Coffee and Doughnuts Day

Glasgow Area organised a coffee and doughnuts day last year and was amazed by its success!

Quite simply, we allowed any member of staff, including our military colleagues, be they existing CSSC members or not, to visit our staff restaurant, speak to the assembled 'experts' and collect a free doughnut/pastry and tea/coffee from the building's Costa Coffee Bar. The assembled experts included Helen Marsden, Brian Donnelly from our AA, George Dey, from everywhere, Annette Bellairs from DSRA and myself, ably assisted by our Treasurer, Marco Bertolaccini. Francis Smith was also due to attend but had to call off due to illness.

The day comprised of two sessions 10-11:45 and 2-3:30. Everyone attending in an official capacity thought the day was excellent with over 200 staff attending! I must say that the number surprised us. This was the first time we had tried something like this and so did not know what to expect. However, the key was that we advertised the day well which included formal written support from the establishment's lead civilian which encouraged managers to allow staff to attend. All that said, nothing attracts like something for nothing!

The day (including lunch for the volunteers) cost our local club almost £600 and while that was significantly higher than we anticipated we consider the fantastic exposure we got to be well worth it. In addition Helen got 19 confirmed new members, 16 updated forms from staff with old style membership cards, and gave out a further 40 or so membership application forms requested by staff, including two new members for the Yorkshire Region who were attending a training course in the building! In addition Annette Bellairs had a very good day attracting many new members to DSRA's lottery.

Bob Trainer