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Spring Edition 2010
Greetings fellow members. I hope this newsletter finds you all fit and well and looking forward to the longer days and the much welcome signes of spring! And so the year so far:- January Our year was scheduled to start with a talk by a representative from an Electronic Tagging Company, however due to the vagaries of the good old English weather (snow, snow and more snow!), we had to postpone. Very disappointing for all, we have however re-scheduled for later in the year. February Was a fascinating talk by a Podiatrist. Chris was a lovely lady, very passionate about her job, and gave us some very good hints and tips on foot and lower leg care. She certainly inspired me to think more about my feet, and footwear. Thank you to Mary for the suggestion of this speaker. March At our AGM the following committee members were re-elected: - Pauline Grant – President/PR secretary
- Val Houlton – Deputy chair/web administrator
- Sue Collis – Treasurer
- Sue Morgan – Membership secretary
- Paulette Burkill – Events secretary
- Mary Whitton – Committee member
Thank you to everyone for your support it is much appreciated, keep up the good work! It was also agreed at the AGM, that as the Branch will be hosting the convention in 2011, we would select the runner up in the charity nominations as our second charity, and support both charities for the next two years which would include all monies raised at the convention. To confirm the charities are: - The Stroke Association
- The Birmingham Centre for Defence Medicine
After the conclusion of the AGM, a cheque for £1,000 was presented to Geraldine Sykes from the Alzheimer’s Society, who then gave us a very moving talk about the many forms of dementia and the role of the Society and what our monies would be used for – the committee having agreed to donate monies for the use of the operation of the helpline. The evening rounded off with an excellent brainstorming session about the 2011 convention, where a number of useful ideas were discussed, and some great suggestions. We will look into these and a final decision made in due course. Suggestions for speakers for the convention, and donations of raffle prizes for the grand raffle will be more than welcome. April – postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. FORTHCOMING DATES FOR DIARY | May | Audio visual presentation by RNLI | | June | Talk about Birmingham Air Raids | | | |
If you have any ideas for visits or meetings, please let any member of your committee know, or email me on
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We have now had confirmation of the theme for the convention in October in Durham, it will be Satin & Pearls. The event will held at the Radisson Hotel in Durham city centre, not far from the railway station. MEMBERSHIP At the AGM it was proposed and agreed that having held our membership fees at the same level for several years, the time had come when we would have to raise the membership fee for retired members. Subscriptions for 2010 are now due - £16 for full time employed, £8 for retired. Please remember potential new members can attend their first event for free! FUNDRAISING We will be ‘car booting’ again later in the year, so please remember us as you “Spring Clean”. Any suggestions on other ways of raising more money are very welcome. I would also like to remind everyone that Smarties will be on sale at each meeting for our “fill a tube with 20p’s” fundraising effort this year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those members and friends who kindly donated items to raffle, car boot items, and those who have purchased books, greetings cards and craft items during the year. Keep up the good work. Donations of raffle prizes are always welcome, and don’t forget we have a convention coming up, so we will need even more than usual! Please dig deep! Finally, a very heartfelt thank you to those kind members who made special donations to our charity fund, namely Sue Morgan, Janice Andrews, and a good friend to the Association - Jessie Ward my craft buddy based in Newbury. Thank you seems so inadequate but without your contributions we would not have reached our target this year. And so to close, I hope to have the opportunity to welcome friends old and new to a meeting real soon. I hope that the current travel crisis does not impact on any of your holiday plans, it certainly is having an impact here at my offices! All the best Pauline G President December 2009 - Birmingham Branch Newsletter Ho, Ho, Ho festive greetings fellow members, I hope you all have your Christmas preparations well underway as I prepare this newsletter – the year has certainly passed swiftly and I find that it’s passed so quickly I have not prepared a newsletter all year! And so on to a brief summation of the events of 2009 and quick preview of 2010; January – Our year started with a talk by a Magistrate, who was both informative and amusing; all members who attended thoroughly enjoyed the evening. February – saw us trying our hands at beading, with a craft evening – with Brian Bridges from Bead & Button Bazaar, keeping us all entertained. A thoroughly fun and productive evening. Also in February, we were invited to an overnight stay at the Park Hotel, West Bromwich where members were given the opportunity to experience the facilities for themselves. A wonderful night, we were made very welcome by the staff, we can well recommend this venue. At our AGM in March The following members were elected: Pauline Grant – President/PR secretaryVal Houlton – Deputy chair/web administratorSue Collis – TreasurerSue Morgan – Membership secretaryPaulette Burkill – Events secretaryVikki Yale – Committee memberMary Whitton – Committee member Thanks for their hard work to those committee members who stepped down at the AGM, Jackie Rabin, Gayna Rowshan and Pauline Cox. In March, we had two visits to Victoria Law Courts, where we were given a guided tour with the opportunity to see for ourselves the court system in action. Truly fascinating, and well recommended. This certainly is the place to see the judicial system in operation. Our April event was a talk by John White, who came along and gave us his presentation as his alter ego The Apothecary. John was a fascinating speaker, very amusing, and thoroughly enjoyed by all. May – our event had to be postponed at the last minute due to problems at the venue. June –This year we were luckier with the weather for our ramble. Just a very light shower, nothing along the lines of 2007; again thanks to Rambling Fred for keeping us on the right track. A meal at the Park House followed our ramble, which once again was lovely. July – saw us on a visit to Winterbourne Gardens, where we were given a guided tour, of what can only be described as an “oasis of calm in the middle of the city.” We can highly recommend this, and will arrange another visit as the house is in the middle of renovation, and will be open to the public, hopefully in 2010. August event was a presentation by Estee Lauder, where one lucky member received a makeover; again all members thoroughly enjoyed the hints and tips given by Hillary, the beautician for Estee Lauder at House of Fraser. September – saw us on a visit to Planters Garden Centre, for an autumn planting demonstration, followed by a lovely buffet supper and the opportunity to purchase goods from the garden centre with a 10% discount. October – Members visited the BBC TV centre in the Mailbox in Birmingham, where we were given a guided tour of the television studios. We were taken to the studio where the daytime and evening local news is broadcast. We were also shown around the BBC radio section, and the studio where the Radio programme “The Archers” is recorded. Great tour, with members recording a script using various sound effects, which was played back to us. Well recommended and enjoyed . ANNUAL CONVENTION – GLASGOW 2009 For those of you who were unable to attend the 2009 annual convention, you missed a truly lovely weekend. 7 members from Birmingham crawled out of their beds and met up at Birmingham airport very early (5 am) on Friday morning and flew up to Glasgow. We had checked into the Marriott hotel by 8:30am and spent the rest of the day taking in the sights of Glasgow. A truly magnificent city. At 7.00 pm, a civic reception was held at the City Chambers, hosted by the deputy Lord Provost to welcome all to their lovely city. It was a most pleasurable and memorable evening. On Saturday there were several speakers, the most memorable being Olivia Giles who spoke about her newly launched charity, 500 miles. In 2002, Olivia contracted meningococcal septicaemia which required quadruple amputations. Olivia was a truly inspirational lady who gave a great talk, and was a truly excellent motivational speaker – we were all very emotional I can tell you. The session ended up with lovely lunch, followed by the charity raffle. The evening commenced with pre-dinner drinks. This was followed by a scrumptious 3-course meal, and then the raffle for the star prize, - flights to New York for two. Following the raffle, we danced non-stop to a great disco who entertained us into the wee small hours - a fantastic night. It was really great to see everyone entering into the spirit of the black and white theme. (For more pictures, visit the gallery on our website – www.uksecretaries.co.uk) The weekend also marked the 30th anniversary of the Association, and a celebration cake was presented by Glasgow branch and the honour of the first cut was given to Bernie Trotter, who is the President of the founding branch, Hartlepool. The Marriott hotel was a lovely venue, the rooms light and airy, the staff very pleasant and welcoming, and the standard of food the whole weekend was excellent. On Sunday following a lovely breakfast and the joint committee meeting, we all went off to enjoy the sights of Glasgow, with bus tour, visit to the peoples palace to name but a few things we did. Our flights left on time, in fact we had a great return flight and we arrived back in Birmingham tired, but all in all we had a lovely weekend – once again, it was just a shame more members from Birmingham could not have joined us. Ah well, there is always next year! NOVEMBER EVENT Our November event, by popular request, was another bead craft evening, where members were able to make their own necklace and bracelets. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and we have been asked if we can schedule this again in the future. Also in November, we had two visits to the CCTV control centre in Central Birmingham. Here we had a guided tour and an insight into how our streets, train, bus and coach stations are monitored for our protection. We all felt this was a good thing Again, all who attended thoroughly enjoyed the experience. DECEMBER EVENT Annual Christmas gathering at Handsworth golf club, again members had a great evening, good food, good venue but most of all a good time catching up with very good friends! FORTHCOMING DATES FOR DIARY | Wednesday 13 Jan | Talk about Electronic tagging | | Wednesday 10th Feb | Talk by Podiatrist | | Wednesday 10th March | Annual General Meeting |
Advance Notice 2010 Annual Convention will be held in Durham – 8-10th October. I do hope you will join our colleagues in Durham for what should be a fun weekend. Hosted by Tyne & Wear Branch, venue and theme to be confirmed. 2011 is going to be hosted by Birmingham Branch so get your thinking caps on! We will be holding a brain storming evening early in the New Year, for ideas for speakers, theme, etc. If you have any ideas for visits or meetings, please let any member of your committee know, or email me on
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. MEMBERSHIP We are actively recruiting new members, so please spread the word. Any ideas on how to promote membership would be much appreciated. For your information potential new members can attend their first event for free! FUNDRAISING With Christmas nearly upon us should you end up with any unwanted gifts that we could use as RAFFLE PRIZES please donate them. Our stocks are again running low, and don’t forget we are hosting the convention in 22 months time, so we also need to be gathering Raffle prizes for the Convention. Any suggestions on ways of raising more money are very welcome. We will be launching the “fill a Smartie tube” fundraiser in January – so get starting saving those 20p pieces. Tubes of Smarties will be available for purchase at our January event. If you could also give some thought as to which charity you would like the Branch to support in 2010/11 – please let me know so I can add it to the list for voting purposes.
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