Victoria Link from Mike Doig

Tuesday 10 February, Mike Doig is is our guest speaker. He is CEO of Victoria Link (recently retired) where he managed engagement with commercial and corporate organisations in regard to intellectual property and scientific research. Mike is a member of the Rotary Club of Plimmerton and prior to that was a long standing member of Rotary Club of Wellington. It seems he is a "story teller" of some note and we are going to hear "Death in the Mountains"!!!!

Upcoming events

Joint meeting with Tawa Lions

This week, in the presence of the Tawa Lions as our guests, we gave a very warm welcome to our former member and Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast. Kerry joined our club in the early 90’s as our second female member, and after moving to Wellington a few years later she joined the Rotary Club of Wellington where she is currently President Elect. She was introduced to those present by Past President Robert whose speech was notable for its traditional brevity.

Kerry spoke of the huge change in her life after leaving the Mayoralty in 2007. She developed a strategy to fill the void and give herself new challenges. Although offered positions overseas she chose to take on a diversity of part time roles, principally in the governance field. These have built up to now include chairing the Environmental Planning Authority, Tourism NZ, the NZ Festival of the Arts and many other Board positions in the public and private sector.

Her major pastime is walking/tramping/hiking/climbing around National Parks and other treks in NZ, as well as overseas. She and her husband Rex climbed Mt Kilimanjaro in Kenya three years ago, and in September last year they set out on an 800 km walk from the French side of the Pyrenees across the north of Spain on the famous “St James’ Way” or El Camino de Compostella to Santiago and the Atlantic coast. They started with about 80 others and walked an average of 28 km per day in order to reach their destination within their self imposed 30 day limit. They were joined at different times by up to about 1500 others from many parts of the world doing their pilgrimage. Kerry regarded the walk in part as a continuation of the healing process and grief following the loss of her son Andrew three years earlier.

With the assistance of a range of photos Kerry gave us an insight into the physical and mental challenges on the walk, the variety of scenery and seasonal changes, the difficulty of carrying only 8kg in a pack and limited food, ancient churches, castles and other structures, and the timeless and picturesque nature of mainly peasant life in rural Spain. We also saw many pics of the ubiquitous stork nests that adorn the tops of nearly every church spire, chimney or tower in the area.

On behalf of all present Kerry was warmly thanked by Past President Robert in his customary brief manner.

Proceeds from the Sergeants' session, jointly conducted by David from Lions and Robert from Rotary, were donated to the Malaghan Institute.

Parting thoughts from Peter Lockery:

“My grandmother started walking 5 miles a day when she was 60. She’s 97 now and we don’t know where the hell she is” - Ellen DeGeneres

“If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress”- President Barack Obama

Message from President Martin

An extract from President Martin's message to members that referred to the Rotary Youth Leadership Award: 

'Gaylene and I popped out to the Rotary Youth Leadership (RYLA) programme last weekend where we were sponsoring two young people.  I was really impressed with what I saw in the short time I was there – the interactive programme, the young people and the facilitators from Rotary and elsewhere.  Thanks Gaylene for all of the work you and the Youth Committee do around RYLA and other youth events.  You will hear more at one of our meetings in a few weeks’ time.'

District News

Check out the District 9940 Club Development newsletter that's available at the following link: http://bit.ly/1KhyQsM. Coming up:

Rotary Leadership Institute 
22nd February 9.30-3PM
MANAWATU COLLEGE FOXTON

District Assembly - 3 May 2015