Inner Link - December 2020 - Inner Wheel New Zealand inc
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Inner Link – December 2020
From the Editor
What a year it’s been! Over the past few days I’ve been rummaging in the stored library of newsletters that
clubs have published in this strangest of times, and I’ve been constantly reminded that life goes on and that
Inner Wheel ladies are resilient.
This newsletter gives you a snapshot of what has been happening in the Districts over the past six months,
and looks ahead at what the first part of 2021 will hold. My thanks to everyone who made the time to send
through their bits and pieces so that I could get a newsletter out in the dying days of the year – this is not a
job that you can ever do on your own.
Hannie de Beer, IWNZ Editor
Looking to 2021
The Queenstown conference committee is working hard behind the scenes to give you a weekend of
adventure in May 2021. Less than 160 days to go and every day we are a step closer to
book/hire/commission/gather the necessary items to secure an eventful conference.
The conference is about creating connections, discussing business, building bridges, rekindling friendships,
learning more about Inner Wheel, and making new friends.
The website is now live and will be updated regularly, so keep on coming back to it. We will share more info
when this comes to hand, things to do in Queenstown or blurbs about keynote speakers or planned
entertainment. Please use the buttons on the site if you have any questions and to register for the
Newsletters, which will be emailed monthly with the latest information to make your stay in Queenstown
and during the conference enjoyable.
Be ready on the 10th of January 2021 to grab your Early Bird ticket and start your adventure………
Rina Maxwell-Hesp
2
President’s Message
Coming into the role of National President of Inner Wheel New
Zealand in the middle of a Covid-19 Pandemic with an
International President's theme of "Lead the Change" was
timely. Change there certainly has been. To start, all of my
ROSE days were cancelled so I was unable to visit any of the
Districts prior to changeover.
However, by July Carol and I were able to fly to Wellington for
the National Changeover and it was great to once again meet
familiar faces face to face.
All of the District Meetings for this half of the year have now
been completed and what an amazing job our District
Chairmen have done, making the meetings fun and informative
whilst also putting together Kits for Kindys to be sent to
Vanuatu shortly. Jillian Crossen has done an amazing job of co-ordinating this project.
Our Membership team have been very focussed on marketing Inner Wheel. Publicist Alyssandra Skerrett has
come up with wonderful membership cards that can be given out to hopefully encourage women to attend a
meeting and find out about Inner Wheel and the amazing things we do, and the charities we support. One of
International President Bina's goals is for each club to gain five new members. We have 40 clubs in New
Zealand, so that would mean 200 new members. I'm sure this will be achieved. Our Publicist has also
launched a photo competition, asking for action photos showing us having fun. I am looking forward to
seeing these soon.
On a personal note, my husband Wayne and I moved to Blenheim during the Covid lockdown in April, and
we are really enjoying our new location. The Inner Wheel Club of Blenheim has welcomed me with open
arms - I guess they can count it as one new member! There are a lot of community events here in Blenheim
and we have already been asked to join three car clubs. Moving to a new location is not easy but we have
been welcomed warmly to the town.
I am looking forward to International Inner Wheel Day where my club will join the Inner Wheel Clubs of
Stoke-Tahunanui and Motueka at Pelorus Bridge for lunch.
Next year's conference in Queenstown will soon be on everyone's radar - the Conference page on our Inner
Wheel NZ website is now live where you can find all the information you need and registrations will go live
on 10 January. I urge you all to consider registering as we are putting together an amazing programme and
Conference is a way of connecting with all Inner Wheel members and making friends throughout the
country. Hopefully our Australian neighbours will be able to join us if quarantine regulations are relaxed.
I thank Hannie for her acceptance of the role of Editor at the last minute. I know that she is up to the task
and will produce a fantastic magazine for us all.
Dot Anderson-Lee, National President
3
President Dot’s been busy …
From Zoom meetings, to collecting at Daffodil day, from packing boxes to joining in the fun, President Dot
has had a busy few months!
4
District NZ291
On 1 July this year, District NZ291 welcomed the following clubs to their District, IW Clubs of Fairfield,
Matamata, Opotiki and Tauranga Central. I had the privilege of meeting with all these clubs during July and
August and September, especially when Auckland was in lockdown again, and I was unable to visit most of
the Auckland based clubs.
After cancelling our Hamilton Gardens outing and postponing the September District Meeting, we were
finally all together at the October District Meeting. The chatter was a pleasure to hear and having a different
twist to the meeting made it feel more relaxed.
We were entertained by the clubs at the “Time to Shine” session, where the clubs were able to brag about
their services they support or have provided to the community. The photos below are proof of it. As always,
I am blown away by the tremendous amount of volunteers who have not heard about Inner Wheel and it will
be a challenge to get out to spread the word and start the conversation.
A successful membership drive from IWC Howick resulted in 5 new members, IWC Aotea Auckland also had 4
new members added in the last couple of months, other clubs have a few potential members coming to their
meetings too. Covid-19 was a challenge for all of us, I do think it has brought our members and the
community closer together.
Rina Maxwell-Hesp, NZ291 District Chairman
A Time to Shine
Top row: Aotea Auckland,
Fairfield
Middle image: Auckland East
Bottom row: Orewa and
Whangaparoa, Shore City,
Whangarei
5
A Time to Shine, continued
Top row: Mt Roskill, Noumea
Bottom row: Handicrafts by Howick, Matamata
Did you know that District NZ291 also oversees two overseas clubs? One in Noumea, and one in Suva?
It is also now our largest District, with a total of 14 clubs.
6
District NZ294
Our district theme has been ‘Let’s work together’ and our photos show how we have embraced this,
enjoying a wide range of collective activities. We have had the privilege of celebrating the work of individual
members and two clubs with two and three generations of each family as members, Upper Hutt and Eastern
Hutt respectively. We can boast having celebrated three anniversaries, namely Ahiriri’s 60th, and Kapiti and
New Plymouth, their 40th.
Clubs have been innovative in their fundraising, for example Plimmerton had a WOW evening. One Eastern
Hutt member helped a low decile school’s musical production by searching out musical instruments from
second hand shops and Trade Me. Upper Hutt inducted three new members. Our Executive printed 250
copies of the November E-Magazine for sharing to promote Inner Wheel as well as sending it out online.
Plimmerton showcased the club by having a stall at the local Expo.
Palmerston North hosted our last District Assembly in November which was a district project ‘workathon’
contributing and packing around 30 large boxes of Kits for Kindys to be sent to Vanuatu. This took place
after an inspirational talk by Prue Deighton about the Irlen Syndrome, a reading difficulty condition often
diagnosed incorrectly, with detrimental effects on the individuals.
Carol Woodfield, NZ294 District Chairman
Top row: The NZ294 executive,
Palmerston North Member, Claire Murrell
models her handiwork, a true taonga,
mother and daughter members, Marie
and Megan,
On the right: Plimmerton’s expo display
7
District NZ297
Secretary Helen organised a lovely house for us and we had the executive meeting early in the evening
followed by dinner at the same house, where we were joined by some members of the Blenheim club as
they were staying next door.
We were all up bright and early the next morning preparing morning tea and lunch, which our husbands
kindly served around midday and then cleaned up afterwards. I had decided since we were using our sound
system my husband could also play some music on arrival and during lunch time.
Our District Meeting didn’t take long as Helen had us all very well organised. Our guest speaker was Graeme
Frith ((known as Grum) who describes his two year cycling trip around the world, which was amazing.
We then sorted the phenomenal amount of stuff for Kits for Kindys before meeting at the Five Stags for
dinner.
All my club visits so far have been great. Thank you! I have been made to feel very welcome at every club
and I am delighted to report that every club is just so busy and new members are trickling in.
Michael joins me in wishing you a very Happy Christmas and a Brilliant New Year.
In friendship
Judy Kingsbury, NZ297 District Chairman
Top row: President Dot and Chairman Judy ready to start the meeting; making new IW friends, Graeme Frith
Bottom row: Members in attendance, our wonderful kitchen team (don’t they look smart in their pinnys!)
8
District NZ298
District NZ298 met in Invercargill on Saturday 28 November 2020. We were taken on a historic bus tour of
Invercargill which included a visit to the site of the new Charity Hospital - the project for which is being set
up by Blair Vining’s widow Melissa in his name. Melissa came and told us about his journey with cancer and
the lack of treatment available in the public system. Many of the local Inner Wheel Clubs have already
contributed to the project by buying a brick. She was a very inspirational speaker about a very emotional
topic. We were finally entertained by 2 lovely young ladies in their last year at Southland Girls High School,
both going on to study music at Waikato & Massey Universities.
A very well organized and inspiring day run by District Chairman Jo Williamson.
It is wonderful to see clubs genuinely making a difference with the many regular ongoing projects they have
which when completed are distributed locally, nationally, and internationally. Thank you all for working so
tirelessly.
District NZ298 wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with family and friends
enjoying a relaxing break.
Jo Williamson, NZ298 District Chairman
Top row: Members on the move, well provided with ice cream and lollies; Members waiting for the meeting to start
Bottom row: District Chairman Jo, Jo thanking the speakers
9
ISO project
Inner Wheel has international links – and a project that
reaches beyond our borders is Kits for Kindys. This year, three
districts have come together to collect goods for shipping to
the island of Santo, where a total of 100 kindys will benefit.
Sue from Pacific Pathways writes:
It is now 8 months since tropical cyclone Harold made landfall on Vanuatu and caused major devastation
across the Sanma Province, Santo and Aore Island.
Over 100 Kindys in Sanma province were destroyed or badly damaged. As the kindys are rebuilt, Pacific
Pathways will be able to help the kindys with Kits for Kindys so that they have the educational resources to
resume classes.
Again we would like to thank you for your ongoing support and donations that have made it possible for
Pacific Pathways to continue to help the people of Vanuatu.
The districts put together a massive total of 55 containers! A special shout out to United Movers, who are
transporting all this to Vanuatu in time for the new year, Ashburton Bookarama, who donated a container
full of pre-loved children’s books, and Jillian Crossen who put her previous experience to good use.
District NZ297, shown above,
had a most enjoyable time
sorting and packing, as did
District NZ291, shown to the
right.
10I have it on good authority that
District NZ294 loved every moment
of their shopping spree under the
guidance of District Chairman Carol,
shown top left. And those ladies do
know to make a dollar stretch –
they even bought three of the slides
you see top right. And then they
had fun packing it all.
11Membership
IWNZ Immediate Past President Carol Haskett is currently responsible for Membership – she writes:
It has been wonderful to see Clubs embracing the opportunity to welcome new members into their Clubs
with new members joining Clubs throughout our Districts. To those who have not yet achieved their goals
for the year please keep moving forward and keep asking women in your Community to come along and see
what Inner Wheel can offer.
If you are looking for more ideas take a look at our website www.innerwheel.org.nz or take the time to send
your District Membership Chairman an email to see what Clubs in your District have done to gain members.
Just a reminder of what Inner Wheel offers its members:
• Friendship – the very best part of being an Inner Wheel member
• The opportunity to form connections with women of various talents, cultures and interests
• Stimulating programs and speakers
• Personal development through working together on committees and when ready taking on leadership
roles
• The ability to make a difference to others through working together as part of a group
There are three stories here – two about how to gain new members, that I’m sure will inspire you. The third is
still about membership – and that too, might inspire you.
Inner Wheel Women’s Expo
Susan Jameson, President of New Plymouth North reports:
To have a stall at an expo is usually expensive. However, because
Inner Wheel is a charity we got the space half price and we shared
a stand with Rotary group so this cost was halved again, and we
were supported by District. It cost the club approximately $80. It
was a women’s expo so suited the type of woman (working or
retired) we want to attract.
A Rotary member helped us set it up professionally – we had a TV
screen scrolling through a display of pictures of Inner Wheel and
Rotary, a large easel and frames board, and club banners. We also
had black T-shirts printed with the Inner Wheel Logo.
We used the easel and frames board as a conversation starter,
asking people to put a sticker next to the questions that they found
most important – the responses allowed us to start conversations
with complete strangers!
The questions were:
• Putting the Fun into Fundraising
• Caring for women and children
• True Friendship (seen by the majority as the most important)
• International Understanding
12It was successful because:
• When people said they were interested in joining we got their contact details and followed up.
Approximately half of these people have either have joined or are in the process of joining – and are
now bringing their friends along.
• When people were really interested, we gave a brochure that had a member’s contact details.
• If people were slightly interested, we gave them a business card with a member’s contact details.
These last two options did not result in anyone joining.
• We had members on the stand who are happy to talk to strangers. We did it in teams of 2 so it was
easier on the members who are not so comfortable.
• We now run our meeting in a less formal way with the emphasis on fun which the newer members
seem to like. There are also activities between meetings for all to enjoy and participate in. It is
important to help new members to integrate so longer serving members need to make sure that they
are introduced and feel comfortable.
Hosting a newcomers evening
Judith Morris, President of Eastern Hutt reports:
We had a special evening where current members invited friends
along and if they were interested in joining our club then the club
paid for their dinner and membership badge on induction night. So
far this term I have inducted 5 new members. One of those is my
daughter which means we have 3 generations in our club as my
mother is also a member (photo shown here).
Caring for past members
Lesley Compton, Membership Coordinator of Riccarton reports:
For a while now, we have become increasingly aware that some current and past members are still
interested in the club, but no longer have the energy to come. But we value them and miss them – hence
the birth of Pop-Ins.
Every month, a number of members meet for a cuppa and then set out in pairs to “pop in” at the homes of
these housebound members. They take a copy of the newsletter, a small gift around Christmas and Easter
and birthdays, and lots of good cheer. And the visited love being remembered, love hearing the stories, love
reminiscing about the past.
13From our homes to yours: All that is wonderful for Christmas!
And a reminder: What is Christmas without Love
If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do
not show love to my family, I’m just another decorator.
If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and
arranging a beautifully adorned table at meal time, but do not show love to my family, I’m just
another cook.
If I work at the City Mission, carol at the rest home, and give all that I have to Charity, but do not
show love to my family, it profits me nothing.
If I trim the tree with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of festive
parties and sing in the choir’s cantata, but do not focus on the real reason for Christmas, I have
missed the point.
Love stops the cooking to hug the child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.
Loves is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn’t envy another’s home that has co-ordinated Christmas china and table linen.
Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful that they are there to be in the
way.
Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who
can’t.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust. But giving the gift of love
will endure.
14You can also read
