Taking on Role of Chair…..
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 »
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!
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!
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…
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.