Chelmer Bridge handover dinner
Ann Evans very kindly offered to pick me (John) up to go to the Chelmer Bridge handover dinner, as Philippa was already in Chelmsford with my daughter Simone and granddaughter Jessica.
And so the story begins.
Ann and I got there at 6.46pm, in plenty of time as the dinner was 7pm for 7.30pm . At 7.20pm Ann said “I wonder where Philippa is?” I jokingly replied “As she is within walking distance she will probably be late!” and this was said in front of the Chelmer
Bridge Hon. secretary. Lo and behold - Philippa appeared at 7.32pm, late, either because she was running on „Crowder time‟ or she wanted to make the grand entrance!
The meeting continued with all guests and members required to sign and make comments on some large photos of recent events. Comments could be rude or otherwise. President Mark Evans then proceeded to hand over to new president John Reynolds who has been doing a great job as treasurer. Both gave fun speeches, and there was a great atmosphere. DG Bob Barclay and incoming DG Neil Muir were the judges, and they then nominated themselves as the winners!
However, there was no prize!
DG Bob went on to introduce the guest speaker for the evening, a gentleman who has given speeches before at the club and also at District conference this year. His name is John Reeve and he was accompanied by his wife. John is on the board of trustees for Leukemia & Lymphoma Research. The talk was a very sad in one respect as John & his family set up a charity after the sad passing of their 15 year old son to the cancer. To date, as a family charity, they have raised over £300,000 in the last 5 years since their son passed away, doing all sorts of extraordinary things to raise money to assist other young people suffering from this disease.
After the talk DG Bob said that as a small club they were not able to make the £250 donation to the charity as they had hoped, but they could however make a donation of £1,000 which took every ones breath away, including John. A great and pleasant surprise.
After the Donation DG Bob went on to say that he would like to present a special award and after giving a good explanation of the Paul Harris Award, he then went on to present this to John, who was at that point speechless, but very humble and honored.
After the formal proceedings fines at the rate of 20 pence were handed out for a variety of misdemeanors including lateness and - lo and behold -who got one, Philippa. She very kindly increased it to £1, and as she was visiting our granddaughter she said “It was worth every penny”.
It was a fantastic evening, as always, at Chelmer Bridge and we were made so welcome .We enquired if they were having the fish fest at West Mersey this year and President John and Past President Mark said they would keep us informed. At the end of the evening the club presented DG Bob with a framed football shirt in Tottenham colours. but with DG Bob Barclay printed on the shirt with photo inside. He was impressed;
I suppose someone has got to be a Tottenham supporter
Story & photos by John Crowder 30
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