Cheats Xmas Lunch
17 December 2006

A great time was had by all last Sunday. The Cheats Christmas Party included everything from great food, a fun atmosphere and an opportunity for a bit of out of season competitive spirit.

Thirty six Aquarius SC members, including 10 juniors, arrived at lunchtime for what was to be a very enjoyable afternoon. The clubhouse looked particularly jolly having been decorated for the event with maritime flags.

Nigel Knowles' culinary skills were put to the test when he expertly cooked a superb four course meal for everybody (choice of soups, roast chicken with trimmings or mushroom burgers, 4 veg, sparkling Xmas pudding or mince pies with brandy sauce or ice cream, and coffee) (Jamie Oliver look out!). He told the juniors that there was no such thing as a ‘free lunch’ and they were given the task of serving the adults; they did this very expertly and no soup was spilt.

The lunch was followed by a games tournament including darts, bar billiards and table tennis. Six teams of four were put together, and all of the games were played in the most sportsmanly way.

The darts match was particularly closely fought with Bryan Clements adjudicating expertly to achieve a very fair result.

 The table tennis table held together in the end, despite some late adjustments. Most of the adults seemed to surprise themselves with their latent table tennis skills, and the ping-pong ball was only seen flying out of the clubhouse door once or twice.

As usual the bar billiards was particularly popular, but it was obvious which players had been practicing their skills for the tournament. Again, a very fair result was marked up on the scoreboard.

Tommy Winchester led his team to overall victory in the tournament. The winning team were awarded a big box of chocolates for their sporting efforts, and they generously shared them around.

Rose Downes

 

Nigel called it a Cheats Xmas lunch because it was chicken instead of turkey. The cost of only £4 (£2.50 for juniors) gave Members superb value; there was even a small surplus for the club. Although he master minded the event and prepared the meal other members who helped included:

Laying up the tables Helen & Don Barnet, Stuart Schafer

Serving: Linda Wheeler and Helen

Washing Up:

     in the kitchen - Gordon Courtney, Maureen Carman, and Linda

     in the bar - Mandy Grace, and Stuart

 Cakes: - Rose

Apologies to anyone omitted.

Richard Cannon

Tommy receiving the prize from Nigel for team 1