Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Mike Stapleton writes: The club's annual dinner was held last Saturday, 21st March, and was a great success. We went to a new venue, the Unicorn at Trumpington, which was excellent. We have used the room in the past as a clubroom but it has since been redecorated as a dining room and is really nice.
The meal itself was very good, with four courses and coffee for just £15. I had concerns that at such a good price, so near to Cambridge, the meal might not be very good. However I was wrong: it was one of the best meals we have had at any annual dinner venue. The service was also very good. We will certainly be going there again.
We had twenty-seven members on the night. Several arrived by bike, and others came by car. The occasion was, as usual, a great chance to get together and discuss all sorts of cycling-related matters. We dispensed with a presentation and speeches as experience has shown that they are not very popular.
The event was specifically to celebrate Peter Rowell's 80th birthday, but we also celebrated birthdays for Bob and George. We all were in good voice for the traditional rendition of "Happy Birthday to You," which we all joined in with great gusto. We had a traditional cake complete with candles. Averil added four candles that refused to go out even when all three birthday boys tried to blew them out. The cake was big enough for everyone to have a large piece and still have enough left over to send a couple of pieces to Geoff, our treasurer, who is not well. We sent him our good wishes and the Len Nice Trophy, which was awarded to him for his outstanding contribution to the club over the past year.
We finished off the evening with a short slide show from Mike and Peter. The slide show showed just a few slides from rides to Harling Road and the last two years Birthday Rides. The 2007 Birthday Ride was actually the Vic Skelton Birthday Rides which was very similar to the traditional CTC Birthday Rides. Mike tried to show a video of Sir Nigel Gresley, specially for Vic, but Peter's Projector refused to show it even though his laptop did.
Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of the event. The help I received took a lot of effort off my shoulders and allowed me to enjoy the evening.
Mike Stapleton. Event Organiser.