Greetings Fellow Rotarians,
It has been a busy week this past week.
Monday’s meeting was an informative talk by Lance Girling Butcher who kept the members amused with his anecdotes. I attended the Cancer Society AGM on Tuesday and on Thursday we had our first working bee at the Ian Eliason Reserve with the Interact boys and several members helping as well. Thank you to those who attended. You can see where we have been. Hope to see a few out there this coming Thursday when we again attack the gorse. We will be able to start about 12.30 as the boys are looking at getting there earlier. Anyone who can lend us loppers would be appreciated as these seem to be the most effective and easiest to use on the gorse. Please contact Des re these.
Monday night will be our social night at Wally and Barbara’s house. Please let Wally know if you are coming.
We will soon have some alcohol based antibacterial wipes to sell. More on this when they arrive. This will help with fundraising for the Children’s Health Trust.
Yours in Rotary
Sally
Guest Speaker: Lance Girling Butcher- QSM-Taranaki Newspapers
Introduced by Wally Garrett.
He was editor of both the Taranaki Herald and Daily News, but 15 years ago had to resign because of sight impairment. He is currently Chairman of Aged Concern, Taranaki.
He is the grandson of well known New Plymouth Architect Thomas Bates.
Lance was first employed as a cadet journalist at the Taranaki Daily News by Dennis Garcia (ex Fitzroy Rotary) the then editor. He had stints in Masterton and Nelson before coming back to New Plymouth and taken on by Jim Tucker.
He talked about the legendary June Litman the first female NZ News Editor who defied every bit of employment relations standards, as a real tartar who trained a generation of journalists. His uncle Peter Bates was the worst speller she'd ever struck in journalism.
He remembered the article our own Tony Bird wrote about the disgraceful blackballing of potential members of The Stratford Racing Club by a group in the club led by Dr Murray Blue. Blue got his own back when Tony's car broke down. Tony got the two finger salute from Dr Blue as he drove past without stopping.
The Taranaki Herald was New Zealand's oldest daily Newspaper started in 1852, 10 years after the first ships arrived. It was initially an 8 page Broadsheet paper that had advertising on the front page covering Shipping Supply arrival news.
He recounted the heady days in New Plymouth when the Oil Men came to town and changed the social structure of the town.The days of the La Scala- Cold Duck and the height of fine dining. The first restaurant in New Zealand to have eating and entertainment because of the oilmen. Great parties and fun.
He loved the job, was fortunate to meet all the NZ Prime Ministers around during his time as a journalist even met the Dalai Llama.
He became the Editor of The Taranaki Herald but unfortunately the Australian owners decided to shut the paper down after falling copies from 50,000 at its peak down to less than 10,000. New Plymouth was the last provincial centre to lose its second paper.
He recalled covering the Bola Storm, roofs being blown off and problems with deliveries of the paper at the time becoming a staff responsibility(the usual paperboys/girls could not be used safely under the conditions). Another memorable story was about the first time a New Zealand Air Force Sky Hawk fired a shot in anger across the bows of a Korean Fishing boat that was illegally fishing in New Zealand waters off Taranaki. The subsequent impounding of the boat and arrest of the Captain made a great story. The crew were adopted by the Waitara community and had an amazing farewell after the eventual release of the boat.
David Lusk in thanking Lance commented what a pleasure it was to have such an interesting and entertaining speaker to address us.
