President's message - November

President's message - November

Posted By admin |16 Nov 2011
President's message - November

Dear JCI UK Members, Senators and Friends.

So much has happened since I last wrote to you that I almost don't know where to start. This month I have

  • Travelled 1,617 miles
  • Attended and spoke at JCI Sheffield's annual dinner
  • Attended and gave a friendship speech at Irelands convention dinner
  • Attended and spoke at JCI Yorkshire Regional Awards dinner - had the honour of presenting Andy Morton with a Senatorship, and was awarded Most outstanding Leader in the region
  • Attended and Spoke at JCI Leed's annual dinner - presented a Senatorship to Mark Warner, and had the pleasure of meeting the Lord Mayor of Leeds, who lives about 5 minutes from my house in Boston - it's such a small world.
  • Went on the Eurostar for the first time in my life and headed off to World Congress in Brussels

I think I'll start backwards.....

World Congress

You may have noticed that the JCI UK Newsletter is coming out a week later than normal, this is because we were busy having an amazing time at the JCI World Congress in Brussels during the first week of the month, and so we are just returning back to normal...... There were 52 UK members that headed over to Belgium for the week of fantasticness, and I know that I am biased, but I definitely think that JCI UK was the best delegation there!

Now I have to be honest and say I did not enjoy walking across the stage during the opening ceremony in Tarragon as much as maybe I should have, however, walking out this time round was totally different. It was an amazing feeling that I really can't put into words. The Union Jacks were waving high, and the cheering was fantastic - thank you so much, I only have to slightly think about it and I get the biggest smile on my face.

The week was full of recognition, JCI UK achieved the 100% efficiency award during one of the Morning Shows, only 10 out of the 112 JCI countries in the world achieved this, so you can imagine how happy I am about this one. Also JCI UK was recognised for the funds raised for JCI Nothing But Nets during the count down to congress. (The target is one net per member between 1 September and the start of Congress)

JCI UK also took part in the global village party, where the Gin and Tonic was a massive success, as were the Christmas Crackers!! And our very own Tim-the DJ-Metcalf took to the decks to bring some English 80's party to the Night!

We saw the JCI UK Debating team consisting of Jen Little (JCI Cambridge) Sandra Pilarcyzk (JCI Sheffield) and Anil Champaneri (JCI Leeds) get to the Semi finals - well done guys, JCI Sheffield has a very productive meeting with Arerey Obenson and Pedro Zaraza from JCI WHQ about the JCI Sheffield - there's an app for that project, and Lesley Young was elected as the UN Ambassador for Europe in 2012, congratulations to her.

This really is only brushing the surface of what went on during the week, but the last thing to mention was the outstanding effort made by JCI UK members to sell the JCI UK Wrist bands on behalf of JCI Nothing But Nets. Before we left for the Gala dinner we had sold €705 of wrist bands, which was fantastic, but we decided to have one last push at the Gala dinner, and I could not believe it when I was counting the money up with our friends from the Netherlands  on the Sunday morning, JCI UK raised just under €1,050 on the last night. All of this money will be doubled via the Cordaid connection and our friends from JCI The Netherlands, so a massive well done to everyone who took part. It was great fun, and really exciting.

Annual Dinner season

October has been JCI dinner season, starting with JCI Sheffield's annual dinner at the beginning of the month, there was a massive number of people in the room there to celebrate the success of the chamber and it was clear that Kate Senter was so well respected for the phenomenal work that she has done this year. A massive well done to the whole team in Sheffield you've been amazing.

It was an early start to catch my flight over to a very rainy but very warm welcoming Galway for the Irish Convention annual dinner, where Suzanne Shinnie (JCI Scotland's National President) and I gave a friendship speech in keeping with tradition about Louise Walsh (JCI Irelands National President) It was also the 50 year anniversary of JCI Galway and the founding member of the local organisation was among the numerous past local presidents who attended the dinner. After dinner I took to the dance floor with members of the JCI UK - British Senate, a fantastic atmosphere, and a great night was had by all.

The next dinner date was JCI Yorkshire regional awards dinner hosted by JCI Boston, which had a 'in the country' theme to it. It was great to be able to welcome people to our little market town, Tracy Anderson and her team did a great job, and the night was a massive success. With JCI Sheffield collecting a good proportion of the awards up for grabs, but I was really pleased to see that JCI Boston picked up 5 awards during the night too. Well done to everyone who was recognised for their achievements during the year. After the awards ceremony people took to the dance floor, but the best dancer without a doubt was the scarecrow, who was a big hit with the ladies.....and Anil Champaneri!!

It was fantastic to be able to present  Andy Morton with a much deserved Senatorship during the Awards dinner. It was welcomed by a standing ovation, and a totally gobsmacked Andy - Brilliant.

Over the weekend, a Discover JCI session was run which saw potential and existing members attend from Boston all the way down to Southampton (Drew Charman, it was fantastic seeing you here in Boston, thank you). Also the new and improved Local Leaders weekend was revealed and run by Dan Lally and Emma Eastwood, and I got the chance to give a little training session myself - I totally loved it!!!

Then back up north to the Civic Hall for JCI Leed's dinner. The room was full, in fact the dinner had sold out which is phenomenal. The venue was truly beautiful, the food was fantastic, and JCI Leed's and Anil as always were on top form. Anil took the opportunity to present some awards to his team members for what they have achieved during the course of the year, as it really was great to be a part of it. It was also lovely to be able to present a Senatorshi to Mark Warner a JCI Leeds member during the evening, another award that was very well received. Finally I got to meet the Lord Mayor of Leeds, but more excitingly he lives about 5 minutes from my house in Boston - how weird (yet brilliant) is that!

Portraits » A-Cowell-JCI-UK.jpgSo that in a nut shell was my October (and start of November) what did you get up to? Did you go to the Fashion Bites Back show, did you go to the JCI Know How Transfer at the European Parliament in Brussels, did you take part in any of the public speaking or debating training or competitions that have been held around the UK, or maybe it was a training session or a networking session. There has been so much activity around the UK during October, JCI UK really are being active and are engaged members. Well done everyone - I hope you are having as much fun as I am.

Cheers

Alli

JCI UK National President
Email: allison.cowell@jciuk.org.uk

Senator # 70323