A sombre note was in the air over the whole weekend, members thinking of the sad loss of Her Majesty The Queen, who died the preceding Thursday. However, we had earlier decided to continue with the event, albeit with a minute’s silence prior to the start of the actual Quiz and a Loyal Toast to the new King.

 

Once again, we had beautiful sunny weather for the whole weekend, the third consecutive year as such!  Moderate NW winds kept it a little cooler. A lovely weekend with a decent turnout of 11 boats; 4 cars; and one motorhome. (30 members in all attended the quiz, making up 6 teams)

One boat, “Emma Louise” arrived on the Friday, the rest not coming along until Saturday morning. We took up the whole of the moorings, with a mixture of side-on and stern mooring, with a few connected to electric.

Saturday After we had safely tied up, again under “Harbourmaster” Steve’s guidance, some sat around their boats during the day, others went over to the pub, sitting on the veranda with a few pints over lunchtime. The afternoon was quiet, but we got ready early and gathered over in the pub well before 6pm. We again took over the riverside room area, sorted out our tables / teams, and Commodore Bim brought us to order before 6.30 for the minute silence.

Bim then called the Loyal Toast and “God save the King” was said, as we quaffed more drink. Meals were then quickly served in table order, and we were finished eating and cleared up well before the start of the quiz at 8pm. Quiz-mistress Angela had previously issued a short acronym quiz for the tables, to think about over the meal – very devilish! Angela had prepared 6 rounds of 10 questions – different categories - with scores being marked at the end of each round. After a raucous quiz, it was all over by 9.30pm, and congratulations went to the winning team – MINE! (well, to be honest, we did have top quizzers Hilda & Ivan helping a little)) We called ourselves “Jennifer’s Jinxs” (me/Jen/Hilda/Ivan/Bim & Jackie). Runner-up was team “Head Scratchers” (Dave/Barbara/Mike/Denise/Paul/Valerie) with in third place the “Misfits”  (Peter/Sandra/Ray/Margaret/John and Fay). Holding up the rear, in 6th.place, were the “Checks and Stripes” (Bill/Sandra/Peter/Mandy). It was a great performance from all teams. Angela and Steve presented the Commodore’s Cup to the winners, and Bim presented Angela with the traditional bottle of Malbec, in reward for her hard work in preparing a brilliant quiz. Knowing that Steve was a Lambretta enthusiast, I gave Steve another little prezzie, a small “Lambretta”-shaped pizza cutter”, well that’s the way it was advertised but Steve says that the shape is a “Vespa”. Doh! Me wrong again! The evening was still young, and many stayed around for more alcoholic drinks or coffees etc. Bill, Bim and Pete played Pool for a while; some of us went outside to view a stunning Full Moon, with Jupiter shing brightly “alongside”. We began our farewells after 10.30pm, back to the boats, or to drive home. Another successful club event.

Sunday, dawned with thick fog, which didn’t thin until nearly 10am, and so boats did not begin to depart until nearly 11am, Another sunny day followed, with lighter northerly winds, and a few of us made the most of the weather by continuing upriver to Bramerton for a few days.

 

 

Next event is the Members’ Choice cruise and dinner, at Surlingham on 1st.October, the penultimate event of this season.

 

Regards, Ken   - September 2022