What a day!

As many of you know, my biggest dream is it to have tea with the Queen one day!

So, I thought it would be a good idea to write to the Lord Lieutenant, who's the representative of the Royal family in Yorkshire and ask him if there is a chance of royal visit to recognise JCI Sheffield's 85^th anniversary.

His reply: ' Sandra the chances of that are very slim, however the HRH the Duke of York is coming to Sheffield next week and you and a colleague can meet him?'

Errmm, ok not the Queen but her son, so I did happily accept the invitation!

Then the question was: Would my deputy president Dan Senter make it back in time to meet the Duke of York, after completing a marathon in aid of Nothing but Nets (http://www.crowdrise.com/jciunitedkingdom/fundraiser/jcisheffield) ? Team Senter confirmed that they will be back in time, so we were good to go.

The big day came and I was getting slightly nervous when I received a message from Dan, telling me that they are trapped in a monkey house at Edinburgh zoo, as some wild pigs escaped. And this is a true story!

A last minute decision to lose my suit jacket because of the glorious weather left me feeling a little bit under dressed whilst walking to the venue. However a friendly lady, who turned out to be the wife of the Lord Lieutenant told me: 'Sandra, you'll be fine! Nobody cares'. If she says so...

At the venue, I was greeted by the JCI Barnsley delegation, who turned out en mass as they were nominated to receive an award from the duke for their 60^th anniversary.

Anxiously waiting for Dan to arrive from Edinburgh, we and some other 60 guests enjoyed coffee and tea and scrumptious cakes.

Dan made it just in time to meet the Duke, who asked us which organisation members join once they age out. Obviously, well prepared and rehearsed (not!), we all replied that members continue to support younger members to ensure a legacy progression of JCI.

The who's who of South Yorkshire attended the event and Dan and I had the pleasure of meeting Chris Rea from Aesseal, a local manufacturing hero, who agreed to host a business event for JCI Sheffield. Hugh Facey , MD of Gripple and past JCI National President, entertained us by telling the story of him and his JCI colleagues, presenting a mock bid at the JCI World Conference in Berlin to host a JCI  Word Conference in the Dearne Valley... Times and membership numbers might have changed, but the stories seem to be strangely familiar with our recent experiences at international conferences!

Royal visit over and done with, it was time to pick up my son from nursery. I got there a minute before closing time and then it was time to:

A)     Go home and cook dinner for the kids

B)     Attend a JCI Sheffield meeting

Yes, you guessed correctly: It was time to attend the JCI Sheffield kick off meeting for the Flag project (http://www.jcisheffield.org.uk/get-involved/community/the-flag-project/).

My 2012 motto is 'Impact of One', which for me means that EVERY member of JCI can make a positive impact on our communities and the aim of this project is, not just that, but also to engage as many members as possible. I can't tell you how excited I was, when I saw a group of previously unengaged members, taking on responsibilities to make this project happen.

 Perfect ending to an almost perfect day - they did eventually capture the wild pigs!

Sandra Pilarczyk

JCI Sheffield President 2012