Annual Dinner

Over the last few years the annual dinner has been held in the clubhouse and has proved very popular so it was a little disappointing that attendance at this years dinner was down a bit at thirty-nine. Nigel had a family commitment so our Vice Commodore Graham Thompson stepped in to host the evening despite being in the early stages of a really nasty cold.

Diana Carpenter had chosen a blue and silver theme for the tables which was also used for the raffle prizes. For the first time the clubhouse sported a very fetching Xmas tree as part of the decorations and together with the effect lighting and candles the whole place looked really welcoming.

The dinner itself was a choice from three starters (tomato & basil soup or avocado, mango & smoked chicken salad or Ardennes pate with plum chutney), three main courses (breast of chicken filled with brie & cranberry wrapped in smoked bacon and served with mushroom sauce or lamb shank with red wine & rosemary gravy or roast vegetable stroganoff) and three deserts (lemon tart with red fruit coulis or vanilla crème brulee or white chocolate & raspberry roulade) followed by a cheese course and coffee with mints. Pre dinner drinks were served from the bar by Peter and Rodger.

Place cards with names and personal menu choices were already on the tables, which this year were reduced to four, reflecting the lower numbers. Wine was included with the meal, bottles of which were already on the tables by the time members & guests were invited to be seated. Graham then invited Keith Hatton to say grace and things got underway.

I thought the dinner itself was a great success, well cooked, hot, and efficiently served. Although traditionally there are no speeches, because of the close proximity to the AGM, there were plenty of toasts, some formal and some, let's say, not so formal.

Following dinner Anne & Leo Bond sold tickets for, and held the raffle, which always proves very popular. During coffee Graham thanked "Food for Thought" for the catering and Anne & Leo for managing the raffle. He then presented Diana with a bouquet of flowers and thanked her for organising the evening.

Although Lyn and I left shortly after dinner because I was still getting over a bout of Flu; we thoroughly enjoyed the evening which was obviously far from over with tables being moved back for dancing. Well done Diana, another great success.

Mike (Over Easy) Baker