Oh, What a lovely War
Definitely not, but our esteemed Chairman Mr Henderson who stood in for our invited speaker on the bombardment of Scarborough on short notice gave a revealing talk providing a different view point on the make up of forces involved in the war, casualties incurred and living conditions. It was certainly an eye opener to those who of us who get there information on the War from films, TV extra.
David also brought along examples of munitions to be found even today on the battlefields of Belgium and France, some of them unexploded. Fortunately for the Rugby Club first aid staff the evening did not go with a bang!
The meal was good although standard 41 club food, meat and two veg and apple crumble, the December meeting will provide and enjoyable foray into the world of Asian eating.
All in all the October was the usual first class meeting with Mr Henderson stepping into the breach admirably!
Meeting Report October
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Meeting report: the First World War myths
Club Chairman David Henderson was sent to the front line in place of the advertised speaker, who was wounded and in a casualty clearing station.
Stuart will be adding a report here soon.
In the meantime, some photos.
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- Oh what a lovely war talk!
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- The shin bone is connected to the thigh bone …
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- Another old dug-out
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- Look what Ifound in my soup
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- How much will I get for this at the scrap yard?
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- Boom boom boom boom
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- Dave A shows off his new teeth
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- A scintillating vote of thanks from TC
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Meeting report: Star Carr Talk
It was disappointing that only 23 members attended an entertaining and informative talk by Don Henson of York University Archaeology department at the Crescent Hotel on 9 October 2014 on the internationally important dig on our doorstep at Star Carr. There is no truth in the rumour that this dig is in Richard Coulson’s garden and that Richard lives on Flixton Island.
After several attempts Simon got his woman although in fact she turned out to be a man since the woman had decided to spite Simon by becoming pregnant and having a baby so that she did not have to attend a 41 club meeting,
We learned a new way of dating events namely years before present or BP (not Brian Pidd). Save that it has something to do with 1950 and carbon dating I am none the wiser and still appear to be the same age although 1066 and the Battle of Hastings date appear to have changed !
As our Chairman said in introducing the speaker he has learned a lot from 41 Club meetings and at the meeting of 9 October I learned from our honorary vet that you can stop cats crapping on your lawn by using lion poo and that you can buy lion poo at Waitrose.
Then a three course meal was provided by the Crescent which, to quote Tom Cathcart was seriously good tucker, and prompts the question why it has been such a long time since 41 Club last used this venue.
The meeting ended with reports from the limited number of officers present. Simon (Lockley not Ward) told a joke about a prospective member which Mick Thorpe found so funny there were some concerns for Mick’s health!
Ian Brabbs
Thanks for providing this report Ian (Ed)
Seriously good tucker
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Meeting report: archery evening
On the Seamer Greensward…
Our thanks to Chairman, David, for arranging for 17 intrepid 41 Club members to be hosted by Scarborough Archers at Seamer Sports ground on Thursday 25 September 2014.
Several members of the Archers explained and demonstrated to us the rudiments of archery, so that our ensuing efforts did not result in any mortal injuries, nor even the loss of any fingers. We had a very enjoyable evening. Most of us managed to hit the targets; some of us even managed a bullseye and John Priestley succeeded in bursting a couple of balloons. Richard Frank shot well with a longbow which defeated most of us.
As darkness fell our band of merry men decamped to ye olde Seamer Social Club for some ale and then dined on an excellent fish and chip supper at Walkers Restaurant in East Ayton. After the meal we were entertained by Roger Greaves of Scarborough Archers who regaled us with the history of archery and of the Scarborough club. Chairman David, himself a member of Scarborough Archers, gave the vote of thanks.
Davidthen convened a brief informal meeting to announce that Ed Nelsey had left Scarborough, following the death of his wife, to live in Dorset near his sons. David had sent a suitable letter of good wishes to Ed on behalf of the Club.
Simon Ward gave the details of the next 2 meetings.
Regards
Peter Harriott
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AGM 2014 photos and brief report
The AGM was a successful event held at Beiderbecke’s on the Crescent on 17 April 2014.
Chairman Tom led his final meeting with aplomb, although there was at the outset an unseemly dispute with the Secretary on how many AGMs had been held. Both pleaded alcoholic forgetfulness in mitigation.
Council officers gave excellent reports of their year in office. Except perhaps for Simon Lockley whose threats to those for not joining 41 Club nodded rather too much in the direction of the Godfather. I just hope he has enough horse’s heads.
Mike Shingler apologised to the Club for not having any minutes for the previous AGM, as he said he hadn’t taken them when acting as acting Chairman, acting Vice Chairman, acting acting Secretary and virtually every other role in 41 Club at the time. However, it subsequently transpired that he had delegated the minute taking to Iain Johnson but had forgotten that, and that he had been sent them by Iain. Perhaps he should have delegated someone to remind him of the fact?
TC summarised his year as very enjoyable, and gave each of his supporting officers a bottle of wine with the exception of Henderson who got a used pair of Man City underpants. David’s life, previously empty, is now fulfilled.
TC presented the newly-arrived sideboard-ware trophies to Stuart and David for winning best national 41 Club website award at the Llandudno Conference in 2013.
TC then proceeded to induct David Henderson as the new Chairman for 2014-15, then proceeded further to drink himself horizontal.
David’s first act was to thank the Club for the great honour of being its chairman, and to look forward to a great 41 Club year. One of the key themes would be to build better links with Table and to ensure that we do not lose ex-Tablers without at least giving them a taste of 41 Club.
TC received his ex-Chairman’s jewel for a job very well done.
Three new members were inducted: Pete Moss, an ex 1188er who had been in 41 Club previously; Alex Jowett of Scarborough 88; and Andy Moran who had been in Scarborough Round Table since Adam were a lad with 22 years service. They were each asked to introduce themselves to the Club but Pete Moss decided to have a walk around the further reaches of the dining room instead.
A fine evening was concluded with many members remaining for fellowship in the Bar afterwards.
Quick – pretend you are enjoying yourself
Disbelief at the display of TC’s underwear
2.5% reverse capitalisation of key assets had a negative variable effect on the leverage rate of return on liquidity ………… zzzz
If only we had a Sergeant at Arms he would have been fined well. That grey tie is just not on.
Trying to hide behind the figures
A glass act
Editor in chief Stuart tries to get his award off TC
Tom looks relieved to hand on command
TC gets gonged for a great year
Three new members at the “Drop the Badge” ceremony
“What do I do next? Oh yes, give him the badge'”
Trying to look fascinated at the proceedings
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41 Club Trip to Houses of Parliament, 25 March 2014
By your parliamentary correspondent
Our day started with 7 of us catching the 06.30 train from Scarborough. After much chuntering over whether it was better to face forwards or backwards, and comparisons between first and not first class travel, we settled down to a pleasant and on time journey.
Trainspotters at large
As we arrived in London early, we decided to go to the British Museum to see the Viking exhibition. Whilst some in our party went by taxi, 4 of us went by tube, alighting at Russell Square. What we hadn’t realised was that Russell Square is one of the deepest tube stations in London. There are no escalators and only one lift, which had a huge queue. Vicky Calow, having missed her usual early morning boot camp, decided that we could go up the stairs. 175 steps later, having passed several heart attack contenders on the way up, we emerged, some may say invigorated, others would say knackered.
The Viking exhibition was enlightening. The areas of the world they got to in what appeared to be larger versions of the canoes at Peasholm was staggering. However I was very disappointed to learn that Noggin the Nog was not a real life character, nor did Viking helmets have horns.
Just hoping for the occasional Viking to come along
We all met at the House and, having gone through airport security measures (but absolutely no checks on our identities), we found ourselves in the Terrace bar, with a view over the Thames. As the G and T’s flowed, I reflected on the fact that this was the first 41 Club event Peter and I had organised where all those who said they were coming actually turned up! Perhaps we should organise all our meetings like this.
The Robert Goodwill Appreciation Society meets
The meal was in a long , narrow room, with us all sat along one table. The food and wines were very good, although various mutterings, coupled with the words ’how much’, were heard from some quarters. Dominic Grunwell availed us of the tale of his last visit to eat at the House, when, as a young lad, he came away with a full set of cutlery and a side plate stuffed down his shorts!
Let’s see you get this little lot down your shorts, Dom
The meal was addressed by Robert Goodwill, our local MP and Minister for Transport. He talked for about 10 minutes on nothing specific, despite prompts from John Wray of ‘What about the A64?’ Obviously it is still a case of watch this space.
Due to changes in the times the House sat, there were no public tours available when we finally emerged from the Dining Room. Maria Laws and I were shouted at when we tried to sneak a picture of the Commons Lobby, and only the intervention of Mark Laws , who they thought was some kind of foreign ambassador due to his accent, saved us from being hung, drawn and quartered. We were able to visit the public gallery of the House of Commons, where the debate was on responses to the budget. Such was the demand from the 10 people on the benches that they were limited to 7 minutes speech each. However, most of the debate was inaudible or incomprehensible, so most of us only stayed a few minutes.
The visit to the Strangers Gallery in the House of Lords was equally riveting. At least more Lords and Ladies were present, obviously enthralled by the discussion on Amendment 4035 of the Water Supply Services Bill. ‘Lordy Lordy’ Richard Coulson was very much at home there, as as soon as he sat down, he went to sleep. We did the honourable thing and left him there.
As our train wasn’t until 8pm, we went for a walk along the Embankment towards the City. We then crossed Blackfriars Bridge and back along Fleet Street, stopping for coffee and French patisserie on the way, to the Aldwych, where we caught a bus to Kings Cross. One of the party began to eulogise that it was a Routemaster 47c reverse engine, but then the cross cam differential bulge in the floor suggested it may have been a 48ar double……………………..(at this point your correspondent lost the will to live!)
The journey home was quiet- it’s amazing how tiring wandering round city streets can be. We also realised that, even though ‘the smoke’ had its vibrancy and its culture, it was nice to get home.
Thanks everyone for coming, I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
Simon Ward
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Meeting report, February 2014,
We had a fabulous wine tasting and gourmet night at Jeremy’s. There’s no meeting report, but Stuart has done his usual magic with his pics.
I think I’ll have a wee nap. No-one will notice.
Then we went via Andalucia to the Costa Brava and it was only 3 Euro a day to rent a Rolls Royce then we went to ……. …
I’m so cool
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December 2014 at Jeremy’s
There’s no meeting report, but we had a very convivial evening.
Santa dropped in fresh from his duties.
Great food and an excellent atmosphere.
David H
ps New directories available from the Hon Sec
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October 2013 at Wrea Head
No meeting report, chaps, but a few pics to share with you.
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Meeting Report (September 2013)
41 club report
September 2013 at Biederbecke’s Hotel
Speaker Peter Bleach the owner of Biederbeckes
Your correspondent Michael Whiteley
An entertaining evening at Biederbecke’s with our host Peter Bleach.
The meal was interesting; we later found out that we were guinea pigs for a new simple menu. We had a vegetable soup, shepherd’s pie with vegetables and apple pie with custard. I have to say that it was not to my taste but others I hear really liked it. The custard tasted OK but was a strange yellow though and reminded me of Sellafield.
Our host Peter Bleach gave us an interesting talk. He did describe his career as mundane and compared some of his experiences to accounts finding an unbalanced column or lawyers winning a case. This is not the case, Peter’s career is far from mundane The key highlight of the talk though clearly not for Peter was the details around Peter being found guilty of “Waging war on India” and serving 8 years in a Calcutta jail. It could have been longer but for Tony Blair.
It seems that Peter and his Russian partners thought he was supplying the Indian government when in fact it turned out he was being asked to drop the 4 tonnes of Kalashnikov rifles to Indian terrorists. Peter picked up on this when he was asked to deliver the rifles to a field in West Bengal via an air drop. He reported this to some part of Her Majesty’s government but that obviously did not count for much in India. I think we have a lesson here; if we are asked to deliver guns to another country, report the crime and then do not travel to that country.
Peter talked about his time in jail. He was locked up with his Russian colleagues who were let out as part of the next Russian/Indian arms deal. He was popular in prison and broke down barriers with other inmates and was even served cake on Easter Day by his Muslim fellow prisoners.
Quote of the night “I think the school dinners theme would have worked better with topless waitresses and canes”. Now that could have spiced up the evening! I guess anyone that agrees should get themselves off to Round Table’s Darts and Dominoes night!
Many thanks Mike Ed
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