President introduction for 2006/07

Dear Ladies,

Having returned from Alkmaar from the International Conference as your newly elected International President, I would like to thank you all for your messages of support, and encouragement, and for the lovely gifts that I received.

I wish to now formally introduce myself to you all.

My name is Tracey Wilkinson, know to most as ‘T', and I am 43 years young, and a GB & I Circler.

I was born in 1963, in a town called Leeds , then moving to Rotherham for three years, and then resident for over twenty years in the countryside in a village near Goole. I now live in a village called Mount Tabor in Halifax , which is in Yorkshire a region of Great Britain and Ireland . I live 1000 foot above sea level and can see for over 62 miles from my front lounge window on a clear day.

I met and married my husband Keith in 1993, and together we have a nine-year-old daughter (going on nineteen) called Kloe, to add to Keith's two daughters, Kirsty and Charlotte.

I am the chairman of my daughters school Parent Teachers Association, and enjoy bringing fundraising ideas to the committee, to raise funds for the children at school. I also am a member of a group of village members who put on a Christmas meal and entertainment every December for all the over 60's residents in my village.

I started my career at the age of eighteen in the Magistrates Courts Service, before joining my husband Keith in his business of construction, hiring and selling portable accommodation. I am therefore self employed which gives me the flexibility to fulfill my new role as LCI President.

I joined Ladies Circle in 1991, in Goole, transferring to Todmorden in 1993. I was Club Chairman in 1996, and Area Chairman in the millennium year. I joined the National Board in the year 2000, and was elected Vice President in 2002, taking the role of National President in 2003.

Todmorden Ladies Circle closed, and I therefore transferred to Halifax No. 30 Ladies Circle in 2005

I have attended twelve International Conferences, and have enjoyed making new friends along the way. As Immediate Past President I have traveled to places I never envisaged, such as to Budapest in Hungary , when I should have been in Bucharest in Rumania for the International Conference. However, like a true circler, I made the most of this predicament, and eventually arrived in the correct country in time for the councilors meeting.

Last year in Iceland , you may remember a lady in a Green Hat, well that was me. At the GB & I AGM I was the recipient of the Nordic Hat Trophy, a trophy presented to GB & I on the occasion of their 60 th Charter by the Presidents of the Nordic Countries at that time. The hat had to be worn on all occasions associated with Ladies Circle , whether business or pleasure, and I wore that hat to the International Conference in Iceland , and made front page news.

I attended Alkmaar this year with a group of Circlers from my Area, to enjoy the Conference with no responsibility. Due to unforeseeable circumstances within 48 hours my whole world turned around, and I was duly elected your International President.

Over the last 18 months I served as Chairman of the 70 th Anniversary Luncheon Committee in GB & I, where 706 past, present and future circlers attended a special lunch on the 16 th September. It was a day of celebrations for GB & I, and in my capacity as Chairman I wore two hats that day – Chairman of the Committee and President of LCI.

I am not a professional on the technical side in relation to computers and technology, but you have my word that I will endeavor to give you 100% and more, during my term of office. I am full of enthusiasm, will take on a challenge and most importantly of all, enjoy the friendship that circling has to offer.

The countersign of any friendship is a smile, it fosters goodwill in business, brings cheer to the discouraged and sunshine to the said, and it is natures best antidote for trouble, it cannot be begged, borrowed or stolen, for it is of no value to anyone until it is given away, so next time someone needs a smile, give them one of yours, as no one needs a smile as much, as he or she who has no more to give.

So as I look forward to my year as President of Ladies Circle International, ‘Working Together – Side by Side' to ‘Make the Difference, helping to ‘Heal the World' as ‘Life can be Good' because ‘You're Special'.

So:- Ladies

Tell a Stranger,

Tell a Friend,

Tell yourself

 

YOU'RE SPECIAL

In friendship

Tracey Wilkinson x

International President 2006/2007

Tresurer Kirsten Pressl (Germany), Weblady Else Stork Høiem (Norway), Vice President Kathleen Flynn, President Tracey Wilkinson(GB&I), Immediate Past President Sylvia Mwansa (Zambia) and Kristel Voltenberg (Viilver)(Estonia)