First speaker was Cindy Bakewell, herself a Rotarian with the Remuera club. Cindy is a travel broker with NZ Travel Brokers and her key messages were that attending the District 9920 conference in Fiji starting Friday April 6^th 2018 is something well worth considering followed by a great travel deal for those intending to attend.

Cindy has arranged a twenty seat discount with Fiji Airways giving a return fare of $795. Members would have to travel up on the 5^th but can arrange a date that suits them to return. Those interested should contact Cindy. cindy@nztravelbrokers.co.nz

Peter Woodcock presented members with a dilemma in terms of Top Schools. This event is eagerly anticipated by hundreds of primary aged pupils and is a great community event but as a club we are finding it increasingly difficult to staff the event. A show of hands made it clear that members value the event and want it to continue. Peter outlined some possible alternatives to Pakuranga Rotary members providing the bulk of the labour force but if numbers on the day continue to decline the longer term future of the event must be in doubt.

Geoff Amos reports as follows:

" Hi Del and Ron,

Today we delivered the two donated Defibrillators to Dr. Alumita, the SDMO of Taveuni Subdivisional Hospital. She expressed her very grateful thanks for this much needed equipment.

One will be kept at the Hospital and one in the Rotary Ambulance. She has undertaken to train nurses and drivers how the to use the Defibrillators correctly and to care for them.

Our thanks to RC Pakuranga and RC Plimmerton for their kindness and support. 

We were fortunate to have RNZWCS Director STUART BATTY & his wife Leslie here when we made the presentation."

Keep an eye on the horizon and pencil in the following into your calendar:

• Bramley BBQ - 30 October we plan to christen the efforts of Kelvin Davies, Del Johnston and the team
• Christmas dinner - 11 December we will be cutting the turkey

Vodafone has announced it will close its email accounts on 30 November. This includes all email addresses ending in vodafone.co.nz, vodafone.net.nz, ihug.co.nz, paradise.net.nz and clear.net.nz.

Vodafone is encouraging customers to sign up for a Google Gmail or Microsoft Outlook email address and is offering an auto-forwarding service.

If you are one the 250,000 or so people who have been relying on a Vodafone, Clear or Paradise email address, then you will need to get a new email address and update ClubRunner so you still get the Pakuranga Rotary bulletin.