News
Harpenden Circlers do it on a pole!
Not for the faint-hearted! Harpenden Circle were keen to try out activities that they wouldn’t normally do......so we arranged a pole dancing class.
A trained professional took us through our paces - with an energetic warm up not dissimilar to your average exercise class, albeit with a few saucier moves! And that was where the similarity ended. We learned the four key moves and within an hour we managed to roll out the dance routine which finished on the pole. I’m sure some of the girls have done this before but no one admitted that. The laughter could probably be heard for miles and the bruises - yes, it really is hard work - remained for a few days but it was great fun and definitely worth a try.
Bowls at Harpenden Indoor Bowls Club
Harpenden Indoor Bowling Club opened their doors and welcomed Harpenden Circle for a fun evening!
An enthusiastic and talented team from the bowls club instructed us how to play and let us loose on their precious green - well we did have the correct socks on at least! There was a mixture of talent and amusement from Harpenden Circle - but we had great fun trying. We had a well deserved break with an even more deserved glass of wine and sat back to chill out and watch the experts show us how it's done! Thanks to George Knowles and his team, maybe they'll let us come back another year.
National AGM Award for most money raised at a charity event
Harpenden Circle is the largest group nationally and their hard work and dedication was recognised in the annual conference for the National Association of Ladies Circles.
The club are very proud of their award for the most money raised at a charity event - they raised a staggering £18,000 at Christmas Gift & Craft Fair which is the highest Charity Fund raising event so far. Gift Fair Chair Sally Rowe was delighted to collect the award and said 'this is a real honour and a wonderful tribute to the hard work of everyone in Harpenden Circle'.
Organisation of this year's Gift & Craft Fair on 20th & 21st November is well under way and is promising to be even bigger and better. This year's proceeds will go to Ali's Appeal at the Hospice of St Francis, Alzheimers Research Trust and Community Meeting Point Harpenden.....we value all the local support and hope to see everyone there!!
AGM 2009
Our AGM at Aldwickbury Golf Club on 21st April marked the end of our Circle year - and weren't we lucky to have such a beautiful sunny evening to enjoy our welcome drinks on the terrace, in all 44 members and guests attended.
After a short business meeting covering the Carnival and late national items we were able to enjoy our dinner and start the AGM, a 'celebration' and look back over what has been a most successful year for our club all round. We were proud to have 17 new members join over the year, most of whom were present, attending their first ever AGM! This had taken our total membership to 45 making us the largest Circle in the country. Also on a happy note we'd had two babies born during the year to Vari and also Janet, so new baby Tablers in training!
As ever we had been busy fundraising during the year and all worked hard to raise an INCREDIBLE £18,000 at our Gift Fair, Sally and her committee were warmly congratulated. Added to this was almost £2,000 raised from evenings like In the Pink and our contribution to Carnival last year, which meant altogether we had supported 9 charities, donating just short of £20,000 in total!
But we mustn't forget the fun of Circle, and through all the reports from everyone on Council we were reminded of just how much fun we had fitted in over the year � from parties including; the 'British Pub & Curry' Council party, Summer 'Olympics' party, Safari Supper, Xmas School Disco Party and Take That Xmas Meal, to formal events like the Eastern Regional Lunch and Spring Ball, to just plain simple fun nights like the hilarious Mini-Olympics wonderfully hosted by Kathy, the Secrets evening and of course one of my favourites the Mamma Evening. Squeezed in to these were the 'walking' car rally nights and bike rides and shush.....the odd night down the pub!
So with business complete and all reports 'reported', it was time to draw the evening to a close and think of the 'friendship' of Circle; to thank Council for all their amazing hard work, my 'formula one team'; and everyone in the club for their friendship and support given to me as Chair over the year. Also to say a fond farewell to our four retirees this year and outgoing honoraries. I've had a great year as Chairman, been great fun and I wish Emma and her team all the best for a fab year going forward! Happy Circling.
Harpenden Circle's £18,000 charity gift
The evening of February 24th saw the culmination of a year's worth of outstanding fundraising success for Harpenden Circle, with the presentation of a record-breaking £18,000 to charity.
At a celebration dinner held at Hammonds End Golf Club, representatives from local charities Harpenden MENCAP and Home-Start St Albans City & District, as well as two children's charities with local connections, CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) and The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) were presented with a large donation from Harpenden Circle towards vital support, equipment and life-saving research.
Harpenden MENCAP based in Harpenden for 50 years, was the largest single beneficiary of the evening and was presented with a cheque for just over £7,000. Karen Stafford, Director of Harpenden MENCAP was thrilled with the amount raised by Harpenden Circle.
"Thank-you so much for raising such a wonderful amount of money" she said. "One of the services we provide is respite care for young people aged 5-19 years old with learning disabilities. The money raised will help fund a new sensory garden area, a new mini-bus and the purchase of some local land to build new premises."
Receiving her cheque for £4,680 on behalf of CRY, was Katy Turberville, who lives in Harpenden. Katy courageously spoke about how her family sadly lost their daughter Hannah in February 2007 and the family found a support network in CRY for those bereaved from sudden cardiac death. Since 1995 CRY has made significant steps in facilitating research and conducting screening to help prevent sudden cardiac death in the young. An alarming 12 people under 35 are estimated to die in this country each week from sudden cardiac death.
"The money raised will go towards helping 12 more families benefit from the professional expertise of the CRY Centre for Cardiac Pathology at the Brompton Hospital. The centre is the first of its kind and facilitates vital ongoing research into the pathology of the condition, leading to a greater understanding and awareness of the causes of sudden cardiac death in the young. The centre plays a small but vital part in establishing the cause of a sudden death and so helping a family come to terms with their grief."
Nikki Lynes, representing St Albans Home-Start, received a cheque for just over £3,000. "A huge thank-you to everyone for raising such an amount of money." She said. "The money raised will help train three new volunteers to support local families. Children need a happy and secure home life, and since 2001 we have helped local families overcome challenges and provide support for as long as they need it."
Travelling all the way from Southend to receive a cheque for another £3,200 for her charity JDRF was Emma Penney. The money raised would fund 53 hours of research into a cure for Type 1 Diabetes.
The record-breaking amount of money raised by Harpenden Circle was the result of the hugely popular Christmas Gift and Craft Fair, held on the 28th & 29th November 2008 and visited by over 3,000 local residents. The event also benefited from local sponsorship and increased local publicity. The 2009 Christmas Gift & Craft Fair will be held on 20th and 21st November in the Public Halls, Harpenden.
Eastern Regional Lunch
Circling yesterday disco dancing in the snow! Well not literally dancing in the snow! But the weather didn't deter 11 of us from Harpenden heading off to Thame for the Eastern Regional Lunch!
So plenty of 'bling' on show, yes mine came out again - and you see a very lively bunch we made, more about that later! The room was full with around 140 members all together ready to have a good time.
The drive over was beautiful, blue skies and white views. We met people from other Circles across the east of England, some from Norwich had driven four hours to get there! We saw some of the girls from Letchworth, St Albans and Radlett too. Part of the organising committee was Elspeth Parkhouse who is Yvette's older sister and who was a great Harpenden circler until we lost her to Buckingham Circle when she moved a couple of years ago. The whole organising committee did a fantastic job 'entertaining us', especially as the only people who hadn't turned up because of the snow appeared to be the 'M.C' and the charity representative. One of them stepped in to be master of ceremonies and we were entertained with music and roaming magicians, who were 'amazing'. Jo and Yvette had some very clever tricks played on them, and we had some very funny 'taking wine with' (amusing items where any one person or group asks to 'take wine with' some other person/group for various and amusing reasons), including one for 'ERL virgins' and that was Yvette, well it was her first time at ERL, what were you thinking?
After a lovely three course meal with great views across the snowy fields we were treated to some live music with a 'mamma mia' medley' and then the very entertaining Michelle Taylor who was the National President of Circle last year, she is a great 'natural' speaker and we enjoyed hearing about her year as President and 'exploits' with Esther Rantzen (Childline was her charity as President last year). Then she had time to 'induct' a new member into Bicester Circle. We had an amazing long list of raffle prizes and I think Yvette was Harpenden's only winner! That raised over £800 for the current President's (Lynda Wieland) charity Retts Syndrome.
There were lots of opportunities to mingle and chat to people before we ended with a 'disco' - yes forget boring old speakers - we girls just wanted to dance, and it was quite a thing to behold 'ladies' in the their lovely dresses and high heels dancing to Amy Winehouse after consuming rather a bit of wine at four in the afternoon! I'm sure Hayley won't mind me sharing with you that she did a striptease on the dancefloor!!!! Well that long wool skirt was so hot!!! and she did have a rather nice black silk and lace underskirt on....so not too risque. Ending on a high with Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now' we had to end our 'escape' for the day. So I have to say, along with the ERL lunch which our Area 21 organised two years ago when Wendy Barber was area Chair, it was a favourite ERL. We did take lots of piccies, I don't know how to download them, but I'm sure my 10yr old does so we'll try to pass some on.
We left around 5.30 - yes that was just lunch! - but we left behind the 'ravers' Hayley, Karen, Ginny and Alison for a weekend escape....they were last seen deciding between the bar or the spa!!! Jo also made a weekend of it as we bumped into hubby David wondering where she was if it was just lunch! So a great time had by all! I don't know where next year's one will be, I think the wine had kicked in when they announced that, but do think about going next year and you don't have to have been a 'past' anything to come along!
School Disco Xmas Party
On behalf of all of Circle a huge thank you to RUSSELL and his band for a FANTASTIC, FANTASTIC, FANTASTIC night on Saturday! Best party ever - and look forward to seeing some of the many photos that were being taken!
In true fancy dress tradition.....there was a fair bit of flesh on display at times......and not from my very chaste girls either !!!!!! Boys were definately the corrupting element of the evening!
Girls Report - Impeccable (no I didn't see any smoking near the bike shed) Boys Report - few detentions for not wearing your uniform to regulation standard (well, just not wearing any uniform...in parts.....) Mstr Burrows and Mstr Grant should see Headmaster Rose for a suitable punishment, perhaps Master Wileman may lend his cane for this!
Thanks to everyone involved in organising the evening with Russell and Phillipa, and everyone who stayed to help clear up.
Palma Weekend Extravaganza
Although we spend a fair bit of time fundraising for local and national charities, it's not all work and no play! Ten Harpenden Circlers (including myself) recently spent an October weekend of Fun and Friendship in glorious sunshine.
Living in Harpenden means it's easier (and often cheaper) to hop on a plane from Luton Airport to a host of exciting destinations than it is to catch a train or bus to almost anywhere on our small island. We boarded the first flight of the day to our chosen destination Palma. We were delighted to arrive to warm sunshine, welcoming pavement cafes and bars, breathtaking sights (not to mention the transvestites in the local nightclubs), tapas to share, amazing sea views and of course numerous shops to tempt us. We spent an action packed weekend sightseeing, eating, drinking, dancing and generally having fun!
Safari Supper
Well done to the 'terrific trio' Kathy, Jude and Phil for organising such a great Safari Supper evening on Saturday 13th September.
A big thanks to all the hosts and cooks, I certainly had great food and and company at Lynne David's and then Rachel Esteki's. We did manage to be first home, just a couple of minutes ahead of the first people for the puds part and what a great party atmosphere, lots of fun and yes the house did survive the disco, even the cream rug! I've had a couple of requests for copies of some of the funny pictures/jokes around the walls, especially the ones in the downstairs loo! So will send those on. I'm still finding after eight wrappers in strange places.... and I have a selection of plates/dishes ready to be collected. It was a perfect club night, lots of food, lots of wine and great bunch of people!
Mini Olympics and Puds
What a fun evening we had on Tuesday (15th July) - thanks to Kathy, who did a wonderful job of hosting and organising a mini olympics games.
There were many highlights - including Maggie/Olivia's 3-legged team was quite a winner, all the intrepid trampolenists (is that a word?).....especially Sally's 'mini-olympic' routine, and the 'bouncers' who all deserved a medal for entertainment value especially queen of the space hopper Anita! However, I think one of the funniest highlights must surely be the 'welly throwing'. I think Phil and Nitu will secretly be practising for next year! Happily for me the blue team won and I have yet another piece of bling to add to my Circle collection.
Well done to everyone for taking part and having a good laugh, and thank-you to everyone who made a delicious pudding.
Ever increasing Circlers...
Congratulations to Harpenden Circle, who in July won a regional award for recruiting the most new members across 2007 - 2008. Harpenden Circle has grown from strength to strength over the last 12 months, recruiting 11 new members.
At the Annual regional dinner, held this year at Hitchin Priory, members of Ladies' Circle across Hertfordshire celebrated the successes of the past year, including raising over £15,000 for charity last year, and a re-launch for the St Albans Ladies Circle.