Welcome to the Rotary Club of Te Awamutu
 
Are you passionate about our community, our young people and the environment? We are a group of local people with a wide range of business and personal interests.  We all share a passion to help our community - why not join us?
 
Contact us if you would more information
Speakers
DG Ken Smith
Nov 18, 2025
Maria Heslop and Steve Laurie
Dec 02, 2025
Financial Markets Information
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Upcoming Events
Rotary Christmas Parade 2025
 

2025 Rotary Christmas Parade

Te Awamutu Rotary in Partnership with Waikato Construction Management Ltd and with support from Waipa District Council, Waipa Networks and Te Awamutu-Kihikihi Community Board, have set the date for this year’s Rotary Christmas Parade.

Date – 11:00AM Saturday 6th December 2024

The theme for this year's parade is "Christmas Movies" Themes of white, think The Polar Express, Elf etc

Entries are avaliable online by clicking HERE

There are Three Categories - Commercial / Businesses,   Schools,   Service Clubs & Community Groups.

 

Te Awamutu Rotary is excited to host the event, after such an amazing event last year.
The parade in 2024 was such a success with some great floats and an amazing crowd watching.
Thanks to community support, the parade continues to be a highlight for Te Awamutu.
We are very grateful for the support we receive from local business and organisation including Subway, McDonalds, Devoy Signs and Graphics, Wilks Penny Motorcycles, Te Awamutu Lions and many more.
These people have real Christmas spirit and make the task of hosting this event so much easier.
The Te Awamutu Rotary Christmas Parade committee has started planning for the event, with a focus on hosting a safe and fun event for the whole community.
We are anticipating judging to be extremely difficult because of the effort and quality of the floats entered.
The Te Awamutu Rotary Christmas Parade is run entirely by volunteers who enjoy helping spread the Christmas spirit of Peace and Goodwill to our community.
For updates or to help on the day, follow us on Facebook: Rotary Te Awamutu Annual Christmas Parade or contact teawamuturotary@gmail.com.

 

Book Fair -Thank you
Book Fair -Thank you
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU 
 
A huge thank you to everyone that came along and supported our annual Book Fair, thanks to your support and generosity we raised in excess of $13,000. All of this will be put back into the community via the various projects that we are involved in.
 
 
Great Te Awamutu Bake Off - Bigger, Better and Sweeter!
Great Te Awamutu Bake Off - Bigger, Better and Sweeter!
On Saturday, 12th April 2025, the ovens were hot and the competition even hotter at the second annual 'Great Te Awamutu Bake Off', proudly hosted by our Rotary Club. What began as a fun community event in 2024 has more than doubled in size this year — growing from 19 entries to an impressive 43 mouth-watering submissions!
 
We were thrilled to see more youth entries this year, along with the return of several bakers from last year — proof that the baking bug has truly caught on. The calibre of entries was notably higher too, making the judge’s job as tough.
 
A special shoutout to the four brave blokes who joined the fun this year, including one of our own Rotarians. One of them walked away with first place for his delicious slice, proving once and for all that baking knows no gender!
 
Thanks to the generosity of our local Pak’nSave, we were able to award $350 worth of vouchers to our winners.  
 
A huge thank you to Kelly from Creative Box for designing our beautiful certificates, and to Kathryn from What The Food, who was a fabulous judge and has already volunteered to return next year.
 
It was very rewarding to see our community come together in floury, sugary joy. Here’s to another successful Bake Off — and to an even bigger one in 2026!
 
Christmas Parade 2024
Christmas Parade 2024
WOW, WOW, WOW what an amazing Christmas Parade 2024
 
A huge thank you to our sponsors; Waikato Construction Management Limited, Waipā Networks, Waipā District Council, and Te Awamutu and Kihikihi Community Board
 
To our float entries: Fineline Facia and Spouting; John Austin Ltd: Ohaupo Rugby Sports Club: McDonald's Kihikihi Speedway: Te Awamutu Playcentre; Te Awamutu Scout Group; Te Awamutu Girl Guides; St John Te Awamutu; Joyce Ripo Trust Ltd; Hamilton Roller Skating Club; Booth Logistics Te Awamutu; ConneXu-90486; Te Awamutu GymSports; Te Awamutu District Highland Pipe Band; Te Awamutu Wheelchair Wagon Trust; Beststart Te Awamutu; Tovah's Tutoring Company; Te Awamutu Community Toy Library; Te Awamutu Rod and Custom club; Waipa District Council Animal Control; Seen Learning Collective; Cheer Addiction; Waikato Irish Society; Reach Church;Te Awamutu Volunteer Fire Brigade; The Learning;Te Awamutu AFC; Te Awamutu Volunteer Fire Brigade; The Learning Nest; Waipā Networks; Te Awamutu Brass Band; All Things Trees Waikato Ltd; Waipa King Country Life Education Trust; Precious Paws Te Awamutu; Kwiksmart Photography Limited, we know the time and effort that goes in to getting the floats ready, so a big thank you.
 
To all of the volunteers, the parade can’t happen without wonderful people like you who give their time to make the parade what it is and to the thousands who came out and lined the streets and cheered everyone on, a huge thank you, it wouldn't be a success without all of you.
 
Congratulations to all of our winners, especially Te Awamutu AFC who won the best overall category.
 
Go to our Facebook page to see lots of photos and a full list of winners
Kainga Aroha Holiday Camp
Kainga Aroha Holiday Camp
During the Christmas school holidays, Kainga Aroha Community House organise an annual camp. This is a programme for children aged 7–14 years. It is primarily for children who would not normally have the chance to experience this type of programme for whatever reason, but all are welcome. Rotary have assisted with this project for a number of years and have donated $1,000 toward the camp in January 2025.
Operation Christmas Hamper
Operation Christmas Hamper
Operation Christmas Hamper is a community led initiative. Rotarians have been helping a team of volunteers comprising of Staff from Kainga Aroha Community House, Local Churches, businesses and others from the Community who work together to support families in need during the holiday period. Rotary donated $1,000 to help with the purchase of items to fill the hampers.
Essay Competition winners 2024
Essay Competition winners 2024
Congratulations to our 2024 Essay Competition winners.  It was great to see more of the local schools taking part this year and as always the entries were of a very high calibre and it was a tough job to pick the winners.  Our thanks go to Paper Plus Te Awamutu for their continued sponsorship of this event.
 
RESULTS
5 & 6 year olds:
1st: Mckenzie Perrett - Ohaupo School; 2nd: Ryleigh Martin - Ohaupo School; 3rd =: Kendyl-Reyn Anderson-Clark - Pekapekarau School & Bella Alexander - Te Awamutu Primary School
 
7 & 8 year olds
1st: Fletcher Marsh - Ohaupo School; 2nd: Billie Abbott - Ohaupo School; 3rd: Eli Lawry - Wharepapa South School
 
9 & 10 year olds
1st: Anne Burrows - Paterangi School; 2nd: Nina Diack - Pokuru School; 3rd: Ethan Elphinstone - Te Awamutu Primary School
 
11 years plus
1st =: Lara Hollinshead - Ohaupo School & Billy Cotton - Korakonui School; 2nd: Jake Grinter - Ohaupo School; 3rd =: Peyton Murie - Ohaupo School & Kylo Holloway-Smith - Ohaupo School
 
 
Rotary International President visit
Rotary International President visit
It’s been a big week in the world of Te Awamutu Rotary! On Thursday (6/6/24), along with the National Wetland Trust of New Zealand we were delighted to host Rotary International President, Gordon McInally and his wife Heather at Rotopiko/Lake Serpertine, in partnership with Ngati Apakura.
 
For many of us this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to spend time with a Rotary International President, unfortunately their busy schedule rarely lends time for visits to New Zealand, so we relished the chance to welcome Gordon and Heather to the Waikato.
 
The event was recognised by the unveiling of a bench on site as a lasting recognition of this visit and its significance.
 
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Rotary meetings are fun
Rotary meetings are fun
Te Awamutu Rotarians meet at the TA Club on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday evening from 5:30pm for a 6:00pm start.  We have a broad range of speakers who are both informative and entertaining.  Sometimes we hear from our own members and on the 10th October we heard from member Tracy Hemingway.  Now Tracy loves pink and sparkles, so what better way to have some fun than ask our members to add some pink and /or bling to their outfit for the meeting. As you can see from the image, a lot of our members joined in the fun.
 
If you'd like to find out more about Te Awamutu Rotary and join us for some fun, you can contact us on teawamuturotary@gmail.com or use the contact us form under the 'About Us' tab
 
 
Te Awamutu Riding for the Disabled
Te Awamutu Riding for the Disabled
New Zealand Riding for the Disabled Association (NZRDA) is a member association made up of over 50 local RDA groups who are in local communities throughout New Zealand.
 
The core purpose of NZRDA is to provide interaction with horses to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for people experiencing disability, or who have specific challenges or needs. 
 
Following a talk from Rosalie who manages the Te Awamutu group, Te Awamutu rotary club had no hesitation in deciding to offer some support from our 2023 Book Fair.

 

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Urban Miners
Urban Miners
About Urban Miners
Urban Miners is a not-for-profit organisation that runs an e-waste reuse, repair and recycling service for the Waipa District in New Zealand.
 
Urban Miners is run entirely by volunteers from Rotary Cambridge, Rotary Te Awamutu, and the local Waipa community. We also work in partnership with other community groups including the Lions Club of Cambridge.
 
The main goal is to provide an environmentally focused e-waste service that diverts as much material as possible form landfill through recycling, reuse or repair.
 
 
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History of Women in Rotary
Women are active participants in Rotary, serving their communities in increasing numbers and serving in leadership positions in Rotary. The 1989 Council on Legislation vote to admit women into Rotary clubs worldwide remains a watershed moment in the history of Rotary.
 
 “My fellow delegates, I would like to remind you that the world of 1989 is very different to the world of 1905. I sincerely believe that Rotary has to adapt itself to a changing world,” said Frank J. Devlyn, who would go on to become RI president in 2000-01. 
 
The vote followed the decades-long efforts of men and women from all over the Rotary world to allow the admission of women into Rotary clubs, and several close votes at previous Council meetings.
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Rotary at the Start of the United Nations

Rotary and the United Nations have a shared history of working toward peace and addressing humanitarian issues around the world.

During World War II, Rotary informed and educated members about the formation of the United Nations and the importance of planning for peace. Materials such as the booklet “From Here On!” and articles in The Rotarian helped members understand the UN before it was formally established and follow its work after its charter. 

Many countries were fighting the war when the term “United Nations” was first used officially in the 1942 “Declaration by United Nations.” The 26 nations that signed it pledged to uphold the ideals expressed by the United States and the United Kingdom the previous year of the common principles “on which they based their hopes for a better future for the world.” 

 

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Speakers
DG Ken Smith
Nov 18, 2025
Maria Heslop and Steve Laurie
Dec 02, 2025
Financial Markets Information
View entire list...
Upcoming Events