Rotary Club of South Wairarapa 

October is the time of our AGM and Club Forum which is an opportunity for the membership to look at how we have done during the past year and to consider what we might do differently.

In his report our past president David Halford said that easily a third of our retained earnings were distributed to youth related activities. We were very pleased that this was in line with the results of a small community survey that we did recently to get an idea of where the community would like us to put our resources. 

This was not a fully representative sample, but it did give us some clear indications. Secondary school children and unemployed youth were considered to be the groups that would benefit most from more or improved community support in the South Wairarapa. In relation to the environment, survey respondents indicated that cleaning up waterways and rivers and restoring wetlands ranked highly.

In reviewing our year, he noted that we have supported programmes in our schools such as books in schools, Rotary Young Driver Awareness (RYDA), and environmental projects including Kahutara’s fledgling Mangatete Wetland and St Theresa’s Donald Creek restoration project. We have also supported talented young people to achieve their dreams in arts, sport and education. Sometimes a donation that might not appear very large has a great impact on an individual or family. 

We recognize that we are very fortunate to have the Martinborough Fairs and the Charity Fun Bike ride which enable us to do these things. In fact, we have just had another successful bike ride in glorious weather though some of the cyclists might have liked it a little cooler. There were 250 riders at various levels and no falls or injuries. E-bikes also took part and Rotarian Maree Patten now holds the e-bike women’s record for the 48km race.We will be able to give a substantial donation to Wellington Free Ambulance in the Wairarapa.