Mosgiel Bulletin July 15th 2024 (Aug 09, 2025)

Craig McGregor, Southern Cancer Society

1 in 3 people are touch by a cancer diagnosis of some sort, whether it is themselves, a family member or a friend. Overseas the trend is moving towards 1 in 2. A very scary thought.

As daffodil approaches on 29 August 2025, it was fitting that Craig McGregor, Fund Raising Manager, from the Southern Cancer Society talked to the club about the services and challenges the Cancer Society face in continuing to offer their valuable service within our community. The Southern Cancer Society territory covers Southland, Otago, West Coast and Canterbury, a large area in comparison to other territories within NZ.

Fortunately there are several branches covering this territory, providing face to face meetings and support throughout the region.

Society plays in our community, the free services from driving, accommodation, advocacy, counselling to support programmes and groups, the statistics for these services is amazing. Currently the Society has 4,200 clients, they provide 18,000 beds through Daffodil House and 7,400 drives are completed annually.

All funds raised in Dunedin / Otago remain in the region. The Societies main and iconic fundraising events are:

Relay for Life, held biennially, 2026 will be at the Stadium
Daffodil Day - 29 August 2025
Balls - held annually in Dunedin and Southland.

Overall it takes $2 - $3 million needs to be raised annually to Otago / Southland to run the Society.

Rotary Park Planting Day

The Dunedin Club has advised that they are having another planting day on Sunday, 17 August from 9 am.

There are 152 natives to plant and the holes for them will already be established. Holes are being dug at 9 o'clock on the 12th if you are keen to be of assistance and have an auger to make it easier.

Hopefully the 17th will be a nice calm day and the job should be done relatively quickly given the number of people that normally turn up.

Morning tea will be provided.

We encourage all members to be part of this collaborative effort. The area is looking fantastic and plans are already being made to develop resting and viewing platforms.

Silverstream Planting

Colin and his polytech crew after planting at the Silver stream.

Jock Henwood Trophy Recipients

Jock Henwood Trophy

Jock Henwood was a Rotary Exchange student from South Africa in 1996. He spent his time staying with Lindsay Crossen, Glen Allen and Austen Banks.

He presented this trophy as a gift to the Rotary Club of Mosgiel, by way of saying special thanks. The club was to determine how and to who is was to be presented.

The club decided, with particular consideration of Jock’s attributes, to present the Jock Henwood Trophy to Rotarians for outstanding service to the Mosgiel Rotary Club.

This years recipient(s) were Mike and Mandy Lord for their support and assistance provided to Merv during his presidency.

Speaker 18 August 2025

Tracey Fleet will be our speaker for 18 August.

Tracey is going to talk about the Otago Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) and the research that they fund. She will be joined by Professor Greg Jones.

Professor Greg Jones who chairs the OMRF Scientific Committee and heads the Vascular Research Group within the Department of Surgery, Dunedin School of Medicine. Greg will talk about his research developing blood tests to more accurately measure the effects of cardiovascular disease risk factors such as smoking and diabetes.

Bring along your questions for this interesting and thought provoking topic.

Relocating Rotarian from USA needing assistance

Walker Keadle, USA Rotarian, is looking at relocating with his family to Dunedin / Mosgiel from May / June 2026 until August 2027. They are looking for suitable rental with good public schools nearby. There budget is around $650 NZD per week.

If you know of anything that could by suitable or coming up please contact Walker.keadle@gmail.com

Parting Thought

Life doesn't always give you a second chance

So take the First One.