Tuesday was our first meeting for 2019. It was pleasing to have 40 people to listen to our speaker Helen Perry of the Howick & Pakuranga Times. Helen replaced Reay Neben who she described as the driving force behind the company. Unfortunately Reay had to deal with a health issue, we wish her well. Helen was engaging and informative focusing on the role of community newspapers in today's world. I particularly related to her comment that social media is more like “Chinese whispers” where this little or no fact checking and the story changes as it moves on. What purports to be news these days often has little depth and fact checking. Local news as provided by H&P Times is about keeping us informed about our local community. It was a thought provoking address and well received. Thank you Helen.
Helen Perry – H&P Times
David and Jane Percival are leaving us to live in Waihi. Since they arrived in Howick they have been very engaged in our club and we will miss them. David was made an honorary member and Jane was presented with a pot plant.
Farewell to David & Jane Percival
Now that the club has moved to two meetings each month on 1st and 3rd Tuesdays communication becomes very important. Keyway is a critical part of our communications. The calendar is being actively updated to that you can see what events and speakers are coming up. Please make a point of putting these events in your diary. A great deal of effort goes into arranging them and we need all members and often their families to help us to make them a success. If you wish to inform the club on anything send in what you want to say to be published in Keyway by midday on Thursdays.
Briefly here are events during February and March
Tuesday 19th February – annual visit to Howick coastguard
Sunday 24th February – club picnic day bring family and friends
Tuesday 5th March – annual visit to Howick Historical Village
Sunday 17th March – Howick Fun Run Walk
Your active support of these events will demonstrate how we appreciate the efforts of members who commit their time to making our club attractive to prospective members and friends.
My closing thought for the night was a quote from Aaron Sorkin
“Don’t forget that a small group of thoughtful people can change the world, it’s the only thing that ever has.”