Thursday 14^th March finally saw the launch night of JCI Birmingham after 8 years of lying in sleep! The event was designed to help give people the necessary info they needed about just what Junior Chamber International is and can offer them as well as introducing our chosen charity for the year, Help Harry Help Others.

Guest speakers for the night were JCI UK National President Emma Eastwood, Barry Hall and Daniel Clark from BPP, our event sponsors and Georgie Moseley of Help Harry Help Others. Between myself as MC and Emma we covered off what JCI stands for and gave some perspective about what we have gained from our membership. Barry and Daniel talked about what BPP can offer and the fantastic Vanta Centre, designed for collaboration working.

Our final speaker was the inspirational Georgie, who was delivering her late son Harry's message. Harry dedicated his last few years to raising funds for cancer research by making and selling bracelets and inspiring school children to set up their own bracelet making businesses. Georgie spoke with such passion and delivered a heartfelt message of just what the charity is striving for and how JCI Birmingham members can help support their aims and work together.

After the talks we moved onto networking and a chance for everyone to buy their own Help Harry Help Others bracelet. The networking continued for well over an hour and by the end of the night I was a very happy President with 5 new membership forms in my hand! We'd gathered contact details for everyone in the room, spread the JCI word and had fun along the way, just JCI is all about.

I'm really looking forward to working with our new members over the coming months and watching them grow on their JCI journey.