Rotary Invercargill South

31/05/2026

Come and join the fun at the Glengarry Pub on Wednesday 10th June 2026!

22/05/2026

This week the club was very lucky to have along Nick Jeffrey to speak at our meeting.
Nick Jeffrey, Radio, Sports Commentator, ILT Board Member, aka Sports Nick (at More FM).

From straight out of radio school and into Hokonui Gold in 1994 to his current job at More FM Southland, the media landscape has changed over the years as back then they used a big brick phone for outside live broadcasts as this was before the internet when there were only three television stations, not the huge number we have now.

There are 320 stations to the five million New Zealand residents whereas Sydney, who has a similar population, only have eight radio stations so quite a difference between our population/country numbers.

Also, back then they used two turntables for 45s and an 18-stack CD player along with oversized cassette tapes which was far more complicated and had to be quite a manual operation, rather than today’s computerised digital studios.

Nick also makes campaign ads for radio — did you realise there are 800-900 each day — just how many do you hear or see?

He worked for Stuff for three to four years during the Covid pandemic but is most passionate about being a sports commentator, starting with rugby. (Always having got a good seat was a bonus!)

He has been commentating for over 20 years and loved being involved in two cycling championships which, over the years, have produced some international stars down here from the likes of Eddie Dawkins to Corbin Strong, and a few others who have been awesome to watch. This has been watered down due to Hamilton building their velodrome and performance centre.

In 2017 the Wool and Shearing Championship was held at the Velodome (which was interesting as these events are usually held in woolsheds), with southerners David and John Fagan which resulted in a soldout crowd of 3,000, and a great experience.

Nick’s latest passion is basketball, with the highlight being when the Sharks beat the Saints in 2018. This has become challenging over the years as Southland pays more than other centres to get players to play down south. Jonathan Yim (Sharks Coach) is an awesome guy and a very good motivator. Along with their imported players the Sharks are a very close-knit group and they are on a winning streak at the moment with six wins, so a great month so far!

In 2025 Nick successfully stood for the ILT which he said is a privilege. The hospitality industry is feeling the strain with the economics of the moment and pressures with freight and funding requests require careful thought.

17/05/2026

Another big Rotary Project is coming up.

New Zealand and the Pacific Islands National Rotary campaign "Cans for a Cause" from 1st – 8th June 2026.

This projects objective is to collect 1 million cans/food items to feed hungry New Zealanders. All the food items collected will be passed on to local Food Banks.

Why 1 million you ask? One in five Kiwi’s are experiencing food poverty.

The items that are most in need are

• Canned fish
• Baked Beans and Spaghetti
• Canned veges
• Canned fruit
• Soup
• Diced tomatoes
• Spreads
• Rice
• Pasta
• Cereals

There are drop off spots at various Invercargill Supermarkets so please make a donation where you can.

Lets get behind this cause, as many of our families and whanau are struggling to put a meal on the table.

17/05/2026

It involved nine Rotary clubs……..one scooter challenge…….and the result………..$15,000 raised for the Grace Street Project.

For the first time ever, nine Southland Rotary clubs joined forces to fundraise for The Grace Street Project by supporting the famous PlaceMakers Southern Scooter Challenge. A ride from Teretonga to Te Anau.

On Friday 8th May 2026 everyone got together and the Rotary Clubs presented the cheque for $15,000.

The Rotary Clubs are also offering to bring their own Youth Development programme to Southland and for the Grace Street Project to host such an event once the doors are open.

Behind that $15,000 sits a lot of work!

Raffle prizes gathered, raffle sales, auction prizes, Te Anau after party organisation and auction, en route marshalling, scooter rescue….… a lot of hours, a lot of hands, a lot of jobs ticked off by people who simply got on with it.

A big thank you to everyone who donated a prize or bought a ticket, you've helped to put more blocks in place.

It takes a village and we are part of that village.

14/05/2026

This week at the Rotary Club of Invercargill South Chris Thomas introduced our guest speaker Bharat Guha from the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT). Bharat has returned to SIT to lead the changes as the Institution reverts back to being an independent body from 1st January 2027.

Taking a step back, Bharat reminded us of the introduction of Zero Fees that required $7.25 million from community funders to start the scheme. It was an outstanding success and in 2006 they developed a strong international student market. Sadly, as a result of Government policy to amalgamate all polytechnics, SIT ran at a deficit.

Now SIT is focusing on skills needed for today’s employment opportunities.

International students are again a major focus with assurance given to families that they can call Bharat any time, 24/7, if they have any concerns while students are studying at SIT.

Other initiatives include developing Telford for agricultural students and using Hyflex that gives flexible learning options and recognition of prior learning. Currently there are approximately 1,200 students both on site and online.

Vision: to empower students with the skills, knowledge and confidence to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

SIT: Grounded in Southland, globally connected, innovating education. Bharat was thanked by Chris.

08/05/2026

Some of the team have been busy collecting for the Salvation Army today at Elles Road New World. Thanks everyone for the generous donations ❤️

08/05/2026

Fantastic work from Chris Thomas taking on this challenge again......support him if you can :-)

Participating in Westpac Chopper Bike Ride 2026

07/05/2026

This week we were lucky enough to along to our meeting Braedan Trompetter from Elles Road New World,

Braedan was introduced by Paul Cade, and provided an overview of his and wife, Rebecca’s operations at Elles Road New World supermarket. Braedan grew up and lived on the West Coast until he was around 21 and worked a number of sales jobs including newspaper advert selling. He moved to Coca Cola in a role repping on the West Coast and looked after some supermarkets and made contacts in the industry.

Following this he moved to Dunedin with his wife and stayed with Coca Cola for a while. He still had an interest in supermarkets and eventually took a role in the liquor department at Centre City New World in Dunedin where he worked for 13 years before moving down here.

The Centre City store has the biggest turnover of any New World in the South Island with 60,000 customers per week and 400 staff, so there is a lot happening there.

Braedan says that Foodstuffs have a fantastic management and leadership programme for working through roles in the supermarkets and working up to ownership. However, it can be a cutthroat process, he said, and you have to be prepared to move anywhere in the South Island for a role. Once successful in the assessment process you go into the pool of applicants who are approved to apply for ownership of a store when one becomes available. You can then work up the chain from a smaller store to a larger store and onwards.

At Elles Road New World they have made some changes around cleanliness, layout and decluttering and making prices easier to read. They are looking at making changes to refrigeration units to generate costs savings and improve product display, customer experience and helping the product keep longer.

It was challenging moving the family including their daughters who are nine and seven to a new town and finding schooling for them. However, they have found Southland to be very welcoming and hospitable. The general outlook of the province is a lot more positive than in Dunedin and customers have shown a real interest in him and his family and how well the business is going. This has been really refreshing.

04/05/2026

One of our members Chris Thomas is this year again riding from Queenstown to Invercargill to raise funds for the Lakes District Air Rescue Trust that provides a vital service throughout Southland and Otago that touches on the lives of many people in the region.

Any donations can be made via the link below.

Thank you for your support and go Chris!

https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/cts-2026-qt2inv?fbclid=IwY2xjawRl4iBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeYg-Z5dC48PLOiRrTgCOq_uUgH7t6jdRmqWEqYK1suf4Cu6tB5jibQ2lRhR4_aem_DBL1IdESBNyjBUv5vQDCbQ

Participating in Westpac Chopper Bike Ride 2026

30/04/2026

Last night the Club was lucky enough to have Lesley Soper along as our guest speaker.
Lesley Soper was introduced by Wayne Eade and she spoke about her life, including her time in Parliament as a Labour MP, her time on the Southern Health Board, and as an Invercargill City Councillor.

She comes from a large family with four brothers and three sisters. As was the norm at the time, her brothers were encouraged to take up an apprenticeship following schooling, and her parents required Lesley and her sisters to complete four years of secondary school and then take up a job with a Government department.

However, Lesley wanted to advance to tertiary study and opted to study extramurally through Massey University whilst working. Once she was able, she completed her studies at the University of Canterbury and graduated with a double degree majoring in English and History with a minor in Psychology and Sociology. She then completed a post-graduate Diploma in Librarianship, having also completed a law degree and been admitted to the Bar.

Lesley is very proud of her time in Parliament and she has worked on many Select Committees. She noted that although women in New Zealand were the first in the world to gain the right to vote in 1893, they were not allowed to stand in elections until 1919. The first woman was elected into Parliament during a by-election in 1933. The number of women in Parliament was initially very low and there was generally only one woman in Parliament at a time.

From 1893 to 1993 there were a total of 44 female MPs. However, with the change to the MMP electoral system there has been a massive increase in the number of female MPs with 16 elected in the 1996 election alone. Between 1996 and 2019 there were 150 female MPs and the ratio of male to female is now nearly 50:50 which is a better representation of the general population.

When asked why she entered politics she noted that it can be an adversarial role and you are constantly open to public scrutiny which can be uncomfortable. However, she is a firm believer in democracy and the democratic process and is of the view that if you have the skills, time and commitment for the role, then you should put yourself forward.

Lesley strongly believes that women need to be represented in local and central government and on Health Boards because they provide a different perspective and can champion issues that are specific to women.

The club members enjoyed the presentation and thanked Lesley for her time.