The possibility of a future club merger is something that has been talked about now informally for some time.
The two subcommittees, one from Pakuranga and one from Howick charged with furthering that discussion met at the Howick Club.
D. Kavanagh, G. Pani, M. McLagan, G. Kearns from Pakuranga and M. Pascoe, M. East, R. Mouncey, C. Ansley from Howick.
Dennis Kavanagh was appointed Chairman for the meeting with Carole Ansley acting as Secretary.
The meeting shared views on the issues facing Rotary clubs that had prompted the possibility of a future merger.
Common issues identified included:
- The age profile of both clubs was getting older which in turn caused issues in carrying out community projects that involved heavy physical work. Both clubs were working around the problem by using external resources e.g., Pakuranga using Interact members for their Carnival and Howick using the Coastguard and the Tennis Club for Bookarama.
- The matter was compounded by the inability to attract younger members.
- Membership in both clubs had declined in recent years and it was questionable if the recruitment of new members could meet the attrition rate. The meeting shared their ideas on current new membership initiatives and the need for targeting these initiatives to people that would fit in with the club culture.
- The attractiveness of the meeting formats was discussed particularly in relation to younger people.
The consensus was that the discussions were constructive and helpful and that the next stage should be a sharing of information with another meeting planned for the 18th September.