Our Meetings

On Wednesday 12th December 2018, our Christmas party was once again upon us. Who could believe it had come around again so quickly! Where did 2018 go?

We were lucky, it was a dry evening, so the arrival of our members was not a soggy affair and there was no sign of any wet umbrellas, which is always a good start to any members’ evening.

The tables and chairs were all set out in groups of about eight or so to enable members to socialise and have a good old natter; we don’t usually have time to do this at our normal monthly meetings.

The tables were dressed with tablecloths and bowls of nuts to nibble on and on the bench at the front of the hall were lots of donated prizes - all ready for the free raffle later. A rolling slide show was on display, Christmas music was gently playing in the background… and so the scene was set for our festive evening!

Some committee members were busying themselves laying out the buffet food at the back of the room and Gina was setting up the “bar” ready for us all to have a welcome Christmas drink.

Prior to the evening, David Bedford had been hard at work preparing a Swindon quiz for everyone and the question sheets for this were distributed to each of the tables. Then it was time... Andy Binks welcomed everyone and got the party started.

Everyone was eager to get into the quiz and there was much discussion and a lot of conferring going on at all the tables.

After a short while, Andy announced that the food and drink was ready and that everyone should go up and help themselves… and what a civilised bunch you all were. There was no great rush to feast, in fact I don’t think we even got as far as a queue. Just a nice steady stream of party-goers coming up for their nibbles.

Drinks were dispensed as required, and then when Gina noticed that a few had not been up for a tipple, she filled up a tray of assorted drinks and started a table service, taking orders along the way.

After forty-five minutes or so, Andy announced that Diane and Jennie were going to draw the first part of the raffle. There were quite a few prizes, all wrapped up so that the winners didn’t know what they were going to pick. Then it was back on with the festive music and finding the final few answers to the quiz questions.

There was enough food for members to come up for seconds if they wanted to and another drink. Meanwhile, Gina continued with her table service which went down very well.

Then it was time for David to take us though the answers to the quiz to see how well we had done. It was a close thing and eventually a tie-break question was required to determine the outright winner. Well done! Then we had a bit more music and mingling before the second half of the raffle was drawn to end the evening.

Once all the prizes had been won, Roy Cartwright took to the microphone and thanked the committee, on behalf of all the members, for the time and effort they had put into arranging the Christmas party, which it seemed everyone thoroughly enjoyed.

Time then for everyone to head home and await the big day. A merry Christmas was wished to all and reciprocated by many. It truly was a lovely atmosphere to end the evening!

Angie Phillips - December 2018