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After some excellent secretarial work by Bob Wells, nineteen FIDs and some partners turned up for the reunion at the Old Parsonage in East Keswick near Wetherby. The day was blessed with sunshine and virtually no wind, though sweaters were required later on (it is the North after all). We were especially honoured to have Big Al's widow Kath with us, the only other ladies to brave the Antarctic war stories were Anne McKerrow, Tricia Blossom and Heather Tiffin. The venue was Tiff's son's house, with a large garden, ideal for a reunion. Tiff is minding the house for 3 years or so while his son is working in the USA. Old friends were reunited, a glass or two was sunk, there was lots of chatting and reminiscing and soon it was time for scradge - lasagnes, salad, and rolls, followed by desserts and cheese. Heather did a sterling job as cook. All seemed to go down very well, especially the puds - where most had at least 2 helpings. We were able to sit outside in a marquee to enjoy this. Then it was into the "cinema", an old coach house, to view Graham Soar's cine from '69 and '70. He'd taken several hours of film which had been digitalised, and Tiff had condensed this into 2 x 25 minute films, with added sound - which were projected onto a large screen. The technology worked reasonably - and no projector burn outs or film breakages! The operator (Tiff) couldn't get the projector aspect ratio quite right - so everyone looked a bit tall and thin. After more chat everyone departed, but about half those attending would meet up again the next morning for a walk around the nearby Harewood House estate, and lunch at the excellent Harewood Arms - a Sam Smith pub, with associated very reasonable prices (pint of mild £2.20!). Afterwards farewells were said hoping another reunion wouldn't be too far off. Attendees
Keith Gainey [4 Jul 2023] |
