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Well, the day started out like any other for me, getting ready to start the day, but this day would be different as I would be going to the JCI Barnsley Iron-a-thon!  Unfortunately no one agreed with me that maybe we should give XSTEAM ironing a go by hanging Gemma off the roof o fthe Gateway Plaza, which would have been amazing.  I was outvoted and we went ahead with the normal way we like to iron.

As I went up to the penthouse of the Gateway Plaza I had flashes of Die Hard running through my head and wondered if we would be attacked by Alan Rickman sporting his German accent then we could go all Die Hard Barnsley. Upon arrival the ironing had already started with Gemma ironing away and Charlie cracking the whip and making sure she ironed everything well!

I can sum up the day with this my amazing 2 good ideas, coffee which got me a gold star from Gemma and this was followed by swift trip to KFC to pick up some of the Colonel's secret formula and a fun time was had by all. Of course the 14 hours of ironing was a pretty mean feet too!

By Oli Hyde
All proceeds, £150.00, went to Nothing But Nets and international malaria charity.

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In 2012 JCI Barnsley's chosen charity is Help for Heroes, supporting the campaign by Matthew Thornton's family to raise funds after he was killed in Helmand.  His family are looking to raise £100,000 and JCI Barnsley want to do their part.    

In 2012 JCI Barnsley want to really get involved in their local community and as such we will be launching our Hidden Heroes Awards 2012!  We are proud to be from Barnsley and we think many others are too, so help us to celebrate the Hidden Heroes in our local community!

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Each year JCI Barnsley chooses one charity to support through donations and the giving of their time,  This year President, Kirstie Barnett, has choosen Help For Heroes as JCI Barnsley's charity in their Diamond Anniversary Year.

On the 9th November 2011 Private Matthew Thornton sadly lost his life in a conflict in Helmand. He was out on patrol at a checkpoint when he and his fellow compatriots were attacked and Private Thornton was caught in a road side IED explosion and unfortunately lost his life.

Private Thornton was a member of the 4th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment and just 28 years old when his life was cut short. On the day of his funeral in late November the streets of Darton in Barnsley were lined with hundreds of locals paying their respects.
Private Thornton's family have set out to raise £100,000 for Help for Heroes, the charity which provides practical support for our injured servicemen and women.

President Kirstie Barnett says about the charity "I know the local community can pull together to be able to look back this time next year and feel proud that we did our bit to support the Thorton family and Help for Heroes."

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Written by Ian Bragger

JCI members and the Barnsley community gathered at the Holiday Inn at Dodworth for a sell out chocolate tasting event with Melanie and Jim of Melanie's Cakes, Cudworth. The evening started with a hand out of different kinds of chocolate much to the delight of the crowd! Melanie and Jim then began the demonstration with tips first on preparation, before continuing with a step by step guide on how to make a selection of luxury hand made soft centres, truffles and chocolate boxes. Much to the relief of the crowd a cold enough fridge was found so that all the chocolate could set to once again be handed out for all to try! Throughout any questions were well answered to help those with baking skills to attempt to make their own.

A raffle then followed with a selection of wines for the runners up. Thanks to Melanie the winner was treated to one of the evenings products, a chocolate box filled with truffles and much more. The £84 proceeds from the raffle went to the Barnsley Independent Alzheimer's & Dementia Support and people in attendance also donated biscuit tins for their Christmas campaign. The evening finished with the opportunity for people to buy chocolate items from Melanie, including the kilogram chocolate Christmas Pudding which went down a treat!

A huge thank you to local business graduate Charlotte Pearson for taking the photographs on the night.

Raffle winner reaching 1st prize from Deputy President Kirstie Barnett, a Chocolate box and luxury chocolates hand made during the night. Donated by Melanie & Jim of Melanie's Cakes in Cudworth.

JCI Barnsley members, Gemma Fletcher, Debbie Tills, Kirstie Barnett and Vicky Savage presenting Pam from BIADS with the kind donations from the local community for the Christmas Care Appeal.

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Following our last fundraising event of 2011, we can confirm we have raised a fantastic £662 for Barnsley Independent Alhzeimers and Dementia Support. Thank you to everyone who has donated to this cause, JCI members from across the UK have participated at our many events.

It has been a great pleasure to support this fantastic cause during 2011 and we were very pleased to be able to present Pam from BIADS with the tins of chocolates and sweets for their Christmas Cares Appeal at the Chocolate Tasting night.

We wish BIADS great success with their continued campaign to raise funds to keep their vital community charity running for the future.

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Brilliant Chocolate Tasting event tonight. 65 chocoholics all in 1 room, raised £84 for BIADS taking this years total to £622. The official blog and photos to follow.

Thank you to everyone who donated a tin of sweets or biscuits for the BIADS christmas cares appeal too.

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We have been contacted by Barnsley Independent Alzheimer's & Dementia Support to help with their Christmas campaign to give gifts to the families who use their services. They would really like tins of biscuits or sweets and we have been given a target of collecting 50. It would be fantastic if you could support this campaign and donate a box of biscuits or sweets which we can pass onto BIADS.

If you are attending any of our events/council meetings between now and 5th December, please could you bring your donation gift with you and we will make sure it gets to BIADS.

Our next big event is on 23rd November, Chocolate Tasting Night at Holiday Inn Barnsley and it would be brilliant if people could start bringing their donation gifts to the event.

Why not pop along to drop off your gifts even if you can't make the chocolate tasing event, or drop us an email and we'll let you know where we are going to be between now and 5th December and I'm sure we can sort out a mutual meeting point. I work in Dodworth so am happy to meet anyone over lunchtime.

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Business Link Yorkshire held a Halloween inspired Friday day of fun and spookiness. Spider cakes were baked and sold, Nothing But Nets orange wristbands were sold and donations all given to JCI UK's charity for 2011. Several members of staff dressed up for the Halloween theme, spending the day carrying out their normal business apart from the fangs and broomsticks!

£50 was raised which is converted into $80 dollars so allowing Nothing But Nets to purchase 8 bed nets, potentially saving 8 different families.

JCI chambers across the UK have raised $10,000 this year, equalling 1000 bed nets purchased to reduce the spread of malaria.

http://www.nothingbutnets.net/

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The ladies on JCI Barnsley are doing it again!

After the success of JCI Barnsley's participation in last years event, the ladies of JCI Barnsley will be walking the walk as well as talking the talk at this years Barnsley Hospice Midnight Walk.

With 4 members already signed up, President Vicky Savage, Gemma Fletcher, Debbie Tills and Helen Soutter, we hope that everyone will be supporting them.

With last years aches and pains a distant memory the ladies are giving it another go and seeing if they can go the extra mile (or several given that this year they are walking 10!)

You can donate online at www.justgiving.com/jcibansley to get that warm fuzzy feeling of supporting Barnsley Hospice, or alterbatively because you know it will be really funny to watch the ladies trying to walk about come Monday morning!

Thanks everyone for their support!

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