District Changeover

 

Goodbye Murray, Hello Arie!

A great evening with amazing food, good fellowship and funny jokes from the MC Corin Murfitt. There were 11 past DGs there and 5 were from Papanui- a great record!
 
Murray Compton presented a summary of his year highlighting:
  • A very successful combined conference in Nelson. Everyone had a great time.
  • Attending international conference in Seoul. 45,000 people and great speakers which included Ban Ki Moon.
  • Membership is still a challenge. Over 80 new members joined the District in the past 12 months but we lost more than this.
  • Rotary needs to be fun and Murray suggested adding “is it fun?” to the 4-Way Test.
 
 
Murray appreciated the fantastic support he has received from all 33 clubs. Lesley his wife also spoke about all the fun she had had with Murray during the year. He presented lots of “thank you” certificates to those who supported him.
 
A very special award was a Paul Harris Fellow to Valda Cordes the District Training Officer.
 
Our own Past District Governor Liz Courtney had been an important mentor.  
 
Past President Alan Dalton presented his previous year as President of Murray's Riccarton Club. Our Past President Gary Denhard gave a 5-minute summary of Papanui's many activities.
 
The changeover was a simple handover of the impressive Governor's Chain of Office followed by a flurry of swapping lapel pins, presenting bouquets of flowers and photographing the "DG Train".
 
Arie's theme for the year is "Dare to be Different." He has started as he means to go on as he is the first District Governor to be inducted on crutches.
 
Arie outlined his journey to the DG role. He especially had an exciting time in San Diego at training. Ari joined Rotary for fun, fellowship and to make a difference in the world. His favourite role in rotary is being Sergeant!
 
Ari's belief is that it is easy to sell Rotary if the product is a good one and Rotary is a great product.
 
Arie and Janice had many members of their family there to celebrate the night with them.
 
If you wish to see 39 photos from the event, please go to the Photo Albums section later in this Club Chat (or in the Photo Albums link on the Home Page of our website.
 
Good Luck Arie. Have a great year!