The week beginning 20th March at St. Joseph’s Primary School in Malvern, the Circle brothers and wives were asked if they would help with encouraging the students to think about their future careers through a series of talks or workshops. Calling on their own experiences and areas of expertise, several members went to the school to interact with the children. Topics covered included gardening, construction and journalism.
Pictured are former Science teacher Diane Walsh giving a demonstration and talk
about being a professional gardener, whilst husband Mike, a former Construction Company Director, chatted to the students about working in construction.
Later in the week, Anne and Michael Peden and Vince and Fiona Conway enacted a short play entitled ‘The Gift’ so that students could practise writing a newspaper article about the story which they had just witnessed. Fiona, a former BBC radio journalist and writer wrote the play and spoke to the students about how a good article should be written and what to include.
Sutton Coldfield’s November Circle’s meeting on November 14th turned out to be a double special celebration with two 50 year membership scrolls being presented instead of a planned one by Great Britain National President Brother Roger Lillie. At Streetly Circle’s meeting a week before a 50 year scroll was due to be presented to Brother Peter Dickens but unfortunately Brother Roger’s car broke down in Oxford on his way to Streetly’s venue at Lee Marston near Coleshill. However all was not lost with Brother Peter and his wife Vickie being invited to attend Sutton Coldfield’s Circle meeting at which Brother Mike Gaffney together with his twin sister Elizabeth was being presented with his 50 year scroll
The meeting and dinner which followed was an outstanding success with over 110 attending including brothers,wives and guests. It was an honour not only to have Brother Roger attending but also his wife Margaret together with Brother Provincial President Andrew Bodger , Brother Director John Minster and his wife Gill , Provincial Officers , Presidents and brothers from some 14 circles in the Province. Brother Roger gave a brief resume of Brother Mike and Peter’s achievements which included the various offices held within the respective circles and the contribution that they had given to the Association over the years. The Morgan Cup raised £325.17 for the Bursary Fund. It was also an opportunity for brothers from around the Province to meet together again after the end of the Covid 19 restrictions.
PICTURED ARE MEMBERS OF MALVERN CIRCLE HAVING A GREAT AFTERNOON WITH FOOD, DRINK AND MUSIC TO CELEBRATE THE QUEEN’S BIG DAY. WE WERE ACCOMPANIED BY PRIESTS FROM LOCAL PARISHES. THE EVENT WAS ORGANISED BY THE LADIES OF THE CIRCLE WHO CONTRIBUTED BY PROVIDING THE REFRESHMENTS, SHELTER IN THE FORM OF GAZEBOS AND MARQUEES AND THE GARDEN SPACE PROVIDED BY DIANE AND MIKE WALSH.
Brothers and wives of North Warwickshire met for the first Ladies Informal since March 2020, during the Circle President Bro Tony Taylor presented the Staff of The Butcher Social (was The Forest) with donation for the staff, after the meal, the circle had a muted Carol singing in line with the Government restrictions at the time. The Circle Brothers and wives toasted the Circle President and his wife for hosting the evening,
In order to keep us occupied during lockdown, we decided to hold a garden competition to see how Brothers and wives had improved their gardens during this time. Pictured is the award of a £25 garden centre voucher to the winner, last year’s President Jeremy Kearns, who, with his wife Geraldine, had made the biggest impression on their garden. On the right, making the award during our second post-lockdown ladies’ evening, is Vince Conway, Press and Publicity Officer for the Circle.
Pictured are some of Malvern Circle Brothers and wives enjoying our first post-lockdown ladies’ evening. The Circle decided to postpone the first formal meeting until later and instead to entertain our ladies to dinner at the meeting venue. We were required by the hotel management to observe social distancing throughout as you can see and wore our very attractive masks before and after dinner. We were expecting Brother Director John Minister to honour us on this special occasion but unfortunately the dreadful weather prevented this. Sadly we also observed a minute’s silence before the meal to remember two recently deceased and long-standing Brothers – Stan Williams and Paul Mitchell. RIP.