Four Clubs Dinner

23^rd February. After climbing over the O2 Arena earlier today, I attended the annual  Four Clubs Dinner at Ashford Manor Golf Club this evening.  This event originated 25 years ago, when the four Rotary Clubs of Spelthorne decided to get together for a dinner once a year. At the time the four clubs were Staines, Ashford, Sunbury  and  Shepperton. For a brief period in the 1990s, when Shepperton Aurora was formed, it became the Five Clubs Dinner but after a few more years Sunbury Club disbanded and we were back to four.

                                                          Ashford Manor Golf Course

The DG and I only got back from London at about 6.15 and had to be at Ashford Manor by 7.30. That’s plenty of time for me, but a bit of a struggle for the DG, who besides trying to get warm after a cold day at the O2 had important things like nail varnish to sort out and finding clothes that didn’t clash with her chain of office. We eventually arrived just before 7.30 with not much time for chit-chat before taking our seats. In fact we were lucky to have arrived at Ashford Manor at all. As we set off, the DG thought the dinner was being held at Laleham Golf Club. Had I believed her and driven there, we would never have got back to Ashford in time.

                                                           Nail varnish

On arrival, I was pleased to find that I had been allocated a place on the top table, because although I am entitled to top billing wherever I go, sometimes event organisers have failed to appreciate this. Tonight the evening was being hosted by Shepperton & Sunbury club, who obviously understood the correct procedure when the Consort was present. With me on the top table were our host Eric Painter, President of Shepperton & Sunbury and his wife Joy;  Sam Budd, President of Staines; Simon Bhadiye, President of Ashford with his wife Kandy; Ranvir Singh, Secretary of Staines; our speaker Maggs Latter;  and room was also found for the DG.  I found myself seated between the lovely Joy Painter and Ranvir Singh, a man who I hadn’t met previously but I found to be very good company.

                                                        Eric Painter gets things under way

Each of the four clubs takes it in turn to host the evening and this year it was Shepperton & Sunbury, hence Eric being in the chair. He announced that we were celebrating 3 anniversaries today. Firstly the 23^rd February is actually the 110^th anniversary of Rotary being founded by Paul Harris in Chicago. Today is also the 30^th anniversary of Rotary’s commitment to eliminating Polio in the world. In 1985 Polio was endemic across the world, including in Europe. Today, thanks in no small part to Rotary’s efforts, the disease is restricted to just 3 countries, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. We have also heard recently that there have been no new cases recorded in Nigeria since July last year, so it may soon disappear from that country as well. Thirdly, today marked the 25^th anniversary of the Four Clubs Dinner.

                                                        The assembled throng

Dinner was served buffet-style, which I always expect to get my money’s worth from.  The only downside was that being on the top table meant that we went up first, and inevitably had to be sensible about the quantity we put on our plate. I chose roast beef, which had been served particularly pink tonight. That was fine with me, but abhorrent to the DG, who had ham instead. Dessert was a choice of lemon tart or cheese and biscuits. I had pre-ordered the latter, and was pleased with my choice, as there were generous portions of four cheeses on my plate. Over dinner, I chatted with Joy and Ranvir. I learnt that Joy had run a children’s nursery in Upper Halliford for 30 years. She thoroughly enjoyed this work, particularly when overseen by the local authority, but she wasn’t comfortable with the new regime when OFSTED took over, and thought it was the right time to retire. It must be gratifying doing a job where you look after tiny children, and when they grow up they then send their own children to you.

                                                          Unusual clock in the clubhouse

I discovered that Ranvir was brought up in Brentford, and that Boston Manor Park was his playground as a child. I worked out that he was probably playing in Boston Manor Park at around the time I would have been playing football there during the 1970s and 1980s. We swopped reminiscences of those times, when I played for Argyle Manor in the Chiswick and District Sunday league (Boston Manor Park was our home ground), and he would be playing in the woods. Ranvir always felt safe there as a child, but thinks it is a lot less safe these days. Our conversation caused me to reflect on my time playing Sunday morning football, which I look back on very fondly. Matches kicked off at 10 a.m. so I was forced to get out of bed on a Sunday morning. Then after the game (I think on average we probably lost more than we won) we would retire to the Windmill pub in Brentford to analyse the game and the reasons for our failure to win. I always remember one classic comment from midfielder Jimmy Moores  ‘We shouldn't blame individuals, let's just say it was the goalkeeping department’. In those days the landlord of the pub would often bring hot roast potatoes out on Sunday lunchtime which were always welcome. It’s funny how many of my happiest memories revolve around food.

                                            Football pitch at Boston Manor Park (M4 Motorway flyover in background)

Anyway, back to the Four Clubs Dinner. Our guest speaker for the evening was Maggs Latter, former Arts Development Officer for Elmbridge Borough Council who is an accomplished Speaker on a variety of topics. She has worked at literary festivals and is well known around the speaking circuit. The topic she was to speak to us about tonight was World War 1, of which 2014 had been the 100^th anniversary. Whilst this was obviously a huge subject to speak about for 40 minutes, Maggs did very well in personalising the Great War, with extracts from letters home sent by soldiers at the front line. She managed to convey the horror of a war, where hundreds of thousands of lives were lost in gaining a few yards of territory, and also the determination of all British people back home to ‘do their bit’ for the war effort.

                        Shepperton Aurora President Pauline Hedges (seated) with Ken Howe and mystery lady

I would like to invite Maggs to our club one morning to speak about a lighter subject. I have been told she can be very humorous, and obviously tonight’s topic was not one where humour could easily be included. All Rotary clubs love a good speaker, so it is always useful to make a note whenever we become aware of one.  The evening ended with the usual toasts and off we went, trying to remember the pass code to get through the gates at the end of the drive.

                                            Simon Bhadye, the DG, Maggs Latter and Eric Painter