Social Events
   
  What has been happening
   
AGM, November 2012

The Annual General Meeting was held on 17 November at St. Hilary’s School. Approximately eighty-five members attended the meeting. Chairman Jim Chipchase gave his final report on another action packed year and thanked all those who had led walks, both old favourites and new innovative ones like the walk in the Loseley area, which was followed by a personal guided tour of the house by John Clover and a cream tea to complete the day out. The New Year’s Lunch at the Clockhouse was a great success as was the Summer Tea Party held in Godalming.  Group membership numbers have stayed relatively stable this year, now standing at 426, and Surrey Area membership has increased from 6,963 to 7,000, which is encouraging. Jim thanked Nicky Salway and Mike Pope for their hard work on the committee over the past three years and Andy Piercey for his careful management of G & H finances during the same period. He also thanked everyone for their support during his time as Chairman. Barry Holland was then elected as the new Chairman, with Roger Chaddock as Treasurer. Sue Edgington and David Morris were elected as new committee members, to join Julia Evans (Secretary), Maureen Holland, Julian Yorke, Rose Gray and, Damian Wheeler, who will all continue in post. Betty Coxhill and other members of the Social Committee were thanked for organising another excellent evening with supper, with the addition of hot food this year, generously provided by group members. A copy of the minutes of the AGM, including officer’s reports, is now available on the website.  Julia Evans
   
Skittles Evening

Another very enjoyable skittles evening was held on Friday 19 October, this time at the Grantley Arms in Wonersh.  During the evening we tucked onto a delicious meal of chilli con carne, turkey à la king, and vegetable korma, all with rice, and complemented by lots of salad, bread, popadoms and chutney.

Four teams of nine Ramblers competed, each bowling three balls per game, and exhibiting varying styles and skill (!) levels.  The biggest complaint to be heard frequently during the evening was “these balls are too small!”  It was mooted that perhaps at the next skittles evening there should be a prize for whoever managed to bowl three balls through the skittles without knocking any down.  This amazing feat was performed by a surprising number of folk with two out of their three balls!  Sheila Doyle and Mike Pope won the prize for the most number of skittles felled with a single ball, and the competition winners were the “A” team, ably captained by John Hoare.

A very big thank you to Nicky Salway and Jean Harker for organising such an enjoyable event, and to Jack Salway for his impeccable scoring.  “Roll on” the next skittles evening!  Wendy Hoare
   
Quiz night On 30 November thirty-one Ramblers assembled at the King’s Arms and Royal Hotel in Godalming for the Quiz Night.  We enjoyed a tasty meal in the bar and then migrated upstairs for the serious business of tackling the questions set by David Morris.  Soon we were racking our brains trying to remember when the National Trust was founded, the colours of the Underground map and the layout of the QWERTY keyboard.  There was also a really tough photo recognition round featuring local churches – it was amazing how hard they were to recognise, even when we had eaten sandwiches in the churchyard.  The winning team achieved first place by a narrow margin, and were appropriately rewarded with smarties.  Thanks to Damian Wheeler for organising the evening and to David for setting the questions.  He has promised to make them harder next year!  A Participant
   
New Year Lunch

To the delight of everyone, Sunday 13 January dawned bright and clear, and all ninety-one participants in the New Year Lunch at the Clockhouse, Milford were able to attend.  Twenty-six stalwarts had gathered at Hydons Ball to do a five mile walk, led by Jim Chipchase. They must have kept up a good pace because they managed to arrive, glowing and ever-so-slightly smug, just as the bar was opening. Soon the bright, spacious lounge of the Clockhouse was packed and resounding to the happy sound of greetings, laughter and chatter. It was especially good to see old friends who no longer walk with us. People were enjoying themselves so much that the staff had several anxious moments thinking that no-one was ever going to come into the adjoining dining room. But, thanks to well displayed seating and table plans, everyone was soon comfortably settled at round tables, ready to eat.  A delicious meal followed, efficiently served by friendly and helpful  waiting staff. The food was hot, well cooked and attractively presented. Everyone seemed pleased with their choice from the excellent menu though many had to be reminded of their choices, fortunately displayed on each table.   It was no surprise that David, the chef, and the waiting staff were greeted with loud, spontaneous applause when they came out to take their bow. Coffee and tea served from a counter gave a chance for more mingling and lovely chocolate truffles made by Rose Gray rounded off the meal in style.

Our chairman Barry Holland thanked all those whose efforts had made the event such a success – Lucy Baier, Alison Briscoe and the rest of the social committee and not forgetting Don Gray and Andy Piercey whose organisation and cheery manning of the bar made for an excellent welcome  Jack Salway
   

 

 What is being planned
   
Photograph evening

The next event on our social calendar is the annual photographic evening which will take place on Saturday 16 March at Broadwater Park Community Centre, Summers Road, Farncombe, GU7 3BH. Doors open at 6:30 pm and the show will start at 7 pm. We shall have a raffle to raise money towards the cost of the hall hire. Prizes for the raffle welcome on the night. There will be an interval for light refreshments. Please make offers of cakes, sandwiches or other finger food to Nicky Salway on 01428 683405 or j.salway@btinternet.com

Please see below for the technical details regarding the photographs to be shown.   Nicky Salway

How to provide photographs to be shown at the Photograph evening

We would like volunteers to show their holiday photographs. Each person will be allowed up to 15 minutes to show as many photographs as they wish, provided they keep within the permitted time limit.

The preferred format for digital photographs is jpeg, (that is, they should have a file name that ends with ".jpg"). If your software does not show a file name containing a full stop, you can assume that it is in jpeg format. The file size should ideally be somewhere between 300 and 800 kilobytes. If your software only allows you to chose between small, medium, and large, then pick "large". The photographs should be sent as attachments to an email to Alan Brignell at alan.brignell@gmail.com

Alternative methods to provide the photographs are on a CD, DVD, or a USB flash disc, which you should collect at the end of the show.

The photographs should preferably be sent to arrive by about 10 March so that there is time to check that the computer that will be used at the show can read them and to get replacements if it cannot.

If you wish to show slides, or photographs in a format other than jpeg, or you would like to show video (no more than 15 action-packed minutes), or you want to provide the photographs through a cloud based album or some other means, or you find the above advice unclear, please contact me at the email address given above. Alan Brignell
   
Summer event

Details of a possible summer event will be given in the next Newsletter.  A  Barn Dance at Chiddingfold Village Hall with the Stockbrokers’ Belt band has been booked for Friday 18 October and the AGM at St Hilary’s School will take place on Saturday 16 November.  Nicky Salway