The Month That Was..
We now enter September and celebrate 98 years and eleven months of serving Rotorua.
Our Centenary gets closer by the day and our planning for that is well in hand. The big news is that our website is up and running, and enormous thanks to Rachael McGarvie for doing the hard yards and making this possible. If you are reading this, I am guessing you have already found our website. For us, however, this is a big deal and very much part of our image rebuild as we now do the countdown to our Centenary event in October 2027.
In September our Programme is:
- 7 September a presentation on our new website by Rachael McGarvie
- 14 September by Finn Liley on his background and why he is running for Parliament
- 21September by Rotorua Lakes Council CEO Andrew Moraes and
- 28 September by Julian Fonotia from the Te Aratu Trust.
Let us know if you want to come along.
Our other news is that preparation for Sunflower Spectacular for 2027 is already taking shape as we now take ownership of the seed ready for planting.
Robyn Murphy President Rotary Club of Rotorua Inc.
In August three of our new members, David Buckleigh, Glen Murphy and Rosie Riggir gave their introductory speeches, a chance for other members to get to know them a little better.
David has had a wide and varied career from farming to forestry to health and to now consulting in Wind Farm Development. Glen on the other hand has been a forester his whole career although ranging from Australia, USA and even New Zealand. He focused his introductory talk on his passion for riding rapids and for caving and walking. In terms of variety Rosie may have taken the prize as she has been everything from playing in a band, to radio announcing, arranging gifts for stars of the Lord of the Rings and raising money for public good entities. It is in the latter she has settled as she is now the General Manager for one of Rotorua’s biggest philanthropic organisations, Geyser Community Foundation.
Todd McLay our honorary member also joined us and gave us the background on the new India Trade Agreement.
August also saw us make a visit to the National Training Centre for Fire and Emergency.
With around 10,000 overnight hotel stays generated, plus what must be a world-leading demand for LPG and compressed-air bottle refills, it must be one of Rotorua’s biggest unofficial investors in the local economy. And then there are all the other emergency services it attracts for civil defence training and everything else you can imagine. Pictured checking out one of the Emergency Units at the Training Centre
In terms of our Work in the Community, we have
- Been spreading bark at the Ngongotaha Streamside Track. Pictured Locals visiting the Track and adding some stones for decoration.
- Picking up rubbish in the Government Gardens Pictured President Elect Ann Nicholas cleaning up the Government Gardens.
- And put up our hand to see if we can help with the rebuild of the Iconic Princes Gate.
