Hello and welcome to the March edition of the JCI Barnsley Banter! Most months in JCI will bring new experiences, but last month has been especially full of new experiences for myself and the membership as a whole. Since the last banter, the JCI Barnsley members have tried ballroom dancing at our latest Shine training event, archery at a social earlier in the month and a little bit of butchery when we visited our twins in Aberdeen, but more on that bit later. We have had members attend events at other local chambers, regional events, national events and also international scouting missions.

A group of us have just got back from a fantastic weekend with our twins JCI Aberdeen. Not only did we attend their flagship gala dinner, the Grampian Industrialist, but they also laid on a full weekend of entertainment and hospitality. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the entire events team up in Aberdeen who made the weekend so memorable for everyone who attended. If you couldn't make it this year, we'll be doing it all again next year, so hopefully you can join us then.


Trying my hand at Butchery whilst visiting The Store, Aberdeen

Very soon we're starting an Easter egg appeal for the Barnsley Hospital Charity, more details will be following shortly. Next time you're at the supermarket, if you could buy an Easter egg that can be given to a child who is in hospital over Easter that would be fantastic!

February saw Jenny and Peter attend the JCI UK marketing academy held in Birmingham. Both have written a blog about their experiences, with Jenny's included on this e-mail and Peter's is on our blog on the JCI Barnsley Website. Jenny has also written another blog post about her experiences of her first year as a member.

Our international Director Debbie has been out to Malta to scout where the JCI European Conference will be this year and the reports are all good! The official JCI UK hotel, The George, looks stunning and the venue as a whole looks top quality. If you're going, I'm sure you'll have a great time and if you're planning on going but haven't booked yet, then get booking as time and places are running out!

The theme for JCI Barnsley this year is ‘Challenge Yourself', and Ian's challenge to himself was to get out to regional events more. Well, he's now at most regional events and has attend events held in other chambers and is loving it. You can read more about his experiences further down this e-mail.

One of the five key principles for JCI is the community work our members are involved in. This isn't just through the events we arrange, but the time and effort that our members donate outside of JCI. Our Community Director Emma has written an article about the ACE programme, which is designed to recognise the excellent work our members do.

That's about it from myself at the moment, so I hope you all have a great month and I'll see you at an event soon!

Cheers,

Ben Hawley
2014 President, JCI Barnsley