The At Home to Province will be held on Monday 18 September at City of Lichfield Circle.
The At Home to Province is a normal Circle meeting but one where we come together as a Province to socialise and generally catch up with our friends from around the Province. For those who have not visited before, City of Lichfield Circle meet at The George Hotel Lichfield where there is a large car park close to the hotel.
The meeting starts at 7.30 and the cost for the buffet dinner is £19.50. To book your place contact David O’Hagan on: david_ohagan@btinternet.com
President John Shuck would love to welcome as many visitors from around the Province as possible.
I have been on the Membership Work group on National Council now for just over a year. The main objective of the MWG is to slow down the level of membership decline across the association as it has been running at around 5% since the start of the pandemic. I am pleased to report that from the latest membership stats the decline in numbers in our Province is just 1.1% which is the lowest across all the Provinces in GB.
Although this is still a decline, I am confident if all Circles have a plan to retain and increase membership we will stop the decline altogether and start to increase our numbers. We heard some good news from some of the Circles at the last Membership Update meeting in February and I want to thank all the MO’s for working hard to put their Circle plans in place and regularly review them.
Ensuring every Circle has a plan is key to our success so for that reason I will be holding another meeting on Saturday 14 October at the new head office in Coventry. Gill & Lorraine have once again very kindly agreed to open up the office and host our meeting. The move to the new HO will have taken place just 2 weeks before so we will be the firstgroup to have a meeting there so hopefully with the notice you can all come along and see the new office! The main thing we will be focusing on is Circle plans and strategy so if you are unable to make it, it is imperative that someone from your Circle will be present. Every Circle will need to come armed with their plan for membership, it doesn’t matter if it has just started or like some Circles it has been in place for over 3 years, it is the opportunity to support each other, review existing plans and find out what is working well in the Circles that are regularly attracting visiting gentlemen. The objective is for us all to go away in a very positive frame of mind with plans that will help every Circle. It is so important that we support each other because that way we become a much tighter close-knit Province with membership at the fore-front of everything we do!
So please put 14 October 2023 in your diaries and let’s look forward to a very positive meeting again.
Following a very successful Membership Update meeting on 18 February at Head Office Coventry, we all agreed that we would like a follow up to keep the impetus going.
Gill and Lorraine have kindly offered to open up the office again on Saturday 1st July 2023 and once again provide refreshments throughout the day.
Please put this date in your diary, if you are unable to make this date please ensure your Circle is represented by another member. The main subject for discussion with be Circle membership plans for recruitment and retention.
The 37th Public Speaking Competition for Province 6 was held at Newman University on Thursday 23 March 2023. Congratulations to Laura Brine of Hagley Catholic High School for taking first place with her inspirational talk on “The impact of climate change is the biggest world challenge today”. In second place was Imogen Kielstra and third was Tishauny Hamilton. The standard of speaking was exceptional and it was a very entertaining evening for all that attended.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank Newman University for hosting the event once more, the facilities at the university are excellent for this type of event and the marketing team led by Josie Frater could not have been more helpful. I would also like to thank the 3 adjudicators, Professor Richard Medcalf, David Handy and Mrs Angela Clancy, it wasn’t an easy task to decide on the winner. Huge thanks also must go to Henry Whitney from Leamington Spa Circle for his excellent work as MC for the evening. I would also like to thank Jeremy Turner – President of Kenilworth Circle for orgainsing the event on behalf of the Province.
Laura will go on to represent Province 6 in the National Competition in Manchester on 10th September. It would be lovely to give Laura some rousing support in the final.
David Prescott
PS Thanks to Peter Harrington for taking the photos and his superb support and advice in the organising of the competition.
Wolverhampton Circle 56 March meeting at 7.00 pm on Wednesday March 1st is a Ladies’ Informal at our new venue, the South Staffs Golf Club. Dinner will be followed by cabaret starring the ‘Gentlemen Songsters’ male voice choir to entertain us on St David’s Day, all for £25! The venue has a great ambience, we can guarantee that the ladies will be warm, and having just had our first meeting there we can also confirm the food will be excellent. Numbers are limited, please book early to avoid disappointment. Email Bro Bob Churn at ‘bands.churn91@gmail.com’
