Another Good Club Night - December 2006

I know I'm biased but I have to say this; last night we had our Christmas social at the club and it was brilliant, a record number of people attended, a record number chose to have the refreshments and a record number of people entered the turn in competition. Other records included are, this is the longest time now I haven't won a raffle prize and I got less points for the paper quiz than last year, so low I'm not going to tell you how many I got, or didn't get, and finally this is the longest time its taken me to finish writing an article and posting it, I finished it at 01:46 hrs some three weeks after I put the first few lines down, Yawwwwwn.

So how did our club night go, well because of the support and effort all the members gave in this last year it was decided to give free tickets for the refreshments, I'm sure that the record number of takers for this was not because it was free but because we have become so friendly and everybody is mixing well. I have mentioned before that our club has made a number of changes in the past 18 months or so and it shows. I think close on 80 people came and a good many made a special point of thanking various committee members either as they left or through the website later.

Now to what went on. The hall was set up buy a number of people late in the afternoon, as the tables and chairs filled the room it suddenly became very obvious that we may just have more people coming than we have tables and chairs for them, plus we where running out of places to put them. In previous years it was never expected to reach that situation so the calculations weren't done. As it happens we pretty much had the same number of people as we did seats but next year the sums will need to be done. The food was being laid out and the various refreshment type jobs attended to in the kitchen, some of coarse had been prepared earlier that day else where.

Three of the club lathes where set up on sheets and the various things relevant around them, Bill had prepared a number of blanks so it was easier on the novices to have a go. As with all preparations for a meeting no matter how soon before the start time you get there the time goes in a flash but it was done with time for a cup of something and a brief chat about the night. The members in increasing numbers poured into the hall and the sound of people chatting grew louder and louder, members and guests found their way to a table and staked their claim with their coats.

People where moving between our Bill at the lathes, the raffle table and just generally chatting away, then it was time to call order. Don welcomed everybody, got the official bits out of the way and explained how the evening was arranged and then handed over to Bill, He did a quick demo of what to do and three teams where arranged to turn, Peter, Bill and John manned a lathe each and very soon the shavings where flying, I think there where at least 4 female turners tonight in the teams along with a new member who has never turned before. The standard was good with some interesting variations on the design. While all this was going on the others where scratching their heads, trying to work out the paper type quizzes.

The first half of the evening went quickly; everybody enjoyed themselves and chatted well with a good bit of laughter thrown in. Bill arranged for a judge to pick the best team effort and Don announced the refreshments were ready. The food quantity was calculated just right with the last few morsels being taken round the tables. The tables where cleared and Don made a very emotional presentation, fortunately the quick witted recipient replied by saying "that's what happens when you miss a committee meeting" this got a laugh and lightened things up again. Probably the best thank you speech I've heard yet. This was followed by the results of the evenings turning competition, the monthly competition and the gallery competition. The paper quiz well that's another story altogether, as with every year there is no clear cut follow the rules properly winner so Don had to go away in a quiet place and do more calculations, finally the winner was announced.

With that all done with Don handed over to me, and this is where is goes downhill slightly. In order that I don't get to make a meal of doing some things at the club I decided not to make any notes on what I had to say, well I only had a couple of things to do, how hard could that be?. Well from now on its notes for me, I totally forgot to thank Don for his efforts tonight, and blundered my way through thanking the girls for preparing and presenting the refreshments. I did however recover somewhat by getting a round of applause for the refreshments; I mentioned our forth coming March open weekend and quickly handed over to Trevor for the raffle. But to complete my notices however I would like to thank everybody for supporting us tonight and have a merry Christmas and a safe journey home. Sorry about that but it does finalise it for me, I can move on now.

The hall was cleared quickly and efficiently by a vast army of willing helpers. The kitchen was clean and tidy, the vacuum was pushed around the hall moving a number of groups of chatting people out the way. Finally the last few things where said and the lights went out and doors locked. And there goes another brilliant club night.





Boots- December 2006