Beryl Robinson was born into a Rotary family, as her father Les Kirkham was a member of Rotary Club of Penrose for 40 years, and her mother Shirley has been a member of Probus for 20 years (including being President when aged 80!) Beryl joined the family of Rotary, firstly as a member of Howick Rotaract 1975-1978, and then stepped up to Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) 1977. She joined Rotary to make a difference. Just before starting as Business Manager at Avondale College, she was invited to join neighbouring District 9910 Rotary Club of Avondale in May 1993, then quickly became Rotary Bulletin Editor.
Beryl’s next nine year work role was General Manager of the Arts Faculty at Auckland University of Technology, so she was invited to transfer to local Rotary Club of St Johns in January 1995, where Colin had been a Charter Director in 1989. Her various club positions included being a Rotary Board Director for several Rotary years, and President 1999-2000.
Our Rotary Club of St Johns nominated Beryl to be Centennial District Governor (2004-2005) of Rotary International District 9920 Inc (includes Central, East and South Auckland, NZ plus American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Samoa and Tonga) which Beryl and Colin thoroughly enjoyed!
For the next 11.5 years until March 2017, Beryl and Colin job-shared working for Rotary Down Under regional magazine (for 38,000 Rotarians throughout Australia, NZ and South-West Pacific) that culminated in being Associate Editor. It was good use of their Executive Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degrees. Club-wise, Beryl was responsible for the Rotary Membership portfolio for five years, as well as a Trustee of Rotary Club of St Johns Charitable Trust, then became its Chair.
In the wider world of Rotary, Beryl’s current positions still include:
- Cure Kids Member Representing Rotary in NZ (since 2006) www.curekids.org.nz
- Rotary Leadership Institute, NZ and Pacific Islands Division Founder, Chair, Trainer and Facilitator (since 2008) www.rotaryoceania.zone/SitePage/rotary-leadership-institute
- Rotary Districts 9910-9980 South Pacific Presidents Elect Training Seminar Trainer (since 2014) www.rotaryoceania.zone
- Rotary District 9920 Inc Training and Leadership Development Chair (since 2015) www.rotarydistrict9920.org
- Rotary International Council on Legislation Alternate Representative (since 2018) www.rotary.org
Colin and Beryl were married in 1984, and they have two sons: Scott (aged 32) is a Project Engineer for Chem Waste Branch of EnviroNZ; and Craig (aged 29), who was one of the top two Masters in Marketing degree students, is looking for another marketing role after his temporary marketing contract ends early September.
Beryl and Colin both enjoy travelling locally and internationally, including spending more than half their time in the Bay of Islands, where they have a new Stabicraft boat named “Andiamo”, which in Italian means “Let’s go!” They’re off to Hobart, Tasmania mid-September for Rotary Australia NZ Conference and associated Learning and Development plus Public Image seminars.
They also look forward to more club social activities, and joining with other Rotary clubs when outstanding project and event opportunities arise.