Two Clubs have had the wonderful idea of making 100 items to be donated, in honour of Inner Wheel's 100 year anniversary! 

Yvonne, a very talent Member of the IW Club of New Plymouth North, tackled the task of knitting 100 items with the help of her trusty canine helper, Molly. Yvonne knit 100 pairs of booties for the Taranaki Hopsital's Neo Natal Unit, 100 pairs of slippers for Barnados and made up 100 toiletry bags donated to WITT students who aren't as fortunate as others.

The ladies of the IW Club of Invercargill South also gave themselves the challenge of knitting 100 items! They knit 100 pairs of socks and 100 beanies, assembled them into 100 packs and donated them to the Maternity Ward at Southland Hospital on International Inner Wheel Day. The 100 little pairs were donated to the first 100 babies that were born from midnight on the 10th of January, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of our International organisation. The time and effort put in by the Club Members was greatly appreciated by the staff. The Southland Times were also in attendance to record the occasion, and an excellent article was published the following Saturday. You can read the article here on page 3 (News section).

A wonderful article has been written in issue 565 (p.8) of the local Matamata newspaper Scene featuring the IW Club of Matamata!

The Club was awarded a Presidential Citation by 2022-2023 International Inner Wheel (IIW) President Zenaida Yungco Farcon. The award recognizes the Club’s work towards the goals of the 2022-2023 year’s theme Work Wonders and also for inspiring members in fellowship and service.

You can read the article (on p. 8) here or by clicking the photo below.

Thanks to the efforts of Huibrie Keyser, President of the IW Club of Howick and Vice Chairman of the NZ291 District, the Howick and Pakuranga Times published an article on February 7th 2024 about the Inner Wheel Centennial year. The article discusses the community involvement and history of IWNZ and of the Howick Club. It also advertises our beautiful "In Friendship" rose, sold for Inner Wheel's Centennial year! Fantastic work by the ladies of the Howick Club in getting IWNZ's name out in the community!

You can read the article online here or by clicking the image below.

These wonderful ladies from the IW Club of Matamata have been members of Inner Wheel for 25 years, which is a great achievement. They are still actively involved in the organization and were recently awarded their 25-year badges by Club President Brenda at the Matamata Christmas function. Unfortunately, Carole Young was unable to attend the event.

During the Matamata Christmas event, Sandra BA Hunter from the Inner Wheel Club of Matamata was awarded the Margarette Golding Award by 2023-2024 National Vice-President Rina Maxwell-Hesp and Club President Brenda Linnell for her exceptional services.

Sandra has been serving the community and the Waikato district for nearly 30 years. She has been actively involved in various initiatives such as Victim Support, Tough Love, and the Rotary End Polio Now program. Since 2008, she has held multiple positions at Inner Wheel Matamata and currently serves as the I.S.O. and correspondent. Congratulations, Sandra! You are an inspiration to us all.

From left to right: Vice-President Rina, Club President Brenda and MG Award recipient Sandra

On Saturday 28th October, the 3rd "The Last Night of The Proms" was held at the Civic Theatre Invercargill. Once again organised by the members of Inner Wheel of Invercargill North.

The proceeds of the evening will be jointly shared by Hospice Southland and The Southland Charity Hospital.

A full house at the Civic Theatre enjoyed a lively evening of fun, and fantastic music, showcasing the wealth of talent we have in the South.

Soloists such as Rebecca Ryan, Libby Fraser, Nathan Hughes (also our MC) and Cleo McNaught combined with The Invercargill Symphonia, The Ascot Park Brass Band, and a massed choir of 100+ voices directed by Sarah Rae. Accompanying the soloists was our own Honoured Active Member, Sheryl Walker. Our Stage manager, Craig Waddell also joined in for  the traditional second half, alongside our "Royal Family".

Once again our fantastic Invercargill North membership worked tirelessly behind the scenes. 

The IW Club of New Plymouth North has been putting together WITT Care Packs. These packs contain shampoo and conditioner (355ml bottles), deodorant, soap (85gm), razor, toothbrush, toothpaste(120gm), laundry detergent sheets (we re-pack four of them in a press-lock bag) and a small Kit-Kat bar to feed the soul. The Club has been involved at one of New Plymouth’s secondary schools and have received some fantastic feedback regarding the packs:

“The Care Pack was awesome. I was so stoked to be given stuff that I can use. Mum barely has enough money for food, and I have been using soap to wash my hair for weeks. Now my hair is soft and clean and actually smells nice.”

“The pack made my week. I actually had tears in my eyes when I took everything out to see what was in there. I am barely keeping things afloat at home as a solo Mum with 2 kids. I got to wash both kids hair and wash their clothes properly. Thank you so much, it was a blessing. The smallest kindness can mean so much.”

“The pack was awesome. It had everything I needed.”

It came to the Club's attention that with winter coming on, children need warm pyjamas especially after they have been in hospital. The call went out to our members to bring new pyjamas to the next meeting. We were overjoyed by the response with well over $1000 worth of pyjamas, nighties and dressing gowns being given. Julie (Club President) and Sue (Club Treasurer) made the presentation. 

Chantal (Club Vice-President) and Nadine (Club Membership) were honoured to represent the IW Club of Nouméa Plaisance at the IWNZ Conference in Wellington in May 2023. They've highlighted what a pleasure it was to see everyone again after these tumultuous years; the links are still there and the Conference was superb.  

With 19 current Members, the Club was first chartered in 1988 and will celebrate its 35th anniversary this year. The New Caledonian Inner Wheel Members demonstrate feelings of humanity and solidarity with others through multiple actions to help women and children in particular, without forgetting men, throughout the New Caledonia island and abroad. The Club has great connections with Rotary Clubs and often take part in joint actions with them.

Since 2021, the Club has committed to supporting the "Relay Apartments" system of the South Province. They have been raising funds necessary to buy kits (including beds, table, fridge, etc.) for families moving out of their temporary housing. They have also signed an agreement with the CCAS (community center for social action) of Nouméa, police, doctors and psychologists to help as part of this "Relay Apartments" system. Their efforts have been very successful in helping families in distress and the Club would like to thank District NZ291 for the help they have provided. The Club is also planning on hosting a fundraising concert in September, featuring women's choirs, jazz, and other kinds of music.

The Club is also proud to report that earlier in June, they presented a cheque to 30 students of the Collège de Normandie to fund their trip to Napier in September (pictured above). The students were very thankful to the Club and performed two songs they have prepared for their upcoming trip.

The Club supports many different organisations and projects in the community. Through collections, they've supported the organisation Avec (help with medical evacuations) and they've funded dance lessons for extraordinary children, teenagers and adults (disabled). They're supporting a newly created women's soccer team, participated in the award ceremonies for a book club for young people and hosted a Friendship table at the yearly Telethon to help raise funds to support medical research. The Club contributed to the online IWNZ Cyclone Gabrielle Appeal, and Chantal and Nadine also brought along a 22kg suitcase filled with clothes, slippers, beanies and socks made and donated by the Club to the IWNZ Conference.