The meeting started at 7.39 am;
Members Present:
Eleven members made it to breakfast with two guests - one was our speaker, Caro, and the other was a former member, Ray. Several members were away traveling.
President:
Don Cowie stepped into the breach to deputise for the President who is motorcycling in Spain.
Ingrid reported that the incoming President had resigned three weeks before starting his tenure. A special selection panel is to be convened to nominate a replacement.
Thanks to those who contributed food cans - 200 received so far for the food parcels. Kathy has been in dialogue with Vinky regarding Starlight. He has set up a company in Indonesia to turn waste materials into luxury goods, with 10% of the price earmarked for Starlight. This is expected to raise $10k per year. His son is using AI to manage a depot and distribution for the products. Altogether - stunning progress!
Gizmo's Garden will see a planting sprint down Parnell Rise. Mark the date - Saturday 28th June - and be there if you can. It is planned to do the whole shebang in one day - refreshments will be provided! Kianga Ora is in a nervous state - this is not the way bureaucracies work!
Three-Minute Speaker:
Peter Don spoke of his visit to Christine Fernyhough's place in Mangawhai (Estuary of the stingrays) which houses her collection of Kiwi memorabilia. Much of this was the result of the tight import restrictions that applied in the 50s through to the 80s. We heard about some of the big names from industry (e.g.Skellerup) which were spawned from this otherwise diabolical policy. Each room of the house is named in someone's honour - one being a prominent Ponsonby brothel owner.
The invitation was made for a Club visit to said establishment - maybe in the summer. This could be a pleasant outing.
Deputy Sargeant Rory:
When will the CRL finally open - do we believe the recent date offering? Six pages of Harvey Norman advertising in the Saturday Herald, Trump versus Musk - (like two circling scorpions but less endearing!) Westpac going full-digital with their statements - horror! A second-hand Tesla going cheep at Mar-a-Lago and Ocean Day's beach tidying. Somewhere in this lot we have fines!
Main Speaker:
Caro McCortie is a management and development consultant and a survivor of breast cancer. She was here to talk about resilience and how to cope with a shit sandwich. - which life has a tendency to present at some time or another.
This was her journey through the stages of a very serious cancer illness and the personal effects and lessons learned from over a year of treatment.
She spoke of four tenets:
- Feel no shame: This is not something that you have done wrong and you don't somehow deserve this.
- Say yes to everything: Accept help - it is as important to the offerer as it is to the recipient.
- Find the joy: There will be plenty of dark moments, enjoy the good ones.
- Celebrate milestones: Acknowledging progress helps keep a positive mindset.
Resilience is about "agency" rather than armour.
Final thoughts: Getting older - we deserve to be seen. Getting sharper - more clarity on where and to whom we should pay attention.
Early treatment was mainly private with the cure path being primarily the public health service, which was excellent.
Don thanked Caro for her very thoughtful and moving presentation
The meeting closed at 8.15 am.
