Wet and windy weekend
The presentation weekend this year managed to coincide with the worst weather of the winter, with major snowfalls in many parts of the country. End to enders of course are well used to inclement weather and are usually a hardy bunch but it did affect the attendance, of the 80 plus members booked to attend 10 were forced to cancel, Baz Bias had planned to come from Portugal but had his flight cancelled, happily, John Beresford and Anne Bell and her husband managed to make it from Scotland, others had taken advantage of the extra night deal and arrived on the Thursday avoiding the worst of the weather.
As ever, the weekend really got underway on Friday evening. After dinner most people made their way to the Starlight lounge for the evening entertainment which consisted of a game of bingo, no winners for us though. We did however have more luck with the comedy quiz, made more amusing (sort of) by the host having had his laptop nicked, so instead of pushing a button to answer contestants had to stick an arm in the air and shout out the answers. Our party provided five of the twelve contestants and eventual winner was one of our younger members who won herself an inexpensive bottle of fizzy wine. The evening continued with comedy, song and dance until everyone drifted off to bed.
Saturday morning those that wanted to attended the Association's A.G.M, receiving reports of the activities the previous year and electing a committee. All except Julie Jones our Social Secretary who spent the morning on the 'phone trying to find out who had been forced to cancel, who might still arrive and who exactly was missing, once this was determined she had to hastily re-arrange her carefully devised table plan for the presentation dinner. Usually the mix of guests is cunningly arranged so that each table has a trophy winner a committee member and a mix of old and new members, happily most of the winners managed to attend so that part of the plan worked, even in revised format.
The rest of the day everyone did their own thing, some booked massages or other therapy in the spa, enjoyed the swimming pool or went further afield for retail therapy. Jack and Theresa Adams with their friends visited the House of Marbles, someone unkindly suggested that he was trying to locate his missing ones.
Committee members later gathered to set up the room for the presentation, polishing up the trophies, checking the sound system and just generally making sure everything was in order.
Jack and Emma, dress (?) rehearsal for the presentation.
So the main event arrived, the presentation dinner, members and guests assembled in the bar prior to the dinner catching up with old friends and meeting new members. Following a short introduction from Chairman Brian Dawson, dinner was served.
Following dinner and a short break the presentation commenced, for the first time ever we had a female member doing the honours, Emma Jones, now Emma first attended a Torquay weekend at the tender age of 16 days old and has been every year since, also a full member since the age of 10 we thought it was high time she contributed a bit to the weekend, she took a bit of "persuading" but agreed to do it. Thus it was Emma, assisted by Jack Adams, an old hand at this job, took the floor for the main event, it's always fascinating hearing about the various trips by various means and all the money that is raised for various charities.
Ace presentation team, Emma & Jack.
The presentation was flawless, with no hint of nerves from Emma. Once that was completed and the raffle prizes distributed the evening came to a close and most returned to the bar to bring the night to a close.
Sunday morning came and it was time again to head for home, mostly getting away early due to the weather, although in Torquay if there was any snow it was the see through variety.
As ever, the welcome we had from the hotel was excellent, the food was superb and the facilities amazing, we are looking forward now to next year, will you be joining us?
Tricia Luxton receives the Griffin Trophy.