Charity Event

Tickets now on sale for the Naomi House Eastleigh Committee's Pig Racing on Friday 14th May at 7.30pm. £7 adult ticket, £4 child ticket or £20 family ticket (2 adults & 2 children). Price includes a Ploughman's.

Evening also includes Guess the Name of the Dog (50p per go) and a raffle &/or auction. Prizes include donations from Paultons Park, Beaulieu Motor Museum, Southampton FC, Fleming Park Leisure Centre, David Lloyd, Longdown Activity Farm, Romsey Fotografix and Cook Academy ( www.cookacademy.co.uk ) Venue Eastleigh Irish Club, Station Hill (opposite Eastleigh Central train station).

Leave a comment for tickets and/or posters to help us advertise the event, with your questions or follow me on Twitter, username @thesaharadesert . 

Secretarial genius

In case you were all wondering, the launch party went beautifully the other day and raised more money than we had hoped.

Filled with excitement (and lots of coffee – I didn't get to sleep much before 2am Monday morning) and buoyed with ideas I spent Monday and Tuesday drafting letters to thank our donors and to ask local businesses for donations for our next event.

Why do this so soon?

I wanted to capitalise on the good feeling shared by the rest of the committee in then ext meeting to dissect the launch, and get their approval for my letter templates.

However this was not the limit of my planning. As secretary, my main roles are to take and distribute the minutes and organise all correspondence. To this extent I remembered how good it was in the past that Comic Relief had bestowed a personalised certificate of thanks in addition to a letter of the same. This can be displayed more easily than a letter, so why can't my committee do the same?

Some of the committee members are not au fait with MS Word's capabilities (it might have its negatives but it also does many tasks without too much swearing on the user's part). I knocked up a few different variations of a certificate with our logo, borders, watermarks, WordArt et cetera to demonstrate my ideas to the others.

Am I nervous?

Well, I was.

The meeting was last night and I'm extremely pleased as my letters got the okay from everyone. The certificate idea was a completely different matter. Without trying to sound smug, they're a hit!

This means I also have a fight ahead of me. As the certificates have to be signed, it's more efficient to print them pre-signed so later this evening I've got to learn how to use the scanner part of my spangly new printer which is currently sitting dormant in the corner. Then it's just to test out different weights of paper and card (unfortunately we don't have the resources to laminate the certificates) and get the first batch sent off with letters of thanks.

I think I could really get to like this secretarial work. I could have an alter ego, superhero outfit – the works!

Sahara Desert IS Secretary Girl!

A new venture

This evening sees my first social engagement in my new venture (if that's the right word for it). Long story short, I got roped into the secretarial role for a charity committee about a month ago as it is a new group raising funds in and around a nearby town. The suggested committee member was not at all keen on taking up the role (which is understandable – it's a role which needs experience in a secretarial and administrative environment and I can't say I blame her) so I was guilt-tripped into it by my beloved mater.

It's for charidee, great mate!

Tonight is the committee's launch party including an auction (having seen the lots on offer, I certainly wouldn't mind taking a shot at one or two of them myself) and frankly, I'm feeling increasingly more and more terrified.

Why? I think mainly because I'll be there in an official committee capacity and be expected to talk up the charity to strangers. I hope I might be able to put my assertiveness training into play but I've a fear words will escape me and I'll stupidly end up getting one of the other committee members to charm which ever person has just collared me.

I think I should emphasise just how much I want the launch to go well. I've been worried for a while now as the committee (through reasons I'm not going to go into here) were unable to pick the day of the launch and holding a function on a Sunday evening isn't ideal. (I'm glad I'm driving so won't have the chance to turn up for work tomorrow feeling worse for wear.)

There are (were?) fifty spaces available for guests but the last time I spoke to the chairlady she had numbers around forty. My worst idea of the evening is for people to be making speeches to a half-filled room, and us struggling to garner bids for the prizes.

You! Are you bidding? A MILLION POUNDS?! SOLD!

There you have it. I'm a worrier and right now I can't help but think of the worst possible scenario. (I mean, not apocalyptic, 'function area blowing up and people running from the launch on fire' worst possible scenario, but the launch not going as swimmingly as it could.

My afore-mentioned mother dearest has voiced some similar concerns but I don't think she's aware just how much a small part of me is dreading this evening.

Fingers crossed! *gulp*