Club Blog February 2015

At the beginning of the month we listened to a very interesting speaker from Carers Support Wiltshire. This charity is based locally and offers emotional support, one-to-one advice, useful information and breaks to anyone aged 16 or over who is giving unpaid care to a child or adult because of physical disability, learning difficulty, mental health condition, long-term illness, frailty, sensory loss, eating disorder or substance misuse problem. TWM has donated funds to this charity a number of times so it was very interesting to hear how the money is put to use.

On 7th February, our Young Chef Jessica Groves went to Bridgewater to compete in the District 1200 Young Chef final. She was up against very strong opposition, but her well executed 3 course menu tasted as delicious as it looked, giving her 1st place and the opportunity to do it all again in the Regional Finals at Minehead next month! Congratulations Jess, a brilliant achievement.

St Augustine's Catholic College hosted the Young Voice of Trowbridge on 12th February, a public speaking competition involving pupils from the 3 secondary schools in Trowbridge. TWM is part of the organising committee and one of the sponsoring organisations, this year presenting the Year 10 winning team from John of Gaunt with their trophies. The 3 questions for debate were:

"Why should young people have more involvement in developing green spaces in Trowbridge?"

"Why is the River Biss vital to the history, amenity and wildlife bio-diversity of Trowbridge?"

"Is Magna Carta relevant today?"

All the teams did their subject matter justice making it another tough competition to judge, but in the end John of Gaunt triumphed, winning both the Year 8 and Year 10 categories, with Clarendon Academy winning the Year 13.

Many of our activities seem to include food or drink, and our mid-Feb members organised evening was no exception! Mark invited club members to his home for a 'guess the grape & country' social, involving red, white & non-alcoholic wine plus nibbles. The scoring wasn't high, no sommeliers in sight, but a very enjoyable evening.

A BIG thank you to everyone who supported our annual Big Breakfast on Sunday 22nd February. Cereal, juice, Fair Trade tea/coffee, toast & marmalade/jam, 2 rashers bacon, sausage, free range egg, tomato, baked beans & mushrooms all for a minimum donation of 6, has raised over 500 towards the fight to eradicate polio worldwide. Hope to see you all again, same time, same place next year!