The other news for this month will be the club voting in our new committee members for the 2012/13 Rotaract year.  At time of writing this we are only a few days away from holding the meeting that will decide the fate of those lucky members who get to take the reins of the club and drive us forward for another year, I will post the roles and who will hold them in next month’s bulletin.

Our vice president, Mike Ziedins, and our mascot, Lumpy, travelled to Turin, Italy, for the Rotaract European Conference, along with other members from other Rotaract clubs around Europe.  I hear it was a very successful event where ideas were exchanged between the various clubs and new friends have been made.  The latter half of the trip saw a downpour of snow, making the snow we had here in England look paltry in comparison.  Mike and Lumpy even had to stay an extra day because their plane was snowed in.  They are now back safe and sound with plenty of good memories and lots of new Facebook friends!

In March, we will be attending Deborah Broadhurst’s Salsa Evening to help raise money for her cycle ride from London to Paris in aid of the NSPCC.  As most are aware (if you aren’t, where have you been?), we in Rotaract like to have a good dance and I for one will be interested in the Salsa dancing as I have never tried it before.  The other notable event in March will be our annual attendance at the first drinks station for the Fleet half marathon.  Members who have been with us more than a year will recall the fun we all have holding out the plastic cups of water for the runners as they race past while trying not to get too wet!

Finally for this bulletin, the club would like to thank Camberley Rotary for the very kind donation of £200 in recognition of our help with the collections over Christmas.  This is a very nice gesture and will go towards a healthy looking total for our chosen charity, Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice.

It all started with an invitation from Woking Rotaract to help assist Horsell Common Preservation Society with a community project helping clear out scots pine and silver birch from the Heath land.  This was enjoyed by all who attended. So much so, we are now looking to find a similar project in the local area, possibly on Yateley Common.  A few days later, we invited Surrey Search and Rescue (SURSAR) to give a presentation on what they do and how we can help them.  It was a very interesting talk that opened our eyes to what it takes to run a charity like SURSAR.  As a club we will be discussing how best we can help them in an upcoming meeting.

As we are Rotaract, it isn’t all about how we can help the community, it is also about how we can help and better ourselves, so this month we also scheduled professional development, international and social events.   For the professional development event, we went to the Intech Science centre and planetarium in Winchester for a day, learning about the solar system and other interesting subjects.  The international event was an old Rotaract favourite, celebrating the Chinese New Year by going to an all you can eat Chinese meal.  To round off this full Rotaract month, our social event involved all three clubs in the district meeting up in Guildford.  It had an excellent turn out and those members that have been around a while got reacquainted, while the newer members got to meet all those names that they couldn’t put a face too before.

Highlights for February so far are a Brewery tour, a trip to the theatre and a night of comedy in London.

Planning began for the barn dance back in July with the venue and the band being booked. There was lots to do over the next 4 months and it was great to see everyone pulling together as a team to make the night a success and you appreciate that being a member of Camberley Rotaract has brought us all together to accomplish so much.

At 125 guests and approx £1200 in profit made, I am told that this years barn dance is probably the biggest or close to the biggest in its history. As a result, our charitable account is looking very healthy and I’m sure Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice as our chosen charity for the year, is grateful for the hard work we are putting in for them. I should say a final thanks to everyone who helped make it as successful as it was and a special thanks to Jenny Lee who was the main organiser and driving force behind the event.

The other event for the month was of course Halloween.  A group of fancy dress rotaractors went into London on the Halloween weekend Saturday night dressed as characters from the Rocky Horror Picture show as they were going to the see the sing along version of the movie.  The following evening, a trip to Mottisfont House to watch the 1931 version of Dracula in the basement was attended by the same group all dressed up as vampires this time.  I hear that the National Trust were so impressed, that a picture taken of them will go on their website! More publicity for the club which is excellent!

As it is already half way through November when I write this, I can say that we have already had a meeting, a pub night and pudding, wine and cheese party.  The puddings were all lovely and a few rotaractors attempted to try a bit of everything.  To take us to the end of November, we have a quiz in aid of Katcando, a local charity we have helped before, a pool night, a girls night out and a trip to the cinema.  Lastly, we have a district bowling evening on the 5^th Wednesday of the month involving all three Rotaract clubs in the 1140 district, we will do Camberley proud!

That’s all for now, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It wasn’t all community though and Rotaract does know how to have fun.  A day trip to Thorpe park on a Friday in the glorious sunshine was really good fun and I can confirm that going from 0 to 80 mph in 2.5 seconds is very adrenaline pumping!  Other social events in September consisted of an enjoyable house warming, a weather defying BBQ, two pub evenings and part 4 of the Brenda Parker Walkway. The Brenda Parker walkway is a 78 mile walk through the Hampshire countryside, which we have been attempting to walk the entire length in 6 stages and we have almost completed it.  As I write this, we have just finished part 5 and part 6 is approaching fast.  A big thanks to Rachel Kulsdom for organising this as I know it has been a logistical nightmare and she has done a great job.

I would like thank Rotary for inviting us to a meeting on the 27^th where Michael Gove was the special guest speaker.  I and my fellow rotaractors found what he had to say very interesting and it is easy to see why he is one of the top politicians in the country.

Over October we will be attending the Langley and Iver Rotaract Quingo evening which is a cross between a quiz and bingo, come on Camberley!  Over the Halloween weekend, trips to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show and the classic 1931 Dracula movie in the spooky cellar of Mottisfont House will have happened and I can’t wait to see pictures of the fancy dress costumes!  Lastly, the Camberley Rotaract annual Barn Dance will have happened and I am sure we all had a great time and raised lots of money for Phyllis Tuckwell.