Gill Johnston, Kylie Brewer and Elizabeth Bayley-Jull
Te Awamutu Rotary club has ushered in a leadership direction for 2025 that will see the club run by a group rather than an individual.
Outgoing Te Awamutu Rotary club president Kylie Brewer presented Stephen Cox with his Paul Harris Fellow award. Photo: supplied
Outgoing club president Kylie Brewer said the club will be led this year by a committee, made up of Graham Jull, Gill Johnston, John Harrison and Chris Kay. She said the change was made to ensure the club’s sustainability and viability.
Brewer outlined activities during her year in office which saw it donate more than $20,500 to the community. Recipients included the Te Awamutu Health Shuttle, the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, foodbank and boxing academy. Support has also been given to the Pirongia Forest Park Lodge, the Te Awamutu Brass Band for building repairs, and to Te Awamutu College student Blake Gower for his upcoming participation in the London Science Forum.
Several Rotarians were presented with awards during an early July dinner evening.
Elizabeth Bayley-Jull presented a community service award to Jill Taylor. Photo: supplied
Brewer presented the Paul Harris Fellow award to Stephen Cox for his extensive involvement in wetlands restoration, particularly at Lake Rotopiko where his work with Waipā District Council, Wintec and the New Zealand Wetlands Trust has helped establish the New Zealand Wetlands Headquarters at the site.
“He has organised all the Rotary volunteers and has put in a huge effort with the project,” Brewer said. “Stephen’s Rotary life has shown his commitment to the environment and innovation within the struggles to maintain biodiversity and healthy wetlands.”
Richard Reynolds was awarded an honorary membership in recognition of his ‘outstanding contribution to the club and the wider community’.
Pictured at the Te Awamutu Rotary club event are, from left, Graham Jull, Cambridge Rotarian Laurie Graham, outgoing TA president Kylie Brewer, Jill Johnston and Cambridge Rotarian Gary Smith. Photo: Viv Posselt
Since joining Rotary in 1995, he has been involved numerous initiatives including the organisation’s successful firewood project, the 4-Wheel Drive Safari, and the Urban Miners Project. Reynolds served as club president from 2003-2004 and was a recipient of the Paul Harris Fellow award in 2008.
Honorary membership was also presented to Michael Cox, and a community service award was presented by Elizabeth Bayley-Jull to Jill Taylor for community service.
Bayley-Jull outlined Taylor’s many initiatives, including her ‘Muffins for Mums’ project to support out-of-town mothers of babies in the hospital’s intensive care unit, her Operation Christmas Hamper which gives food and presents to 200 needy families at Christmas, and the free youth programme Jenga, which made the longest hot dog in New Zealand last year, and with the assistance of a Freemason’s grant, also designed a fitness circuit now in one of the council playgrounds.
Taylor, who is a Te Awamutu Community Board member, is also advocating at parliamentary for improvements in rest homes.
Pictured at the Te Awamutu Rotary club dinner are, from left, Gill Johnston, Kylie Brewer and Elizabeth Bayley-Jull. Photo: supplied
