Women in Rotary

Some members have assisted with the Women in Rotary display at the Every Women Expo.

Have a look at http://www.womeninrotary.rotarysouthpacific.org/

Bowled over

What a night!  Seven teams of six bowlers enjoyed a colourful night of Ten Pin Bowling - members and friends... and who was that lady in red.  Teams were named by colours and most dressed to suit - the yellow team took the 'colours'.  Bowling styles - let's just say there were several although it was noted that Peter was the fastest at 19.63mph and Angela attempted to go with her ball down the lane.  Isabella and Colin managed to go the wrong way to the distress of their team mates but Patrick ... what a high score (must have been practicing every day at lunch). And Liane was spotted using THE RAMP but it kept her out of the gutter unlike some.  Thanks Brenda for organising a great night out.

Camera - and action

The meeting of the 29th September was another busy one with many guests including a couple of prospective members and a film crew continuing the documentary of Varayame's story.

Varayame is becoming a fan of our breakfasts, tucking in with healthy appetite. It is now almost a whole year to the day since he arrived into New Zealand and he has now completed six surgeries and his extraordinary recovery from his last, being the amputation of his feet, means that following breakfast he was off to the Limb Centre to be fitted for his prosthetics and begin the process of learning to walk for the first time.  Varayame continues to be very active in his new found sport - wheelchair basketball.  His dream is to become a doctor.  The meeting contributed $170 from the day's Sergeant Session (Sunshine Fund) to help Varayame with those little things that he needs to purchase as his stay extends.



Not a powerpuff in sight and President Bruce ran the meeting with the usual efficiency and humour.  Of particular note wasFriday's social Ten Pin Bowling where there are now 7 teams competing.  Then of course, teams and sponsors are being assembled for the Golf Day on 8 November and also for the Trivial Night on 12 November - click here for the flyer and full information

Mary Ann provided a hugely interesting account of her trip to conquor Mt Kilimanjaro.  The preparation for the trip, the effort of the climb, the exhilaration of reaching the top ... exhausting and inspiring.  The often observed holds true - our own members invariably rank top as quality guest speakers.

Scholarship winner places 2nd at CORK OCR

Young kiwi Laser Radial sailor, Andrew McKenzie placed second at the CORK Olympic Classes Regatta in Canada, hot off the back of a win in the youth regatta which preceded it.

“Arriving with one day to acclimatize on the back of 30 hours of travel was not easy however, my Rotary host family made me feel very welcome and at ease,” reports Andrew.

“The light and shifty conditions of the CORK International regatta made for a challenging start. My pre regatta winter training on Auckland harbour, in equally light and choppy conditions, proved to be the perfect preparation and resulted in me winning the Laser Radial youth event with five wins from ten races in the 150 competitor strong fleet.”

The second regatta was the CORK OCR, an open event.  “The competition for this regatta was of a much higher standard and included the top Canadian women Olympic trialists. Conditions were better with predominantly 12-16 knots for the three days that racing was able to take place although the other two days were lost due to extreme weather.  Consistency was the key. Eight out of ten finishes in the top six was enough to secure 2nd overall. I am extremely happy with how I sailed and have learnt many new things on big fleet racing and boat speed.”

McKenzie, from Auckland’s Kohimarama Yacht Club, was in Canada for the CORK Regattas after being selected as the 2011 recipient of the Yachting New Zealand St John’s Rotary Scholarship.

“It was an awesome couple of weeks racing for the young guy who has two more years left as a youth and will now come home to start getting ready for the coming year’s youth selection trials aiming to make the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team to go to Dublin, Ireland in July 2012,” says YNZ’s Youth Head Coach Ian Neely.

From: Briefings, 8 September 2011 Yachting New Zealand newsletter