Well here I am again reflecting on month 2 of my presidential year and so much has already happened! If I thought January was busy, February has been a whirlwind but there is nothing more exciting than channelling passion and enthusiasm into JCI Barnsley. Our council meetings are growing in size each week, not only on the agenda but around the table with members and potential members coming to learn about us. We are also receiving very positive feedback from patrons and businesses who are following us on Twitter and LinkedIn so that is making me very happy and spurs me on.

I am also delighted and proud of the enthusiasm and involvement that our new members are having. Charlie Pearson is leading this year's Community project, Barnsley's Hidden Heroes and Oli Hyde is putting together videos of various events throughout the year to add to our website, and to act as more tools to help publicise just what JCI is.

Ian Bragger has also agreed to take on the role of Finance Director after only 5 months as a JCI member (He is an accountant after all!!). He is taking over the reins from Debbie Tills who has done an outstanding job of looking after the finances for the past 3 years and I want to say a huge thank you from all at JCI Barnsley to Debbie and a warm welcome to Ian joining us on the council team. I hope this demonstrates to those of you reading this Banter just what JCI can offer to help you develop your skills and experience.

This month the team have been building relationships with the local media, businesses and Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber of Commerce. We have also been conducting an assault on the people of Barnsley via Twitter & Facebook!! I defy anyone between the ages of 20 and 40 to say they have not heard of us by December 2012. Join us on Twitter or our new fan page on Facebook to see just what we are up to.

Looking to the month ahead, the focus of March will be on 2 aspects; membership & training. We have 3 potential members ready to sign up so I look forward to announcing their arrival in next month's Banter and also a new Patron! March is an important month also as our personal development calendar kicks off. We have had 30 people reserve their place already for our Personal Development launch on March 15th. This was further publicised by Barnsley Chronicle featured a piece about our launch night and events programme as well as mentioning our great membership increase so far this year in their edition on 24th February. If you haven't reserved your place, Don't miss out, get on our Eventbrite page and reserve now, IT'S FREE!!

Roll on March, it's going to be a corker!!