Last Meeting – 21st November                                      

 

 

Thanks and congratulations to Bill Strand for taking on the interim presidency through to 1 July 2024.  

Bill comments:

 “Lovely to see a good turnout for our Rotary luncheon today. I thought our guest speaker spoke with such enthusiasm about their Robotic Farm Pasture Treatment Unit that their company is developing. We all learnt something.

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank  John Hawke for all he has done for the club over this past 6 months. Outstanding. We trust John that you now have a wonderfully relaxing holiday in Fiji.

Thank you also to Peter Ross and his team for organising, what should be, a great evening next week at the Remuera Golf Course. Peter advised us that the event has 90 people attending and is now fully booked.

And finally, we are all very grateful to Alastair and Jill Macfarlane for hosting our club’s Christmas Party on the 12^th December.

Please ensure you have booked for what I am sure will be another wonderful fellowship event.   Cheers.   Bill”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Laurence Pascual, a friend of Asel’s, is a graduate in Mechatronics. Mechatronics Engineering focuses on the design, intelligence, control and programming of smart devices, robots and intelligent systems.

NZ agriculture needs to reduce CO2 emissions, prevent nitrate leaching, and avoid eutrophication.  Nitrous oxide is a particularly nasty longer-lasting problem.

Laurence then introduced us to ‘Spikey’:  an intelligent 8 metres wide robot towed behind a tractor, with electrodes, sensors and all the bells and whistles dealing to urine patches it identifies in the paddock, and spreading reduced amounts of fertiliser as it senses the need.

        

 

The farming environment is a rugged one for robotics to work in – delicate electronics and custom-made machinery can be subject to many challenges and physical stresses as Laurence’s team discovered.

Pastoral Robotics Ltd is at present working mainly in Canterbury and publishes the results of its pasture control measures in collaboration with Massey University.

Laurence answered some searching questions openly and with even more information about Spikey.  An intriguing glimpse of some of the exciting future possibilities for the application of robotics on the land.

 

Peter Ross is organising this evening meeting back at the Golf Club, with a strong focus on Youth.  Partners and young people especially invited.

 

 

Thanks to our hosts Alistair and Jill Macfarlane the Christmas party will be held at their place, 1 Aldred Road, on Tuesday 12^th December. This will be our final get-together for the year.

 

 

Don’t forget to congratulate Asel when you see him next – he won his fight last Friday evening.

 

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday 25th November:      

                                                          

  As District Polio Ambassador, John Hawke reminds us of the  Walk for Polio from the Domain down Khyber Pass Road to Lumsden Green.   District Clubs will be involved. Starts at midday : corner Park Road and Carlton Gore Road  (top of the hill behind the Grandstand).

                                   Assemble at 12 noon.   Stay till 3 pm or later.          

                                       

                 Participation then in the “World’s Greatest Meal” at the Lumsden.

 

       

Two more volunteers are required to provide assistance with the selection and categorisation of 20k children’s Christmas gifts collected by the Blues immediately prior.    [The “Fill the Blues Bus” 2.0 campaign:   https://www.blues.rugby/fill-the-bus ]   We are providing 10 helpers to supplement the overall crew required [about 80]. Even if you can only assist in the morning please let Alan Hayward know if you are available.

 

 

Saturday 16^th December: Traditional Club Christmas Royal Oak Sallies food packing at 691 Mt Albert Road: 9am  – 12 noon.  Contact John Hawke

Thanks to a contact of former President Mike Alison, we are making a donation and providing 200 frozen chickens to the Royal Oak Salvation Army, in support of this pack.

 

 

 

                        

 

Mark your diary now

 

Boyne gave us the rundown. Puddings also available.

                

 This year the Community & Environment Committee is again offering members the opportunity to purchase Aotea Bakery Xmas Mince Pies. Last year we had a trial with a dozen packs which were well received by members. This year we are asking those members who generously supported this project last year to put their hands up again, and we are encouraging all members to purchase one or more packs for your family, staff and friends and we also have the opportunity to again support the Salvation Army Xmas Hampers project.   

 

This year there are 8 Mince Pies in each pack, and the packaging again has a Xmas theme as shown in accompanying photo. The price per pack to members is $ 14.50, and this includes a margin of $5 per pack which will go toward club community projects.    Last year the trial project went well. With your support we can make this another successful Xmas project and fundraiser for this year and years to come.

 

Rotary Xmas puddings are also available. The price to members is $23.00 each, and this includes a margin of $5 per pack which will go toward club community projects.

This year on 16^th December 2023 the club will again be packing Xmas Hampers with the Salvation Army at Royal Oak.  Members can purchase additional packs of Xmas Mince Pies or Rotary Xmas Puddings which will be donated to the Salvation Army to go into Xmas Hampers.  When ordering, please indicate how many are for yourself and how many you are ordering for the Salvation Army.

 

Please contact Boyne at bhd@xtra.co.nz to put in your order, payment of your orders will be processed through your account by Richard and Carmen.   

 

 

 

 

 

Your World Community Service Committee (WCS), were pleased to see their suport for the contaier going to the village of Koroipita Fiji competed last week.

The Koroipita container was organised by the Rotary Club of Rotorua Passport, and distribution managed in Fiji by Rotarian, Paul Forest, GM of Model Towns Charitable Trust.

The Koroipita village has been supported by Rotary for nearly 50 years.

The Model Town project was founded by Rotarian, Peter Drysdale in 1985. Prior to registration of the Modern Town Charitable Trust, (MTCT), the project had been operating as the Fiji Rotahomes project under the Rotary club of Lautoka.

Koroipita means Village of Peter.

Over the past 33 years, 738 homes have been built in the country areas. For the past 18 years and in parallel, the trust has been building and perfecting the fully serviced Model Town which now has 241 homes.

 

The total number of people housed in country areas and at the modern town is now 4330.

 

$3,000 was approved for this project by the Board at the 28^th August Board meeting.

A range of medical and hardware supplies were purchase by Roger and Georgie.                   Bill & Trish purchased kitchen appliances.                     

                                                                                      

Through John Hawke, Fresh & Clean donated linen, first-aid kits and accessories and John donated carpet tiles, linen and other accessories.

                           

 

The goods were delivered to Rotorua to the organiser, Chris Joseph, from the Rotary Club of Rotorua Passport. The container is due to leave for Fiji next Tuesday.

Sincere thanks for RCON’s contribution was sent from Paul Forest, General Manager of Model Town Charitable Trust, Koroipita Village.