Tuesday was our first club meeting at Howick Club and a very enjoyable one. First impressions were excellent with a choice of three items from the menu. Our orders were taken at the table and our selections delivered to us to which we then added our choice of vegetables and salad. The service was very prompt and the staff very friendly. A big thank you to Geoff and Gavin for moving our cabinet and contents and setting up the room.
Our speaker for the evening was Dave Cox who told us all about what he has been doing for the past ten years. He has been working for Sleepyhead on a number of projects principally involving the building, installation and implementation of foam plants on both sides of the Tasman Sea. The first was at the local site in Otahuhu which was originally Aulsebrooks Biscuits. Incidentally the factory manager for Aulsebrooks in those days was an ex member Ross Forester. Dave told us about the vagaries of the site they had to overcome to complete the installation, often to the consternation of the German suppliers, before it was successfully commissioned.
His reward for that success was to be given a greenfields site and a much bigger scale project to do the same thing outside Melbourne. The size and complexity of the project, the technology employed and the effort were enormous. He tried, successfully, to make us jealous by showing us the corporate jet he travelled in occasionally and the amount of time and travel involved meant that he achieved Gold Elite status with Air New Zealand. Dave introduced his presentation with a walk through of the plant with some sophisticated software that provided an overview of the complexity and scale. A great achievement and something to take great pride in Dave.
Take care over Easter, enjoy your celebrations and holiday. I look forward to seeing you all safe and sound at our next meeting on 23rd. Hopefully we will have many of our travelling members back to regale us with stories of their travels.
The top priority for our club this year has been to increase membership. To date we have been able to increase our numbers but it is not enough. We have all worked hard over the years of our membership of Howick Rotary Club serving our community both locally and internationally in a myriad of ways. We have a proud legacy of 58 years of being active in Howick. We would all like that to continue but it won’t unless we individually take responsibility for finding someone to take our place and help grow our club.
Here are a a few photographs of the mirror that was purchased by TPRDA using funds donated in lieu of flowers. One rider that used to slump over his horse's neck now sits upright so that he can see himself in the mirror. The mirror is very strongly mounted and, hopefully, should last for generations.
My family and I greatly appreciate the Club's generous donation.
