Rotary Club of Port Nicholson Bulletin 8 September 2021 (Sep 12, 2021)

President

Dr Marc Rands

COVID Lockdown continues....

Kia ora,

Now we are at level two we can re-start club meetings with COVID precautions! I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday.

Club profile: Philippa Bascand

I am still pretty new to Rotary having joined just prior to lockdown in 2020 having been introduced to the Club by Heather Lucas. I like the friendliness of our Club and the range of activities and span of charitable events it gets involved with. For a small Club we do a lot and are very successful at fundraising for charities which post COVID is going to be much needed.

I volunteer every second Thursday at the SPCA Op Shop in Johnsonville which I thoroughly enjoy. It's very grounding. People come in to browse and go away very happy with their purchases or just come in for a chat, often with their dogs - we have our regular customers. It's grassroots volunteer work in a way - more of social service than a major income earner. As the SPCA gets no government funding this gives it a level of independence but also means it is reliant on shop sales, donations and bequests for its operations.

I am a regular blood donor and find this satisfying too and it is an easy and painless way to give back to society. You never know when you might need some blood or plasma but each donation can be used to help up to 3 people in an emergency. I encourage everyone who is eligible to roll up and donate to NZ Blood - it takes about half an hour and is quite social - people from all walks of life.

My daytime job is in health or wellbeing policy. I'm committed to public health policy and the difference such health initiatives can make to public health and intergenerationally. COVID has completely renewed interest in public health campaigns worldwide. I'm proud of our support of vaccination programmes in the Pacific and the end to Polio campaign as both initiatives have a global and near neighbour reach.

I was born in Wellington but grew up on the Taieri Plains and then moved to Dunedin for secondary and university study. I moved back to Wellington in 1985 and have been here since. At home I live with my partner Tony Cooke, my big dog Dusty, 2 cats and 4 chickens and a large garden. We have one of our adult children living at home since lockdown, which I think is a common experience. Last year it was two of them so we played scrabble and taught them bridge and whiskey games. We have six adult children between us who are keen to travel and shift off-shore when NZ opens up. I'm keen to travel overseas again - it feels a long time since I was in Egypt in 2019 - although we did a great month in a campervan travelling round the South Island last September soaking up the scenery and helping out the cafes that were open.

Rotary in New Zealand’s Centenary year:

News item from New Zealand 100 years ago:

Waikato times, 13 September 2021:

Harnessing an atom: Is it possible? Illimitable power possibilities. Addressing the British Association for the advancement of science on “Can we harness and atom?” Professor Richardson declared that Sir Ernest Rutherford’s discoveries at Cambridge made the artificial transmutation of chemical elements an established fact. If atomic energy could be intensified and controlled, we would have at our disposal an illimitable supply of power transcending anything hitherto known.

All the best,

Marc

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Guest Speaker:

Vice Chancellor

Professor Grant Guilford

Victoria University of Wellington

Times are changing for Victoria University as it repositions itself in a global and highly competitive market for tertiary education.

Vice Chancellor Professor Grant Guilford joined our online Zoom meeting last week and spoke about how tertiary education was evolving and how his university was responding.

There is now much greater competition for students, driven only by a greater supply of providers but also by universities with big reputations (and big budgets) being able to muscle in and teach students online around the world.

Universities were setting up overseas partnerships, teaching online or blended online and face-to-face, and shifting towards taught post-graduate degrees with the option to do research qualifications. A further trend was to provide less generic and more issue-based qualifications such as for climate change. Micro-credentialing is growing such as certified, short, professional courses covering a focused topic in business or policy.

Victoria has anticipated and responded to these trends by introducing online options, parterships in countries such as China and Vietnam and ensuring a strong Victoria/Wellington brand is in place.

Professor Guilford said that student mental wellbeing was a real problem in universities and Victoria was having to invest in a dedicated mental health service. A shortage of national mental health services meant universities felt they had to step in to fill this gap. He said that modern parenting and high expectations had led to many students being unprepared for university, with some students dealing with set-backs and failure for the first time in their lives.

David Barnes

Club Reporter

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An update -

A letter sent to Lindsay Chitty

Hi Lindsay,

I trust you have done okay during the latest lockdown - almost out again now.

It was great to see your email and payment of the funds from your breakfasts. Thanks for your continuing support of our work. Please pass on our sincere thanks to all your members.

A receipt will be issued shortly.

Warm regards,

Maurice Roberts

Fundraising Executive

PS $1184 was forwarded to WCM

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Rotary District 9940

Update 2

The Rotary Learning Centre

As I mentioned previously, one of my District roles is being on the Learning and Development team. Over the past two weeks we have been running a series of Zoom training sessions on the Rotary Learning Centre.

The Learning Centre is a wonderful resource for all Rotary members, offering a whole range of courses on everything you need to know about Rotary. And it is all free. Several of our members have been participating in these sessions and Port Nicholson is generally well represented, so thank you.

Access to the Learning Centre is easy and is available to all Rotarians. All you need to do is type My Rotary into your browser, enter your email address and a password and you are in.

Once you have accessed the site, go to the Learning and Reference title in main menu, click on it and access the Learning Center (note the American spelling). There is a myriad of courses available which will help you understand your role and that of your committee and much besides.

The courses can take 15 minutes or one hour depending on the subject and your availability. They cover everything from leading change, being a good facilitator, diversity, equity, and inclusion etc. Once, you completed the course you even get a certificate.

Enjoy the courses, and if you have any difficulties accessing the site, just let me know.

David

Rotary District 9940 Liaison

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Perambulators Tackle Tawhai Loop
Horoeka Park
Sep 19, 2021 9:30 AM – 1:30 PM

Rotary Meeting 22 September 2021
Wellington Club
Sep 22, 2021 7:00 AM – 8:30 AM

Rotary Meeting 29 September 2021
Wellington Club
Sep 29, 2021 7:00 AM – 8:30 AM

Rotary Meeting 6 October 2021
Wellington Club
Oct 06, 2021 7:00 AM – 8:30 AM

Members Dinner at POP Bar
POP Restaurant
Oct 08, 2021 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

View entire list

Duties

15 September 2021

Zoom Meeting

Desk: Mike Selvadurai

Greeter: Brenda Lazelle

Opening Thought:

Alan Strawbridge

Buy the Box:

Ross Buxton

Introduction:

Peter Whittington

Thanking:

James Moran

Parting Thought:

Lou Bray-Burns

Reporter:

John Bishop

4 week

Roster below

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Wellington Free Ambulance

Wellington Free Ambulance
Onesies Day Collection

The planned day for has unfortunately been "Covided".

Cancelling the collection will unfortunately result in a shortfall of at least $100k of the $250k needed to buy a new Onesies Ambulance.

We have all needed an ambulance sometime to help us or our families. You can help by donating at www.onesieday.co.nz , click here or txt ONESIES to 3181 to donate $3.

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Presidential initiatives

Click here to learn more of RI President

Shekhar Mehta’s presidential initiatives and how your club can help advance them.

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Funnies!!

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If the insert here in last week's Bulletin caused offence, upset, or was found to be tasteless or insensitive, the editor of the Bulletin apologises.

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Brain Teasers

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Did you know?

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RIPP Ian Riseley &

PDG Juliet Riseley

An evening with

Ian and Juliet

Wednesday 24 November, 2021

(NB: change of date)

All proceeds to

Rotary Foundation

Ticket price $30 -

includes finger food

Angus Inn, 5 Cornwall St, Lower Hutt

Cash bar available

Please register and

purchase your ticket using the link - click here

Contact for inquiries:

Joanna Newlove

Secretary - Rotary Hutt Valley

021 427232

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Rotary Predator Free Waterfront Trapping Schedule

Kia ora Trappers

Please find the updated trappers schedule to take us from July to October 2021. As always please swap if your allocated date doesn’t suit. Many thanks to all for helping out.

Week Ending (Saturday)	Volunteer 1	Volunteer 2
July 10	Peter Whittington	Brent Gerrard
July 24	Steve Lawton	David Shackleton
August 7	Marc Rands	James Moran
August 21	Eden Skipper	Rick Hughes
September 4	Howard Tong	Jenny Flannagan
September 18	Ross Buxton	Jeff Lee
October 2	Paula McKnight	Dennis Small

Please note: Saturday is used as the service day for the week, but feel free to negotiate an alternative day to suit with your Service Volunteer Partner. Text Fraser Ebbett (WCC) 021 765 694 when you arrive and leave the site.

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Rotary Club of Port Nicholson Board

Marc Rands (President) Lindsay Chitty (Treasurer) Philippa Bascand (Secretary) Heather Lucas (Director - Club Services) Julian Bateson (Director - Community Service) Jane Paterson (Director – Goal Setters) Richard Brodie (Director – Membership)	Paula Smith McKnight (Director – Projects) Hayley Burns (Director – Public image and communication) Sue Walbran (Director – Youth) David Shackleton (District Liaison) Dawn Sanders (President -elect) Michael Selvadurai (Immediate Past President)
Club bank accounts
Club account (breakfast/subs etc): 03-0502-0132476-000	Charitable account (donations/fund raising etc): 03 0502 0407484 00