Hi everyone, I hope you and your family are all safe and well. As all of you probably, I am now in lockdown due to the COVID-19. Of course, I wasn't expecting that to happen during my exchange year but I can't change anything and I am now adapting to this situation. I am still enjoying my time in New Zealand but in a different way now.
I am still with my 3rd host family the Pleiss’s whose daughter Madita went on exchange to France and returned in January. I have 3 host sisters, which is really nice during the lockdown because most of the time, I have something to do with someone! We play a lot of board games all together, I play the piano, do some work for France, call a lot of my friends to keep in touch and lately Madita started to teach me how to play the ukulele. I am keeping busy during this lockdown which is quite fun!
The situation back in Europe and France is concerning since the virus is spreading way quicker there than here, but people can't do anything else than staying home. In France, there are more than 100,000 cases but the daily amount of new cases has been going down a bit. Fortunately, my family is safe, they've all been in lockdown for about a month now. My parents are working from home during the day and my brother and my sister are doing some school work. All my grandparents are safe, which makes me very happy! I keep regular contact with them to see how they are during those difficult times.
The Carnival Is Over and so goes the line from a famous song by the Seekers. What a successful Carnival it was, with the biggest attendance ever. 35 Rotarians and Auxiliary helped on the day along with Inner Wheel, and members of the Interact Club of Pakuranga College and 15 environmental students from Farm Cove Intermediate school who managed the waste steam and ensured the waste was separated into the correct bins
There was all the fun of the fair with a clown, bouncy castles, sausage sizzle and mussle fritters, animal rides, an animal farm with pets and ponies, face painting, a fire engine, coconut shie and much more. Mr Whippy. Coffee Guy and Snowiez shaved Ice all did a brisk business as the ques of people never seemed to get any shorter. We were entertained by a trio from Howick College who were very good.
Kayaks, and sail boats also added to the spectacle and made best use of the location of Farm Cove Reserve and the Pakuranga Sailing Club
A strong breeze was welcome as the weather was hot and sunny during the afternoon.
Interviews done on the day showed an overwhelming positive response and the marketing, and organisation of the Carnival was a great success.
Justice of the Peace is the oldest legalistic position in New Zealand. Joseph Kendall was appointed NZs first JP in 1814, based at the mission settlement in the Bay of Islands, Northland. JPs have been serving their community for more than 200 years. The duties of the early Justices were many and onerous, and included supervising the accuracy of weights and measures, the seizing of wine sold for excessive prices, and assisting those whose homes were burned. Justices had great authority over the lives and liberties of those brought before them
Rotarians don’t let something like a lockdown prevent them from doing something useful for the community. Seems the Council does not view graffiti removal as an essential service, so sugar soap and scrubber in hand… job done!
Next, moth plant infestations and their “almost ready to burst” pods along the Rotary walkway were dealt to and poison spread on the roots. One hundred and five pods were collected, and with each pod producing around 1,000 seeds, that is a lot of potential pest plants gone from the Riverlea Ave stretch of the walkway.
The current Covid 19 crisis has got me thinking about what I see as worrying forms of wisdom.
The first is wisdom when there is no consequence for being wrong. The second relates to the “bob either way” form of wisdom. The third is wisdom in hindsight.
Like many of you I follow the news on Covid-19 with great interest. A wide array including the NZ Herald, New Statesman, Project Syndicate, local TV channels, Radio NZ, CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, Fox, Sky News Australia and RT along with a variety of pod casts. A heady combination of sometimes factual reporting and often opinion that has me at various times, better informed, concerned and bewildered
I saw a comment the other day that a Rotarian was querying what was happening at Rotary International level. RI staff are working from home till at least 30 April and there will be no funded RI travel before May 31. The April meetings of the RI Board and the Foundation Trustees were both held virtually. Not simple because of time zones! All Peace Fellows were asked to return home if possible and somewhere in excess of a 1000 Rotary Youth Exchangees returned home early.
Rotary’s worldwide membership at March 31 was 1 216 706, up 27 240 since July 1 2019. Over that period the total membership in New Zealand fell by 70. District 9910 dropped 22 to 998 and our District, 9920 dropped 28 to 1355. One of the significances of these figures is the RI considers the minimum number of Rotarians needs to be 1100 for a District to be effective and D9910 is falling further below this figure. The leadership of that District proposed a merger of the two Districts but this has not been accepted at this time. Inevitably there will need to be some action unless that District can find a way to grow.
The greatest growth by any District in Australia and New Zealand is in District 9640, which has added 90 members this year. That district is partly in Queensland and partly in NSW, which must creating challenges as Queensland has closed its border. Pity the District Governor!
“My fellow delegates, I would like to remind you that the world of 1989 is very different to the world of 1905. I sincerely believe that Rotary has to adapt itself to a changing world,” Frank J. Devlyn, who would go on to become RI president in 2000-01.
As a charter member of a club nearing 50 years of service I have been asked by some of my Rotary friends why we have so few female members sharing Rotary in the Pakuranga Club.
There is a lot about Rotary that has changed since 1970; the year we were chartered. Elements of chauvinism still existed. Even many female partners still regarded Rotary as the domain of the top male executives, most of the gatherings of which still had that look of gender inequality.
Here are the first tranche of musical masterpieces. Hopefully this will prompt more of you to share your best song ever and be included in parts 2 or 3. Don’t worry if you don’t have any interesting details about your choice. That’s a job I love doing. Might even be useful for our next trivia evening.
Allan Vester. Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum
This song has its main melodic line based on J.S.Bach’s “Air on the G string”. It was a forerunner to what became known as progressive rock.
Nick Loseby. American Pie by Don Maclean
According to Nick this has got to be the best sing along song for young and old. The song was originally inspired by the death of Buddy Holly. Maclean who was young at the time of the plane crash that killed Buddy along with Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper wrote the song from his memory of the event.
Del Johnson. Ave Maria by Schubert and performed by Celine Dion
There are actually a number of Ave Maria’s by other composers including J S Bach. Schubert did not write the song as a hymn but as a setting of a song from Walters Scott’s epic poem. The Lady of the Lake.
Ian Holmes. Imagine by John Lennon
Lennon is credited as the songwriter but later said that it should have been a Lennon/Ono song because a lot of the lyric came from Yoko. In 2000 George Michael paid over $2 million for the upright piano the song was recorded on and donated it to the Beatles museum in Liverpool.
Bill Duncan. Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel
This was the title track of the last album the duo recorded before they split up. Elvis Presley released a version of the song that helped win over many critics who doubted his ability as a vocalist.
Geoff Roberts. My Way by Frank Sinatra
It was 5th on the UK charts for 124 weeks and was released by Sinatra 40 years ago this week. Originally Paul Anchor wrote the English words from originally a French composer. Also our own Pakuranga Rotarian Graeme Houston has sung a great version on his CD.
Chris Ward. San Francisco by Scott McKenzie
It was the only hit Scott ever had. He found his sudden fame overwhelming, and abruptly dropped out of the music business - only to resurface decades later, as a replacement singer in the Mamas and the Papas' nostalgia tours.
Jeanette Roberts. Stars Fell on Alabama
An oldies song, composed in 1934 following the spectacular occurrence of the ‘Leonid Meteor Shower’, or ‘the night the stars fell over Alabama’.Composed by Frank Perkins, lyrics by Mitchell Parish. Was sung by Guy Lombardo, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Billie Halliday, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra and others. Written in G, it is lovely to play, smooth and enjoyable.
During the mid 1950’s, the NZ Tourist Bureau ran tours to the Chateau for winter skiing breaks. Left Auckland Railway Station after work on Friday night, arrived at National Park at midnight and bussed to the Chateau. Many great nights were had in the lounge playing on the lovely grand piano there and singing this particular song time and time again. Great weekends, great skiing and great music. My memory tells me the cost for the weekend was six pounds.
Graham Kearns. I Did it My Way performed by The Three Tenors
They first performed it at packed Los Angeles Dodger Stadium to coincide with the Italy-Brazil World Cup final being held the next day. The audience included one Frank Sinatra. It was broadcast in 100 countries to an estimated audience of one billion people.
Hi everyone, I hope you and your family are all safe and well. As all of you probably, I am now in lockdown due to the COVID-19. Of course, I wasn't expecting that to happen during my exchange year but I can't change anything and I am now adapting to this situation. I am still enjoying my time in New Zealand but in a different way now.
The Carnival Is Over and so goes the line from a famous song by the Seekers. What a successful Carnival it was, with the biggest attendance ever. 35 Rotarians and Auxiliary helped on the day along with Inner Wheel, and members of the Interact Club of Pakuranga College and 15 environmental students from Farm Cove Intermediate school who managed the waste steam and ensured the waste was separated into the correct bins
Justice of the Peace is the oldest legalistic position in New Zealand. Joseph Kendall was appointed NZs first JP in 1814, based at the mission settlement in the Bay of Islands, Northland. JPs have been serving their community for more than 200 years. The duties of the early Justices were many and onerous, and included supervising the accuracy of weights and measures, the seizing of wine sold for excessive prices, and assisting those whose homes were burned. Justices had great authority over the lives and liberties of those brought before them
