Otaki TodayMembers of the Ōtaki chapter of the Rotary Club of Mana Tangata gathered at the Rotary Hall on Thursday, December 5, for a Christmas dinner tinged with sadness – it was the last time the members would meet.
Although they have been serving Ōtaki for 60 years, membership has dwindled in recent times, resulting in the decision to wind up. The age of most members has also prohibited involvement in activities the club has traditionally undertaken.
“It has come to a time in our 60th year when we have reluctantly decided that Rotary in Ōtaki is no longer sustainable and we have to cease our long association with Otaki under the banner of Rotary, and the projects that we have supported to the benefit of our community,” president Derek Chishold said.
Known previously as the Rotary Club of Ōtaki, the club became Mana Tangata in January 2022.
While sad to be meeting for the last time, the evening was an opportunity for club members to celebrate their many achievements.
Among them were many local projects that would be impossible today, largely because of health and safety requirements, and the huge costs. In the early days of Rotary, members “just got on with it”.
Reminiscences at the final dinner included reference to some of the projects.
One was the laying of the footpath from town to the beach along Tasman Road. It was done with working bees at weekends, with locals, borough councillors and Rotary members setting to with wheelbarrows and shovels.
A “Peterloo” was installed by Rotary near the Ōtaki River bridge, but it had no water supply. Rotary members were delighted when almost overnight, a pipe had been connected quietly and unofficially to the water mains.
Ōtaki Rotary was a major contributor to the project to roof the new swimming pool at Haruātai Park. The steel frames were originally destined for the ill-fated BNZ building in Willis Street, Wellington.
Pohutukawa trees along Anzac were planted by Rotary.
Tasked with raising $6000 by Rotary International for its polio eradication work, the local club offered labour to demolish the old Keri’s Restaurant building on the corner of the highway and Arthur Street, where Subway is now. There was much discussion about how this money could be raised when the workers revealed brick walls beneath the timber. The bricks were subsequently sold for $1 each and the target achieved.
Mana Tangata president Adrian Gregory says the Ōtaki Rotary name continues to live on through the Nikau Trust, which has an annual Rotary Club of Ōtaki grant. It uses the interest from the sale of the Rotary Hall to benefit local youth and non-profit organisations.
The Douglas Walker Memorial Education Fund also remains with the Nikau Trust for Ōtaki student bursaries.
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