IW Club of Tautahi Canterbury had the great pleasure of hearing special guest Herb de Vries speak at last month's meeting. An Associate Professor from University of Canterbury and published researcher, he gave a fascinating and educational presentation of his current research programme, Refugee employment, unemployment & entrepreneurship with a focus on challenges and opportunities. They had an almost full turnout, and we were fully engaged, with many questions and discussions happening.

IW Club of Tautahi Canterbury, at their friendship meeting this month they went to the NZ Museum of Toys and Collectibles with Diane, Raelyn, Robina, Carmel, Deb, Norelly, Jo, Karen, Viv & Vanja. This was such a fabulous place for a meet-up. A real walk down memory lane, it also allowed them to exchange personal stories such as: toys we used to have, toys our kids/parents/grand-parents played with, places we visited , cars they drove along with what family cars they had, movies and tv shows they watched, the toys their family collected And lots more Located at 36 Manchester Street.

Club Showcase at Village Function

The IW Club of Orewa and Whangaparaoa had an opportunity to showcase their Club at an Age Concern Function at Evelyn Page Village. The ladies willingly gave their time to promote the Club and talk about what being a part of Inner Wheel means to them. It was a worthwhile community awareness activity.

The IW Club of Ashburton hold regular Social groups which continue to prove very popular. These include walking, Coffee morning and even a Ukelele group.
Club Membership officer, Clare also hosted an  informative coffee morning for our newer members which was well attended and much appreciated.

Social Get Together at Columbus Café

Walkers at Argyle Park 

New Member’s morning tea held at Clare’s home 

The IW Club Ashburton have been supporting the local community especially the rural women and families affected by the flooding with batches of home baking. Baking was bought to a Club meeting and then distributed to those in need. This was gratefully received by the rural community in the Ashburton area as they deal with the flooding devastation.

A wonderful report featured recently on the Ashburton Guardian to highlight the wonderful honour it is for Carol Haskett to be an International Inner Wheel Board Director. We all wish Carol all the best for her year ahead as an IIW Board Director and hope that she enjoys the experience.

No doubt there will be Zoom meetings and opportunities for her to connect with the other Board Directors and IIW Executive over the coming year.

Carol has been given six Non Districted Clubs based in Australia to connect with and provide a vital link between them and IIW. 

Congratulations Carol, IWNZ is proud of you.

In July 2021 there was wonderful weekend of friendship with the "Golden Girls" of the IW Club of Oamaru, as they celebrated 50 years as women in action sharing friendship through service.

The Club of 11 members, including a Charter member and between them all sharing 331 years of Inner Wheel membership in the Oamaru Club, enjoyed a luncheon celebration on Saturday 24th July.

The room was filled with 50 friends including Another Charter member of the Club, Jean Currie. Jean flew in from Wellington for the weekend to share stories of how the Club began. IWNZ President and Nat Rep, Michelle serenaded the audience with her rendition of the theme song from the "Golden Girls" - Thank you for being a friend. District Chairman NZ298, Pam Henderson bought greetings and other members from Clubs all across the District NZ298 were also present to share a wonderful afternoon of friendship at the Brydone Hotel in Oamaru.

The highlight of the afternoon was the presentation of personal profiles of each of the 11 members and then the surprise presentation to each of them of an Honoured Active Award.

An Honoured Active Membership Award can be presented to an active member who has given outstanding service to Inner Wheel. What better way to celebrate these ladies, as a small Club where everyone gives so much to keep the Club active and vibrant, sharing the 3 objects of Inner Wheel - Friendship, service and International understanding.

Congratulations to each of you:

Maureen Malcom - Previous Honoured Active Awardee, member since 1978.

Joan Martin – Charter Member 1971

Cara Duncan - member since1982, IW member since 1971 as Charter member of Stratford Club.

Carole Hamer- member since 1985, Past President

Ann Senior – member since 1990, Past Club President

Dawn Perkins – member since 1993 (Current Club President),Past District Chairman

Ruth Dove – member since 1995 (Current Club Secretary), Past President.

Bronwyn Goldrick- member since1998 (Current Club Treasurer)

Maureen Ardley – member since 2004 -

Susan Clark member since 2004, past District Secretary and Treasurer, National Conference Treasurer

Claire Thomson –Oamaru member since 2011 and previously a Charter member of Gore

Congratulations to the Golden Girls of Oamaru!

"Thank you for being a friend, You've travelled down the road and back again, Your hearts are true, you are pals and confidants."

Cyclone Harold caused major devastation in Vanuatu and as a result many Kindergartens/Playschools were destroyed. They get no government funding and are set up and supported by the local communities. In most cases this is very difficult and as a result most kindergartens/preschools have few if any teaching resources, play equipment and furniture.

So Kits for Kindy project was set up.

These were brought to the District Assembly meeting in April and we all had a lot of fun sorting and packing the boxes.  Over 30 boxes of toys/books etc were sent off to Vanuatu.  We also had money donated and used it to buy a slide for the children to play on.

The Inner Wheel Club of Plimmerton have held stands at the two Love Local Expo's held in Porirua.  It is a great way to help raise the profile of Inner Wheel.

The stand features photos of all our activities, a running powerpoint, silky pillows and wheatpacks we make for the cancer society, neonatal knitting and welcome packs for Women's Refuge and Hospitals.

We also have lots of promotional material on hand with contact names and numbers. It is really important to engage with people and to take names for follow up calls. 

As we have watched the news of the turmoil and devastation due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Fiji, it is very apparent that Fiji is a Nation in great need of help.

Our Inner Wheel Club of Tokalau Suva, based in Fiji are safe and they are working hard to do what they can to help those in need.

District NZ291 has a long standing relationship with the JP Bayly Trust, a welfare agency that has been supporting people in Fiji for 67 years. A number of Inner Wheel Members from NZ291 have been to Fiji in the past and visited the JP Bayly trust and seen their work first hand. We also receive regular newsletters from them.

Therefore, I took the opportunity to reach out to John Yee, the General Manager of the Trust to ask how we could assist them in this time of need. They would be gratefully receive any financial assistance from us to help them provide the basic needs to people in their care and other in need in Fiji.

An Appeal Letter has been sent to every IWNZ Club, please ask your Club Secretary for this, if you have yet to see it.

I invite you all to spread the word of this Appeal. We have given a time frame of 1 month for Clubs to reach out and deposit funds into the IWNZ Appeal Bank Account by Thursday 12th August.

You can download the Appeal Letter here.

On behalf of all the families we can support, I thank you for your generosity,

Nga mihi nui, Many thanks,

Michelle Atkinson. IWNZ National Representative and President 2021-22