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Do YOU want to Make A Difference to the Youth and our Community? Are you committed to making positive changes in our community and the world while having a bit of fun at the same time? Our club members are dedicated people who share a passion for community service and friendship.

Becoming a Rotarian connects you with a diverse group who share your drive to give back while having fun.

Summer Book Sale

2023 SUMMER BOOKSALE

Its official - Books are still as popular as ever!

Cromwell Rotary summer book sale opened early this year on Friday afternoon and it rapidly became evident the community was delighted to have the extra hours for shopping. The queues were the longest we have ever seen at the sale, but the delight and satisfaction were easy to see on the faces of young and old alike as they waited to complete their purchases.

The sale was held slightly later in the month this year and that also seemed to find favour with the shoppers. The number of visitors on all 3 days of the sale, well exceeded numbers in previous years with avid readers taking home well over half of the thousands of pre-loved books displayed in the Cromwell Bowling Club stadium. It was an upbeat fun weekend for volunteers and readers alike which resulted in setting another record for the summer book sale raising just over $10,000 to change lives and create opportunities in our community.

This outcome relies on a huge amount of work behind the scenes, so many thanks to members and friends of the Cromwell Rotary Club who gave their time over the very hot weekend to run another very successful event.

On the Friday evening the local rugby club held a sausage sizzle and raffle at the entrance to the book sale to kick off fund raising for a junior Colts team to travel to competitions in Australia next year. The Rotary Club is delighted to be able to support this initiative for youth.

If you are still to clear out your own bookshelves, the Rotary Book Exchange Container in the grounds of Freeway Orchard on State Highway 8B is the collection point right through the year for your excess books! We welcome contributions any time because this sale is one of two we have every year. The second and biggest book sale of the year is planned to be held again throughout the King’s Birthday Weekend.

Local businesses and organisations give their support in many ways to enable us to manage the logistics behind the scenes for the two book sales each year. Our sincere thanks to R&R Hire Ltd, Contact Energy, Freeway Orchard, Golden View Lifestyle Village, Wanaka Rotary, and The Cromwell Bowling Club.

AGM meeting on 12 December

The final club meeting for the year on the 12th of December included the AGM. As Bernie mentioned above, we were also joined by DG Jan Boustead and her husband Dave, along with ADG Keith McIntosh.

Rotary Point tree maintenance

The six blocks of trees at Rotary Point have been adopted and are being maintained by teams of club members. The weather has been kind lately and has alleviated the need for watering. On the other hand however, the weeds are thriving and need constant attention. Hard at work on keeping their block tidy recently are Euan and Andrew.

Christmas Lunch

The club Christmas function in the garden at Matt Connell Wines was a wonderful festive occasion, especially for reconnecting with members and friends.

The setting was beautiful and was only enhanced by the gorgeous buffet of ham, chicken and the array of delicious salads, fresh breads, and scrummy sweets that were contributed, thank you.
A special thanks goes out to Vicky and Les Topping for the platter of Crayfish, and to Christine Hansen for her superb Christmas cake.

Unfortunately there was a bit of a cool breeze but that didn't affect two members from the cast of the up coming performance of Les Miserables from giving stunning renditions of songs from the show.

Thank you also to the Bowling Club and Cromwell Promotions for the tables and chairs.