Present: 46 attendees (included members and partners from New Plymouth West Rotary, Taranaki Tramping Club and invited guests)
Apologies: Des Friedrich, Gary Brown, David Gibson,Mike Makein, Chas Wilcox, 2 silent
Raffle: Won by Jan Dempsey
Fines Session: Run by Stephen Bovett who questioned the members on their knowledge of New Plymouth History.
3 minute talk: Wally Garret mentioned that 60 years ago he joined Boy Scouts. He recalled that they used to swim in a concrete swimming pool at Brookfield, Wainuiomata in Wellington with no chlorination and no one died!! Barbara volunteered him to be a scout leader 20 years later. He joined Round Table in the 80's (they could not be members beyond 40). This was his first experience involving community service. Projects were done that wouldn't be done today like a Playground in Pukekura Park. The theme was that Boy Scouts led him to joining Rotary 50 years later giving him a great background to Serving the Community which he is passionate about.
Guest Speaker: Owen Vaughan- Te Araroa Walk
Introduced By: Murray Gillespie
Owen was born in South Africa met his wife Michel at school, they were both keen trampers.
He trained as a Helicopter Rigger eventually gaining a Mechanical Engineering Degree. emigrating to New Zealand 25 years ago.
He explained that as a keen tramper he had done sections of the Te Araroa walk, but when a good friend passed away with cancer and at a time when he was in between jobs he decided to take on the challenge of doing the whole walk continuously from North Cape to the Bluff. At the time he was a member of the Whakatane Rotary Club. He dedicated the walk to his friend and raised money for the Leukemia Foundation at the same time. He eventually raised $12,000 all via facebook which he used as a platform to document the walk, done over a period of 120 days averaging 25 kms per day.
His aim was to finish the walk by the time the annual Bert Munroe motorcycle event was staged in invercargill. He did this with a day to spare.
His inspirational talk explained how he triumphed over adversity in essentially being a solo walker with support from Michel. The physical challenges were achieved with minimal equipment carrying a relatively light pack load. Water was extremely important as he sweated profusely despite often wet conditions. He didn't wear tramping boots instead he wore trainers going through 3 pairs without rolling or spraining an ankle and no blisters, despite very uneven ground on much of the track.
He wore the same Black Cap shirt (that he had on for the talk) given to him by his friend that had passed from Auckland to The Bluff.
While he had a headlamp he only used it twice as by the time darkness fell he was so exhausted he would sleep solidly under a tent until the sun woke him in the morning.
Thanks: President Sally thanked Owen for a truly memorable talk that was one of the best that the club had had for some time.
A transcript of Owen's talk can be viewed on the following link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/w4teCJDs-35OG6fVsXnQV6EEF4P8aaa8gHJP-aFbyhlt9Z8V8STsM3zuNSI_MD2g?startTime=1597041183000
Rotary International Zone 8: Challenge to all Rotarians to wear badges every day in August: Responding to the need to keep our profile up in the Community. The hope is that more Rotarians will continue to wear badges.
Birthdays: Wally Garrett (presented with a card from President Sally)and Sally Morch
Rotary Birthday: Murray Gillespie 33 years(presented with a card from President Sally)
Cancer Society: The Club is assisting selling daffodils(in Centre City) for their annual appeal. Rotarians asked to indicate when they are able to help with a roster particularly Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday this week. 9.00am -11.30am, 11.30-1.00pm
Parting Thought: From David Lusk: In life use the talents you possess. Consider the bush it would be nearly silent if no bird sang except the very best.
