Newsletter March / April From the pen of our President

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1 Newsletter March / April (This Newsletter is prepared by Colin Ridge) From the pen of our President Highlight of our recent activities has been the 31st National New Zealand Friendship Force Conference in New Plymouth February with 13 from Taupo attending. What a Joy (pardon the pun) to have & meet new CEO/FFI President Jeremi Snook attending his first National FF Conference as he brings stability for the future of our organisation. Well done to New Plymouth Club/Field Reps for a great programme in fine weather with great keynote speakers including Fonterra & Shell natural gas specialists so evident in Taranaki s Black & White Gold theme. We live in changing times with an ageing membership and need to focus on growing our membership to offer the opportunities to others to share in our culture on home hosting and enjoying new cultures & forming new friendships. Have a look at Facebook for Taupo FF dress up & the Cow! We were also pleased to host Jeremi in Taupo for a meet & greet Fish & Chip by the Lake get together on 14th February Thanks Blair & Bev. Jeremi went onto Manawatu s 30th Anniversary prior to his departure via Wellington for the Australian National Conference. L&P Day in Thames on 6th March with the programme in the hands of Taupo FF was well received and is reported elsewhere in this newsletter. The Icebreaker introduction went well. Whilst I was unable to attend I had a great excuse Granddaughter Amy s wedding in Queenstown taking preference. Thanks to Jo, Aline & Roger and Field Reps Colin & Ross. I also missed our latest excursion a garden visit on 19th to Sandara Gardens at Waikite Valley (near Waiotapu) near Rotorua, as reported with photo on Facebook. Do have a look on our Facebook page we now have 108 likes!. Our 30th Anniversary is being celebrated on 2nd June with plans for a Luncheon being consolidated as this is published. Invitations will be issued shortly. This will coincide with an Inbound Exchange from Honolulu with 17 Ambassadors from 27th May 2nd June In October we are participating in an English Language Exchange from Japan along with Wanganui. Taupo E.D is Jo Tinworth assisted by Colin Ridge. Our 2017 Outbound Exchange is to Hsinchu Taiwan and Tokyo, Japan cooperatively with Otago. Our Inbound is from Tweed Valley, Australia. We are also contacting Clubs visited in recent years to encourage them to visit us in 2017 or Our Coffee mornings on the 2nd & 4th Thursdays at the Coffee Club are well attended with 20 attending on 24th March. Come along for friendship and a gossip. Yours in Friendship Malcolm Munro, President

2 Friendship Force Taupo Board for 2016 President: Malcolm Munro Vice President: Aline Fletcher Immediate Past President: Helen Bygate Secretary: Ross Fletcher Treasurer: Jo Tinworth Committee: Pat Davis-Pirie, Bev Joyes, Colin Ridge, Brendon Donald, Roger Smitheram. Social and Exchange Programme. April 12 (Tues) Lakeland House Tokaanu for lunch at 12.30am May 27 June 3 FF Honolulu Exchange. Various activities. BBQ, Dinner etc June 2 30 th Anniversary Luncheon at Yacht Club. Raffle July 2 Movie or play August 14 Olympic Games and soup and buns at REAP. Raffle September Murder Mystery Play October Botanical Garden walk and Devonshire Tea. November 27 AGM at REAP Raffle Social Club Committee Members Helen Bygate Pat Davis-Pirie Brendon Donald Aline Fletcher Phone list: A-F Helen G-M Brendon N-Z Aline Club News. Exchanges. Honolulu arrives 27 th May, and ED Aline has an excellent programme planned. You will be able to meet them De Bretts Friday 27 th, or at the Anniversary luncheon at the Yacht Club Thursday 2 nd. Or take part as a Dinner or Day Host during the programme. Please offer to help when someone phones you. Exchanges. Jo s exchange to Turkey and Georgia has been cancelled. With the difficult situation in that part of the world, some slow communication, and some concern from some Ambassadors, the club has cancelled this exchange. New Members. We are always looking for new people to join our club. There are several ways you can help Talk about FF to your friends. Talk FF to people you meet in a social situation. Tell them about the FF Exchange programme and where we re going this year. Or about the Ambassadors visiting us. Invite these people to the Coffee Mornings 2 nd and 4 th Thursday Coffee Club 10.30am. Invite them to our Social functions details elsewhere. But please do something to help. Our club cannot stand still. Early Advice your invitation will be sent shortly FF Taupo s 30 th Anniversary Luncheon Thursday 2 nd June 11.30am Taupo Yacht Club Cost $40.

3 Photo 1 FF Taupo Members with CEO Jeremi Snook at Blair & Bev s place alongside Lake Taupo. Photo 2 Wayne Smith medal winners at Conference. Photo 3 Jeremi with FF Taupo s first President Joanna Bergman and NZ Coordinator Colin Ridge Report from Conference The FFNZ Conference at New Plymouth is now over and many new ideas and initiatives evolved. Firstly, there was the visit by new CEO Jeremi Snook, his first to any Conference since starting in November. Up until then, he had been desk bound in head office dealing with change of office location, investigating and signing off on our new FFI website, and balancing the budget for the Board meeting in March. He really enjoyed getting away, meeting us kiwis, and learning about the real Friendship Force. After Conference, he spent three days here in Taupo where he met many of you. Some things that came from the Conference were There is now a 60 cent levy on all members to support the Field Rep operation in NZ. The FFNZ Public Liability insurance will continue at a cost of about $1.50 per head. (Incidentally, Wellington club recently had a small fire at a club function which cost $2800 to repair, and they were fortunate that this excepting for the $500 excess was covered by this policy). A request was made for clubs to run Information Evenings for their members to bring them up to date with a number of things. The new Field Rep for the South Island is Heather Ponder (Christchurch) who replaces Roz Bridges.

4 The 2017 FFNZ Conference is at Christchurch 8-10 th February, and the 2018 one will be hosted by Whangarei. The Field Reps Awards for Membership Increase was won by Manawatu, as was the Overlander Trophy for Conference attendance. the Bone Trophy Competition winner was Kapiti. And the costume award at the Dinner theme Black and White Gold was won by yes Taupo s Sheiks (Black Gold) and Cow (White Gold). This was an excellent and well run conference enjoyed by all and we thank New Plymouth for this L&P DAY MARCH 6 th 2016 From FF Taupo a group of 14 attended the L&P Day held in Thames. L&P Day is held once a year at Thames and is hosted by the Thames Coromandel FF. This day is an opportunity for the clubs in the northern part of the North Island to get together to socialize and discuss various aspects of FF with each other and Field Reps. This year a new format was piloted and Taupo ran the programme and from now on each year a different club will continue doing this in Thames. A group of us travelled from Taupo in the Rotary van. The day officially began with a most welcome and delicious morning tea when we had a chance to mix and mingle. It was great to meet up with some familiar faces. Our MC Roger Smitheram called the meeting to order at 11.00am and we began to wonder if we had gone to the Mad Hatter s tea party with the number of hats he wore! There was a short but hopefully warm welcome from myself as the vice president as Malcolm was away. Cottbus FF club from Germany was represented by their Ambassadors who were being hosted by Thames. They introduced themselves and entertained us with their singing. During the morning we had an icebreaker activity organized by Jo Tinworth that involved everyone getting off their seats and communicating with others. It was a great success and received lots of positive feedback. There was also an introduction of Wayne Smith Medal holders and each club introducing themselves. Then we had Exchange promotions from each of the clubs some of which were already full which is great for those clubs. Lunch time came round very quickly and once again people took the opportunity to mix. Thames Coromandel put on an excellent lunch. After lunch, the Field Reps reported back about the National Conference and discussed other matters. Later there was a question session where Alan Milne was also involved. Tthe competition for the L&P trophy was run by Whangarei (being the losers last year). It was an excellent activity which was enjoyed by all. A combined group lost this year so who will run the competition next year? Many, many thanks to Roger Smitheram for being an inspired MC. He did a wonderful job and the day progressed smoothly and kept to time. Thanks also to all our members that attended. Hope to see you there next year. Aline Fletcher, Vice President

5 Visit to Sangara Gardens near Waiotapu. 19 th March. The Gardens are situated approximately an hour s drive from Taupo branching off from Rotorua Taupo highway at Waiotapu. We all arrived at approx. 11 o clock and were greeted by the owners Marian and John we then proceeded to walk around the beautiful gardens with the owners pointing out the many features as we moved around the 4 hectares of gardens. The owners were dairy farmers before subdividing off the gardens and retiring making the gardens available to the general public to visit. Lunch was outside enjoyed by all with the owners giving us all a little history of their farming experience. We all then decided we would like to visit a monastery which was a new experience for us all in the back blocks of the Rotorua district. The nuns were all in their old habit which I remember as a kid so they haven't changed much over all these years there soul purpose of being there was to pray for us all. We spent approx. 1 hour there and then proceeded for home after an enjoyable day with friendship force friends. Brendon A recent article on the Blue Ridge Now (USA) website. On New Year s Eve I sat in a pew at Immaculate Conception Church celebrating the vigil of one of our Catholic holy days. (No, this is not a theology lesson... or maybe it is?) At the closing of the Mass, the congregation sang Let there be Peace on Earth (by Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller, 1955). As we sang the words I looked up at the crucifix above the altar. Are you listening?, I asked. This is an especially poignant song to me and many of us who are members of the Friendship Force. It s our anthem. It s the song we sing, we have sung, around the world, holding hands with our hosts in many countries or with our guests who are visiting here in the United States. My friends from our local club have sung it in recent years in Russia, South Africa, Indonesia, New Zealand, Peru, Japan. We have hosted people who have visited Western North Carolina from Belgium, Russia, Australia, Moldova, Canada, Netherlands. Every exchange is concluded as we sing... Let there be peace on earth... Hearing those words makes me recall the places and people with whom I ve shared this song. Two stand out in my mind. In Yogyakarta, standing beside my Muslim host, we sang. He was a man who shattered all my assumptions about Muslim men. He loved his wife, hugged his children for all the world to see, and sang all of John Denver s songs with me. The other strong memory is the evening we sang in my kitchen with several Moldovans and toasted our similarities and our differences....the peace that was meant to be... Friendship Force is not the only organization in our community reaching around the globe. Civic clubs such as Rotary continuously sponsor exchanges to other Rotary International clubs. Their teams bring medical support and help raise funds to provide services to remote villages from Asia to South America. They teach the lesson that businessmen and women have a responsibility to help build community. And then there is the group supporting the Sister Cities project, sharing ideas and experiences at a local leadership level. Watch the paper to see what other civic clubs do for international friendship....with God as our father, brothers all are we... And the local churches! Weekly we read stories of local congregations sending their members to small foreign communities to reach out, supported by their beliefs and by local funds, to bring medicine and education, fostered by the Gospels, to people in need around the world....let us walk with each other in perfect harmony... I was told by one of our Russian visitors years ago that he had been cautioned that he would find that Americans were nothing like the people represented in propaganda. We were a warm and welcoming people. We live in small towns, raise our children and value friends and family. Which leads me to ask, will our example to the rest of the world serve peace in 2015?...let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.