Club Chronicle

18 December 2025: Christmas Party

Twenty-four members and guests gathered for today’s Christmas Party at the Ivy Hill Hotel. Unfortunately a number of members were unable to attend because of ill-health. Our rarely-seen Christmas banner came out for occasion. We’re not sure whether the banner’s crazy angle in the photograph is due to the photographers or those who erected the banner.

The meal was as excellent as usual and was accompanied by the now traditional Christmas crackers - and the gentle murmur of conversation

After the lunch, entertainment was provided by Paul Clancy of Prestige Conjuring. He started by telling us something about the history of magic. Stage magicians date back a long time. The premier organisation of magicians is The Magic Circle, which was founded in this country in the 19th century. The founders were two amateur magicians. The first meeting they called was attended by 32 magicians. A famous professional magician of the time agreed to become the first Chairman. He stepped down after a year. The next Chairman was another professional magician, who held office for 15 years.

Some people believe that you must invent a new trick in order to become a member of The Magic Circile but this is not true. Hoever, there is a three-stage pathway to membership. The first step is to submit an application supported by three existing members. The last step requires the applicant to put on a magic performance lasting eight minutes before a small audience, three of whom will be making notes. All three must give the applicant a mark of at least 65% in order for him or her to pass. Only two attempts are allowed.

Paul became interested in performing magic as a child. As a young man he applied for membership and passed all three stages of the selection process at the first attempt. He performed magic on a purely amateur basis until he retired from the police, when he turned professional. He has now retired as a professional magician as well but still puts on performances for family and friends. (He knows President Graham as they were both in the police.)

He followed his talk with a live performance. He had everyone completely mystified, even though some of us were sitting less than a metre from him. He had told us before he started that part of the art was misleading the audience so that they didn’t pay close attention to what he was actually doing. Even with that hint, we failed to work out how he performed the tricks he did. [My wife reckoned he was the best magician she has seen. Webmaster.]

Senior Guests’ Summer Party

We held our Summer Pary for Senior Guests on Saturday, 26 July 2025. As usual, it was held at the Chapter House.

It also followed the usual format:

• A non-alcoholic “cocktail” for each guest on arrival.
• Afternoon tea served at the tables by some of our members.
• Musical entertainment while people were eating.
• An interval with a quiz.
• Cake and tea/coffee with a musical accompaniment.

As has become traditional, the musical accompaniment was songs the guests would have known, sung by Steve Moriaty, the husband of PDG and 1st Vice President Anne Moriaty. He is usually joined by their daughter, Pippa, but unfortunately she had to call off earlier in the morning.

Francis Whitbread was the quizmaster. Each table formed a team. There were twenty questions. Two tables tied with a very creditable score of 18 correct answers. Francis gave them a tiebreaker, “HOw long, in miles, is the Great Wall of China?” The two tables gave answers of 450 and 550. The team giving that second answer won because they were nearer the true figure of over 5,000.

W good time was had by all. Each guest was sent home with a goody bag.

Our thanks to all the Rotarians who gave guests lifts from home and back again or helped with the party in other ways. Our thanks, too, to Steve for once again singing for us and to the Cathedral and their Vergers for facilitating our use of the Chapter House.

Young Musician Regional Final

The Regional Final of Rotary Young Musician was held in Chelmsford Cathedral on the evening of Saturday, 8 March 2025. Two of our members handed out programmes. Other members of our Club attended, as did other Rotarians. The Region covers Districts 1080, 1090, 1240 and 1260, taking in much of Central and Eastern England. As Youth Lead for District 1240, Peter Dowse organised the Regional competition.

There were eight competitors, four instrumentalists and four vocalists. Our Club sponsored Amelia Yang, the sole violinist among the group, who won both the Chelmsford heat we organised and the District 1240 Final. The adjudicators were Liz Childs, a flute teacher at the University of East Anglia, Are Wangcharoensab, Assistant Director of Music at New Hall School, and Elyse Maugher, Music Lead at Isaac Newton Academy.

At is to be expected at this stage of the competition, we were treated to an evening of great music. Each competitor performed two or three pieces. The music they selected ranged from classical to modern. None of us envied the adjudicators the task of choosing winners and runners-up.

After all the competitors had performed there was an interval while the adjudicators deliberated and those who wished drank tea or coffee, stretched our legs, chatted with friends or did all three.

Art Wangcharoensab gave the adjudicators’ feedback. He said the competitors were “all winners”, which at this stage of the competition is literally true. The winning vocalist was Oscar Riley (District 1080) and the runner-up Nina Ayling (District 1090). The winning instrumentalist was clarinetist Fred Blackshaw (District 1080) and the runner-up our own Amelia Yang. The winners will now go forward to the National Final in Romford.

Quiz Night

Report by President Francis

The Wilderness Foundation quiz, was held at the Essex Young Farmers building at Chatham Green on 28 November 2024. We provided the quiz, quizmaster and admin on the night, leaving the charity to find teams, supply prizes, venue etc. We did a quiz on these lines for the Wilderness Foundation last year. They kindly asked us back as a result, and again the evening was a great success, with plenty of positive feedback. Nine teams took part, with the winning score 76 out of a possible 92, and more importantly, over £800 was raised for the Wilderness Foundation, which is a charity we are very pleased to support, not least because it is a District 1240 corporate member.

I had only one piece of negative feedback, from a quizzer who didn’t think I should have described Richard Osman as a comedian, but despite that I think we might be invited back next year to do another quiz, which we will be very pleased to do.

My thanks to fellow members Angela, Geoff, Graham, John, Anne and Bob, who were there to help with the quiz on the night and made sure it ran smoothly. Thanks also to Anne’s husband Steve for again providing the audio equipment and Bob’s wife Jean for being part of the team our club entered.