The AGM Dinner is always the social highlight of the Club year, and this time it attracted 56 people to the Eden Community Church. The theme this year was midwinter Christmas - the tables were decked with ivy candle lanterns, and some of us wore red and green, with a few sporting festive headwear as well. Linda did the catering with three other people from this church, which is her one, to bring the costs down to a more reasonable level. We began as usual with mix ‘n’ mingle at 5:30pm before sitting down twenty minutes later. After an entrée of soup, we enjoyed a cold main course of ham and salad followed by plum pudding in the Christmas tradition. At 7:15pm we gathered in the lounge to enjoy our guest speaker John Fabrin from Radio Rhema who outlined his testimony - he was mad on radio broadcasting as a boy in the 1970s, and this was how God led him into Radio Rhema after gaining experience in the studios of Radio I.  John concluded by saying that our work, be it our employment, voluntary work, home chores, involvements, or helping others, is our high calling regardless of what type of work it is, and we are all in the mission field. He cited God who worked for six days designing and making the world and all of creation. The AGM followed, with slideshows of trips and activities over the past 12 months. The new executive was elected by a secret ballot confidence vote: President - Peter York Vice-president - Helena Gane Secretary - Barbara Langridge Treasurer - Rosalind Phillips Committee - David Walker, Roger Donnell, John McCarthy, Nelson Young, Linda Sutton, Gary Thompson, Mark Gibson, Andrew Lethbridge Barbara welcomed Peter as the new president, then Helena presented her with a bouquet for her three years in charge of the Club. David was made an Honorary Life Member of the Club for almost thirty years on the executive doing an excellent job looking after the programme of trips and activities.

Roger finished with a devotional reflection following on from John’s talk, and shared an experience he had on a recent two-week mission trip to Calcutta in India. He had taken a taxi to the airport, and handed 300 rupees to the driver for a 220-rupee fare. The driver wouldn’t give change, taking the excess as a tip. When Roger haggled the driver he managed to get two 10-rupee notes, realising he deserved the tip for the rough road and tricky driving that had to be done.  One of these notes was ripped and considered useless by many traders - Roger likened this to the ex-prostitutes employed by the mission organisation Freeset. These women had been sold as sex slaves by their parents who valued money over love. They were damaged physically, mentally, emotionally and socially. The ripped 10-rupee note could be taken to a bank and redeemed for a fresh banknote. Freeset was likened to a branch of the bank of God where these ruined woman were restored to usefulness, cleansed, renewed and given a new hope in Jesus Christ. Roger decided to keep the note - the taxi driver meant if for evil, but God meant it for good. COST: $16