Wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy 2024.
Trust you have all had a special Christmas and holiday period with your families and friends.
The 23rd of January was our first dinner meeting for 2024. This starts the second half of our Rotary year.
We have several busy calendar months ahead of us. Projects of significant being the Fun Walk/Run on 24th March. April sees our involvement with Anzac Poppy selling and the Anzac week school displays leading up to Anzac Day. Then in May and June will be Kids Bookarama and Blankets for Kids with Rotary Changeover set down for late June.
Our dinner meeting on 23rd January was not very well attended maybe due to members still away on holiday. It was however nice to welcome everyone along especially Clem and his host Mother Delwyne. Also great to have Gary Donoghue back amongst us.!
It was a pleasure to welcome our guest speaker for the evening Paul Brobbel. Paul is the new Director of Uxbridge Arts and Culture Centre in Howick. Paul comes with distinction in having previous employment at the museum of New Zealand, Te Papa in Wellington and the Auckland War Memorial Museum. His previous role was the Len Lye Curator at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth.
Paul chose to base his presentation about Len Lye who was a New Zealand leading multi-media artist and Kinetic sculpturist but most importantly a film maker.
Born in 1901 in Christchurch New Zealand, Len Lye is arguably New Zealand s most celebrated expatriate artist. His reputation stands primarily on his achievements as a film maker and kinetic sculptor.
Living in London in the 1930 s, Lye became well known for his pioneering work in direct or camera-less film making. To produce abstract animation Lye painted and scratched the film itself and used innovative techniques of colour processing. Lye immigrated to the United States in 1944 and settled in New York where he continued his work in film and began producing Kinetic sculptures.
In 1977 Lye returned to his homeland for the first New Zealand exhibition of his work at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth. Shortly before Lye s death in 1980 he entrusted his work to the newly constituted Len Lye Foundation. He encouraged the foundation to build his work to the scale he envisaged. New Plymouth s Wind Wand and Wellington s Water Whirler are two examples of his work.
Questions from the floor were varied and interesting, with suggestions that we erect a Len Lye Wind Wand at Howick Beach. This would use five years of Bookarama funds. ........................This was not voted on!!!!!
Paul was introduced and thanked by Glenice and all Rotary Members in the normal manner.
General business followed with Steve Lines carrying out his Sergeants duties by humouring those that faced fines.
Thanks were also passed on to Pat and her Team for organising the barbeque evening and to Glenice for hosting it at her home. A Very Enjoyable Evening
Raffle Winners...........Have a Go Raffle Geoff Thompson and Celeste Holland
New World Vouchers Ian Fox and John Sanders
Many thanks to you all for making it such an enjoyable evening.
Our next dinner meeting is set for 13th February with the programme to be advised.
Kind Regards
Malcolm J Pascoe.
President. Rotary Club of Howick.
