Tuesday night featured our annual Apprentice Awards in conjunction with BCITO and MIT. It is 9 years since the late Ken McIntosh first proposed that our club host these awards and they have become an important feature in our annual calendar.
The point was made about our desperate need for qualified trades persons and that our current shortage is, in part, due to a poor political decision in the 1990s. John Cole from BCITO told us that his organisation currently has 11,000 apprentices in training. The fact that our construction industry needs that many and more every year for the foreseeable future illustrates the challenge to build houses and infrastructure in our country.
The awards included framed certificates, a hammer engraved with the recipient’s name, and a voucher generously provided by Placemakers Pakuranga. Please don’t forget their support when you need items for your home projects.
It was my privilege to host Grant McIntosh, Ken’s son and successor as CEO of the company Ken founded, McIntosh Timber Laminates Ltd., now Timberlab, and to assist him with the presentation to the successful apprentices.
The evening was organised by John Osborne who has made this project his own over recent years. Thanks John. You can read John’s presentation and details of the awards in this bulletin.
We had a great turnout with guests from MIT and BCITO, wives and a number of visitors. I know they enjoyed the evening and we hope to see them again.
Next week is an important one for Howick Rotary. We will be inducting two new members, Mike Stanghan and Ian Wallis. We will be saying goodbye to Marie Carette our lovely French exchange student an event that is bound to result in a few tears and maybe not just from Marie.
Our guest speaker is PDG Jennie Herring who will talk to us about flexibility in Rotary.
See you all on Tuesday.
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