Tag Archives: Rotaract

From the Archive: 17 October 2005

  By Emma | June 9, 2012 - 2:00 pm | ,
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**Excerpts from my old diaries** I went to Zagreb, Croatia for the first time this month and was quite surprised at what I saw .. It’s a strange place. It’s as modern (and feels like) the rest of Europe, but somehow also feels a little .. bleak. I apologise to any Croatians reading this as I am sure you would think the UK a weird place, but I am telling it like I found it. The graffiti on all of the buildings there is amazing – not good, just lots of it all over the place. I also had a few issues with a few of the locals – I don’t think they had ever seen an overweight English person before so enjoyed taking pictures of me .. in the background whilst pretending to take pictures of other things! We went up in a (very small) plane on the last day to fly over the town – it was really good .. even if the door didn’t lock properly ..! (EDIT: I still remember the embarrassment and shame I felt when I realised what they were doing when they were taking the pictures.  Thank goodness for a lovely French girl and my … I need to read more … →

From the Archive: 13 November 2005

  By Emma | May 26, 2012 - 2:00 pm | ,
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**An excerpt from my old diaries** Wow .. what a filled weekend I have had!! Friday night I dashed home to get changed and grab some money so I could head off into London to meet Geoff and fellow agents to find some birthdays from random people throughout the Underground Network! I was most apprehensive about actually meeting up with them .. not only was I soaked due to the poor weather and poor planning, but I was meeting 9 complete strangers in London .. but I needn’t have worried – they were all really lovely. Kate and I bonded due to the fact that we were the only girls there .. we did notice that throughout the journey we seemed to only attack groups of 3 or more young lady’s .. we did try to steer them in another direction but funnily enough our cries kinda got lost in all the shouts of “Does anyone have a birthday in **** or ****?!”. Others present on the never-ending hunt were Paul, Chris, Neil, Anthony, Chris (Agent Essex) and of course the 2 main men themselves, Geoff and Pete. We had great fun in a pub in Holborn putting stickers everywhere (including the … I need to read more … →

Tuesday 10 – Songs representing the “Soundtrack to your Life”

  By Emma | May 22, 2012 - 6:00 pm | ,
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To spice up the blog a bit, I have been looking at various websites and blogs to get some ideas and one of them is Tuesday 10 run by Lena of ‘Mom 2 Memphis and Ruby‘.  The premis is simple, every week there is a different prompt and you are encouraged to share your ‘Top 10′ with the prompt in mind.  I love this idea – it gets me thinking and sharing and gives you the chance to see a bit more about me .. and possibly laugh at me too! So to this weeks prompt .. Songs representing the “Soundtrack to your Life” 1. First and foremost, I have to be patriotic.  I am VERY proud to be British (and English) and I don’t care who knows (or has a problem with it).  My first choice therefore is the National Anthem of Great Britain and Ireland.  Yes, it is a little outdated and ‘boring’, but I cannot sing it without a lump in my throat. 2. The first cassette tape (yes I am that old!) I remember having, and playing the death out of, was Kylie Minogue’s first album “Kylie”.  With classics such as “Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi”, “I … I need to read more … →

From the Archive: 24th January 2006

  By Emma | May 19, 2012 - 9:52 pm | ,
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I thought I would start posting some old diary entries here for a few reasons.  One would be that I will then have everything in the same place (which is always good), but also because so many diary entries cover bucket list items done in the past so that kills other birds with one stone! **I will try to post them as they were written but, as I am sure you will understand, there might be parts I would prefer to keep private for one reason or another!  I have however, included updates where necessary and tidied up some of the ‘interesting’ spelling and grammar!!** Tuesday 24th January 2006 I do it every year .. and sometimes in between; promise myself that I shall keep a journal of some sort religiously… and needless to say, I never do .. as can be seen from this appalling attempt to keep a blog. What can I say other than DOH and Sorry! I’m not actually sure anyone reads this thing anyway – if you do .. please post a comment so I know you exist! A lot has happened in the past couple of months. The decision has been made to buy a house … I need to read more … →

Coming Up …

  By Emma | May 12, 2012 - 8:33 pm | ,
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I have seen on a couple other blogs that I follow that they have been listing what they are planning for the rest of 2012.  I thought I would jump on the bandwagon and see if I can make myself a little more excited for the rest of the year! May 15th – “Mirror Mirror” with my friend Keith (hopefully – he’s been ill lately so hope he will be feeling well enough to make it). May 16th – Fundraising Quiz for CLIC Sargent at my local pub. May 17th – Chinese with an old, fantastic friend who is moving out of the area May 27th – Sirius Lions social event (TBC). June 1st – Blood Donation (3rd). June 2nd – Fleet Carnival (we have a float and are dressing up – eek!). June 5th – Fleet Lions Jubilee Concert. June 23rd – 29th – Working in Amsterdam (hopefully with some time to explore!) July 5th – Love Online: The Musical July 6th – 8th – Possible weekend in London to visit friends. July 11th – Hit Factory Live! (OMG, I cannot wait!) July 14th – Laura & Mike’s joint Birthday Do August 24th – 27th – Rotaract Banbury Camping … I need to read more … →

Look what I found …

  By Emma | December 1, 2011 - 7:00 pm | ,
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One of the things on my Bucket List is to learn to sail competantly.  This idea came to me when I was given the chance to go on a team building experience for free acting as a guinea pig.  There were 6 of us from Rotaract asked to go; 3 girls and 3 boys.  I had an amazing time, learnt a lot and found out that I have a natural talent for sailing .. or so Andy Forbes told me .. and he should know .. he won the Global Challenge in 2005! Whilst sorting out some pictures, I thought I would Google Andy and see what he has been up to since we met .. and came across an advertising video for the company that we did the training with .. and the group in the video is us!  I knew they had done some filming but had never seen it!  It has given me a real giggle to see it and a renewed desire to get back out on the water! Here is the link to the video:  Sailing Team Building – Performance Excellence Promo

December? Already?

  By Emma | November 30, 2011 - 4:43 pm | , ,
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OK so November seems to have whizzed by .. I have been amazingly busy and haven’t blogged at all .. which is terrible really!  I thought I would do a catch-up post to fill you in on everything that has happened in the month .. it may end up being a long one, so please bear with me! New Lions Club – After Rotaract, I went into Rotary, and although it is an amazing organisations and does wonderful things that I have been very proud to be a part of, I found that I wasn’t getting involved with things as much as I had done previously and felt that a break was in order.  I went on a leave of absence and since then, have been getting involved in a new Lions Club that is being setup in my town.  The new club is aimed at young professionals which gives me the chance to meet some new friends.  It dawned on me recently that the only people I know in Fleet are the people I work with and a couple fo friends that already lived here long before I moved here.  In the couple of months since getting involved with Sirius … I need to read more … →

RGBI Exec

  By Emma | September 20, 2011 - 4:58 pm | ,
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I have been lucky enough to serve on the RGBI Executive Committee for 2 years; once as International Representative and once as Vice Chairman. International Representative (2005/6): This was a wonderful opportunity and a job that I really enjoyed.  I had to represent RGBI in Europe by attending regular ERIC (European Rotaract Information Centre) meetings, encourage Clubs in RGBI to interact with other clubs throughout the world and help Rotaractors from other countries find clubs in this country when visiting.  I only got chance to go to one meeting during the year, but Zagreb was somewhere that I really enjoyed! Vice Chairman (2007/8): My time as Vice Chairman was enjoyable, but hard work.  It made me realise that I didn’t have the time to fully commit to being Chairman the following year and so I resigned in order to give my replacement a few extra months time to get used to the idea.  I still had a great time and feel privileged to have been given the chance to serve.

Speech in Public

  By Emma | August 24, 2011 - 9:25 pm | ,
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This is something that most people dread.  I do not, in fact I actually really love giving speeches and presentations .. the more people the better!  A lot of people ask me if I get nervous. Of course I do, I just have a way of dealing with that in my head and forgetting about the people in front of me.  I also find that if you know your subject well and are passionate about it (as I tend to be about Rotaract and Kickers 4 Africa) then that takes over once you get going! My top tip – Make sure you have the beginning written down long hand, that way if you get onto stage and freeze, you know you have something to read to remind yourself.  Once you have read the first couple of paragraphs, you will realise you are not even looking at the sheet any more! Throughout my time in Rotaract, I was called upon to give many speeches; some to clubs with a mere 50 people present and some to bigger groups. When I held the position of Vice National Chairman in 2007-2008, I was invited to speak at the Inner Wheel National Conference in Blackpool. I … I need to read more … →

Be Elected

  By Emma | August 9, 2011 - 6:51 pm |
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From 2004 – 2008 I was a very active member of Rotaract in High Wycombe, District 1090 and Great Britain and Ireland. I held several positions, including Club President, District Chairman and Vice National Chairman and was very proud to be voted into each position. Rotaract is an amazing organisation and being a part of it has changed my life; I would encourage any 18-30 year old reading this to seek out their local club and go along to the next event!  I have moved on into Rotary now, and will always be forever grateful for my time, experiences and friends from my days in Rotaract. The first position that really mattered to me was being voted in as High Wycombe Club President in 2005; the picture below is of me wearing the chain of office with the President of our Sponsoring Rotary Club, High Wycombe.