Rotary Club of Palmerston North (1924) ROTARY MATTERS! President David Petre, Secretary Steve Paterson, Treasurer Brian McMeikan President Elect Morva Croxson, Past President Lyn Gregg Monday 13 October 2014 Speaker: Annika Karvo – Our Finnish Family Member Topic: Shedding Light on Finland Introduction: Lyn Gregg Thanks: President David Reception: Peter Askey Grace: Kevin O’Donnell 3 Minutes: Ron Dobson Cashier: Stu Schwartz Attendance: Olga Barrett Sergeant: Roger Clausen Corporals: Kevin Smith / Martin Townend Parting Thought: Johan Bonnevie Editor: Alan Rowlett Monday 20 October 2014 Speaker: Topic: Dr. Rudyard Yap Mid Central Infectious Consultant Introduction: Morva Croxson Thanks: Bipan Bansal Reception: Garry Goodman Grace: Steve Parsons Annika’s Host Lesley Boulton 3 Minutes: Darlene Woodhead Cashier: Ron Eglinton Attendance: Rob Woodhouse Sergeant: John Freebairn Corporals: Melba Scott and Bill Bendall Parting Thought: Philip Boulton Editor: Chris Michalski Diseases From our meeting on Monday 6 October Attendance: 32 + 2 guests Apologies: Nil Make ups: Nil Sergeant’s Session: $111.70 ______________________________________________ Former President Martin Townend: • Martin welcomed guests Phyllis Schwartz and Mike Nicolaidi • Stu noted that he and Phyllis have been together for 42 years in August • We have an application for membership from Sue Forde, proposed by Morva Croxson. If anyone has any concerns at all regarding this please contact President David ASAP. Apologies to Olga Barrett 358-8798 or recorded on our website… Club # 18626 www.pnrotary.co.nz Upcoming Events: • 20 October – Musica Viva • Sat 1 Nov – Sixtus Lodge Working Bee. Does anyone have access to a wood splitter? If you can attend, please contact Johan on 358-6366. Morning tea and lunch supplied! • Sun 2 Nov – Cross Hills -- with 2 bus loads of Massey foreign students and families – A great day to enjoy nature and meet interesting people from around the world • 5 – 7 December -- Rotary Institute 2014 + District 9940 Conference. President David invited members to join him and Morva at the Conference. The Conference boasts a high calibre of speakers, like former Governor-General, Anand Satyanand. • Lyn updated us on Youth Plus activities. The Icon Speaker series was a success and has now finished for 2014. The full Jack Tame interview is now on YouTube. Liam now has lots of photos and video from our annual Youth Music Festival and these will be posted on the Youth Plus Facebook page. Guest Speaker – Mike Nicolaidi – The Featherston Chronicles: The Japanese Prisoner of War Story. Mike has a background in film, journalism and film archive. Mike explained the background of events in his life that culminated in him writing a book about the shooting of 48 Japanese POWs that occurred in the Featherston POW camp during WWII. Attitudes to Japanese were very different after the war with a lot of people wanting to forget or ignore atrocities that occurred on both sides. Mike told of VJ Day in 1945 at Ongaonga where dummies of Hitler and Emperor Tojo were torched to the delight of everyone. In 1971 Mike was a journalist and went to Japan to report on articles for the NZ Post. Some strong anti-Japanese sentiment prompted Mike to think he should acknowledge the Featherston Story in some way. This started in ghosting a memoir for a former Featherston Guard, and culminated in 8 years of research to complete the book. Parting Thought: Don Bird: “As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a well-spent life brings happy death” – Leonardo da Vinci Useful web links… District # 9940 www.rotary9940.org.nz DG’s Blog: www.9940.rotarysouthpacific.org