Report on the Trafalgar Night Meeting held on 17 October 2024

In a reprise of a Trafalgar Night meeting held a few years ago our Catering Officer John organised this month’s meeting to celebrate the stunning victory of the Royal Navy (27 ships of the line) commanded by Lord Horatio Nelson over the combined might of the French and Spanish navies (33 ships of the line) without the loss of a single ship on 21 October 1805.

The meeting was held appropriately enough at the Scarborough Yacht Club on the 17 October with a traditional roast beef dinner followed by spotted dick and custard. What better way than such a meal to celebrate Trafalgar Night. Although it was a shame that the promised port did not materialise due to a lack of time!

In the absence of our Chairman the meeting was well chaired by Vice Chairman Richard who in the absence of Dom was observed enjoying double helpings of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

With a guest speaker business was conducted before the meal and started with the Vice Chairman welcoming 3 guests to the meeting. Secretary Mike thanked the Yacht Club for hosting the meeting and made a plea to those members with standing apologies to inform the Catering Officer if they were going to attend and not simply turn up which made estimating numbers extremely difficult.

In an attempt to address the problem of diminished donations to the Charity Box the Club has acquired an electronic card playing device to accompany the charity box to enable members to make a donation either in cash or by card. The new technology was explained to members by David Henderson and appeared to be an outstanding success with over £100 donated by card and cash during the course of the evening.

The guest speaker for the evening and former 88 member Nick Taylor introduced himself and invited members to make donations to the RNLI before giving a knowledgeable and fascinating account of the Battle of Trafalgar complete with images of maps, ships of the line and the weaponry used. At the end of his talk Nick was able to answer several questions which reflected well on his own knowledge of the subject and of the members asking the questions.

All in all an enjoyable and informative evening.

The meeting was closed by Secretary Mike at the unusually late time of 10.30pm with the usual toast to RTBI.

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