Men Behaving Acceptably

History

The MBA Group started its life on 14.August 1996 when Nick Baines, Gary Wainwright, John Egglestone and Rafe Cherry got together to discuss if there was a need for a Men’s Group and if so, what it was that we wanted to achieve. Not to be put off when we couldn’t find a venue to meet, we made the ultimate sacrifice and found our way to a local Inn, where the Men’s Group was born. Having got together again in September, this time with Nigel Hillier joining us, we planned out a 3 month programme.

The topic of the first meeting needed much serious discussion and thought. We wanted the first session to be an icebreaker. Topics suggested ranged from Karaoke Hymn Singing to a Trekkies evening of Romulan real ale tasting. We settled on Pub Olympics. During this evening the name of Men Behaving Acceptably was born for the Group. Many tales have been spread around Leicestershire as to how this name came about. The real reason is that we conjectured that it would be more acceptable for men to be off out to get an MBA as opposed to going to the pub!

Our programme for the first 3 months was the Pub Olympics, Money, the root of all evil? and a Carol Crawl. Twenty six men turned up for the first session where our first prestigious MBA Scroll was awarded. Dr. John White from De Montfort University not only challenged us on the topic of money, the root of all evil?, but intrigued us as to how he managed to stay cross legged for 2 hours sat on a small table! The Carol Crawl raised £104 for Medicare and was well received in the local pubs, and enjoyed by all.

Having decided that the MBA Group was needed and had a place in the Church and ultimately the local community, providing fellowship and faith whilst having fun, the 1997 programme was established. We have planned a very challenging and exciting programme combining interesting and different subjects with social events.

We meet in an informal setting to discuss worldly issues and provide an opportunity to develop arguments in a Christian context. We endeavour to provide fellowship and faith and support to each other. We have 54 men on our MBA roll of honour, been visited by the media and are going from strength to strength.