We have always strived to be professional in everything we do, without forgetting to have fun while de do it - 2009 was no exception. With increased scrutiny on the quality of gap year organisations, we were determined to show we had nothing to hide, so promptly made sure that we were the first dedicated gap year organisation to be formally assessed for the British Standard for Overseas Expeditions BS8848. We passed with flying colours, but of course we didn't expect any less!

So that was the professional, time for the fun. 2009 was the inaugural year of Quest Overseas Chicken Week! Five days of poultry based fun and games in the lead up to Easter, all for the benefit of our projects overseas. Brighton didn't know what hit it when a man sized chicken, an equally large egg and Colonel Sanders took to the streets and got up to all sorts of mischief whilst raising money for a school farm in Tanzania. Highlights included a brisk swim in the sea for the chicken, a fight to the death between the chicken and the egg and of course a trip to KFC! Plans for 2010 include a mass chicken dash along Brighton seafront - watch this space.

Our teams overseas were being equally daring. Our first team to Bolivia began the construction of the infrastructure for Jacj Cuisi, the new location in the expansion of our animal sanctuary project. However this was not before their heroic leader Matt Brimble managed to hold up the flights for an entire morning at Santa Cruz international airport, just to make sure his team didn't miss their connecting flight (how many airport officials did you have to flirt with to achieve that Matt?!). Our social projects in Lima and Rio de Janeiro were growing as well, with the support for Casa Lar de Mangueira from this year's team greater than ever. Likewise, our team in Villa Maria successfully ran a campaign which raised enough funds to pay for a young girl's life saving operation, whilst building half a dozen houses for families in the community and organising a summer programme of activities for thousands of kids.

Across the water in Africa, construction was the order of the year. A new school block in Tanzania, the extension to an existing orphanage in Malawi and a network of sand dams in Kenya which now provide year round water to hundreds of people in the Munathi community kept our teams pretty busy, but extremely proud of themselves - well done guys!

The UK office has grown in 2009 as well. Our charity Quest4Change grew to a stage where we needed someone to dedicate their time purely to managing the events organised and funds raised by our returned volunteers, so welcome to 2001 ex volunteer Heather who has brightened up the office for us all (particularly for our Africa Operations Manager...). Also, Sarah Bareham, who was working as an intern last year, has now become the face of Quest for all volunteers in the lead up to their departures overseas (in all honesty, she pretty much runs the entire organisation, but the male pride of the directors prevents us from actually saying that to her face!).

All in all, a good year, bring on 2010!