As we head into October and have started daylight saving, its amazing we have had our first month of spring!

We are now awaiting the outcomes for our two District Grant programmes from the Rotary Foundation. District has supported both our submissions and we will hear shortly.

I have been involved with supervising the Raffle Draw for Daffodil Day early in the month.

The directors responded to a request for funding of some year 9 students from Cromwell College who had ended up finalists in the NZ Book Reading competition In Auckland, scheduled for the 20^th  of September. It was necessary to act quickly, and we held an online ‘in-between’ board meeting to agree supporting them by $1000. We hope to hear from these students later on their journey and experience.

I met with my fellow ‘regional presidents’, from Alexandra, Wanaka and Queenstown, along with ADG Keith McIntosh. I can confirm that our DG visit is set down for Monday 12^th December, which will also be our AGM night and last meeting for 2022.

The deadline for the Rotary Regionalisation Project was 15-29 September. Thank you to everyone who responded to the online vote and by way of a report the club was overwhelmingly in support of supporting the project. I have recorded our vote with the District accordingly.

Thanks also to Rose Grindley for organizing the interviews with three outstanding students from Cromwell College for the Summer Science and Technology Studentships. Pam Broadhead and I joined Rose to interview these students and recommend two of them be supported for this year’s programme.

Following that, Pam and I visited Cromwell Plunket to deliver our first tranche of funding from the Booksale ($5000) and have a photo opportunity with the Cromwell Bulletin.

Thanks to those who assisted with the Lakeside Clean up on the 17^th September. This was our contribution to Rotary in Action Day. It is obvious that regular clean ups are making the effort easier each year, and we were well finished by 12 noon.

We have held a successful ‘Meet the Candidates’ meeting in conjunction with Lions on Monday the 19th. Thanks very much to the Rotarian team that came and set up on the morning and also assisted on the night. There was a good solid turnout on the evening and all the candidates spoke well. A special thanks to our MC, Peter Mead, who controlled the meeting well. It was a shame that the Dunedin ORC candidate (Slime the Nitrate Monster) attracted the attention of the press, rather than our own local candidates, but I guess that is the calibre of reporting these days from the press. Many points were well made on the night, but none were reported in the paper! The meeting was successfully livestreamed on you-tube.

Thanks also to our Rotarian Anne White who has stepped into the role of almoner and will keep an eye on the welfare of our fellow Rotarians. If Anne asks for help in times of need, please lend a hand to assist where possible.

This is much appreciated.

Interest in the Melbourne Conference is growing. If you are thinking of Conference in Melbourne, please chat with Adrienne and remember the inaugural District 9999 Conference dates of 24-26^th March 2023 in Oamaru. We will get a small working team in place for these fun events.

October is a light month due to the public holiday of Labour Weekend. The speaker confirmed is Terry Davis, Central Heritage Trust on the 10^th. We will have a vocational night at the 5 stags on the 17^th. With no meeting on the 24^th, we are hoping to have a working bee at Rotary Point. Details are being finalised but watch out for that. I hope to see you there.

 

Bernie