September 3rd, 2010
I work as a complementary therapist helping recover their vitality.
JOINED CIRCLE- 25th March 2009
I had just moved to Harpenden when I joined St Albans Circle. I had previously lived in St Albans for about 10 years but spent all my time working and socialising in London. Becoming self-employed meant that I had the opportunity to become more involved in my local community and meet people who live in the area. Like the vast majority of people who join circle, I googled local groups and choose circle because of the winning combination of fun, friendship and fundraising.
Within a few months of joining circle I decided to take on a role and became Area representative in July 2009, my first area event was the AGM!. Within a year, I was organising the next area AGM, part of a team organising the Area Dinner (a formal event where the guest of honour is the National President of Ladies Circle) and then became Monika’s vice.
I never planned to become vice but my involvement in circle grew and I am well aware that you only get out what you put in to anything in your life. I feel the highlight of my year as vice, will be our Halloween Ball, if you want more details please email Halloween@StAlbansCircle.org.uk.
So what will be my priorities as Chair, well you will just have to watch this space.
Your’s in friendship
St Albans Vice Chairman
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August 3rd, 2010
On Weds 28th July Circlers and prospective members were invited to attend Lisa Perkins house to enjoy Pimms and Puddings over a business meeting agenda. The evening was specifically planned to introduce prospective members to business meetings in a light hearted and friendly way. It was a great way to show that even the formalities of fundraising can be fun and it went down a storm as we welcomed 10 prospective members to the meeting.
Whilst our Chair, Monika Raisys, ploughed through the packed agenda, we ploughed through and indulged in homemade puddings including Strawberry Pavalova, Tiramisu and Lemon Meringue Pie. It also got our creative juices flowing as we started to brainstorm ideas for this year’s annual charity event due to be held on Saturday October 30th at Sopwell House. A Halloween Ball, in aid of this years chosen charity The Paul Strickland Cancer Centre (Paul Strickland Scanner Centre | Medical Imaging MRI, CT, PET/CT
We also welcomed a ‘New Member’ Angela O’Mahoney in the midst of all the eating, drinking and discussions about Circle, Fundraising and social events.
Our Chair Monika commented “This has been one of the largest events in a while at St Albans Circle, and I hope we are staring to create the right recipe for prospective members to see the full potential in fun, friendship and fundraising within St Albans Circle”
Posted in Circle Events, Circle Year 2010-2011, General | No Comments »
July 27th, 2010
A balmy summer’s night, 14 friends, champagne, strawberries and chocolate – I had died and officially gone to heaven!
Yes, our much awaited champagne and rosé wine tasting had finally arrived. Hosted by Rachel and held in her lovely conservatory overlooking the garden this provided the perfect setting for our night of indulgence. Our expert for the evening was Julia Jenkins, Director of Flagship Wines (Flagship Wines – making your wine buying easy). Flagship Wines is an independent wine company offering distinctive wines from around the world and specialising in the New World. This was the second tasting our Circle had arranged with Julia, the first being last September on white and red wines. Feeling like we were beginning to have some understanding of grapes and varieties, we decided that it would only be fitting to expand our knowledge some more in honour of our penchant for the finer things in life.
Julia once again selected some great wines for us to taste. Our first being the most prestigious: Champagne. This was very well received and after a brief explanation of how Champagne is made, how it became known as Champagne and the legalities of its trademark.
We then progressed on to the Processo (my personal favourite). Prosecco is the name of both a grape that is grown in North Eastern Italy and a sparkling wine that is made from that grape. Prosecco comes in a variety of styles, from dry to light to slightly off-dry, sweeter versions. The bubbles definitely loosened the tongues and smoothed away the stresses of the day and so sensing we were all feeling more relaxed, Julia moved on to the Rosé wines.
Rosé is not a blend of red and white wine as some of you may think (myself included). It is in fact generally made from black-skinned grapes. The main difference between rosé and red wine is the length of time the grape juice stays in contact with the skins, known as maceration. The grapes are crushed and de-stemmed, then left to macerate before pressing. The rest of the wine-making process is as for white wines. Some of those amongst us were already Rosé lovers, others were not. However, there was a distinct difference between the two samples we tasted so it’s definitely worth attending some of Julia’s in-house tastings before you buy.
Finally, in homage to our chocolate fountain and strawberries that were to follow, Julia finished with a Dessert Wine. This was very rich, sweet and almost treacle like and perfect with chocolate. Not everyone’s cup of tea but what a great way to finish off the tasting. By the way, did you know that Stressed is DESSERTS spelt backwards!
With the tastings all complete all that remained was to switch on the fountain and let the chocolate flow. Another fantastic evening for St Albans Circle and all that remains for me to say to all the women out there is there’s nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE.
Sharon Willis
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July 22nd, 2010
Four committed circler’s took part in the St Albans Midnight Walk in aid of the Grove House Hospice on Saturday 26th June 2010. Here Joanne Mullins describes the events of the night -
‘We met by the Abbey Theatre at Westminster Lodge and registered straight away. Once the formalities were over, the serious business began, choosing the “right” pair of pink flashing bunny ears – every woman’s essential accessory when you are walking. Then it was over to the sweet stall, to stock up with treats to rewards ourselves for being so virtuous. Our very own, Clare Rudd, then helped warm us, and the other 800 women up, with a specially designed Popdance routine to “Hear Come the Girls” YouTube – Popdance Grove House Routine
Warmed up, we were off, with Clare doing her best “superwoman” impression, by quickly swapping her Popdance t-shirt for her midnight walk t-shirt and leaping over the fence. Excited and eager, we headed off up Hollywell Hill into town avoiding the temptation of stop and have, one for the road. As we passed Batchwood, the pull of the 70′s room wasn’t enough to distract us. After a quick pit stop for refreshments at the King William, we were on the road again, heading through an eerily quite Marshallswick. We then met several marshals who all assured us we had reached the 6 mile marker – which seem to stretch between the one side of the camp to the other!
With the lure of hunky fireman beckoning, we quickened our pace, our determination rose and we walked with renewed purpose towards the fire station. When we arrived we were not disappointed, hunky men were offering us chocolates or bananas. As vice-chair, I felt I should show some leadership, so I accepted all the chocolate offered. I don’t think any women should ever pass up the opportunity, for guilt free chocolate eating – after all I was eating chocolate for charity! From there we walked back into St Albans along London road, passing a number of staggering revellers on the walk of shame. By the time we passed the station, we hit the last distraction, the lure of kebabs & chips from H&H, determinedly we walked quickly past it to the finish line. Discovering we had walked 10 miles in two and a half hours – and I for one was shocked at how fast we walked. After collecting our goody bags, congratulating ourselves and taking lots of pictures – we headed home, knowing we could treat ourselves to that extra glass of wine, forget about the gym for a while and still feel virtuous’.
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July 12th, 2010
On a beautiful summer evening on Friday 2nd July circlers and ex circle members from Area 21 met for the annual area dinner. The dinner, arranged by St Albans Circle, was held at Verelum Golf Club and the ladies were treated to welcome dinks on a terrace over looking the 18 hole golf course followed by a three course meal. The theme of the evening was ‘Ladies of Distinction’, with table decorations made by St Albans circlers paying homage to the likes of Dame Judy Dench, Kelly Holmes and Anita Roddick
Emma Taylor, Area 21 Chair, summed up the event as being a ‘great evening and an example of what Circle is all about. Members of Ladies Circle from our area and beyond enjoyed a sociable evening of fun and friendship and welcomed our new National President Naomi Hickey as our guest speaker’.
Naomi praised the area for its continued hard work and support for local charities and the continued commitment to the Ladies Circle aims and objectives.
A raffle was held and total of £130 was raised in aid of the National Presidents annual charity The Genesis Appeal, which is the only charity in the UK to look into the Prevention of breast cancer.
Posted in Charity News, Circle Events, Circle Year 2010-2011 | No Comments »
June 9th, 2010
Raising money for charity and supporting local community fundraising events is not only a huge part of what St Albans Circle is all about, but very important to me too. I wanted to help the group make a difference by continuing to give something back hence why this year, I have put myself forward as Community Officer.
So what would I like the Community committee group to achieve this year? Well, last year the group did fantastically well and I hope to continue their success! 2010 promises to be a busy yet I hope an enjoyable and rewarding year full of fundraising activities that I know will make a real difference. I hope also that the group will come up with new and exciting ways of raising money that will I hope attract as much fundraising as possible!
Events we hope to support include stewarding at the St Albans race for Life in aid of Cancer Research UK, helping Grove House Hospice with flyering and serving cream teas at a local open garden in aid of Motor Neurone Disease…..to name but a few!
Lisa Perkin, St Albans Circle Community Officer
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May 16th, 2010
We all took our seats at the Savanna, The Black Lion Inn for an evening of fine food, wine and friendship, with representatives from Harpenden Circle, Radlett Circle, Letchworth Circle and of course, St Albans. Joanne had kindly organised the whole evening and we enjoyed welcoming Harpenden, Radlett and Letchworth to St Albans, in fact the same place that we had held our St Albans Circle AGM. Well done for organising such a fabulous evening Joanne.
There was much merriment and plenty of speeches. It was a chance to hear what our friends in these other groups had been up to during the year. I was impressed to hear of Radlett’s fundraising efforts at their Alternative Quiz night and to hear that they had set up a Watling Street group for those above the age to stay within Circle. Letchworth had been busy increasing membership and had held a successful swishing evening and Harpenden had raised over £16,000 for charity – a really staggering figure (well done!). There was plenty of discussion about plans for the coming year, including a cross-area archery contest.
Sally was retiring from area Chair and was presented with a number of thank you gifts at the end of the evening. Emma Taylor from Harpenden kindly stood in to take her place for 2010-2011 year.
Posted in Circle Year 2010-2011 | 5 Comments »
May 9th, 2010
After considering a number of charities St Albans Circle has voted for The Paul Strickland Scanner Centre to be our nominated charity for the year. Here, one of our members explains why it is such a worthy cause.
“The Paul Strickland Scanner Centre is our nominated charity for the year and is our regional cancer scanner hub. It is an independent medical registered charity and runs entirely on donations – and yet it is a crucial plank of cancer diagnosis for Hertfordshire residents. For 25 years now they have been providing state-of-the-art scanning services for the early and accurate diagnosis of cancer and other serious diseases. In 2008 they scanned 12,000 people using advanced MRI, CT and PET/CT scanners. Scanners are constantly evolving and to keep abreast of the latest developments and to offer patients the most up to the minute equipment they have to acquire a new scanner every 2 to 3 years at a cost of upwards of £1,500,000.
My husband, Sergej was recently scanned at the centre and it showed his cancer had not spread beyond his neck – setting our mind at rest about his prognosis which would otherwise resulted in months of worrying or mistreatment. Help set thousands of other Hertfordshire residents’ minds at rest by supporting our future events to raise money for the Paul Strickland Scanner Centre this year”
Posted in Charity News, Circle Year 2010-2011 | 5 Comments »
April 8th, 2010
The first meeting of the new council under Monika’s chairmanship will take place tomorrow evening Friday 9th April. Good luck girls in formulating exciting new plans for our fundraising and social calendar!
Posted in Charity News, Circle Events | 18 Comments »
April 8th, 2010
Wollams Sports Centre-Hatfield Road
I have to say I really enjoyed my evening with Tangent at their AGM. I was greeted by Daphne Harris who kindly bought me a drink, and introduced me to some of the Tangent members who all seemed lovely. Unfortunately I have forgotten their names but I am much better at remembering faces. You have to remember I am not used to attending such functions, so I really was unsure on protocol. Hopefully I made the right impression.
I sat down next to Barbara, Janet and Christine for the evening. I introduced myself, obviously as Monika, as that’s my name. I think some of the ladies were a bit confused, one lady did ask if I was the guest speaker….Oh dear! I know I can talk, but really I don’t have a topic that would benefit me to guest speak! I thought. Thankfully Daphne introduced me to the Tangent members as the newly appointed St Albans Circle Chair, Monika. Aha! Allow me to introduce myself Chair of Ladies Circle, Monika. Hand out, shake hands and smile, lots of smiles and waves… So after all the introductions we settled into business meeting mode, which was quick and efficient.
Starters came and went, mains came and went….THEN INTERRUPTION! Club 41/Rotary busted the door open and entered. Steve Potter Club 41 Chair held a Stuffed Patchwork Pooch with a lead, if he was trying to be fashionable like Paris Hilton and her pooch, I really think he should have thought about getting a pooch that was more suited to his bearded, friendly, Father Christmas look (I thought to myself!). Before I could think anymore odd thoughts, it was made apparent that the Stuffed Patchwork dog was a gift intended for the new Tangent Chair Julia Currant. You see Julia is a Dog Trainer…hopefully this is making sense.
Anyway back to the interruption, Steve’s explanation of buying the Stuffed Patchwork Pooch was he walked passed a pet store and saw…wait for it…This Doggy in the Window, and wondered….This is good…. ‘How much is that Doggy in the Window’ and yes it did have a waggle tail… So everyone broke into song, and a good laugh was had by all with a fun interruption.
After this the AGM began. AGM is the same format to St Albans Circle with reports from Officers and Election of New Officers etc. Daphne Harris thanked all her Officers for their support and gave each of them a gift as a token of her thanks. Julia Currant presented Daphne Harris with a ‘Daphne Bush’ and a photo of Elvis, to remind her of their Elvis Night and Daphne also received the Flowers of Friendship.
Tangent is made up of members who were once St Albans Circle, and this is the club that you join after you reach the young age of 45. I have to say that I hope when I reach the end of Circling with St Albans Circle, that Tangent will still be going so I can continue on with a club such as this. All the ladies at Tangent enjoy meeting every first Tuesday of the month, and also organise walks on the last Sunday of the month. I am hoping to attend some of their less formal meetings in the future and look forward to finding out more about Tangent and the members.
Posted in Circle Events | 34 Comments »
April 6th, 2010
St Albans Circle are busy planning a quiz night in aid of local charity Earthworks St Albans on Saturday 17th April 2010. Tickets are on sale at £12 and include a fish and chip supper (Cod & Chips/Sausage & Chips/Veggie Burger & Chips) and will take place from 7.15pm in the Function Hall at The Duke of Marlborough Pub, 110 Holywell Hill in St Albans.
We’re hoping on raising lots of cash for Earthworks St Albans as this is fantastic local charity that offers trainees, often with learning difficulties or mental health problems, work experience and training in horticultural and land based skills.
For tickets please email enquiries@stalbanscircle.org.uk
Posted in Charity News | 12 Comments »
April 4th, 2010
Here is Marianne’s speech at our AGM at The Black Lion Inn in St Albans (Fishpool Street) on 24 March 2010 as she hands over the Chairmanship to Monika
“At first I felt like I have not really done as much this year, especially compared with the amount of hours I put in last year getting the club off the ground, but once I actually wrote down what I had achieved as Chairman this year, it’s actually quite a lot!
So, my main achievements have been making sure the club is fully functional and building relationships with the other local clubs. The year started off with a bang at the National Conference in Eastbourne, where we were awarded 2 national trophies: the Membership Award for most new members in one year (15) and I personally was also presented with the President’s Award, which was a great surprise as I did not even know this award existed! It was very gratifying to receive it, as it recognised the work I had done in sharing our experience and knowledge in gaining new members with other clubs in the Area but also nationally by producing a document which is available on the National website.
As Chairman, I think it is important to work on building relationships with the other local clubs and I have been to 3 Tangent evenings: a dinner in September at which I was kindly made an honorary member, a meeting in November when I gave a talk to Tangent about Circle: The Story So Far and I attended their Elvis fundraiser, which was very successful. I have also been able to get to know a few more Tablers through attending the Safari Supper, liaising over Santa’s float and at the recent Chairmen’s evening. Indeed, one of the Tablers’ wives who came to my house for her main course during the Safari supper told me at the Chairmen’s evening that she was very keen to join Circle now her life is a little less hectic, so I hope she will be one of the first new members Monika will be able to induct next year! Also at the Chairmen’s evening I am delighted to announce that Tangent very kindly presented us with the old club’s regalia, which includes the Chairman’s jewel with the name of every Chairman since the original St Albans Ladies Circle was very first founded in 1952! Thank you very much to Daphne.
I have also been active within Area, well, I am the Area Vice Chair! I went to the Area AGM at Tewinbury Farm in May; the Area Dinner at Mid Herts Golf club in July, where we were awarded our Charter by the National President Niki Stocken ; and I went to the Think Pink Area meeting in October, which was held in Harpenden. In addition, I took the opportunity to attend the National Spring meeting in February which was being held in Newport Pagnall for the first time. This was very interesting to see how the organisation is run. The National Councillors are all women just like us with jobs and busy lives, but they somehow find time to keep this great institution going. It was certainly inspiring to attend and to talk to other Circlers from around the country, to see how other people do things.
Within the club, I have wanted to make sure everything is in place for the club to run smoothly, which included gaining our Charter, adopting the local rules, setting up sub-committees to share the workload between every member of the club and to start the blog to keep an electronic record of what we as a club have been up to.
I would like to now take this opportunity to thank all the members of the club’s council for all their hard work and dedication in making the club the success that it is. You have all really done a wonderful job and I really appreciate everything you have done for Circle this year. I particularly want to say Thank You to Sharon, for the amount of time and effort you have put in making sure we have had all these amazing events to attend. Well done from everyone here. To everyone on Council – there are gifts here for each of you!
I would also like to thank everyone who has been working hard in each of the sub-committees: Area Dinner, Publicity, Fundraising and Social – thank you for all your contributions however big or small, it is really appreciated. I hope you agree that they are a good way of becoming more involved with the club and a great way to get to know a few of your fellow members a bit better. Indeed, one of the best evenings I have had this year was going for a pizza with the fundraising team and learning a few of their secrets!
I would also like to thank a couple of husbands! Mark Harris for taking the fabulous photos for our advert and of course to Jay Sammon at FL1 Group for his amazing work on the website. We would be nothing without the website and I’m sure we all agree that he has done a great job.
Finally, I would just like to say a few words to motivate you all. The Circle motto is “Fun, Friendship and Fundraising.” This year we have certainly had lots of opportunities to have fun, and I hope you consider everyone in Circle your friend. We now need to continue our efforts with the fundraising side of things! By focussing on fundraising, we can have fun and build friendships though organising and attending these events, which will not only raise more money but also raise our profile and encourage other women to join. It is the ability to fundraise for different charities which sets our organisation apart from others and makes us more than just a social club. We have a great charity this year and I challenge everyone to make this coming year our most successful yet, both in terms of money raised and new members gained!
So everyone please raise your glasses to “fun, friendship and fundraising!””
Posted in Circle Events | 12 Comments »
March 27th, 2010
Monika RaisysAge 28
Buyer-Construction and Civil Engineering
JOINED CIRCLE-November 2008
I have only lived in St Albans for a year, and one of my main reasons for moving here was to get involved in the community and extend my friends in my local area. I never thought for one minute that it would mean a year later I would be taking on role as chairman for St Albans Circle!
Like many members who have joined, I searched on the internet and came across St Albans Circle, so I went along to a couple of events and found that everyone was friendly and fun to be around so this was a group I would love to join as it also covered friendship, fun and fundraising. So since joining in November 2008 and finally moving in to my new abode in January 2009 I’d settled in to St Albans life. When the opportunity arose to take on a role I put myself forward for Membership Officer, this for me gave me an opportunity to encourage many more like minded ladies to join St Albans Circle just like I did not so long ago…
Being so involved and getting new people to come and join in what our group was getting up to, such as croquet in the park, marshalling at race for life, walking around St Albans in fancy dress for Halloween and many other activities. It spurred me on and I wanted to do more, and get even more involved. So I decided to put my name forward for Chairman and well here I am Chairman for St Albans Circle…
So what are my aims for St Albans Circle….Ummm Tough one! Fun definitely fun all the way. If you didn’t have fun then who would want to be part of our group. We do have fun and laughter (I would tell you but I’m limited to only a short space…Come along and see for yourself). Friendship, I have 20 fabulous friendships that I am continuously building on and I hope that we will have many more friendships to continue to build on in the future. Finally Fundraising, well while there is a community there will always be fundraising to do and fundraising is fun so it’s a win win formulae, Don’t you think?
I hope that if you have taken the time to read this, it intrigues you enough to come along and join in and see what you could be a part of!
Your’s in friendship
St Albans Chairman
Posted in Chairman's Blog, Circle Events | 8 Comments »
March 21st, 2010
The second annual dinner of the St Albans Round Table family was held at the Mid Herts Golf Club and celebrated the past year for each of the four clubs: Round Table, Ladies Circle, Tangent and 41 Club. Around 80 people attended this glamorous event, along with St Albans Circlers Marianne, Monika, Sarah and Anthea (plus a couple of partners!). We were entertained by Alex Miles who sang and played piano during the delicious 3 course meal and who got the disco going afterwards. It was great to hear from the Chairmen what each club had been up to over the past year and to get to know more members of the ‘family’. There was a fabulous raffle, which raised over £350 for Help For Heros and Round Table Childrens Wish charities. Everyone enjoyed themselves, so much so that Circle have somehow ended up volunteering to host it next year! Looking forward to it, Ladies!
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March 21st, 2010
Here are the two National Ladies Circle trophies we won last year: Glass rose bowl for the Membership Award (most new members in one year = 15) and the Anthony Nolan trophy for the President’s Award (awarded to club Chairman Marianne Jordan.) It was a great honour and privelege to have been awarded these trophies and we are sad to return them, but the next National AGM beckons and new winners are waiting in the wings! Here’s hoping for next year, Ladies!
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March 14th, 2010
St Albans Ladies Circle at Jo Banks Salon and Spa Birthday Party
What did you do last night?…..One of the many benefits to being part of St Albans Circle it would seem is that, in answer to my question, What did I do last night? I was invited to attend the 1st Birthday party of the Jo Banks Salon & Spa in St Albans. Oh how life is hard when you’re a member of Circle I thought to myself!
The thing that sets this salon & spa aside from other places I have had the pleasure of frequenting is that it uses Aveda products which in simplistic terms means that not only is Aveda a purchaser of organic ingredients but it is also a company that take their environmental responsibilities very seriously. So in effect this means that I can self-indulge in beauty treatments knowing that I am being environmentally friendly in the process, this excuse works extremely well for me!
Anyway back to the “What did I do last night” question. Claire and I were treated like VIPs for the night and were indulged in a head and neck massage followed by a hand massage. Of course we had the obligatory continuously filled glass of wine in our right hand and chocolate in the left. The only downside was that I had to share all of this with the 50 or so other women that attended the party.
My ten minute head massage lasted about twenty minutes which was such an unexpected treat. This head massage comes as standard with every haircut so I am now wondering if I could sneak a monthly haircut into my personal grooming budget without my husband noticing!
I did have to pinch myself whilst I was drinking my second glass of wine and nibbling on a piece of Hotel Chocolat, that I was in fact on a very important job in sampling the delights of the Jo Banks Salon & Spa as a future venue for a ladies pamper evening for one of our upcoming social events. It was a hard job but someone had to do it, and after speaking to Jo Banks it now appears that I will have to pay the Spa a second visit as she has kindly donated a raffle prize to our upcoming quiz night.
Isn’t life hard! So what am I doing tonight?
Washing my hair of course, using the products that I was given by Jo Banks to try!
Posted in Circle Events, General | 6 Comments »
March 6th, 2010
Joanne (our Area Delegate) and Marianne (our Chairman) both attended the National Exec meeting in Newport Pagnall as observers. Despite having to be there by 9am on a Saturday and the meeting going on till 5pm, it was a very interesting day. Not only were the seven members of the National Executive there, but also nearly 30 Area Delegates representing the Circles in their Area across Great Britain and Ireland. A lot of different subjects were discussed and the Exec members updated everyone on what they had been up to. It was also interesting to hear the different and original ideas Circles had come up with for fundraising events and to learn about the rapid changes taking place with regard to the new National Publicity Officer. For a bit of fun everyone was encouraged to dress up in a £10 outfit from a charity shop, which produced a variety of outfits from ballgowns to wetsuits! However, the highlight of the day had to be the comedy moment when a man in one of the houses opposite the hotel decided to open his curtains before he had got dressed! Oh dear! Let’s just say he wasn’t a Chippendale…
Posted in General | 3 Comments »
March 6th, 2010
For the first time we all met in the dining room at the Six Bells pub, which was very successful. We had the room to ourselves so were able to get on with our meeting without interruptions, but not before passing round fortune cookies to celebrate Chinese new year! The meeting went well, with lots of discussion regarding the possible increase in national membership fees. Luckily, Joanne and Marianne are due to attend the National Exec meeting on Saturday, so will be able to report back on that. We were pleased to receive a cheque from St Albans Round Table for helping with Santa and his float collections, which adds another £734 to our charity total this year. Our final fundraising event of 2009-10 will be on a quiz night 17th April, which the fundraising team are busy organising.
Finally the highlight of the evening was the charity vote. Four nominations from members were received to be our charity for the next Circle year starting in May and after hearing all about each charity, votes were cast. We are delighted to announce that The Paul Strickland Scanner Appeal will be our charity for the coming year, which provides the only cancer scanning service in Hertfordshire and is entirely run on donations. Well done everyone!
Posted in Circle Events | 3 Comments »
February 20th, 2010
Two new members
Sharon kindly hosted the evening and had decided to demonstrate “emotional freedom technique” which involves tapping on accupuncture points while focusing on the thing that is causing you anxiety. We were a little unsure at first, but soon got in to the swing of things, and all had a practice.
Before moving on to business for the evening, Sharon brought out her chocolate fountain for us all to try with freshly baked waffles, marshmallows and strawberries to dip in. Mmmmm
What with all the tapping and chocolate, we headed home as happy as Larry!
Thank you Sharon for a lovely evening.
At the end of the eventing, two more new members were welcomed into the club: Sarah and Evelyn being presented with certificate and flowers by Chairman Marianne.
Posted in Circle Events, Circle Year 2009-2010 | 2 Comments »
February 20th, 2010
The snow on the ground only added to the atmosphere as our brave Circlers accompanied Santa on his float ride around the streets of St Albans. Round Table had thoughtfully offered Father Christmas the chance to meet some of his adoring public in the evenings running up to Christmas and Ladies Circle members joined him to knock on doors and collect money for our charity this year, Earthworks. It was great to see the smiling faces at the windows, excited about seeing Father Christmas, rushing to the door to give him a wave – and that was just the adults! The slippery paths and freezing temperatures pulled at the heartstrings of local residents and they were extremely generous in donating money this year. Thank you St Albans residents!
A big thank you and well done goes to St Albans Round Table (www.stalbansroundtable.org.uk) who once again did a marvellous job of organising the float collections and keeping going in very challenging circumstances!
Everyone who took part in helping Santa felt warm inside and ready for Christmas, even though they were frozen on the outside! Well done girls – you are true Circlers!
Posted in Circle Year 2009-2010 | 20 Comments »
February 20th, 2010
This was not strictly a fundraising event but we were priveleged to have the new director of Earthworks St Albans, Teresa Gore, come and give us a talk on our chosen charity for the year, in an effort to inspire us before walking the streets with Santa’s float! It was good to hear all about how the charity works and the services it provides as although some of us had helped out at the summer and autumn fairs, others were not really sure what Earthworks was all about.
Their motto is “people of all abilities learning and working together” and they provide people with learning difficulties a unique opportunity to gain practical horticultural skills and the chance to lean about the environment, make friends and gain experience which may lead to employment. The trainees themselves love working there and take part in all decision-making.
The site at Hixberry Lane not only has a large vegetable patch, shade tunnels and polytunnels but also an orchard, woodland, ornamental and wildlife gardens and they have recentlyconstructed a pond. The site is run as environmentally-friendly as possible, even down to water recycling! The produce (fruit, vegetables and herbs) is all organic and is sold on site and at St Albans Farmer’s market. Trainees also make bug boxes and bird tables.
Earthworks works closely with the local authorities who pay for the trainees placements and they are working towards providing nationally recognised qualifications. Many volunteers work alongside the trainees and paid staff and it has proved such a success there is now a waiting list of volunteers!
St Albans Circle has helped with the various fairs held during the summer selling teas and coffees but next year (2010) these will be combined to one big Autumn Fair, which will be on Sunday 5th September. Looking forward to it!
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February 20th, 2010
Wow what an amazing venue for a party! We were all dazzled by the Elizabethan “Old Palace” at Hatfield House, with the oak panelling, tapestries and long tables, it already felt Christmassy before the festivities began. Nearly all members put on their best frocks to come and be entertained by Queen Elizabeth and her minstrels. Only poor Karol was too ill to come. Kris was mildly annoyed by the historical inacuracies but seems to have overcome it by the time this photo was taken! During and after our delicious (but not historically accurate!) three course meal we had various forms of entertainment including full audience participation of The Twelve Days of Christmas. As you can see by this point everyone is very merry! Is was not long after that the disco began and everyone boogied the night away until our carriage came to collect us! How very Cinderella! Don’t forget more photos are available on our facebook site.
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February 20th, 2010
Safari suppers are a blast from the past, made all the more popular with the advent of that popular television series, Come Dine With Me. Basically, one person organises the group, this year it was Stuart from Round Table who had nearly 30 people to organise, all in top secret! He did a sterling job and everything went very smoothly. After volunteering to take part, and telling Stuart whether you were happy to host a starter, main or bring a dessert, you then had warning if you were hosting that this many people are coming to you and these are their food dislikes etc.
Then at 7pm on the night, each person/couple received a text to say please arrive at this address by 7.30! Only on arriving at said address, do you find out who lives there and who are your follow diners for that course! Eating, drinking and chatting ensued until at 8pm you were allowed to open the envelope which told each person where they were heading for their main course, usually not with anyone we had just had starter with. Then is was a sudden rush to reach the main course on time, followed by more ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ at finding out who else you were dining with and of course eating the delicious home cooked food!
Finally at 10pm the dessert/party destination in announced and everyone ends up in the same place to finish the evening. Six Circlers (plus some partners) took part and everyone had a great time. A very enjoyable evening of good food, drink and conversation was had. It was great to get to know some of the Circlers’ partners as well as Tablers and their wives and to have a chance to chat to people away from the usual few minutes at the beginning or end of a meeting/event. This was definately one of the most enjoyable evenings with Circle!
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February 20th, 2010
Image consultant Gail Morgan from www.theimagehouse.co.uk gave a great talk on the basics of making your wardrobe work for you. Joanne very bravely volunteered her wardrobe to use as a demonstration, but aha! Now we know why she was so keen – she had already been made over! We are duly impressed that you have kept to the rules! Gail brought her colour charts with her and explained the differences between warm and cool colours as well as the seasons. She also went over shapes and styles, the need to empty your wardrobe of all that tat plus what has stuck in my mind, the need to have a set of everything in your neutral colour (whether that be black, brown or whatever) i.e. skirt, trousers, jacket, jumper or cardi, vest top, shoes, boots and handbag.
Gail also gave us each a “wardrobe management chart” to help us put together outfits for various occasions, using a “key piece” eg jacket. Joanne was a big supporter of this method and certainly had the complete outfits to prove it! More things to add to our shopping lists – must make sure have tights to match all skirts! Plus get nice jacket.
There was a lot of nodding and admission of ‘yes, that’s me’ from everyone present and I think everyone went away inspired to sort out all our clothes into those 4 piles! Got anywhere with that yet, girls?
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February 20th, 2010
Tangent’s big fundraiser this year was this very amusing evening of Elvis. Not only were we entertained by Elvis, we were fed beautiful home made food made by the fair hands of Tangent members. This evening was also a good opportunity to chat to a few more of the Tangent ladies and generally get the message out there that Ladies Circle are back! It still amazes me I have to explain that no-one is married to a Tabler, despite that rule being abolished well over 15 years ago!
Anyway, it was a thoroughly cheesey evening, the only wish that Elvis was maybe 20 years younger! Or at least able to sing! But that surely is the joy of such an evening?
There were over 100 people present and it was a great atmosphere. It made a good change from going to a restuarant and what is more Tangent made over £2000 in aid of Grove House. What more can you ask for?
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February 20th, 2010
I’m not going to use certain words here because I don’t want to attract the wrong type of internet user, but suffice to say, this dance class was a great deal of fun and involved the use of long gloves, feather boas and chairs! High heels were obligatory. We all felt somewhat self-conscious at first, but after two hours of expert tuition, we were all pretty confident with our new found skills! The basics of walking, turning, sitting, looking over your shoulder, taking off the gloves and various ways with a feather boa were all covered. It was hilarious! Thanks again to our wonderful teacher Sabrina and to Sharon for organising. A very memorable night!
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February 20th, 2010
As Chairman of St Albans Circle I have also been made an honorary member of St Albans Tangent Club. This is where we Circlers graduate to after reaching 45! Many moons ago there was a very active and successful Ladies Circle in St Albans, but unfortunately it closed down about 6 years ago. However, nearly all the past Circlers can still be found in Tangent. I was delighted to be invited along to talk to the club about how well (the new) St Albans Circle is going and to show them our prizes! I have met various Tangent members before, at the Bollywood night, the Chairmen’s Dinner, the Area Dinner and at a previous meeting I had attended to be made an honourary member, so there were some familiar faces. However, although I also looked familiar, very few people new exactly who I was! So it was a great opportunity to tell everyone that St Albans Circle is well and truly back in business and to expect to see us around at future events. They were keen to know why I decided to set up a new club, how often we meet, what we get up to etc. I also reminded them that we are organising this year’s Area Dinner in July and this will be a great opportunity for the two clubs to get to know each other a bit better. Not forgetting the black tie Chairmen’s Dinner coming up in March! Altogether is was a lovely evening and I left feeling I had done a good job and that we now have 40 very experience women to back us up.
I’d like to share this email from Tangent Chairman Daphne Harris:
Hello Marianne, Thank you so much for last night. I really appreciated you coming along. Your talk was an inspiration and I think firmly linked our two oranisations very positively. It is good to know that there is such enthusiasm and commitment to Circle and you are to be congratulated for being the pioneer of it all. We are really proud of what you have done so that Circle 133 can continue. We will ensure also that we give you the history to St Albans Circle to fill the missing piece of your jigsaw. I shall look forward to seeing you at the Elvis evening. Thank you so much, Best wishes Daphne
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February 20th, 2010
Twenty of us were scaring the residents of St Albans last Wednesday by dressing up as witches, cats, devils, pirates and other spooky characters and wondering round the the town centre in search of Ghosts! We had the help of two lovely Green Badge Guides who told us all about the many and varied strange happenings and ghostly sightings, including invisible organ players, broken hearted lovers and trapped monks. The history of St Albans goes back so far, it was amazing to hear about stories from many different times in the past. The tour ended with a glass of mulled wine in The White Hart, also renowned for strange noises in the night. We were warned not to go upstairs to the ladies on our own…
A big thanks goes out to Sharon for her wonderful organisation and for helping to raise £100 for our charity this year – Earthworks. We were also honoured to have the National Membership Officer in our midst, Karen Sprod, who also very kindly inducted our two newest members, Karol and Jenni. We were also delighted to see 4 prospective members getting into the spirit of the evening!
Marianne – Chairman
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February 20th, 2010
Getting creative!
Card-making, collage, knitting, origami…what a creative lot we are! It was like being back at junior school! As October is Think Pink month, people also dressed in pink and there was a little donation box for CRUK, which made £30. Sharon also very kindly donated some Rose Quartz gifts and made some yummy pink cakes. Thank you Sharon!
We were also entertained by two lovely guests; Sally (Area Chair and Harpenden club member) and Nicola (Immediate Past Area Chair and Radlett club member). It was great to hear their Circle stories and how much fun they have had being in Circle. They also explained a little bit about how Circle works with regard to the National Exec and how information flows up and down via the Area Chair. It was great to hear from Sally and Nicola how they started off in Circle – thanks to both of you!
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February 20th, 2010
“Think Pink and Pizza” was the theme to the Area meeting this quarter! This is where the Area exec and representatives of each club get together to eat pizza, drink wine and chat. Oh yes, and talk about what is going on in each other’s clubs and what new from the National Council meeting. Joanne and Marianne joined Circlers from Harpenden, Letchworth and Welwyn (with apologies from Radlett), as well as the National Treasurer Chris (pictured, centre). Chris does an amazing job of holding down a full time job, being the single mum of 2 children and looking after all the NALC accounts as well as sending out all the invoices! You are an inspiration!
Sally (pictured, left) was very enthusiatic having just returned from the National meeting and was able to astound us with facts such as Circle as a whole made over £300,000 for charity last year. Fantastic!
All the clubs had good news to deliver, including Letchworth who are about the induct five new members – congratulations!
The evening ended with pink strawberry meringues and the news that we had made £108 pounds for CRUK from donations from attendees- what more could you ask from an Area meeting! Looking forward to seeing everyone again in February in Letchworth.
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February 20th, 2010
About 3 or 4 times a year, all the Council members get together to make sure the club is running smoothly. On Weds we all met at Sharon’s house for some drinks and nibbles.
First we discussed the draft Local Rules and Guidance Notes. Everyone agreed that these are a useful thing to have and some suggestions were made for small changes. These will all be incorporated and the draft rules sent round to all members to read and comment on. It was agreed that as some of the rules apply to the AGM, the rules need to be adopted before the next AGM, so an Extraordinary General Meeting will be added on to the November business meeting in order to adopt these. This is the only thing outstanding to make the club fully functional!
We then went onto ideas to make money for club funds. Although one of our main aims as a club is to raise money for charity, we also need funds to spend on the running of the club, for example, paying for internet hosting (a vital resource which we cannot live without), other advertising (leaflets, posters, t-shirts, adverts in local magazines etc), general expenses (stationery, engraving), Chairman and Area Reps expenses for attending other meetings, buying badges for the council etc.
Some excellent ideas were suggested, and we are going to start with: setting up a Buy.At account (to get money from internet shopping), look into selling advertising on t-shirts, website and diary sheet. There were also ideas for one-off fundraising schemes, such as having a stall at a local show eg Herts county show. This will also be investigated further.
After a quick look at the diary for the remainder of the year, everyone went home exhausted! But is was certainly a productive evening!
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February 20th, 2010
Blog post by our 2009-2010 Chairman, Marianne.
Months ago at the Chairman’s Night I won an evening for four at Champneys, and finally I got round to booking this. Lisa and Claire, who were also at the Chairman’s Night accompanied me. We had a relaxing evening of mini-facials and make-up demonstration, with plenty of free drinks and a goody bag to take away. Feeling much more relaxed and glamorous and somewhat hungry, we then headed for Wagamana’s for a healthy dinner. That place was packed! So this is what everyone else in St Albans does on a Wednesday night!
It was really lovely to have a chat in a small group and the conversation even stayed off the topic of Circle for most of the night! We are all looking forward to a larger group session at Champneys in the new year and decided more meals out are needed. Lisa – over to you, social sec!
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February 20th, 2010
The Cheese and Wine evening was a great success, with five prospective members attending for the first time making a total of 18 people squeezed into Allison’s lounge! Julia from Flagship Wines, Hatfield Road, was teaching us all how to taste wine and we had a selection of 6 wines to compare and contrast. It was interesting how different people rated the different wines and how much the taste varied between regions and grape varieties. Between each tasting there was plenty of opportunities to chat and to nibble on cheese and biscuits. Over £40 was made for Earthworks, our charity for the year and a lot of fun was had! Thanks go to Joanne, Lisa and Sharon for organising and to Allison for hosting.
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February 20th, 2010
Nine of us had a wonderful afternoon living the high life at Luton Hoo. Afternoon tea – what a luxury; not quite lunch, not quite dinner, just an excuse to dress up, chat and eat cake! The first decision was how many trays to order and then what type of tea! There was a choice of about 20 in all, including herbal and fruit teas. Between us we chose four types of tea and since this was constantly topped up, we were all able to try different ones. Dainty finger sandwiches, strawberry tarts, chocolate layer cakes and purple fairy cakes were tantalisingly displayed on the silver 3-tier trays, but everyone agreed that the scones were highlight of the afternoon (however you pronounce it!) Early on there was some debate as to whether 5 settings were enough to share between 9 people, but as the afternoon drew on, high on sugar and lashings of tea, we were content we had ordered just the perfect amount. A wander round the hotel and grounds only convinced us that more such afternoons were needed, perhaps with a trip to the spa beforehand! It really was a wonderful afternoon, great company, delicious food and sumptuous surroundings. This is exactly what being in Circle is all about – not turning into a lady who lunches! – but doing something you would never have got round to doing on your own. Here’s to St Albans Circle!
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February 20th, 2010
Looking glamorous on the terrace of Luton Hoo
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February 20th, 2010
Name: Marianne Jordan
Age: 37
Occupation: Audiologist and mum
Lived in St Albans for: 11 years
Joined Circle in: 2005
Reason for joining: to be part of a club again (I had been a member of Rotaract, the young person’s Rotary, and missed the opportunities for meeting new people, trying new activities and helping in the community.)
Aims for the year 2009/10: To keep building the membership; to raise more money for Charity than last year; to develop better relations with Tangent and Round Table; to get the final pieces in place to become a fully-fledged club (ie Charter, local rules); to find a way of making money for club funds; to try out new activities; to have fun! (Must remember that last one….)
What have you done as a member of Circle? I was a member of Harpenden Circle for 3 years before deciding it was time to start a club in St Albans. I had been on the Gift Fair Organising Committee for 2 years and was social secretary for one year. For various reasons I had decided to leave Harpenden club, but on driving to what I had planned to be my final meeting in March 2008, I realised that there are some things that you can only get from being in a club such as Circle. So somehow, instead of taking a break, I ended up starting a new club and becoming the chairman! The first year went amazingly well, culminating in winning not only the National membership award for most new members in a year (15, not including the 3 founder members) but I was also awarded The President’s Award, in recognition of all the work I had put in and specifically for being the person who had done the most to promote Circle that year. I neglected to mention that not only was I St Albans Chair, I was also on the Area Committee where I was the publicity person. I organised an Area publicity meeting, where all clubs in the Area shared their ideas and then I produced a document which was shared on the National website. As far as I see it, there is no need to reinvent the wheel and if you find something that works (to promote Circle) you should share it with everyone. I was delighted to receive this recognition and it was a great surprise as I had no idea such an award existed!
This year (2009-10) being the Chairman has been a lot less stressful as I now have a great team behind me. The biggest challenge is turning out to be finding someone to take over next year! However, this is nothing compared to the challenge of setting up a new club. Please see “The story so far” for more details of the trials and tribulations of the first year. I have certainly learned a lot, not least that you cannot please all of the people all of the time and that if something is important to you, you make time for it.
Things you would never have done without Circle: Where to start! Chocolate-tasting, belly-dancing, lunch at Gordon Ramsay’s, Bollywood Night, pole dancing, being Santa’s little helper, Safari Supper, Gift Fair, a chance to develop people and project management skills and public speaking skills; meeting so many lovely people!
Final words of wisdom: You never know what you can achieve until you try.
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February 20th, 2010
Marianne Jordan, St Albans Chair with Nicki Stocken, National President
July 2nd 2009 was the hottest night of the year when all of Area 21 met for their annual Area Dinner. This year the venue was Mid Herts Golf Club in Wheathamptead and drinks were enjoyed on the terrace before sitting down in a very warm room for the meal. This year’s National President, Nicki Stocken, was in attendance, as well as all clubs in the Area (Harpenden, Letchworth, Radlett, Welwyn and St Albans) and many Tangent members, including Andrea Evans, past St Albans Circler, Past National President and Past International President. Now there is a role model!
It really was a fabulous evening. National President Nicki gave a lovely speech, then presented our Chairman with the club’s Charter certificate. Marianne then gave an update of the story so far, because there were a lot of people in the room who did not know how well we had done. Marianne was then presented with a beautiful bunch of flowers from the club, as a thanks for all the work she had done as Chairman.
As you can see from the picture, Marianne was wearing the old St Albans Circle regalia. We were delighted that two Tangent members were able to attend at the last minute and were kind enough to bring the regalia along. As we care very much about Ladies Circle and its history we were honoured that St Albans Tangent lent us this clearly valued part of the club’s history.
It was good to chat with a lot of the other Circlers in the Area and to update them with how well everything was going as well as other people we have get to know over the last year. The night ended with a raffle with some superb prizes. We would like to say thank you to Harpenden Circle for organising such a great evening and we look forward to organizing this event next year!
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February 20th, 2010
Lisa presenting Marianne with flowers on behalf of the club.
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February 20th, 2010
Ready for that beach party! Caroline, Marianne, Claire, Sharon, Lisa and Monika
National Conference – where else would you get to spend the weekend with a thousand other people who all love having fun?? Six of us headed down to Eastbourne on Friday afternoon, all very excited about a girls’ weekend away. The partying started with a Black Tie Masked Ball in the Winter Garden in Eastbourne, attended by Tablers and Circlers from around the world. It was a fabulous evening, with a 3 course meal, photographer, 3 bands and a disco! Needless to say it was pretty late by the time we retired to bed.
The next day at the AGM were were delighted and surprised to receive two national awards! The first for Membership (see photo http://son-images.smugmug.com/photos/538053304_gPHqC-L.jpg ) i.e. the club who had registered the most new members in a year, presented by National Membership Secretary Vicky Perry.
The second was for our chairman, Marianne, who was presented with The President’s Award by the National President Lynda Wieland! (see photo: http://son-images.smugmug.com/photos/538133508_aMUNK-L.jpg ) It was great to see our chairman get this recognition for the amount of work she had put in over the past year. But no time to bask in the glory! It was time to hurry back to get ready for the beach party! Sharon had done wonders finding us all these fabulous costumes and we certainly felt in the party mood. Again there were 3 bands to help us boogie on down and much hilarity was had. It was certainly a fantastic weekend away.
Next year: Harrogate here we come!
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February 20th, 2010
Looking gorgeous in our evening wear! Marianne, Monika, Sharon, Lisa and Claire
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February 20th, 2010
The Bollywood dance lesson created a fantastic atmosphere
Organised in just 8 weeks, the Bollywood Night fundraising event was a magnificent success! We wanted to do something to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ladies Circle International and the current LCI development project was based in India, building toilet blocks in schools to enable girls to continue their education past puberty. Project SARIs needed £750 to build one toilet block, including materials, labour, mains drainage and water supply, to ensure it was viable for the long term.
The film “Slumdog Millionaire” had just been released, so it was a very topical project to support and if you have seen the film, the reality of toilets in poor parts India is made only to clear! So we decided to give it a try, booked a Tyttenhanger village hall and sweet-talked local award-winning restaurant Chili Raj to provide delicious food at cost price. We arranged for a DJ, twisted the arm of a prospective to give us a dance lesson and found a therapist to give Indian Head Massages. The UK project manager of SARIs happened to live in Bushey, so she was able to come along and tell everyone a bit more about the project. The obligatory raffle was also in place, and nearly 20 local companies donate some excellent prizes.
It was a lot of hard work to get this all together in such a short amount of time and everyone really pulled together as a team to make it work. Thanks go to everyone who helped, especially Marianne, Caroline, Gee, Anthea, Claire and Sharon. And not forgetting Jay Sammon and friend for DJ-ing and setting up such a great sounds system! The atmosphere was fantastic as over 60 tickets were sold, which was just the right number for the size of the venue. After eating the wonderful curry followed by home made chocolate brownies, the raffle prizes were drawn and the music got started. The “Bollywood Sisters” performed a couple of dances then showed us some of the moves. Everyone joined in and when our DJ played the theme from “Slumdog” the dancefloor went wild!
Altogether it was an amazing evening, not only because we made over £900 for Project SARIs, but because the event was attended by husbands, partners, friends, other Circlers from Radlett and Bushey plus a few members of Round Table, Tangent and 41 Club. We really felt we had put ourselves on the map, not only literally (we now have a toilet block somewhere in India with our name on it!) but also this event signified that St Albans Circle had successfully pulled together and we were now working as a great team, the future seemed secure and the buzz of success prevaded through all our other activities for the rest of the Circle year.
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February 20th, 2010
Circlers and guests looking fantastic in traditonal outfits
The food is here but where are all the guests? Nervous anticipation!
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February 20th, 2010
Project SARIS – Sanitation at Rural Indian Schools
Aim: To build 100 toilet blocks at Indian schools enabling girls to remain in education
Ladies Circle International Service Project 2007-2009
Sanitation at Rural Indian Schools (SARIS), an initiative by Ladies Circle International, is a unique attempt to promote female literacy in India by providing girls with toilet facilities at school. A lot of girls stop going to school when they reach puberty. They go home to go to the toilet and do not return for the rest of the day or they avoid going to the toilet all day and become ill. In order to enable girls to continue their education past puberty, Ladies Circle India is facilitating the building of toilet blocks in 100 schools throughout India, with the help of money raised in the UK and other parts of the world.
Each toilet block costs £750 to build and so far eleven have been built and another twenty five have been identified. The first one was built at Uttarpara Girls High School near Kolkata (Calcutta). This is a unique project because all money raised is sent directly to India, where Ladies Circle India manage the project on a voluntary basis, therefore no funds are lost to administration – every penny goes directly into bricks, mortar and labour. All materials and labour are sourced locally in India.
Ladies Circle was founded in the UK in 1932 as a sister organisation to Round Table. Circles gradually formed all over the world, joining together in 1959 to form Ladies Circle International and continuing to grow every year since. In the UK there are now over 250 clubs who join together to form The National Association of Ladies Circles in Great Britain and Ireland, NALC. As we celebrate 50 Years of Ladies Circle International it is wonderful to have the opportunity to work with like-minded ladies in India. All monies raised for Project SARIS by Circles in the UK are sent to NALC where two volunteer project managers work closely with Ladies Circle India to assess applications for toilet blocks to ensure they are located at schools where they can be of most benefit.
Whilst Ladies Circle is a large organisation in the UK, it does not hold registered charity status and therefore does not have a registered charity number. However we are able to work closely with our counterparts in India and being an International Organisation we are able to distribute the funds directly between the organisations with no administration costs. The bank transfer costs are paid by our membership fees rather than out of the funds raised. Every penny raised goes into construction.
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February 20th, 2010
Nearly everyone attended the AGM
The AGM meant a big deal to all of us. It meant that St Albans Circle was off to a great start and all the effort put in initially had started to pay dividends. It was great to think that in a year, St Albans had become the second biggest club in the Area, with a total of 18 lovely members! (Well, strictly speaking the 18th member was inducted the following week at the Area AGM, but it still fell within the Circle year.) It was a great feeling to think that we had such a successful club and to look round at all the lovely people and new friends we had made.
Thankfully, there were volunteers for all positions on the council for the following year and these were all voted in unanimously. The only position left to fill was Vice Chair, but that could wait for 6 months. Marianne kindly agreed to continue as Chair. After having given a speech at the Chairman’s Night, Marianne was in full speech mode and inspired the club to go on to do bigger and better things in the coming year. Presents of Green & Black’s chocolate were given to all the council for their hard work in getting the club through the first year and a special present went to Caroline for all her help and support throughout the year. individual contribution to the group during the year or their unique memorable moments!
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February 20th, 2010
Leaving our mark at Loch Fyne!
Our 2008-2009 Chairman – Marianne Jordan – AGM speech
Well my fellow Circlers, I would never have believed it, if you told me this time last year, that I would now be standing in front of a room of 16 people – never, never, never. But let me tell you, I am so proud to be standing here surrounded by a group of such wonderful people. It has been an amazing journey in over the past year, since the thought first came into my head that is was time to start a new circle in St Albans. I am so grateful to Caroline and Janet for agreeing to take on this venture with me, giving me the courage to take on being chairman of a brand new club and to everyone who has helped along the way.
Thank you to all of you for just turning up and becoming members, but especially those who have been active on Council, you have put a lot of hard work in over the course of the year. It has sometimes been hard to know what to do or how high to aim, but you have all been wonderful in coming up with ideas and putting your all into everything we have tried. Thank you to everyone who helped on the Bollywood night and an extra special thank you to goes to Caroline, Sharon, Claire, Anthea and Gee. Please accept a very small gift from me as a token of my appreciation. Yes, it had to be chocolate, as this was our recurring theme of the year!
I would like to give an extra special thanks to Caroline, who has been a real trouper putting up with me all this time, constantly emailing and phoning you, for your calming influence when I come with yet another crazy idea, as well as all the work you have done with the website and keeping tabs on members in the early days, taking an active part of everything we have done, as well as taking on the very responsible treasurer position and for generally being a really lovely person. I hardly knew you this time last year, but I am so pleased to have had this opportunity to get to know you and to work so closely with you. And can I say – it’s great to have you as a friend. Thank you so much for all your support and this club really wouldn’t be as successful as it is without you. Please accept this beautiful plant as a token of my gratitude.
Why did I think it was time for St Albans to have a Circle of their own? For those of you who don’t know, Janet, Caroline and myself were all members of Harpenden Circle who, by the way, are the largest club in the country with over 40 members. Their biggest event is their Christmas Gift Fair, which makes a huge amount of money for charity, but after the third year of doing it, I felt it was time to move on. In March last year, I was driving to Harpenden, thinking this is going to be my last Circle meeting, when I realised that actually there are some things you can only get from being in an organisation such as Circle.
It is not just about going to a meeting twice a month, but making new friends who live locally and doing all those things you never get round to doing with your other friends, whether it be a fundraising event for your favourite charity or trying a new activity or going to a new restaurant. So rather than resigning, as I had intended to do, by the end of the night I had somehow become the founder member of a brand new club! Thankfully Caroline and Janet were happy to take this on as well, otherwise it would not have got off the ground and I would still be the only member! As I heard on the radio this morning: you cannot get this kind of success from a one-man team.
For me Circle is all about doing something you have never done before (although admittedly setting up a new club is rather extreme!) Trying new things keeps the brain active and keeps us younger for longer – so there you have it, Circle is good for you! In fact, when you research into happiness and happy aging, you will find that relationships, including friendships, family and community activities are the number one predictor of wellbeing! Other secrets of happy aging include regular activity (maybe pole dancing, belly dancing, table tennis) and eating well (although I am not sure whether fish and chips was exactly what Dr Weil had in mind when he wrote that!)
So, Chairman’s report: what have I been up to this year? I started off at the Area Annual Dinner at the Hitchin Priory, where I met the National President Lynda Wieland and a past St Albans Circler, Anthea Evans, who went on to be not only National but also International President! I was voted onto the Area Exec as the Area publicity officer, I attended 4 Area meetings and held the first ever Area publicity ideas-sharing night. I went to the Eastern Regional Lunch at the Belfy in Thame and finally went to the Inaugural Chairmen’s Night, held jointly with Round Table, 41 Club and Tangent. Not only did I wow the crowd with tales of our exploits, but us four brave Circlers who attended showed everyone how to move on the dance floor!
The club’s amazing achievements over the year – you will hear more about these from a few other people, but the biggest achievement I think is simply being here at all. So many clubs have closed down in the last few years and many more are teetering on the verge of extinction. We have shown that Circle is not a dying organisation, far from it, there is a huge demand for this type of club and it is very exciting for me and I’m sure all of you to know you are in on this from the start! I’m sure I might have mentioned, we are on course to win the National membership prize for largest percentage increase in members. That will really put us on the map and let everyone in Circle across the country know that we have arrived!
Everyone here tonight is a real delight to know, and I am so proud to be standing in front of such a great group of women. Together we can achieve some amazing things, so let us set our goals high for the coming year, keep those new members coming in, but most importantly, build on the relationships we are starting to make here, sharing ideas with each other and becoming an active part of our local community. We have the power to change lives – our own lives through our own personal development and others via the fundraising and community projects we do. We have a great group of people taking on new roles in council this year and I am really excited to be working with all of you to make St Albans Circle a fun and fantastic organisation!
I will leave you with this final thought: there is nothing better than a good friend…except a good friend with chocolate! Please raise your glasses to “Friendship and chocolate”
Posted in Circle Events, In the beginning... 2008-2009 | 88 Comments »
February 20th, 2010
Rachel and Clare battle it out for second place!
Posted in Circle Events, In the beginning... 2008-2009 | No Comments »
February 20th, 2010
Lisa, Kristen, Allison and Rachel are inducted. Club votes for Earthworks as next year's charity.
Posted in Circle Events, In the beginning... 2008-2009 | 124 Comments »
February 20th, 2010
The troupe are ready to perform!
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February 20th, 2010
Gee and Sharon are inducted by National Membership Secretary Vicky Perry
Posted in Circle Events, In the beginning... 2008-2009 | 8 Comments »
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