St Johns Rotary actively connects with communities locally and globally. Our members are men and women ranging from young professionals to the more experienced and are a group diverse across backgrounds and cultures joined together with a passion for community service and friendship. The achievements of the club members, often joined by family, are significant and appreciated by the community at large. Members are encouraged to include family and friends in club activities.
President's Message
Hello Everyone
In terms of this coming Thursday, I'm glad I noted that there is No Speaker arranged! This provides the opportunity to start the new year off with a brief introduction from our new Directors, Brian Fergus and Nick Goddard (Iain Smith is away), outlining the direction of the Greatest Little Rotary Club in the BIOSPHERE over the next 12 months. We can engage in some discussion about Committees including allocation of people to committee of choice plus an overview of a number of projects.
Above (left to right) is President 2016-2017 Ainie and Club Service Director Peter, our Speaker Coordinator Namrata, President 2017-2018 Peter and our Guest Speaker, Dr Siouxsie Wikes.
The theme for the evening was Green evoked by light with a predominant wavelength of roughly 495–570 nm and representative of growth and nature. Introduced as the "Doctor of Fungus", our Incoming President, Dr Peter Buchanan, revealed an evening that was revealing, fun and very educational; Why? ... well read on ...
Peter introduced guests including his family and the theme for the evening of sustainability. To that end the menu was on screen to save a whole lot of paper but there is more ... "payment" for dessert was to be four fingers in a petrie dish and in two weeks it will be revealed who has the fingers with the most bacteria on them from the fungal growth! Exciting!
After a delicious main course of lamb and fish, Guest Speaker Dr Siouxsie Wikes spoke on the topic "Is this the end of the Golden Age of antibiotics?"
Frighteningly her answer is "Yes". But her lab is working hard to stop the answer "Yes" becoming a reality. Siouxsie has always been interested in micro-organisms and while most are beneficial to us as humans her main interest is in the ones that can cause us incredible harm ... literally destruction and death with New Zealand's rate of harmful infections from these micro-organisms bucking the world trend and rising.
In short, the resistance of micro-organisms to antibiotics is very rapidly increasing, immeasurably raising the risks around medical treatments and surgeries. Unfortunately the research in finding new antibiotics worldwide is largely non-existent as there is no money to be made by the drug companies. Enter Peter and Siouxsie.
A chance meeting at a Lego show several years ago led to Peter enabling access by Siouxsie to a collection of 10,000 fungi that is now being searched for new potential antibiotics. So far 500 have been looked at and from those it has been noted 50 approx with potential. However, funding is an issue and as none comes from the Government this has to be found elsewhere, and one main source at present is from Cure Kids who have backed the research for the coming year. .
The Club meets Thursday for breakfast at 7am for 7.15am start except for the first Thursday of the month, when the Club meets in the evening at 6pm for dinner
Venue is the Remuera Golf Club, 120 Abbotts Way, Remuera, Auckland, 1072, New Zealand.
All Rotarians are welcomed including Rotarian family members.
Did you join Rotary to do good things in the community?
You do not have to be a member of the committee organising these to go to the director and / or project team leader and offer to take on a role. In most cases you can include family and friends. Enjoy you Rotary: Be an active Rotarian.
Meetings are an enjoyable time for socialising/networking, planning and some learning
Partners, family and friends are always welcome but if possible please let Club Service Director know for numbers (don't want to run out of the great food). Of course, evening meetings with the high-profile speakers are an especially ideal time to invite people.
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