Points from the President's Podium:
- A special welcome to Uber Driver Jo and Birthday Boy Bob
- Birthday best wishes were sung to Bob Austin, who celebrated his 97th birthday last month. Bob has been busy trying to improve the brakes on Baby Austin – he said the handbrake was working best at present!
- Artarama at Aigantighe All members are invited to the prize giving on Saturday, 10 August at 1.00 pm. The Club provides $500 in prize sponsorship, so it would be good to see a great turnout, check out the display, and recognise the students who excel in their art.
- Atarama pack down is Monday, 19 August – Rod needs some volunteer helpers on site at 9.00 am, please.
- Science Fair is coming up soon – more details to follow
- Bookarama timelines: Set up Monday to Thursday, 7 to 10 October; Sales Friday to Sunday, 11 to 13 October; pack down Monday, 14 October – please keep these dates free as Dale needs all hands on deck. Please let Dale know if you need books collected or stored.
- Next Meeting is in 3 weeks' time, Thursday, 22 August – District Governor Dave McKissock visits that night, so it would be appreciated to see a good turnout of members.
The taking
Sergeant Harley Smithson, ably assisted by Corporal Gavin Craig, did the collection, noting that ex-Councillor Tony will sort out the Theatre, Farmers 57mm of rain at Hewson's, 56mm at Hadlow for Rob and at Levels for Reese, 50mm in town for Noel and then a Winston Churchill quiz: Winston died on 24 January 1965 aged 90 and his final words were "I'm bored with it all". Bob advised the scribe that he had visited Winston's house, had sat in his chair, and that he was an artist who also had dyslexia!
The giving
Adrian Grey won a bottle of fine red wine with the lucky number 46.
3 Minute Talk by Reese Hart
A few months back, neither Reese nor John G were 100%; they were chatting by phone. They decided to go and have coffee and were joined by Rob, Ken Wood, Gordon Bower, and the Couplands. This was then followed by a lunch at the Grosvenor with 16 present. This group intend to continue holding a friendship and fellowship lunch to maintain contact once per month on the last Wednesday. All members are welcome, but please keep Rob or Reese informed that you will attend to help them plan the numbers and find a suitable venue.
President Rob also noted the alternate Thursday gathering between meetings at Armadillo's Restaurant for a meal at 6.00 pm, which also provided great fellowship.
Guest Speaker member Tony Brien:
Tony is on the board of Venture Timaru, a Council-owned entity, as is Timaru District Holdings Limited (TDHL). The council funds them $700k per annum with the mission of growing the District via economic growth.
They organise events and promotions (e.g. Kylie Bell concert on the Bay, Cruise Ship visits), provide Grants to assist Events and focus on economic development. They are about to consult the community on a project to find means of stimulating 'transformational growth by 2050 to have 75,000 people in our District. The District has an ageing population of 33% plus 65 Y.O., and our rate burden will be unsustainable unless we bring in younger people. The current GDP is $3.2B and will only grow to around $4.2B by 2050 unless we see a transformational shift in productivity and significant growth in employment. The goal is to get to a GDP of $9.1B.
To achieve this, we would need
- 9,000 more homes
- 200 to 300 more classrooms
- 1,500 more health and social assistance works
- High-tech jobs – e.g. Gaming programmers, Science Hub at Washdyke with SPS
- 42,500 jobs in 2050 (26,000 in 2021)
- 75,000 district population (48,500 in 2021)
Presently, we are only seeing 400 more people move into the District each year – big, bold, ambitious targets are needed, along with new thinking and new ideas.
Venture Timaru will be consulting the community on this plan, which has Council support; everyone's ideas and input are sought by Venture Timaru.
VoT by David Hewson, who said it was good to see this future thinking and planning, and we thanked Tony for his presentation.
Final Act Rod finished with this day in History quiz, so brush up your brain cells for the next Meeting!
Next Rotary gathering
Thursday 22 August for DGs visit
EDITORS NOTE
Please check the roster below to ensure you arrange and complete your following meeting duties, and log an apology if you will be absent.