Chair Preamble...

Meet People! Make Friends! Have Fun! Spring is here, if the blue skies, sunny weather and threats of snow are anything to go by. ;-) That must be why we have been coming out of hibernation and feeding ourselves up... some of those who braved the dark (Dans le Noir) eating experience are still to be convinced of what they were eating... there definitely was stuffing on that plate! And Brasserie Blanc was a delight to the tastebuds.

And all that training (or non-training) for the runners paid off... March 2 was a lovely day for a run and we clocked some pretty impressive half marathon times... Adrian (first timer) 1hr 46'12; Andrew 1hr 58'17; Janet (first timer) 2hrs 14'35 and yours truly 2hrs 22'53.

Training in earnest now for running the Flitwick 10K in less than 60min... don't let this put you off Tuesday and Thursday nights if you want to give it a go, we run to help everyone achieve.

Having said that, I'm not sure what the verdict will be at the Foot Reading on March 14 ;-) What do your feet say about you?

MKIVC are part of a UK wide club, known as AIVC. It is their AGM the weekend of April 12/13. Abby and I are representing the club. It is a standard AGM, plus some workshops on areas of interest, e.g. Disability discrimination, Publicity, Information Technology, and Counteracting Apathy (not an issue we have here! ) It's a useful opportunity to meet members from other clubs and exchange ideas. You will see emails coming through which advertise events by other clubs. Andrew is the main contact point for inquiring about these and finding out if there are many people wishing to attend. And I think it would be nice to open up some of our events to other clubs.

April has the usual mix of events … food, drink and (pleasurable) exercise related. We are looking to book a tale at the 'Hope for Hollie' Casino Royale Charity Ball on April 5. It is expensive but for a good cause, and an opportunity to see the ballroom at Stadium:MK.

We have dates for the quarterly events … book them in your diary NOW!

Summer Happening (ten years of MKIVC) – Saturday August 2nd

Rocky Horror Halloween Party - Friday October 31st

Christmas Party – Saturday December 20th

It's also the start of BBQ season... don't forget March 22!

See you soon,
Gilly

Chair Preamble ....

Meet People! Make Friends! Have Fun! HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! Welcome Year of the Rat

I'm not sure we can squeeze another New Year celebration in next month but if anyone knows of any, we can but try! ;-)

It is great to see so many people at events, especially our prospectives. Fortunately the local pubs have been very patient with our re-arranging of furniture and the restaurants accomodating of numbers ... though I am not sure if Brassiere Blanc has realised we are two bookings ;-) Loch Fyne was great and I think we are also looking forward to the Dans le Noir experience. Will it change your attitude to the taste and texture of food?

A couple of homes have been featured this month, Kevin W has been welcomed into his new house and staged a fabulous firework display. Aileen and Luke provided plenty of Shrove Tuesday pancakes (fortunately for those of who had been running and were particularly hungry ;-) ) and the March Diary was quickly filled. You will see there are a number of future events advertised in this month's bulletin. We provide advance notice of events so you can get things such as camping weekends into your diaries and make any advance bookings as necessary. If you have anything you want to advertise in advance, e.g. birthday bash, special event, etc. then please let Vibeke know - we are maintaining a full year calendar so they can be included at anytime.

March has the usual pub nights, food related events and plenty of music & entertainment activities. Let's celebrate Easter with a barbie! We are aware several members have children so are making this one of our first child-friendly events. Whilst we know it can be relaxing to have time away from them, it is sometimes difficult to keep getting babysitters. Child friendly events are a way of helping to avoid babysitting hassles and still see friends. If you are interested in hosting a child-friendly event, again, let Vibeke know or post it through the web- site form.

But for now, I hope you had a hearts and roses Valentine's day: it is great to see so many new members being welcomed into the club, and don't forget to put the Pub Nights that are Club Night (March 4) and New Members Night (March 19) into your diaries.

See you soon, Gilly