Monday 21st July saw us induct our latest Corporate Member Blueprint Property Group. The two individuals chosen to be their representatives, so becoming members of our club are CEO Alan Perry and PA Leigh Drury. President Keith Hawkes inducted them both, presenting them with a framed certificate which can be displayed at their place of work. Alan spoke on behalf of them both, indicating that he was delighted to become a member, and looked forward to being involved with the club's activities. The Half Marathon is benefiting from Alan's sponsorship of the water for the event, for which we are all very grateful.

BARRY HEARN OBE AND MATCHROOM SPORT ANNOUNCED AS NEW HEADLINE HALF MARATHON SPONSOR
The Brentwood Half Marathon is proud to announce a new headline sponsor - Matchroom, the world's leading sports promotion company founded by Brentwood local, Barry Hearn. Matchroom has pledged its support to the event with a five-year sponsorship deal worth £125,000, beginning with the 2026 race on Sunday 22nd March. The announcement marks an exciting new chapter in the event's 44-year history of bringing runners, charities and the Brentwood community together. The event will still be organised by Brentwood a Becket Rotary Club, together with our consortium members - Brentwood Running Club, Brentwood Theatre and St Francis Hospice. The other really exciting news is that this new arrangement has been given the blessing by our previous headline sponsor Baker Labels. So much so, they have kindly pledged their usual support by donating £10,000 to the event. Additional sponsorship from Rainer Hughes, Blueprint Properties, Hilbery Chaplin, Richlee Motor Company and SV Sports Therapy brings the total sponsorship for next year's event to over £40,000. So the new title of the event is:
MATCHROOM. BRENTWOOD HALF MARATHON
in association with Baker Labels

Every year the members of Brentwood a Becket sponsor a trip to Colchester Zoo for the children from SNAP (Special Needs and Parents), and this year was no exception. Jean McGinley and Rita Anderson (members of the Youth Services Committee) went along with thirty young children together with thirty carers on Sunday 18th May. Two members of staff from SNAP also attended. A "BIG THANK YOU PHOTO" was taken in gratitude (above), and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. The children were very excited and on the whole very good, and apart from a Colchester running event which finished in the zoo itself, making the area extremely crowded, the trip was very successful. Well done to all concerned.

Following another successful Quiz Night held at the Anglo European School on Saturday 1st March this year, we raised a net profit of £3069.92. A number of Rotary members and wives attended an official presentation to the benefiting charity SNAP (Special Needs and Parents) based in Warley. The photo shows SNAP CEO Karen in the centre flanked by our Charity Committee Chairman Geoff Morgan together with the Quiz Night organiser Tony Clark. Also in attendance (from left to right) are Joyce Clark, Carol Bannister, Liz Morgan, Neville Brown, Margaret Brown and Jean McGinley. We were able to witness some of the good work the charity gets involved with by listening to a singing session with some of the young people SNAP look after. This was not only entertaining but encouraging to see the benefit they receive from all SNAP's hard work.

We are delighted to inform everyone that Baker Labels have pledged their support for another year in being the main sponsor for the 2026 Brentwood Half Marathon, being staged on Sunday 22nd March. Brentwood a Becket Rotary Club, together with the other consortium members, namely Brentwood Running Club, Brentwood Theatre and St Francis Hospice much appreciate their continued involvement with this much loved community event which will be the 44th successive year. In that time we have raised over £4million, and we are now on our way towards £5million - an amazing feat for a small Rotary Club.

A long serving member of our Rotary Club was honoured on Monday 14th April with a Paul Harris Fellowship. Mike Capper who has been a member for many years, and served as President in 2012-2013 was presented with his award by President Stefan Tkaczyk. Mike has supported the club in many ways and the honour is well deserved.

Another successful Half Marathon took place on Sunday 23rd March 2025, where 2500 runners entered. The event sold out a month before, which was fantastic, meaning the numbers have been steadily rising since Covid. Once again, the event was organised by Brentwood a Becket Rotary Club in conjunction with the Brentwood Running Club, Brentwood Theatre and St Francis Hospice. Although it rained early on, the weather was very kind to us once the runners set off, and it was of course well supported all the way round.

First man home was Adam Hickey who broke the course record in a time of 1.05.33, beating the previous time by over two minutes! Last year';s winner Emmanuel Adedeji could only manage second this year, three minutes behind Adam.
​Leading lady was Lauren Reed finishing in a time of 1.18.16. 

All the usual helpers assisted in the organisation, including the Air Cadets and the Army Cadets whose help in particular we couldn't do without. The Running Club did a fantastic job providing marshals all round the course, and much of the admin was shared between the Brentwood Theatre and St Francis Hospice.

President Stefan Tkaczyk inducting our latest member Gareth Barrett (former Mayor of Brentwood) in February

Saturday 1st March saw our latest quiz night take place, with over 200 people attending. Thanks go to Baker Labels for sponsoring the event once again, and we raised over £3000 net for the SNAP charity. 

We had our Christmas Meeting at the Bentley Golf Club once again, where we enjoyed a fantastic three course Christmas meal. Seventy eight guests were in attendance and we were entertained by our speaker Charlie Haycock who spoke to us about the English language. He informed us about the origin of words and the countries from which they arrived into England, together with how the various dialects and accents derived around the UK,  and how they developed. He was able to give us examples using his natural talent by talking in accents from all round the country, with his speech not only being very interesting, but humorous as well. The picture above shows our President Stefan Tkaczyk together with his lovely lady Gill. In addition, the evening would not have been the same without our traditional rendering of "The Five Days of  Christmas", in memory of John Roberts, the one member who made this song his own. He will always be remembered for completely ruining the chorus which we insisted he always sang on his own!