President's Blog August 2017

So another month has flown by; we started the month with a member’s night organised by Bryony and Eileen.  This time we ventured to the quaint National Trust village Lacock for a stroll/ramble around the lanes and fields surrounding the village (a good chance for a chat too) which was followed by a refreshing drink in the Red Lion pub and some last minute planning for the forthcoming Canal-side Cream Tea. 

Our inaugural Canal-side Cream Tea took place on Saturday 5^th at Semington Dock (thanks to Ian and Liz for kindly allowing us to invade their house & garden).  We turned up, under grey skies, at noon to erect an assortment of gazebo’s and set out tables & chairs ready for our hoped for customers.  Although the skies were somewhat dubious looking at times we were able to enjoy some sunshine during the afternoon.  We served about 50 Cream Tea’s with Caroline’s delicious homemade scones, clotted cream courtesy Combe Castle Dairy and Tiptree’s Purple Greengage jam, and most importantly raised about £170 for Polio Plus.  A very successful first time – enjoyed by all our customers so looks like this could become a popular annual event.

August committees was mainly a “wash-up” following the cream tea where we discussed some fine tuning and agreed that better publicity could generate more customers.  The next event coming up very soon is another first – our “Fun Dog Show” at the Carnival Country Fayre on 2^nd September.  Julia updated us on progress – Vets4Pets are sponsoring the event (as well as doing the judging), our main work will be: promoting the show on the day, processing registrations and marshalling during the event.  The town council are arranging the arena for us so it looks like it’s all systems go.  Julia has distributed flyers far and wide and has also used a “boost” on our Facebook page as well so hopefully lots of dogs will bring their owners along to take part.  Also coming very soon is the Carnival Quiz on Monday 18^th September at the Polish Club – so don’t forget to book your team.

Another member’s night on 14^th August took us to Bradford on Avon for a Walking Treasure Hunt/Murder Mystery arranged by Caroline & Mark.  We met in the station car park and followed the trail around Bradford on Avon taking in the riverside, the Saxon Church, and St Mary’s Tory amongst other sights.  On the way round we had to solve an assortment of clues/riddles to gradually eliminate suspects and weapons until we were left with just one of each, the murderer & the weapon used.  An interesting evening and we all saw some parts of Bradford on Avon that we hadn’t seen before including some amazing carved faces on a building in Silver Street.

 At our August business meeting we agreed to enter the District Skittles league as usual, but the most important part of the meeting was a new member induction. After hearing the objects of Rotary read by Trev, Caroline introduced Elaine; we learnt that initially Caroline & Elaine attended aerobics classes together but over time this often gave way to Spaghetti Bolognaise! President Andrew was delighted to induct Elaine Miles as a member, bringing our total membership to 21.