Our annual Christmas Party

We enjoyed two superb events this month. The first was a Christmas Party in our Hall on 6 December. We had an Entertainer, Rick Stills, who played Guitar & sang. He kept us all dancing to well-known 60s hits which we all enjoyed immensely, pictured below are Mike & Ann plus Brian & Eilleen rocking around the clock!

We then enjoyed a sumptuous Christmas Buffet and the image above shows everyone eagerly queueing to be served their Christmas Fayre!

Thursford Christmas Spectacular

A group of thirty-two of us who went to the Thursford Christmas Spectacular which was, in fact, spectacular! It must have been one of the best shows they have ever staged. The singing, dancing, costumes, the Comedian, the music - all were first class! It was a wonderful evening of entertainment. If you are interested, it’s well worth the cost! Below is an image of the Garden which is lit up in Christmas lights and very magical as you walk through to the theatre and of two of our Members, Marion & Margaret, who took the opportunity to wander around the shops before entering the Theatre:

Slide Show

We enjoyed a complete change to our normal Hall meetings this month. We were entertained by a slide show of photographs capturing the past eleven years of our trips and events. The show lasted for nearly an hour and was accompanied by music of our Members era. Many memories were prompted, mostly happy but some emotional, and all could not believe the number and varied events/trips we have enjoyed over the years. We then enjoyed a coffee/Tea break before several Teams competed in a classic Bean Bag competition and the winners are photographed below each of whom received a prize for their skill & effort.

Black Tie Dinner

The years seem to fly by faster and October’s Annual Black-Tie Dinner was upon us again. Our Branch decided to test the water by turning it into a Dinner Dance and celebrate the 120^th anniversary of the Association. The evening was held at Upchurch Golf Club which offers superb food, brilliant surroundings, and wonderful attentive Staff. The Deputy Mayor of Medway, Gloria Opara, joined us with her Husband (also her Escort). Our County Chair, David and his wife, Sharon also supported the event and it was good to see Members of Maidstone, Whitstable, and Deal who always support our Branch events well. We were entertained again this year by “The Crooner”, Martin Farbrother, who managed to get most of the Members up on the Dance Floor and join in the fun. Pictured below are our Guests, the Deputy Mayor of Medway with her husband, David & Sharon plus the Medway Committee Members.

This picture shows our previous County Chair, Carol, thoroughly enjoying the joke with the Crooner as he sang the well-known hit by Neil Sedaka “Oh Carol”!

Quiz Night

Our good Friend, Gerry Wetherell (Sittingbourne’s Secretary), provided our Branch with an excellent Quiz Night. We made up Teams of eight plus Sittingbourne brought along a Team to join the fun. Gerry made the Quiz both interesting and accessible to everyone. To make it more interesting there was a twist on the bonus rounds which made us concentrate even more! During the interval we tucked into a very tasty Cheese & Wine Supper and ended the evening with a superb raffle!

Garden Party

This year’s Garden Party at Lorna & Brian’s home in Kits Coty was different as we decided to hold an “Eclipse Party”! Instead of an afternoon event we started early evening, enjoyed a hot supper of Sausage, Jacket Potato, and Baked Beans followed by Apple Pie & Cream! Brian had set up his Marquee to face the sun, special “Eclipse Sun Glasses” were handed to each Member, but before the feasting and Eclipse watching we held our annual Bat & Trap competition for the “Acorn Cup” This year a new Member, Michael Rowlands, managed to knockout our previous “Professional” winners to take the cup! Well done to Michael on celebrating his new Membership with us by winning this competition. After having enjoyed demolishing the supper we kept our fingers crossed for the cloud cover to clear in time to see the Moon pass in front of the Sun, but alas, to no avail! The British weather beat us again! Despite this everyone thoroughly enjoyed the evening which was closed by our Raffle in aid of the Medical Detection Dogs charity. The Raffle raised £126.00 on the day and we are hopeful this will grow to £250 by the year end with the other Raffles we will be holding. A big “Thank You” goes to Lorna, Brian, Sybil, Sheila, Marion, Carol, Ray and all the other members who helped on the day!

Mad Jack Fuller Trail

A Coach Trip with a difference. We had a full coach of Members who enjoyed their Guided Tour around the “Mad Jack Fuller Trail” in East Sussex which covered many of the Follies built by “Mad Jack”. Our Guide gave us chapter and verse on the history of Mad Jack Fuller who was also a supporter & Sponsor of the Royal Institution as well as a very rich MP. We enjoyed an excellent Pub lunch, image below shows the last of the Group entering to eat.

Jack’s resting place was of course within his own Folly which was shaped as a Pyramid, pictured above, and is in the grounds of his local church in Brightling. Despite the British Summer we enjoyed our trip and learnt some more about our history & finishing the day in Battle for refreshments plus a wander around.

Estate Planning

We held a different type of Speaker Evening for our Members this month. Norman Beauchamp is an Estates Planning Practitioner who is employed by the Coop. His talk covered the need to plan your Estate correctly in the light of the many recent changes to Inheritance Law. His talk was very interesting with him covering a wide range of issues on which our Members asked many questions during the Q & A session afterwards. Our Members were also able to make appointments for him to visit them in their own Homes, at no cost, to help them understand their own personal situation better. Our evening concluded with Tea & Biscuits and a chat about what we had just been told. If any Branch would like to contact Norman for him to present to your Members, please contact me for his contact details.

Woburn Abbey and Bletchley Park

With a full coach, we had chosen the wettest day of the year (amidst a drought) to venture out and visit Woburn Abbey then onto Bletchley Park. The rain stopped us from touring the Gardens at Woburn, but the tour of the house was interesting with so much to see. The number of different Silver Toast Racks was amazing! It was also great to be able to visit some of the rooms still used regularly by the Russell family. After a superb Light Lunch (the Tomato Soup was to die for!) we headed over to Bletchley Park (still in the rain). Bletchley Park is a very interesting place to visit with its historical significance to WW2 code breaking. Pictured is one of the Presenters who told the story about the project to rebuild the Turing Bombe. There were many exhibits to study and the National Radio Centre were transmitting live with experts there to chat through the history of Short Wave Radio/Amateur Radio and its developments. Overall, despite the bad weather and long day, everyone enjoyed the trip!

Kent Disasters

A good Friend of our Branch, Roy Ingleton from Maidstone Branch, was our Guest Speaker for this month’s event. Roy gave a very interesting talk about historical disasters which had occurred around Kent. The evening was well attended, and everyone then enjoyed Tea & Biscuits and a good chat after the talk had concluded.

AGM

Normally a dry old evening but this year’s AGM was quite different. Again, many Members supported the evening and all the existing Officers were re-appointed. The AGM did not take too long, and we then settled down to tuck into a Cheese & Wine Supper and had a good chat!

Duck Race

Once again, our Annual Duck Race was a great success and was well supported by our Members and a “Big Thanks” to our Friends from Maidstone, Sittingbourne, and Whitstable Branches for their support. The races went well, eight in all, and we enjoyed our Fish & Chips during the interval after the fourth race. There was quite a buzz during the races with many cheering on their Ducks to the finish line!  The winners looked very pleased with their success and everyone was quickly queuing to place their bets for the next race. A special “thanks” goes to Brian, Ray, Lorna & Sybil for running the event!

New Year's Lunch

Every January we kick the year off with an informal lunch and this year we held it at Upchurch River Valley Golf Club who provided their usual excellent food and service, accompanied by a wonderful ambience, all at a very affordable price! The weather was also kind and we were blessed with the beautiful views of the countryside surrounding the Restaurant. Everyone quickly settled down exchanging news on their Christmas fun and tucked into a very enjoyable meal.

We were also able to welcome four new Members to our Branch. They are pictured here from left to right: Marian, Chris, Joan, and John.