The Nature of Things – November 2011

Author: Sharron Came, President

Hopefully you all had a great Labour weekend whether you were out in the hills or biting your nails at your local pub while pondering the big issues of the day such as will Beaver be able to kick that crucial penalty.  Judging by the number of texts I received from the Tararuas, some members were doing both. With the RWC over and the last long weekend before Xmas out of the way you may be wondering what to do with yourself. We have a few suggestions.

Our number one priority is the Summer trip schedule. Summer is the peak tramping season and it’s also the time of year when we tend to get our biggest influx of prospective members. We hold our annual New Members Night in February. If you have ideas for road ends and trips please send them in to Richard at by 4 November and/or come along to the trip planning night at the Clubrooms at 5.30pm on Wed 9 November. If you thought the trip offerings were lame last time round this is your chance to change that. If you would like to lead some trips we’d love to hear from you. For summer we are particularly keen to run some more mountain biking and kayaking trips but this will only be possible if suitably qualified members step up to lead them.

Incidentally, if you would like to get some rock climbing skills check out the NZ Alpine Club Wellington section website for info on their Summer Rock course run by Blair Hiscoke and his team: http://www.nzalpine.wellington.net.nz/2011/09/rock-climbing-course-summer-rock-2012/. Richard and I have both done the course. We really enjoyed it and recommend it. Richard has even gone on to become a decent rock climber. I’m a work in progress.

The Committee is looking forward to 2012 and the changes the New Year will bring. We are keen for some members to join the committee next year. In particular, we are looking for some new Social Convenors and a Promotions Officer.

After successfully running our Wednesday Club nights for several years Donna is hankering after fresh challenges. Therefore we are looking for a couple of enthusiastic, friendly, socially confident, articulate people to take on the role of Social Convenor for the Club. It is not necessary to be a top notch tea maker. This is a big job which is why we are looking for a couple of people. If you are interested please contact Donna or Jenny at or talk to them on a Wednesday night.

Likewise Megan has looked into her crystal ball and reckons she saw herself in the future assisting with Club promotions behind the scenes in a support role rather than as the head honcho. If you are interested in the role of Promotions Officer have a word to Megan or send her an email: . We are looking for someone with lots of vision, energy and drive who is good at planning, communicating and managing the rest of the promotions team.

I imagine there will be other opportunities to join the Committee and we can always find a way for you to contribute if you are interested in helping make the Club work. Just have a word with a Committee member. Funnily enough, helping out can be very rewarding and you can always add your contribution to your CV when you’re applying for your next job.

I’m delighted to announce that Tony Gazley has agreed to edit the Club Journal which we hope to get out to members in late March/early April 2012. Tony and Jackie Foster did a superb job with the last two journals and we are hoping the next one will be our best ever. Now is a great time to write up your stories, sort through your photos and get your contributions in to . We need your contributions to ensure the journal is a fitting ode to Club activity over the past year or so.

I haven’t updated you on the website project for a bit. This has nothing to do with me spending the best part of seven weeks lounging round in pubs watching the rugby. We are currently in the process of rewriting much of our website content to make it more attention grabbing. Sarah Young, Katy Glenie and Sue Walsh have been doing a fair bit of the writing and editing, thanks guys. We should have the bulk of the content finished shortly. We need some really good photos to illustrate the various activities that the Club offers. If you have any photos that you think would be suitable send them to Sarah at . Ideally the photos will speak for themselves and have a few people looking like they are having the time of their lives. That would be smiling not grimacing, frowning or puking. We would love to have some interesting/quirky photos too that convey the message that we are cool and interesting.

Enjoy November. I bet Beaver will.

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