Last meeting, Andrea Lord, John Barton, Stephen Don, John Rushton, Gavin Green, Tony Henderon, Lionel & I, travelled to Ashburton, where we were joined by Julie Dockrill, (who now lives in Ashburton), along with the members of the Ashburton Rotary Club, for their meeting. Guest Speaker was Mac EcElwain, who spoke of the “Restoring Birdsong” project in Methven, with a vision to create a new native habitat on vacant council-owned land at the south end of the town, behind the Garden of Harmony, and starting s trap library to give households in Methven the ability to trap in their gardens to reduce the predator population. The similarities with our own area “predator free movement” bode well for the shared future vision of a “predator free corridor” throughout NZ.
It was good to meet with some “old acquaintances” and meet some new ones, as the Rotary club of Timaru first sponsored the Ashburton club back in 1937, and for many years we have enjoyed rotating bi-annually, with a visit to each other’s clubs. Michael Kingsbury, President, welcomed us, and Gary Kennett (D9999 Rotary Group Leader) who travelled from Lincoln to join us.
I carried with me, a copy of “The Last one in the Book” a published history of the old District 9980 clubs up until 2005, and as Ashburton was part of the old D9970, and a part of the same new D9999 with us now, I thought it may be of interest.
it was a lovely recollection from current Ashburton member Alan Briesman, as he found in the book where he was mentioned as an original charter member of the Taieri Rotary club when it was sponsored by the Mosgiel club in December 1979. He was also President of the Taieri club 1986-87.
Wow!! Oh, and there were two draws of their raffle, and Stephen Don won one, I won the other – how lucky were we!!
Dates to remember:
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Learning Impact 3: 17th May, by zoom. (some may know this as the old “Rotary know how”) This is a chance for all members to catch-up on Rotary happenings and ideas in our District.
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Next Charitable Trust meeting: 27th May, 166b North Street.
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Charitable Trust Annual Meeting: 17th June, 7pm, 166b North Street.
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Club AGM: 24th June at our normal club meeting.
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District Changeover: 5th July $45pp, venue – Castle Claremont.
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Club Changeover: 8th July – Venue to be confirmed.
Reminder: As our meetings are now held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month, there will be no meeting next week.
Our next club meeting will be held Tuesday 13th May at the Timaru Town & Country Club 5:30pm onwards, as usual.
