Description Comments

“Kiwanis President-to-be Visits P.N.”

Object type

Image

More Info →

Description: This image was published in the September 10th 1978 edition of the Tribune weekly newspaper with the caption: “Mr Solberg (right) about to take off from Palmerston North, bound for Rotorua, With him is Mr Urlich and Mr Shard.”

The short article read: “The President-elect of Kiwanis International breezed into Palmerston North last week. But Bill Solberg couldn't stay long. There was just time for a chat with Palmerston North Kiwanis Club members, including its president, Mr I. Shand, before he had to board another aircraft bound for Rotoruа. There he was to present a new Kiwanis club with its charter.

He flew into Palmerston North on Wednesday after a brief stop over at Wellington to meet more Kiwanis club members. Earlier, he had presented a charter to a new Kiwanis club in Christchurch. This weekend Mr Solberg is in Auckland, for the organisations 10th annual New Zealand district convention. Tomorrow he will be in Honolulu, and on Thursday he will be back in Appleton, Wisconsin, in the United States. He left there on August 21 to check out the growth of New Zealand and Australian districts of Kiwanis. He said the service club's growth rate in New Zealand has been "fantastic", with a 25 percent increase in membership this year.

There are 55 Kiwanis clubs in New Zealand, comprising 1622 members. Mr Solberg, who'll be made the international Kiwanis club president on October 1, left the United States on his whistlestop tour of Australia and New Zealand on August 21. He attended the Australians' 10th annual district convention in Geelong, and also travelled to see Kiwanis in Adelaide, and Perth before travelling to New Caledonia and meeting four clubs there (New Caledonia is in the Kiwanis New Zealand district.) Then it was back to Sydney, and on to New Zealand.

Mr Solberg was accompanied on his New Zealand tour by the New Zealand Kiwanis governor, Mr Val Urlich, of Kaitaia. Kiwanis was formed in Detroit in 1915, and spread to Canada in 1916. However, it was not until 1962 that the service club went beyond the North American continent. It now has 7300 clubs and 300,000 members in 65 countries around the world. Mr Solberg said it operated along the lines of service clubs like Jaycees and Rotary. The Palmerston North club has 30 members.”

This image forms part of the Manawatū Evening Standard Negative Collection. Unfortunately, only negatives between April and December 1978 are held.