meeting 16 June 2021
Wellington Club
Jun 16, 2021
7:00 AM – 8:30 AM
 
Informal breakfast at Leuven
Leuven Belgium Beer Cafe
Jun 23, 2021
7:00 AM – 8:30 AM
 
No weekly morning meeting at the Wellington Club
Jul 07, 2021
7:00 AM – 8:30 AM
 
Port Nicholson Changeover 2021
Wellington Club
Jul 07, 2021
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
 
Dinner at Bellamys after Changeover
Bellamys by Logan Brown
Jul 07, 2021
7:45 PM – 10:30 PM
 
View entire list
Club Duties & Roster:         
NB: If you are rostered for duty and cannot make it, then please arrange for someone else to take your place and let Brent know at brent.gerrard@outlook.com or 021 725060 Txts are fine too!
 
Duties
26 May
 
Desk: Anne Hare
Greeter: Brenda Lazelle
Opening Thought:
David Marment
Buy the Box: Bill Day
Introduction:
Jane Paterson
Thanking: Mark Cassidy
Parting Thought:
David Shackleton
Reporter: Brent Gerrard
4 week
Roster below
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Tree Planting
13 June 1pm 
Let’s help our planet
 
The Rotary Club of Port Nicholson have teamed up with The Friends of Tawas Bush Reserves to plant trees at the Tawa Bush Reserve.
 
Our goal is to build on what we have done in previous years and continue planting native trees in Tawa.  This is helping to regenerate our native Bush to provide habitat and food for the increasing numbers of native birds, to make lovely walking areas for us all, and to help slow down global warming.  Interact and Rotaract members are also welcome to join us!  We had a huge turnout from Rotaract last year and together we planted our
500 trees in record time!
 
If you would like to take part, please contact
Lisa King (lisa.king@treasury.govt.nz), who is a member of The Friends of Tawa Bush Reserves, and coordinating our Club’s participation.
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ONE RAT, ONE MOUSE AND (UNFORTUNATELY) ONE BIRD
 
Port Nich rat trappers were out again this weekend and managed to snare 2 well composed vermin and unfortunately one sparrow which had somehow found its way into the trap. While not a big tally it does reinforce the need to keep on keeping on. There was a big crowd around Te Papa and the markets and some nice supportive comments from some of those out and about. 
 
The Rat!!
The Mouse!!
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A Good Night Had by 17 of us at One Red Dog
on 20 May
 
 
 
 
A fun occasion
 
Thanks to Heather and Howard for organising.
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100 years of Rotary in New Zealand.
 
Here is the link to the photos of the Mana Tangata Book Launch.
 
They can all be downloaded using the link. Click here
 
The images are open source, and available for anyone to download. 
 
Thanks and all the best. Best wishes
 
Simon Woolf
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Funnies!
 
 
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This was an excellent result and a big thank you to those from Port Nicholson who volunteered at the 2021 Annual Street Appeal.
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Rotary Predator Free Waterfront Trapping Schedule
 
Kia ora Trappers
Please find the updated trappers schedule to take us through to July 2021. Many thanks to all for helping out.  In need give me a call  Rick  022 071 0064.
         
 
         
 
20-Mar
 
Jeff Lee
 
MarcRands
 
3-Apr
 
Steve Lawton
 
James Moran
17-Apr
 
Brent Gerrard
 
Eden Skipper
1-May
 
Bev Wells
 
Peter Whittington
15-May
 
David Shackleton
 
Rick Hughes
29-May
 
Paula McKnight
 
Dennis Small
12-Jun
 
Jenny Flannigan
 
Howard Tong
26-Jun
 
Ross Buxton
 
David Marment
                   
Please note: As always swap if your allocated date doesn’t suit and arrange which day and time that suits you both. Text Fraser Ebbett (WCC) 021 765 694 when you arrive and leave the site.
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