August 2025

Guest Speaker Physiotherapist and Inventor Steve August arrived for Mondays meeting with a large amount of gear to show us. Some of us were wondering if it was leading to a story about Steampunk but Steve soon showed us a multitude of photos of his portable hot tub and the impressive metal device is actually the heater which can be gas or wood fired.  Steve has sold two and a half thousand of his tubs and that continues although he is too busy to advertise.

Next up he showed us his "Backpod"which is about half the size of a rugby ball. It is useful to remedy what he calls "Ihunch" Steve showed us the common posture people have when using devices and laptops and how it is developing into back and neck problems that are quite visible. When in Dunedin Steve lives in the student area and he can see this posture problem amongst the young people passing by. Some of our Rotary audience could be seen quietly pulling themselves up in a better posture as he explained this. 
Jenny Nichol and Jackie Dann were delightful models for Steve as he demonstrated the use of the Backpod.  You lie down with it between your shoulder blades. The Backpod comes with full instructions.

At the end of the meeting he fielded a queue of potential purchasers for the Backpod as well as providing some general advice to our members. It seems what he was talking about was quite relevant to a number of us.

Steve purchased his property in Bannockburn in the late 1980s which makes him an early resident and he built his home there himself which he describes as a "Crib" or perhaps a "Village" as his building skills run more to building huts. He also enjoys spending time in his Dunedin home.

At the District Conference this year the Club was awarded the Bill Boyd Significant Impact Award for a project that had made, or would make, a significant difference to their community.  Our project that received this accolade was the Charity Ball and Auction that raised money for Ronald MacDonald House. 
I was delighted to be able to tell members of our success and Neroli, on behalf of the organising committee (Jan, Pam, Trish, Neroli, Craig and Jo Morshius) accepted the award.  The award is a rather stunning framed picture from space alongside the flag of New Zealand that was flown aboard the space shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station in July 2006 – presented to Bill Boyd by NASA when he visited the space centre in October 2006. 

Bill Boyd was Rotary International President in 2006/2007 and only the second New Zealander to hold this prestigious post (we were very fortunate to have him speak at a Polio fund raiser that our club held during his year). As well as establishing this award, Bill and his wife Lorna, established the Bill and Lorna Boyd Charitable Trust, which has so far purchased and distributed through Rotary Clubs, over 220,000 illustrated dictionaries, to primary schools throughout New Zealand, a project that our Club has been proud to support for many years.