Yet another month ended as we continue to push into winter. Time to pull out those winter jumpers and get your heating going after a long, wonderful summer.

Talking about wonderful, our guest speaker Greig Browless gave a great speech regarding his journeys over Europe, then serenaded all present with a few European tunes on his well-travelled piano accordion.

A Vitamise meal provided by Hanoi Boy ended the evening, seemingly well received by all present. Thanks go to Bronwyn/Jono and the International Committee for a well-run evening.

This weekend some are off to chop/split wood at David and Annes property, no doubt followed by tea and freshly baked cake as a reward for our efforts. I hope to see you there.

 

Next week at CHS for our first formal meeting in May, our speakers next week Fiona George from NZ Red Cross, with our meal provided by CHS Rugby Team. Please join me in what should be an informative presentation, with another opportunity to support one of our premier school sports teams.

 

Thanks to the Covid-19 Level reduced to Orange, which enables 200 people to be seated indoors, Rotary have decided to run their Annual Charity Golf Tournament on Thursday 12th May.

 

Despite the short notice, we do hope your Club will be able to make up a team and enjoy a day out on the Wairakei International Course. 

 

Closing date is 4th May so I look forward to your response as soon as possible.

 Tel: 07 378 7286             Mob: 0212 355 697         Email: copy_cat@xtra.co.nz

 

Please consider giving to the Rotary Foundation in this time of need.  I realise we are personally unable to solve the world’s problems, but I do know our desire to help is strong.

By giving to the Rotary Foundation and encouraging others working toward the same goals, we will know that all funding generated, is directed to those who need it most.

 

Look forward to seeing you all next week.

President Ian

 

 

The evening was the 4^th Rotary night in the month and this month the International Committee headed by Bronwen Byers were responsible for the guest speaker and catering.

Catering was handled by Jono on the night and Hanoi Boy shared some Vietnamese food with us which was quite a treat.

 

Sergeant Ted Mason opened the meeting at 6pm, on time. He talked about this day in history and alerted us to Captain Cook arriving in Botany Bay on this day..somewhere back then.

 

President Ian welcomed us all and updated us that Cambridge High School and removed the requirement for vaccination passes in the staffroom and the school grounds.

 

President Ian raised the debate about the correct spelling for Anzac. Will leave Ian to explain in his notes.

 

Richard Seabrook introduced our guest speaker – Greg Brownless from the Tauranga Sunrise Club.

Greg has been a Rotarian for 25 years and started Legacy Funerals which now owns Cambridge Funeral Services. Greg was the past Mayor of Tauranga and the title of his speech for the evening was “Confessions of a Tour Guide”.

 

Greg headed overseas in his early 20’s and spent time in America with Trek America which he nicknamed Trash America. The tour was a 9 week tour across the US.

From there Greg moved to London and got a job with a large Funeral company which handled 5000 funerals per annum. Greg learned a lot in this company which was the volume funeral market.

Greg then joined up at the beginning with a startup business named Contiki Tours. A fellow Kiwi John Anderson started the business with one minibus at the time and grew Contiki to what it is today with over 120 buses in the fleet.

 

Greg gave us a few stats about Contiki.

The average patronage was 80% females and the age group 18-35.

The buses would take a maximum of 53 people.

John re-invented Contiki every time his competitors started catching up. This involved a crew going around at the start of the season setting up tents so only the passengers moved around.

Contiki over the following years purchased a few properties along the way to make the experience much more enjoyable. Greg talked about villas and chateaus that Contiki purchased and some were in good condition and some were what Greg called -1 in terms of stars.

 

Greg talked about the training trip he went on at the start of the season and these were held in the middle of winter and this was to harden up the staff.

 

Greg played us some piano accordion to set the scene of Paris and the audience thoroughly enjoyed the change in pace. Greg ran through a common tour trip that Contiki would take starting in Paris and ending up in Spain after travelling around 9 countries at speed.

 

Greg spent 5 years with Contiki then it was time to return home to New Zealand.

 

A number of questions were asked of Greg and David Smith thanked Greg for sharing his experiences with us and likened the stories to some our own Bill & Deb Robinson have shared as their times in the tour business.

 

 

Ray Milner updated us about the roster going around for Bookarama. He mainly needs pack in and pack out help on both Sundays.

 

Gretchen talked to us about her daughter looking for an overseas exchange programme and asked the club to let her know if any opportunities come up in the near future.

 

Andrew Bateman talked to us about Our Rotary World. Andrew shared with us the role of the Vocational Committee and enlightened us that January was Vocational Service month.

Andrew shared with us the role of the Vocational Services Committee:

Next week catering will be offered by Cambridge High School Rugby team.

 

Ian closed the meeting earlier than normal at 7:35pm.