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At the Bentley Golf Course on Monday 11th March, Brentwood a Becket celebrated its 44th Charter Night. We had a splendid three course meal enjoyed by 82 visitors and guests, and as usual the Bentley surpassed itself with fantastic food and wonderful service. We welcomed various special guests amongst whom was Mark Smith - our speaker, who is the military expert on the "Antiques Roadshow". He gave us an excellent talk all about his life, especially leading up to his career on many TV programmes including the Antiques Roadshow itself. He answered many questions and everyone enjoyed listening to him. Other guests included the Mayor of Brentwood Cllr Gareth Barrett, and the Governor of Rotary District 1240 Rotarian Dave Willis. The photos also include Brentwood a Becket President Tony Clark. Dave Willis proposed a toast to the club informing everyone present that Brentwood a Becket is indeed a successful and forward thinking Rotary club and we should be very proud of our achievements over the years, especially having raised over £4 million from the Half Marathon which is currently in it's 42nd year. We also welcomed some past members of the club, and some honorary members including Lord Petre, who always supports our annual Charter celebration. Members from other Rotary clubs were also present as well as representatives from Brentwood 41 Club, and members filled out the room with personal friends and guests which made for another very successful evening. Thanks to all concerned with the organisation.
Saturday 2nd March saw another very successful quiz night held at the Anglo European School in Ingatestone. 291 people attended on 35 tables and a good night was had by all. We had our popular money-raiser Backwards Bingo once again, where we played five games throughout the evening, with the prize for the final game being £200 (beats a bottle of plonk in a raffle!). We would like to thank our sponsors Baker Labels for their generosity, together of course to all those who attended and supported the event. We raised a net profit of £3912.56 which was fantastic, and that goes to the benefiting charity SNAP (Special Needs and Parents), based in Warley. The date for next year's event is Saturday 1st March 2025, and we look forward to you all coming along once again in support of what will be our 34th annual quiz.
ONCE MORE - A GREAT BIG THANK YOU!! At our regular meeting held on Monday 22nd January, we welcomed three new members into the club. We introduced some while ago a new type of membership called "Corporate Membership". and the three individuals who were inducted into the club are part of that very scheme. From left to right: Tina Linger from Bennetts Funeral Directors, Catherine Loadman and (far right) Inderdeep Kanda, both from Pinney Talfourd Solicitors, with President Tony Clark (2nd from right) carrying out the inductions.
This brings our tally of Corporate Members to five, providing ten new members being inducted to the club in the last year. We have two more companies we hope to sign up in the near future, and a couple of full members also in the pipeline. Things are good in Brentwood a Becket!! When members would rather make a charitable donation instead of sending out Christmas cards, we hand the pot round at our Christmas meeting and everyone contributes. This raised (including Gift Aid) the magnificent sum of £592. President Tony Clark and his wife Joyce, together with Charity Chairman Geoff Morgan, went along to the Hopefield Sanctuary and presented Bonnie (Deputy Manager) with a cheque. On 18th December 2023, we enjoyed our Christmas Meeting at the Bentley Golf Club. Over seventy people attended where we had a magnificent three course Christmas meal, and were entertained by Steve Pateman. Steve owned the original shoe factory in Northamptonshire where the kinky boots were manufactured inspiring both the film and the musical by the same name.
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