Saturday 26 April 2008

The Rotary Club of Basingstoke Hosts


A Charity Spring Walk
Sunday 18th May 2008



A circular route of approx. 4 or 9 miles from
Hannington over the beautiful Hampshire downs


Naomi House (Registered Charity No. 1002832) will receive 90% of the sponsorship money from entrants walking for us; 10% is donated to other local charities supported by Rotary.

The entry fee of £6.00 covers the cost of catering, refreshments and
administration.

This is a fantastic opportunity to enjoy the scenic views of
the Hampshire Downs and raise money for your favourite
charity at the same time.

Entry and sponsorship forms are available from Richard Williams
Tel: 0118 983 1046 or email richardg.williams@virgin.net

Basingstoke Singers “A Century of Song”

17th May

Basingstoke Singers are holding a concert to raise funds for Naomi House and the Basingstoke Voluntary Support Group will be there to help with teas and coffees.

The title of the concert is “A Century of Song” and will be held at Basing Village Hall starting at 7.30pm.
Tickets will be £6.00 or £5 for concessions, children just £1 and will be available from Dawsons Music in Festival place or from 01256 850415.

The price includes tea, coffee or squash….

Come along and have a great evening whilst supporting a worthwhile cause!!

Sunday 30 March 2008

Highclere Castle hosts Easter Egg Hunt for Naomi House a huge success!!

Easter Sunday saw the Easter Egg hunt at Highclere castle become one of the most successful!!

Incredibly, despite sleet, wind and cold weather, well over 1000 people turned out to take part in the charity Easter Egg Hunt at Highclere Castle.

I cannot begin to tell you how cold it was - my fingers became difficult to move at one point!

Such was the response, additional volunteers, including myself had to be drafted onto the entrance gates to help the crowds gain entrance to the grounds. As the afternoon wore on and the excited children completed their hunt, there was an Easter Bonnet parade to finish off the afternoon. Over 750 eggs were finally distributed - how fab is that!!

I was so impressed that the crowds were prepared to queue in that weather ( I can tell you I would not have been quite so keen!) and were just fantastically patient, as we endeavoured to take their entrance fee and the children were so well behaved even though excited, so it made it all worthwhile.

For more events in aid of Naomi House, check their website!

For events at Highclere Castle check out their website.

End

Monday 18 February 2008

Murder, Mystery & Suspense...

Manor House Murder

I thought I would let you know about one of the events that the fund raising Basingstoke committee are planning next month, which will be an evening of intrigue, suspense and drama - the 'Manor House Murder'.

This Murder Mystery Night will be performed by B.A.T.S. (Basingstoke Amateur Theatrical Society) at the Aldermaston Manor on the 8th March 2008.

A three course meal is included in the ticket price, and an accommodation package is also available on request.

For more information or to book your place please contact naomi@eridonevents.co.uk or call 01256 819 380

Naomi House is a children's hospice providing respite care, terminal care and bereavement support for children and families from across the south of England. The House costs over £2 million a year to provide and extend their service, and with no statutory funding available, they rely upon voluntary and charitable support.

So please come along and support this worthwhile charity!

Location The Manor House - Aldermaston
Doors open 7:00pm
Start Time 7:30pm
Pricing £40 (includes three course meal)

Sunday 27 January 2008

Qualified Hypnotherapist

Although I had already taken hypnosis as part of my Master Practitioner of NLP course,I took another course last week which spent more time investigating the use of language.

However, one of my ambitions is to write and tell stories, and I want to be able to do it in such a way that is entertaining and provides a strong message as well. In order to do that the language that you use, and the way you use it, are vitally important.

I have learnt a great deal more about communicating that I had never really appreciated, as well as bedding down some of that which I had already covered last year.

For instance, did you realise that the way you describe things must cater for everyone's preferences? Each one of us takes in our world through our 5 senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. And that the reason we sometimes struggle to understand what is being communicated to us, is nothing more than a mismatch? That is, the language the other person is using may be their own preference, which is different to ours, and therefore, harder to identify with.

This is particularly useful in personal relationships, where it is possible to begin to experience frustration and other negative feelings when we do not understand what is being said to us.

A large proportion of the population is visual, so using words such "I see", "I get the picture", refering to colour, patterns and descibing the objects around, will capture most people's imaginations.

However, in order to capture those who are primarily auditory, words such as "I like the sound of that", "that rings a bell" or "it resonates with me" will make all the difference.

People who are primarily kinaesthetic (or feeling) using language such as "I feel that", "it is warm/cold" or "it was prickly" will engage this audience's attention.

Interestingly, even the order that you use language can make a difference. It is best to appeal to the Kinaesthetics first, as they quickly make decisions on whether something feels right.

Not only have I come out with a great qualification, I now have more skills around language that will most definitely benefit my business life, but also my ambition to write a novel - the sketch of which is in progress as we speak!

If you would like to find out more about how to communicate more effectively with those around you, then get in touch with us here at Relish, we would be delighted to be able to help.

Sunday 20 January 2008

Naomi House, The Hunger Project and other charitable stuff

In my earlier blogs, you will see that Relish People has already supported a couple of charities during 2007.

As you know, I have chosen to work on one of the fund raising committees for Naomi House (the children's hospice based in Sutton Scotney, just outside of Winchester).

We generally meet every month to discuss what activities we want to do throughout the year to raise funds, and we have 2 key events planned.

They include a Murder Mystery evening to be held at the The Manor House in Aldermaston on Saturday 8th March and a junior golf day at the Basingstoke golf club sometime in August.

The aim is to organise something people will enjoy, whilst donating money to the charity, and we are lucky to have a reasonable sized committee that makes organising these events worthwhile.

I volunteered for 2 reasons, one is that the Chairman, Debs Loveridge, lost her sister to cancer. I remember Kim (my namesake) as someone who lauged at the world, even though she knew she was dying of cancer, demonstrating incredible strength for a woman of such young age. I have lost a number of family to cancer in the past, and it seemed a great way to give something back, whilst supporting a good friend in something that she passionately believes in.

Secondly, when we set up Relish People originally, our plan was always to build charitable work somewhere into what we do, and we proposed that anyone who worked for us, would get 1 week's paid leave to get out in the local community to 'give something back' by giving up their time to help others.

Wendy has chosen The Hunger Project, and is off to India this week to find out more. When she gets back and explains it to me, perhaps I will be able to elaborate more!

Why am I telling you this?

During the past week, I have been looking at a number of business websites, (research for approaching companies wanting to work with them) and I have been surprised at how many have a section dedicated to Corporate Social Responsibility.

As a smaller organisation that is still in its infancy, it is easy to start to decide what you will and won't do, and we have the flexibility of being able to change and adapt quickly. Here at Relish People we think we have started to adopt some simple ways where we can make a contribution and fits nicely into what we believe!

Watch our website over the next couple of months, and you will see some changes that begin to relect these!

Monday 14 January 2008

12th January - Did you survive?


12th January has been cited as the day that most relationships finally break down.

Here, at Relish, we have seen an increase in the number of people approaching us with relationship difficulties that have been highlighted over the festive period, which, when combined with the New Year when thoughts turn to the future,needs to change.

So what is it about the Christmas period that accentuates this trend more than any other time of year?

Well, Christmas is a very exceptional time of year with most of us having a very clear idea of what it should be like, particularly women. Combined with the expectations, there are the - overindulgences, the xmas parties, long hours at work finishing off or just getting things done before the holidays, the weather, suddenly being cooped up with relatives who are great, except for extended periods of time and the list goes on...

Most people put on some sort of front, for fear they will be criticised for being a 'bah humbug' and the tension (be it excitement or pressure)begins to rise and until somewhere, it has to be released.

In the majority of cases, this can be done safely and easily, as a solid relationship will be able to cope with any fallout. However, for a relationship in trouble, it just highlights how unhappy you are, as everyone around you appears to be having a good time.

A survey has identified that up to 30% of relationships that break down after Christmas, the decision to split was taken before the festivities on some level, and was only postponed, generally, because of guilt.

Of course, just because there was a falling out over the festive period, does not mean that the relationship is on the rocks. It does mean though that there is something in the relationship that may need looking at and now we are into January, this is an excellent time to do it.

Here at Relish, we are great at helping people get to the root cause of what is going on for them, and if you are in the position of knowing your relationship needs a little help, then call us for a free consultation session and find out how we can help you get it back on track!