President Aline s Byline

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1 Newsletter January / February (This Newsletter is prepared by Colin Ridge) President Aline s Byline Happy New Year to all and I hope that you all had a wonderful time with friends and family over the holiday period. Taupo certainly has been very busy and it will be pleasant to see our town settling down somewhat after Waitangi weekend. Our social calendar is under way again and on Monday 29th of January we will be having our first club get together. This is our annual picnic at this time of the year and once again we will be holding it at the Waipahihi Botanical Gardens. An was sent about it recently. Remember: 12:00 noon, food to share, BYO, chairs, games if you wish and encourage family and friends to come along. Remember coffee morning s every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month. The planning is in full swing for our first Inbound Journey in March this year. Some of us went to Washington in 2012 as part of our journey to Canada and the USA. Now it is our turn to host members from this club and while we may not have the historic buildings we have a stunning location. Colin Ridge is the coordinator and he has a group of helpers. It will be great to see many of you participating in the activities one of which will be volunteers for the Iron Man. See you there! There are still vacancies for our Journey to Adelaide and Perth leaving August 5th and returning 19th August. The approximate cost for air fares (NZ to Adelaide, Adelaide to Perth and Perth to Auckland), fees to FFI and hosting clubs will come to about $2060. Any extra travelling can be organised if you wish. Enjoy yourselves and make the most of our summer weather. We are so lucky here in Taupo not to experience some of the extremes in weather in other parts of the country. What a lovely town we live in. Aline Fletcher President The last Newsletter asked you to identify what this is? Did you work it out? For the solution, read the report on the Taiwan / Japan Journey.

2 2018 BOARD. President Aline Fletcher Vice President Janet Ridge Secretary Ross Fletcher Treasurer Jo Tinworth IPP Malcolm Munro Board Bev Joyes, Helen Bygate, Mary Milne, Erica Lineham, Jenny Caws, Brendon Donald and Colin Ridge TAUPO SOCIAL & JOURNEY PROGRAMME 2018 Date Activity Organiser Second and Fourth Thursday every month Coffee Morning at The Coffee Clubs Roberts St 10.15am January 29 Club Picnic noon at Botanical Gardens February th FFNZ Conference in Whangarei March 1-8 th Inbound Journey from Washington, DC see elsewhere Colin Ridge - Coordinator April Car Rally reports from Taiwan & Japan Journey May Philippines Evening June The Chase July Mid Winter Christmas August Dinner at Cosmopolitan Club. September TBA - October Inbound Journey from Tamworth, Australia November AGM Club News If you want to know what is going on in YOUR club, you can find out all by visiting either our Website or our Facebook page Facebook.com/friendshipforcetaupo Or you can attend to monthly Board Meetings on the second Tuesday of each month. Contact Secretary Ross for the venue and time. Everyone is welcome! Membership This is the big project for Please start with bringing prospects to the Coffee Mornings 2 nd and 4 th Thursday every month. There will be more about this in the next few weeks. FFNZ News Conference Whangarei th February Our club will be represented by 8 members, and there are several new things that will arise. Such as Meeting the newly appointed Regional Support Manager (RSM) for FFI Kimberly Fraser who will be based in Melbourne. Discussions on how best to use the new Domestic fees in NZ. Discussions on what should be listed as special needs on Ambassador Application Forms. New concepts in Journeys. Journeys / Club Social Function You are invited to meet our Washington DC visitors at the Welcome Brunch at the Golf Club on Friday 2 nd March 10am ($17?) and also to the Farewell Luncheon at the Yacht Club Wednesday 7 th at noon ($27?). Also Fish and Chips at Blair s on Sunday 4 th ($8?). You will be rung near the time. We are looking for a Coordinator for the Tamworth visit in November - Is it your turn?

3 Upcoming Club Journeys. Journey from Washington (National Capital Area) 1-8 th March Coordinator Colin Ridge Thursday 1 st Friday 2 nd Saturday 3 rd Sunday 4 th Monday 5 th Tuesday 6 st Wednesday 7 th Thursday 8 th Arrive 1.50pm by bus from Hamilton Welcome Brunch at Golf Club, Aratiatia Spill, River Boat Trip. Ironman Day (May involve turns at manning a check point) Mountain Day Culture Afternoon Rotorua Day (Whakarewarewa, Ohinemutu, Agrodome) Farewell Luncheon at Yacht Club Depart 10.10am bus for Wellington Journey to Adelaide, Perth and Albany August Coordinator Aline Fletcher and Hamilton Representative. Aline will be asking for those interested to pay a deposit sometime in November. So please give this serious consideration as there will be lots of outside members wishing to join this one. Journey from Tamworth November Coordinator needed is it your turn? Journeys from NZ in 1918 that still have vacancies Taupo, NZ to Adelaide and Perth, Australia. Date: 6-20 th August Cost: $2500 approx. (includes all fares, FFI and club host fees) Contact Coordinator: Aline Fletcher (Taupo) taupo@friendshipforce.org.nz Gisborne, NZ to San Diego County and Kauai, USA Date: August Cost: Approx $ (includes FFI & Clubs Host fees) Contact Coordinator: Miriam Swarbrick gisborne@friendshipforce.org.nz Marlborough, NZ to Vietnam Date: October 2018 Cost: $ approx (including FFI & Host Club fees) Contact Coordinator: Robert Cooper (FF Marlborough) ffmvietnam@gmail.com Whangarei, NZ to Ehime & Saitama, Japan. Date: Mid-November Cost: Still being worked out. (includes all FFI and club host fees) Contact Coordinator : Gwendolyn Needham whangarei@friendshipforce.org.nz Nelson, NZ to North Moreton and Blue Mountains, Australia Date: 18 th October to 3 rd November Cost: $ approx. (includes all FFI and club host fees) Contact Coordinator : Audrey Ki Phone audrey.kitto@gmail.com Napier, NZ to Bandung, Indonesia and Yamagata, Japan. Date: September Cost: $ approx. (includes all FFI and club host fees) Contact Coordinator: Ross Stevens napier@friendshipforce.org.nz

4 The Journey to Greater Taipei & Hsinchu, Taiwan and Tokyo, Japan. What a blast! This Journey cannot be summed up easily as there was so much happening. We started with a downer as our very first day at Greater Taipei was washed out by a typhoon. So instead of visiting the Geological Formations, we went to the Ceramic town of Yingge to view the beautiful pottery and make our own clay pots. Some had skill, other didn t, but fun for all. But we had the opportunity to celebrate birthdays of Kathryn and Gabrielle. The DIY aspect continued right throughout the Journey. FF Hsinchu is a new enthusiastic club and we were over whelmed by their friendship, their culture and their fascinating place. Much emphasis was placed on their history, Did you get this? It is tie-dyeing using skewers and rubber bands to create the pattern. Every one was different. and this included day visits to the Atayal Aboriginies and Hakka Chinese. We enjoyed the DIY aspect of their culture, and we made meatballs and dumplings, hunted pigs, scared birds, barbecued over an open fire, tie-dyed fabric, wrote calligraphy, did karaoke, and much more. All this was finished off by a wonderful farewell function including act by members and of course karaoke.

5 We made a three day side trip to Kyoto during which we spent one full day hosted by FF Nara looking round their historical area. Calligraphy Friendship at Hsinchu Tokyo is one place where everyone should spend a week. This city of 38,000,000 people has an amazing transport system which produces some amazing figures lines, 2210 stations, 4714 Kms of track, and 8.6 million passengers daily. Yet it is easy to use, even for the non-japanese speaking visitor. However, the vastness of this city meant that the programme was limited by the long distances travelled as we had Ambassadors 1 ½ hours that way and 1 ½ hours the opposite way. We came together for a Party and Karaoke and for a bus trip to Hakone, Taupo s sister city not too far from Mount Fuji. The Outdoor Museum there is something worth a visit. At other times, our wonderful Hosts showed us their local area and customs. We experienced calligraphy, ikebana, kimonos, soba noodle making, sushi making and a tea ceremony. Overall, a wonderful Journey enjoyed by all. Great Hosts, great fun, great learning, and the opportunity to meet new people, experience their cultures, food and life styles. Must do it again sometime!