Bob Moffat spoke in celebration of the Port Nicholson 35th anniversary. Bob is a Charter member of Port Nicholson and was made an Honorary member of the Club in 2016 after being a member for 27 years. Bob was President in the 1992 - 1993 year and was Chairman of the committee which ran the District Conference in the year Howard Tong was District Governor. Bob based his speech title on words from Barack Obama - Rotary: “The Audacity of Hope”.
Bob Moffat spoke in celebration of the Port Nicholson 35th anniversary. Bob is a Charter member of Port Nicholson and was made an Honorary member of the Club in 2016 after being a member for 27 years. Bob was President in the 1992 - 1993 year and was Chairman of the committee which ran the District Conference in the year Howard Tong was District Governor. Bob based his speech title on words from Barack Obama - Rotary: “The Audacity of Hope”.
Bob first became aware of Rotary in 1955 when he was an apprentice at a printing company in Boulcott Street. When he walked down Willis street at about 1pm on a Monday, he used to encounter a large body of middle-aged men walking out of the Majestic Cabaret. This, he learned, was the Rotary Club of Wellington completing their meeting.
Bob spoke of the early establishment of clubs and the business community. The Wellington Club was established in 1841 for professionals. Generally speaking, Wellington was divided into North of Stewart Dawson and South of Stewart Dawson. North were the Professionals and South were the merchants. The Wellesley Club opened in 1927 and accepted a wider range of members. The Wellington Rotary club was established in 1921 by well-known members who were synonymous with Wellington City and further afield.
In those early days, Wellington Rotary helped establish the Crippled Children Society in 1935 in response to the early outbreak of polio in the 1920s. Charles Norwood, a Charter member of Wellington Rotary, founded Wellington Free Ambulance in 1927.
Bob said that although he had a Rotarian grandfather and a Rotarian father-in-law, Rotary initially held little appeal to him. As he said, “I wasn’t prepared to accept that when women surgeons, school principals, hospital Matrons could not join, I certainly had little interest in the narrow ideals of Rotary.” Lunchtime meetings also had little appeal! He and Elaine are both very community-minded and Rotary did not admit women members. All this changed in 1987 when the US Supreme Court ruled that Rotary clubs may not exclude women and Rotary subsequently opened up to women membership that year.
The Rotary club of Port Nicholson was launched in June 1989. Bob said that “I then decided as a person who believed in the importance of the community, it would be mean-spirited not to belong to a Rotary club.” He only had one choice and that was the Rotary Club of Port Nicholson as it was a morning club and was for women and men. It was a decision Bob never regretted.
Bob enjoyed being involved with the Youth Committee. It gave him a great deal of satisfaction working with young people, interviewing and mentoring Excellence applicants and Outward-Bound scholarship recipients.
A major highlight was working with District Governor Howard Tong, organising the District conference in 2011.
Developing Zealandia was a strong part of Port Nich’s work. Bob enjoyed knowing Jim Lynch, a member of the club, who founded Zealandia. Jim had joined the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society in1990 with a brief to prepare a plan for the restoration of birdlife in Wellington city. He authored “Natural Wellington”, a successful plan to “bring back the birds to Wellington City” and the founding of the Zealandia eco-sanctuary.
Bob was happy to be part of the work that the club did for the Malaghan Institute and the all-important Goal Setter Awards. Friendship is also an important aspect of Rotary life and he quoted Woodrow Wilson – “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.”
Bob said that Port Nicholson Rotary Club has been good for him and he had benefitted from his membership and the friends he made. He reluctantly retired from Rotary life in April 2016, but refused to resign and was made an honorary member.
Many people have benefited over the years from the energies of Rotary Port Nicholson – particularly young people. Now we have “Lifting the Lid” which is supporting school source interventions for students who have or are at risk of developing mental health issues. Bob congratulated Port Nicholson for this inspiring project where the motto has always been to believe in the Audacity of Hope.
Bob finished by thanking Port Nicholson for the opportunity to speak. He and Elaine wished the club every success for the next 35 years.
Andre Lategan