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Te Awamutu Convention Report |
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Te Awamutu Convention Report |
This page contains the report of participants from the Kiwanis Club of
Te Awamutu about the events of the 1996 Kiwanis NZSP District
Convention on the island of Moorea. It is esentially a copy of the
handwritten letter that the participants sent from Tahiti to the Club
Newsletter Editor.
Moorea,
French Polynesia, 19 September, 1996
To: The Editor - Newsletter of the Kiwanis Club of Te Awamutu
Dear Darby,
Wish you were here! We wanted to report to the Kiwanis Club of Te Awamutu
that all participants at the convention and their partners are having a
wonderful time and thoroughly enjoying the sand and sun and Kiwanis
fellowship and Club Med and the convention itself. We can report that the
Club Med is an excellent venue for a vacation but we have all been most
diligent in attending to Kiwanis business first.
The convention itself consisted of three half-day sessions. The first
day was a presentation of the new strtegic plan for the District.
Although we did not manage to come
away with a copy of this, it sounds like it is a reasonable and necessary
guideline for the future development of our District and our clubs.
There were also workshops on new club building, membership
growth, Public Relations, community service and a new special project
called "Odyssey's End". A Te Awamutu participant attended each of these
workshops. The bylaw and policy changes (except dues) were also all
approved during this session. The policy change regarding commitment of
clubs to international projects (proposed by Christchurch Central) was
defeated.
Day 2 was taken up with District Officers' reports, a forum on IDD and a
somewhat questionable grilling of the two candidates for Governor-Elect.
Day 3 was dedicated to awards and a quite stirring talk by Walter Sellers
(International President-Elect). Walter has all the style and charisma
of Martin Luther King Jr.! 
There was also a presentation
of the international vision for Kiwanis in the 21st century. In
addition, there was the all-important vote for Governor-Elect and the
District dues increase. Neville Puckey of the Kirikiriroa Club was
elected Governor-Elect over Mike Boyd of the Roto Wheneua Club. This
was largely due to a lively introduction by our Guy Probert. Kirikiriroa
certainly seem to be dominating the District officers with Governor,
Governor-Elect and District Secretary all coming from that club.
The District dues increase from $36.00 to $40.50 per annum was passed despite spirited opposition from the Te Awamutu delegation. This will surely mean a rise in our own club dues.
The Te Awamutu fared slightly better in the awards arena. We got a nice
banner patch for exceeding our IDD contribution for the year and we got
an award certificate for being 2nd-best in the Governor's Award points
for the 1995/96 year. We are happy to report that Graeme Bastin received
a Distinguished President's pin and Ron Albon a Distinguished Secretary's
pin for their efforts in that year.
The other good news is that all six Te Awamutu participants have behaved
as perfect gentlemen while here. Our partners, however, were most
energetic in finding new ways to distract us from the serious business
of the convention.
Tropical regards,
David Fentress
Guy Probert
Mark Irwin
Kevin Choat
Brian Legg
Ray Renshaw
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