Dear NIC friends,

First of all, a very heartfelt Happy New Year 2016 to you all. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and thoroughly enjoyed the company of family and friends – although, I suspect, this blessed activity might have had a negative impact on our early January scale readings..! But I’m sure we all deserved it and I can’t wait to catch up with everyone to share our New Year resolutions!

Looking back for a moment on the year we just bid farewell to, I’m very happy to announce that the 2015 NATO Charity Bazaar was another huge success with €214,953.98 raised. Many charities will be able to share the proceeds. The NIC’s support for the event meant a lot and I would like to extend my thanks to the NIC’s stall coordinator, Teresa, as well as all the other ladies who participated with enthusiasm and generosity.

As far as the coming months are concerned, we will keep busy with the usual program of social activities, including some cultural highlights – don’t miss the Marolles Walk on 8 March!

Should this winter maintain the current mild weather attitude, we will be able to let Barry lead us again around the nearby forests and work off some of the extra calories we (may!) have consumed recently.

On reflection, maybe this isn’t the right time to think about food, but I know that the Recipe Exchange Group is great fun, going well beyond the simple pleasure of eating; this is why I would like to invite more NIC ladies to participate and share some unforgettable moments of friendship and culinary discovery in the coming months.

So in 2016 let’s carry forward our great club’s momentum and make the NIC an even larger community and stronger reality inside NATO!

Hope to see all of you soon.

Carla