Annual Report 2013
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AGM and Lunch
Thursday 7th March 2013
The Club's 35th Annual General Meeting was held in the Spen Cama Pavilion at Sussex County Cricket Club in Hove and was attended by 44 members.
At the AGM, our Chairman Roger Francis, lead the proceedings and mentioned in his annual report that on the 27th November last, three members of the Committee attended the Pensioners' Briefing and National Forum at Canary Wharf, the proceedings of which have been fully reported in the Winter edition of Connection Magazine. Delegates were left in no doubt that the Bank is totally committed to rebuilding trust in the Bank as well as securing profitability, and also committed to continue to supporting the Pension Fund.
Membership of the Brighton Club has increased from 386 to 396 over the past year, 281 of whom are in receipt of a Barclays pension and 197 attended at least one Club function. Our twin aims are social and welfare, although our duties regarding welfare are not as onerous as it would appear as they seem to affect other clubs in the U.K.
With regard to the Social aspect of the Club, Roger thanked and congratulated Don and Norma for their tremendous programme of 12 events during the year, especially as both of them had suffered ill health during this period, and asked that members support them during the coming year. Roger then thanked Graham Clark as Vice Chairman for his moral support and encouragement; to Tony Comber for his Welfare commitment; Committee members Buster and Rosemary for their support; Don wearing his hat as Treasurer, and Jean as Secretary and host of our committee meetings. These thanks concluded his report.
The committee were re-elected en-bloc, with the possibility of co-opting further committee members to enhance the present numbers. After the meeting a couple of members have volunteered to join the committee and these names will be announced in the next newsletter.
The AGM was followed by a splendid buffet lunch that was thoroughly enjoyed by all the attendees and many commented on how lovely the venue was and the friendliness and efficiency of the staff who looked after us so well.
Here are just a few photos:
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Coral Stadium Lunch
Wednesday 24th April 2013
At last the winter is coming to an end and the sun has started to shine after what seems an eternity of cold and wet weather. Our first event of the year following the AGM was a visit to the Coral Greyhound Stadium in Hove where we had an excellent lunch and watched live greyhound racing.
50 members and guests arrived in good time to get in a couple of drinks and start on their three course meals before the first greyhound race of the afternoon had everyone turning their heads to see if their selection had won.
As usual, I (Don) offered to assist folks with their betting by collecting funds from 18 unsuspecting members in the pretence that some money would be won and some of their stake, or even a small profit may be made during the afternoon. With us all being pensioners, the princely sum of £1 per race was collected to be invested in the first ten races. Well, having looked back through the records, the best I have done is a return of their stake in full; unfortunately this time, the winnings were so small, it was not worth dividing it by 18 and making a distribution, so a further 'investment' was made in race 11, but there was no fairy story ending and all was lost.
The softening blow that made the loss of such important funds easier to take was the meal which was superb and the drinks, which were flowing nicely. All in all it was a very pleasant afternoon enjoyed by everyone.
Here are a few photos giving you a flavour of the event. Incidentally, the photo bottom left shows Pat Rose with a smile on her face, because she won money on each of the first six races, hence the photo bottom right!!!
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Spring Golf Meeting at Mid-Sussex Golf Club, Ditchling.
Tuesday 30th April 2013
Twelve months ago the golf society's Spring meeting at Pyecomb Golf Club was postponed due to wet weather. The rearrange match was played in pouring rain. Six months ago, the Autumn meeting was played in a downpour and was very wet. This years weather to date has been nothing short of diabolical, so imagine our surprise and delight to arrive at the lovely Mid-Sussex Golf Club, near Ditchling in warm sunshine, with no hint of rain, frost, snow, gales or cold!
Last year we had 20 and 21 members participating in the Spring and Autumn competitions respectively, so word about the weather must have got round as 29 members donned their tee shirts and set out to enjoy the conditions and hopefully get loads of points in the stableford competition. Well the conditions were enjoyed, but the scoring was not scintillating, probably because most participants haven't been used to playing in dry conditions, with fast greens and warm sunshine!
After the golf, we all enjoyed a meal of Ham 'n Eggs and then listened to the joint organiser, Robin Frost announce the winners of the competition and the nearest the pin prizes. Before that Robin thanked Graham Clark for his assistance in organising the event and Don Semmons for his part in helping with the administration and the scoring.
Nearest the pin prizes were awarded to Brian Haite, who again had travelled down from Peterborough to play, with our other colleagues from that area, Keith Pike and Roger Tugwell and to Mike Lansdall.
The winner of the competition and the R.T.Box Memorial Cup was Mel Sims, with runner up Chris Hudson and in third place, John Charlton.
Here are a few photos from the evening festivities.
John Charlton, Mel Sims and Chris Hudson
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Top Hat at the Aldwych Theatre, London
Thursday 16th May 2013
48 members and their guests set off to see the matinee show of Top Hat at the Aldwych Theatre; after leaving Hove at 10.00am, the coach made three further pick ups and we arrived in London in good time to find something to eat and drink before making our way to the theatre.
The show was fantastic, telling the story of Broadway sensation Jerry Travers dancing his way across Europe to win the heart of society model Dale Tremont.
Packed full of Irving Berlin’s greatest hits, such as Let’s Face the Music and Dance, Cheek to Cheek and Top Hat, White Tie and Tails, stunning tap, romantic ballroom and a little bit of Busby Berkeley thrown in for good measure. Top Hat was a celebration of 1930s song and dance, featuring magnificent sets, over 200 costumes and a love story that set the pulses racing!
The lead role of Jerry Travers was played by the main understudy, Alan Burkitt and Dale Tremont was played by Kristen Beth Williams and they were both superb as were the rest of the cast.
After the show we walked the short distance to the Strand Palace Hotel for an excellent two course carvery meal.
We then re-board the coach for the return journey after another wonderful day out.
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Mottisfont
Tuesday 25th June 2013
It was almost like summer when 42 members and their guests boarded the coach to take us into Hampshire and to the National Trust property at Mottisfont.
Described as a romantic house and gallery set in beautiful riverside gardens, Mottisfont is just a few miles from Romsey and the River Test flows through the gardens before going on to Southampton Water.
On arrival we sat down for a cup of tea or coffee and a cake. Notice I mention a cake, as the rations were sparse and we didn't want anyone to go hungry! However, all was well and the group then made their own way around the house and gardens and what a treat we were in for. The walled gardens were crammed full of roses and herbaceous borders and numerous other flowers and plants that produced wonderful fragrances and visually stunning displays.
There was an art gallery in the house, that had been a medieval priory before its conversion in the 1930's by Maud and Gilbert Russell. The watercolour display was on loan from Southampton University. The reception room was quite unique with deceptive painting of the walls to make them appear like drapes and curtians.
As usual, photos tell a better story, so here are just a few.
This is the natural spring and the notice gives the possible origin of the word 'Mottisfont'.
From Mottisfont, we head back home, but not before stopping off at Chidham for the now regular visit to the ladies from the Chidham W.I. who once again provided us with a magnificent cream tea. Unlike our earlier experience of short rations, I think it would be fair to say the opposite applied here with sandwiches, scones, cakes and cups of tea and coffee all in abundance. After the tea, those with a sweet tooth were offered the remaining cakes and many members could be seen clutching bags of cream cakes to be consumed later. I understand that with the contributions given by those collecting cakes and the price we paid for the teas has allowed the ladies of Chidham W I to make a sizable donation to the Chestnut Tree House Appeal.
Again, just a few snaps of some calories being consumed.
All in all, another very successful day out.
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Mid-Summer Lunch
Wednesday 24th July
It was a wonderfully warm and sunny day when 70 members and their guests attended the Mid Summer Lunch at Wickwoods Country Hotel and Spa at Albourne, near Henfield. The cool glass of Pimms on arrival was most welcome and everyone was sitting outside catching up on the latest gossip and generally taking in the pleasant surroundings.
When all the guests had arrived we went into the dining room and sat down to a superb two course buffet lunch that was excellent.
To complete the day, we were then entertained for 30 minutes by
10 ladies from the Coastline Harmony Chorus, a women’s a-
The photo's below show the cheerful and relaxed atmosphere and also shows the ladies from the Chorus who included a romantic song that they dedicated to me (Don) and Rose in recognition of our recent Ruby wedding anniversary.
A wonderful day, enjoyed by all.
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Hampton Court Palace and River Thames Boat Trip
Thursday 22nd August 2013
The weather forecast was for a warm and sunny day with occasional showers, but as the 49 members and their guests left Brighton on their way to Hampton Court Palace, the skies were rather grey and rain was in the air. We arrived at the historic Royal Palace by the River Thames and were greeted by a really heavy shower and a freelance guide who was peddling his wares and offered to take us round Hampton Court for a small fee!.
Having made our way into the palace, several members stayed with the guide and he gave them a very informative guided tour of the palace. Others did their own thing and made their way through Henry VIII's Apartments, William III's Apartments, Mary II's Apartments and Henry's kitchens. Each room had it's own guide to answer any questions and an audio guide was also available to give you an enormous amount of interesting facts and information about the life and times of the royal inhabitants.
Unfortunately the rain continued, but there were sufficient breaks to enable us to look round the gardens and other places of interest within the Palace grounds. Lunch in the Tiltyard Restaurant was very welcome and allowed members to rest their weary bones!
After lunch we made our way across the River to the waiting French Brothers boat, the Lady Margaret Anne, where we boarded for the next part of our excursion, a four hour trip from Hampton Court to Runnymede. The skipper Steve, gave us a commentary about the various places of interest along the way. We went through 4 locks on the journey and were also treated to a cream tea with tea or coffee. A wonderful trip and all agreed it was great value for money and thoroughly enjoyable.
We arrived in Runnymede a little late after one of our members (Rose) had been taken poorly during the afternoon and had to leave the boat at Penton Hook Lock and was met, eventually, by an ambulance and taken to Ashford and St. Peters Hospital, where she was treated and then allowed home later that afternoon.
Here as always are some photos of the day:
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Autumn Golf Meeting at Singing Hills Golf Club, Albourne
Thursday 26th September 2013
In April I reported that the weather for last years meetings were diabolical, well I can now report that the weather for both of our golf meetings this year was fantastic, with golfers playing in short sleeve shirts enjoying a wonderful course and wonderful weather.
As always, the bacon rolls and coffee were welcome prior to the start of the competition and 25 members were soon on their way around this picturesque Sussex course. Singing Hills, with its gently undulating fairways, spectacular water holes and the Sussex Downs as a backdrop was in excellent condition and it helped to produce some good rounds of golf from our members. None more so than the winner of the competition, John Jago who amassed an amazing 45 points (stableford) and won by a clear margin. John went round in a total of 77 shots, one of the best rounds he has ever played.
After the golf, a meal was served and then Robin Frost, aided by Graham Clark presented the prizes and thanked those who had helped to make the day a success. As already mentioned, John won with 45 points, followed by David Kaye on 35 pts, John Mace on 34 points and Brian Haite, Chris Hudson and Richard Wright on 33 pts.
Golf balls were awarded to Don Semmons and Richard Box for being 'nearest the pin' on two of the short holes.
Following the presentations for the days competition, Robin presented the Bob Russell Trophy to the person with the highest aggregate score from the spring and autumn meetings and the winner was, needless to say John Jago with a total of 79 points. In second place was Chris Hudson with 68 pts, then Mel Sims with 67 and Brian Haite with 61.
There was an amusing moment when John was giving a brief, but heartfelt acceptance speech following his superb round, when from a nearby table emerged the secretary of Pyecombe Golf Club, John's home course, and relieved John of his scorecard and suggested that Johns handicap needed some attention. We later learn that Johns' handicap has been reduced from 17 to 14 as a result of his round in our competition. For those that don't quite understand golf and handicaps, this means that Johns' golf is getting better, so well done to John.
In 2013 there was a total of 32 members participated in the golf of which 20 members played in both competitions.
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Brighton Theatre Trip - Jeeves & Wooster
Thursday 24th October 2013
29 members and guests arrived in good time at the Theatre Royal in Brighton to see the matinee performance of 'Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense'.
We joined Stephen Mangan as the effervescent, aristocratic fool Bertie Wooster and Matthew Macfadyen as his dutiful valet, Jeeves in the world premiere of the new stage play Perfect Nonsense featuring P.G. Wodehouse’s iconic double act. The two actors, very ably assisted by Mark Hadfield as Seppings, are the finest comedy actors of their generation and it was good to see this hilarious new comedy before its West End premiere.
When a perfectly delightful trip to the countryside took a turn for the worse, Bertie Wooster was unwittingly called on to play matchmaker - reconciling the affections of his host’s drippy daughter Madeline Bassett with his newt-fancying acquaintance Gussie Fink-Nottle. If Bertie, ably assisted by the ever-dependable Jeeves, couldn’t pull off the wedding of the season he’d be forced to abandon his cherished bachelor status and marry the ghastly girl for himself!
The play was Wooster telling the audience what had happened earlier, with Stephen Mangan on the stage as Wooster during the entire play, the other two actors played all the other parts, with rapid costume changes and some hilarious and ingenious ways of moving the scenery.
It was definitely a laugh a minute and everyone enjoyed the performance.
After the show we took a short stroll over to the Royal Pavilion where we were served with a cream tea that completed an excellent afternoon.
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War Horse at the New London Theatre, London
Thursday 7th November 2013
The long awaited day arrived and the coach left Hove at 10.30am and after picking up other members and their guests on the way to London, we arrived in good time to have a bite to eat and drink before the matinee performance of War Horse at the New London Theatre.
The 49 seats that we had, in the back and next to back rows in the stalls, may have prevented us from having a good view of the stage, but being a relatively new theatre, the seats were perfect with lots of leg room and height that ensured that we were all able to watch this fascinating show.
War Horse is the powerful story of a young boy called Albert and his beloved horse, Joey, who has been requisitioned to fight for the English in World War I. Caught in enemy crossfire, Joey ends up serving on both sides during the war before landing in no man's land, while Albert, not old enough to enlist, embarks on a treacherous mission to find his horse and bring him home.
A remarkable tale of courage, loyalty and friendship, War Horse features ground-breaking puppetry work by South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company, which brought breathing and galloping horses to thrilling life on stage.
Filled with stirring music and some of the most innovative stagecraft of our time, War Horse is a remarkable tale of courage, loyalty and friendship, and was an unforgettable theatrical experience.
A few folks had to reach for their tissues during a number of emotional scenes.
After the show we all went 'down the Strand' to the Strand Palace Hotel where we were treated to an excellent two course carvery, before finally getting back onboard our coach for the return journey.
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Christmas Lunch
Thursday 5th December
Once again we saved up our best event for last with our annual Christmas Lunch at Deans Place Alfriston.
122 members and their guests enjoyed another marvellous occasion with an excellent meal and pleasant surroundings.
The guests included two colleagues from Brighton & Hove Coaches, Peter Head, our regular driver and Donna Guyver , the lady who sorts out all the bookings. It was also nice to see members from our neighbouring Clubs at Mid Sussex and Eastbourne.
After the meal everyone enjoyed participating in the Irish Bingo and the much awaited raffle.
As usual, here are some photos that hopefully do justice to the occasion.
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From Family Tree to Paddle Steamer
When Brian Melhuish retired from Chapel Road Worthing Branch some 20 years ago, he set himself a few tasks that had taken a back seat during his working life, one of those tasks was to research his family tree. Another hobby that Brian wanted to enhance during retirement was building models with wood, having successfully built steam locomotives some years previously.
When Brian's research of his family reached his Great Grandfather, he was surprised to learn that he had been a seaman on the RMS La Plata, a royal mail paddle steamship. Intrigued by this discovery, Brian spent two days in Southampton at the Maritime Records Office and after looking through several bundles of old papers, was able to establish that his Great Grandfather, James Melhuish, was indeed on the ships log and had sailed to and from the West Indies in the 1850's. The original ship was built by Robert Steele and Company in Greenock in 1851 and launched on 24th December. It was then used by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co from 1852 - 1871.
La Plata 1852
Brian also found an etching of the ship that had appeared in a local paper after the ship, on it's maiden voyage on 17th August 1852, had to be quarantined in Southampton Docks as some of the crew had contracted Yellow Fever, 9 passengers had died on the return trip. The ship was nearly destroyed on 24th November 1860 when it caught fire and burnt for hours in Southampton Docks. On another occasion on 18th November 1867 the ship had got caught in a tsunami in the West Indies, but survived. The Record Office gave Brian a copy of the etching and from that and some further research, both from books and the internet, he was able to draw up some plans that would allow him to start making a model of this ship.
After finishing the plans it took Brian three years to complete the ship. Starting with the framework, made from plywood, Brian had to cut all the individual frames and it took a couple of attempts to get the dimensions and scale correct to ensure that when the external planking was put in place, the shape of the ship would be as accurate as possible. Underneath the external pine and walnut planking is another layer of lime wood planks. All these planks had to be cut to size and most of them had to be steamed to allow them to be manipulated into the correct shape, especially at the bow and stern of the vessel. His needlework and weaving skills were also tested to the full to finish off all the rigging.
Brian has always enjoyed working with wood and he has now started woodcarving to help pass away time on these cold winter nights.
You can see from the photographs below the detail that Brian went to to create an accurate scale model of this vessel.
