Round Table Out and About
Luke Frost Games
In supporting this local charity again this year, Alton Round Table sponsored a team and ran the drinks tent. A succesful day was enjoyed by all.
Alton Millennium Festival
As part of our Community Service commitment, we provided the manpower to marshall the road closures so that the parades and other events could take place as part of Alton's Millennium celebrations culminating with the Battle of Flood Meadows.
Winchester College Eton Rowing Day
As a thank you for the loan of the rowing boat for the Rowlock Rally, we organised and ran a bar for Winchester College's Eton Rowing Day. We provided an essentail service combating the heat of the day. However, we will consider adding Pimms to our drinks range, judging by the number of requests!
Further Donations
Alton Round Table have made donations of over £3000 in the last few months to local organisations and individuals in the recent months.
Ladies Night - click here for the pictures
We recently held our Ladies Night in the function room of The Trooper near Froxfield. A great evening appeared to be had by all, not least due to the delayed serving of the food ensuring plenty was imbibed first. We were entertained by close up magic and the Mystery Tour flannel made several appearances. Thanks go to Gids for organising the evening with assistance from John and Glen.
Mystery Weekend - click for pictures
Following a challenge set by Glen, I arranged a Mystery Weekend at the beginning of February. Attendees were told the cost was £80 including travel, two nights accomodation, activities, three meals and beer. They were told to wear Alton Round Table rugby shirts, jeans, warm clothing and walking boots whilst hard hats were provided.
Starting out Friday afternoon, road transport followed a disguised route to Leicester where the train was then taken to Nottingham. A pub crawl then took place visit La Fosse, Ye Olde Trip to Jereuselem, The Bell and The Beaver Tap before dining at Curry in a Hurry. The hard hats had personal table nicknames applied and were obviously required for the caves in the Trip, although many felt nervous wearing them partciularly with shouts of YMCA being heard! Chairman Sniff's brain went into shutdown mode due to excess Stella during the evening.
Following Saturday morning breakfast, where everyone struggled to complete a sensible sentence, a coach took us south via a decoy karting site to Belvoir Brewery for an extended tasting and lunch from local produce. Colin Brown, the brewer, provided a warm welcome and gave a most detailed explanation of brewing, even showing yeast culutures under the microscope following a request from Walkabout.
We then travelled to Leicester and saw Leicester Tigers beat Newcastle in one of the best games of the season before more beer. We did our good samaritan bit by providing assistance to a gent needing medical attention before going for a curry in one of Leicester's top restaurants. This was where the now famous flannel was obtained. Sniff was fasinated by some of the local trades people seen on the streets! Another beer sampling occured including "flannel placement" before going on to the late night Comedy Club which was part of the comedy festival.
Following a good nights rest, the group returned to Alton listening to whole of the Archers Omnibus courtessy of Walkbout.
Held on Saturday 6th November, this was the most successful display ever. The rain on Friday disappeared by Saturday helping both final preparations and the on the day ticket sales. In the end over 5,000 people attended the event and saw over £4,500 of fireworks in the 25 minute display. With such a success we are already planning next year's event to be even bigger and better.
We have made further improvements to the PA to provide better quality sound around the ground and this seemed to work as people were spread out more than in previous years. The exits are naturally slow after the end of the event but everyone took their time so it wasn't a crush.
There are a number of organisations Alton Round Table would like to thank for their assistance, without whom the event could not take place. They listed below in no particular order:
There were only two disappointing aspects. One was the cheque from the burger vans chairitable donation bouncing (they won't be invited back!) and the continuing saga of South West Trains wheel clamping operations. Last year SWT asked us to provide advanced notice so they could help out. This was done and all that happened was they doubled the number of wheelclamps they put on. Despite much criticism in the local press and calls for the release fees to be paid to the Alton Round Table charities, no satisfacory conclusion has been reached.
The new Christamas Float for this year's collection for local good causes and charities was very well receieved. Thanks the guys who put it together, particularly Danny who designed and built the structure. The people of Alton and Holybourne seemed to like the change with Santa beingmore visible and the new chasing lights. We had a successful fortnight with only one breakdown (generator) and our tractor driver needing a night off. Well, one night in two weeks is not bad! Thanks Andy for the hard work. We even managed to reschedule the annual Mulled Wine and Rock Cake stop onto a different night. This year we finished off on the Sunday night at the French Horn as part of their Christmas celebrations.
Alton Table held its Christams Party to relax after the float. A fine time was had by all, except the Chairman, who was arrested and tried for various "crimes" before sentence was past. Various embarassing "exhibits" from his past were produced adding to the fun. Many thanks to The Star for an excellent evening. If you want to see some of the pictures from the evening click here.
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