Rotary Supports Special Needs Camp

Connecting with the Community

Papanui People in Action

Papanui Bush Regeneration

Papanui Funding Emergency Kits

Papanui Helping Youth

Papanui Helping the Community

If you want to know when you can help then click here to view the current list

Are you someone who wants to make positive changes in your community and the world? Rotary Papanui members are friendly and dedicated people who share a passion for community service and friendship. Becoming a Rotarian connects you with a diverse and experienced group who share your drive to give back. You can achieve so much more by being part of an established worldwide organisation.

2024 Trailer Raffle Winners

Papanui Rotary Trailer Raffle Winners receive their prizes

Last Sunday was the best of the Summer so far and several people with smiling faces gathered to present the prizes to the 2024 Trailer Raffle winners. A very happy occasion for all.

Congratulations to our three prize winners.

All winners commented on how they appreciate how much Rotary does for the community.

Well done to club members Kathy and Deryn for organising another outstanding fundraiser and a special thanks to everyone in the community who supported Rotary by buying a ticket.

See you next year.

Trailer Raffle Winners 2024

Posted on Nov 29, 2024

Trailer Raffle 2024 Winners

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Papanui Rotary Trailer Raffle.

1st Prize - Ticket No. 05787 - Trailer and all of it's goods
2nd Prize - Ticket No. 06707 - e-bike
3rd Prize -Ticket No. 06734 - robot vacuum cleaner

Drawn under police supervision, Sergeant Sue Bush, Papanui Police Station.

HUGE congratulations to these winners. Enjoy your prizes!

The Rotary Club is in the process of contacting the prize winners.

The Rotary Club of Papanui would also like to again thank our partners Mitre 10 Mega, Wattwheels, Northlands Mall, Harmans Lawyers, Stihl, and All Print.

We also acknowledge the generous support from everyone who took part in this community fundraising event.

All funds raised will go to the Ron Proctor Environmental Trust, South Island Wildlife Hospital and the Papanui Children in Need Trust.

Once again, congratulations to all the winners!

RYE STudents BBQ

Rotary Youth Exchange BBQ at Papanui Bush

It was delightful to have 10 RYE students and their 2 guides visit our club last Thursday night. They are on their South Island tour and are all being hosted for the year in the Auckland and Northern parts of NZ.

It was a warm and sunny evening, and we decided to have a BBQ meal at the Papanui Bush. This turned out to be the perfect event as many of the students hadn’t experienced a NZ BBQ as they have only been in the country since July.

Denis McMurtrie had organised for them to plant a Totara tree and had them all sign their names on the cardboard protector which goes around the tree. Many had never planted a tree, and Denis took them on a short tour of the Papanui Bush to explain the history, plants and the extent of the project.

We were also joined by our local Councillor, Victoria Henstock, who talked with the students and mingled with the crowd.

It was also a great opportunity for a new family from China to come along and meet with the students which was well received by one of the RYE students from China who enjoyed talking to them in her native language.

After the meal we were treated to a presentation from the students in one of the rooms at Braintree and then 5 of our members took the students to their homes for the night. They were so grateful to have a comfortable bed for the night, catch up on some washing and many hosts took them on a tour of the city with one taking them for a swim in the sea!

The RYE programme is one of Rotary’s best youth programmes giving students a taste of international travel, developing independence, conﬁdence, learning a new language and global networking opportunities.

Lost Christchurch

Lost Christchurch - Dame Anna Crichton

Dame Anna had us recalling memories of Christchurch’s historic buildings creating much conversation within the room after showing her 15 minute video of “ Lost Christchurch” made in 2021. It documented the 2011 Earthquake and focused on the central city buildings and what has happened to the sites over the last 10 years. It was quite an emotional journey for Anna with her background in History, classics, art and architectural history which has been at the heart of Anna Crighton’s careers in the public and private sector.

Before graduating in these subjects later in life from Canterbury and Otago universities, she was registrar of Christchurch’s Robert McDougall Art Gallery for 20 years. She then embarked on a career in local politics as a Christchurch city councillor for 12 years and a member of the Canterbury District Health Board for a further 12. Over three decades, she was a trustee and director of many trusts and companies. Anna has lived in Wellington, Sydney and England but has always returned to the city of her birth. In 2020 she was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to heritage preservation and governance.

We are grateful to Dame Anna not only for her advocacy in trying to preserve many of our landmarks over the years and as a Rotarian and President of the Christchurch Rotary Club.

Dr Ines Schönberger

Lincoln University Hiberium

Dr Ines Schönberger gave us an enlightening and fascinating talk about the Herbarium where Bernadette Hunt, one of our members, volunteers on a regular basis and is involved in digitalising the plants.

The purpose of the Herbarium is to preserve plants and specimens, either dried or in spirit, to enable scientists and botanists to record and document climate change, pollution and how the plant arrived in New Zealand. There are 3,500 herbariums around the world.

The Christchurch Botanic Gardens trees and shrubs Herbarium was started by John Armstrong, a nurseryman, who had special permission and controls in place to bring in plants and specimens from around the world.

Bernadette is going to organise a trip for us to visit the Herbarium in the future so watch this space.

Hamish Fairburn

Canterbury Volunteer NZ - Hamish Fairburn

It was with great pleasure that we listened to Hamish present an interesting overview of the work the CVNZ group is involved in around the Canterbury & Westland areas.

Over the year they have successfully engaged with 14,306 people and have delivered 50,840 hours of conservation work. They have employed and trained 180 participants through a Canterbury Works Programme and have weeded and mulched 688,845m3 of land (the equivalent of 68.3 Rugby fields). They have gathered 18,270kg of rubbish and planted 161,117 native plants and shrubs. Makes one feel tired just writing about it ! An amazing amount of work organised with 5 paid staff members and an army of dedicated volunteers.

They organised the “Mother of all Cleanup” days throughout Christchurch collecting 9,900kg of rubbish over a weekend. Over the last 6 years CVNZ have taken180 people through a conservation skills programme to help them gain employment and have had a 70% success rate.

Community Planting Day at Papanui Bush Restoration Project

It was a chilly Saturday morning, but the sun was shining as we erected the Rotary Gazebo and drove the Community BBQ from Garden City Rotary, into position. A free sausage sizzle was a welcome early breakfast for some and a bonus for work done at the end for others.

At 9am a trickle of eager people from the community began to appear, followed by families, couples and some from the Papanui Historical Group. Karen from the Christchurch City Council Environment group gave a quick lesson on how to dig, plant and weed around the area, closely followed by Denis McMurtrie with a wheelbarrow and shovels directing people to the areas to be planted.

Denis had set up an area for children to colour in pictures of Dr. Seuss’s Lorax and Max Wright was given the job of dressing up in the Lorax suit to the amusement of passers by who waved from car windows.

The new path has been extensively extended and new planting beds have been made from the entrance to the street making the area more visible to the public. This was the first area to be planted on Saturday and the volunteers and Rotarians completed this quickly moving on into the body of the bush to finish areas around the new pathway. There is still plenty of planting to do throughout the bush as it continues to snake around the length of the new business park and railway line fencing.

Working with the City Council and Community Board has given Papanui Rotary the opportunity to be involved in leaving the city with an environmental legacy. Liz Courtney has also been given permission to erect the first Peace Pole in Christchurch at the Papanui Bush so watch this space for more information on the date set to erect this within the bush.

Rotary's RYDA Training a success at Papanui High School

On 5 March Papanui Rotary was involved in the running of a Rotary Driver Awareness Day at Papanui High School. This was in association with Road Safety Education Limited (RSE).

Why is there a need for more driver awareness?

In 2023, 341 lives were lost on New Zealand roads, 76 (22%) of those were aged between 15-25 years. To date in 2024 already 89 road fatalities have been recorded. While much progress has been made in reducing road trauma, youth safety remains a priority, particularly in rural areas. New Zealand youth are consistently over-represented in road trauma statistics. Although they make up only 13% of all licence holders MOT found youth aged 17- 25 years are found to be primarily responsible for 86% of all road crashes they are involved in throughout 2022.

The Response

For every life lost, many more are seriously injured, often with life-lasting impacts. Tackling road trauma is a community challenge that needs a whole of community response. RYDA has been working with the community equipping novice drivers and their passengers from Christchurch with the skills, mindset and tools to make better decisions on the road since 2009. Road Safety Education Limited (RSE) is working to make sure the road to every young person’s future is a safe one.

2006: First RYDA in Auckland 2023: 100,000 students nationwide

2009: First RYDA in Christchurch 2024: First RYDA for Papanui High School

Papanui High School 2024 at a glance:

Workshop held 5 March 2024 at Riccarton Park Racecourse with:

271 students
9 facilitators
5 volunteers

including Police Officer Brent Cosgrove

Feedback

The top three messages Papanui High School students responded as “much more aware” included:

Plan critical decisions ahead of time, eg. overtaking, orange lights, running late
How personality factors and mood affect risk
The positive and negative influence passengers can have on young drivers

We meet In Person

Thursdays at 6:00 PM

The Papanui Club

310 Sawyers Arms Road
Bishopdale
Christchurch, Canterbury 8053
New Zealand

Phone:

021 224 4804

Email:

papanuirotary@gmail.com

Papanui Club is our home base. We meet at 5:30pm for 6:00pm start. Check the Events Calendar for confirmation of location as we sometimes meet remotely or in different locations.. Our mailing address is: P O Box 5064 Papanui Christchurch, 8542

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