Saturday 14th January saw over 90 old aged pensioners and community members treated to a fabulous 4 course meal and an afternoon of fun and friendship with a smattering of dancing and bingo all courtesy of Beeston & District 573.

The day started at 9.00am, for the Tablers, with Bosco Townsend arriving with all the utensils, food and ability to make it happen.

Like a well oiled machine (not from the night before, it is the 25th time this has been done!) The early team prepared the room for the guests and the back room for service and cooking. With a few choice words from Bosco everything was in order for the day.

Come 11.30am the afternoon crew turned up, dressed in black tie with a smile on their faces, to collect 65 of the anticipated 94 guests.

As the guest arrived they were treated to pre dinner drinks and some piped music ready for the event.

Dinners was promptly served at 1.00pm with crackers pulled, tummies full and coffee poured Terry Day launched into his music set.

With the party rolling Roger Dainty stepped up to deliver the bingo in his usual style.

With 4.00pm approaching the day was brought to a close with the tablers chauffeuring the guests back home.

Many thanks to all the tablers, friends, partners, siblings who all mucked in and made it into a truly memorable day for not only those attending but also those participating.

Thank you to the St John Ambulance crew who were on hand just in case and to John Manley Area 14 Chairman for supporting our event.

We counted then all in and we counted them all back out again.

COME ON BEESTON

Mike Richardson

Marcus Jones presented the 2nd Chilwell Scout group with a cheque for £250.00

Following a brief outline of the Round Tables activities Marcus thanked the Scouts for their help on the Christmas float this year and handed the donation to scout leader Adrian Clarke. The scout group will be using the funds to update their camping equipment for the forth coming year.

COME ON BEESTON!

Mike Richardson

Quite easy really ‘You just have to ask!”And that is exactly what I asked of the tablers of Leicester DeMontfort 500.

On February 1^st 2011, LDM500 held their first Thames Team Leader meeting at Past National President Bennett’s, Oadby retreat. It was here that the challenge date was set for the 7^th – 10^th July 2011. So we had a date to aim for, now for the small matter of actually doing it. In order to streamline our approach team leaders looked after various disciplines.

So there it was, 5 months to assemble our paddlers and support crew, find the necessary equipment and convince anybody we could to part with their money.

Being Tablers we then descended on those who would feed us, Chateau Boddices was the stop for our next meeting, here besides a copious amount of alcohol and cheese and biscuits the virtues of how we should traverse the waters of the Thames was decided upon. Having debated the advantages of using two man kayaks, as opposed to rowing boats, dragon boats or a paddle steamer (this is table!) the decision was made. Two man kayaks it was to be.

We actually managed 6 team leader meetings, mostly around Chateau Boddices in which the highlights were fish ‘n’ chips, chilli, cheese and biscuits and some challenge business of course!

Then of course there was the small matter of learning how to paddle. For this we descended on the Leicester Outdoor Pursuit Centre (LOPC), spending many a Saturday morning on (and in) the river Soar. We also achieved our level 1 star awards into the bargain.

Fundraising began in earnest at the May Glenstock Music Festival in which £1200 was raised. A fabulous auction night on the 4^th July also hosted by the Forge, Glenfield realised a further £1400.

Challenge date 7^th July 2011

The challenge starts from LOPC on the morning of 7^th July, with kayaks in tow making our way to the first camp site in Bedford’s Battle Bus, President Ward, the Logistics team leader and myself.

The Land Cruiser as supplied by Farmer and Carlisle of Loughborough ferried everybody else in extreme comfort.

We arrived at the Bridge House Campsite in Lechlade at 2pm, where we then proceeded to put the kettle on and have a rest, until we realised that we needed to erect the tents as well. So here started our one-with-nature experience, using a one man kettle and burner. Who was entrusted with supplying equipment? Still the logistics team, very thoughtfully put us bang next door to a local hostelry, visits to similar establishments becoming a nightly trait throughout the challenge.

Thinking perhaps we should make a start in doing what we had actually come all this way to do, we eventually ventured down from the source of the river to find the first point we could float the kayaks. Armed with Google Maps the challenge was afoot. We arrived at Cricklade Bridge, ‘place by the river crossing’ and managed to launch. We then proceeded to paddle to St Johns Lock where we had our photo taken by LDM500’s official photographer, Foz Matthews (the only one with a camera!) and then stopped to ponder what we had let ourselves in for. With our first stretch of eleven miles under our belts the local pub was calling.

That night it was a visit to Lechlade’s local, a mixed grill coupled with a few pints and the Atlantic Ocean could be ours.

Challenge Date – 8^th July 2011

Well I guess it was only fair that the Chairman was first in the water at 6am, after all it was his daft idea, and so IPC and I accompanied by Messer’s Moss and Lomas were off. I’m sure some of our members didn’t realise there were two 6 O’clocks in one day, given we didn’t see them until mid morning, contentedly full with McDonald’s breakfast!

Paddling took us through Radcot Lock where Oliver Cromwell is said to have fought a ‘skirmish’ in 1645 and Rushey Lock whose lock house was previously a guest house, providing a peaceful retreat for famous names such as Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn. 41 club members you’ll know who they are!

Support soon arrived in the form of LDM 41 Club and LDM 850 Ladies Circle at the Shifford lock, TDM was heard to remark, ‘tea never tasted so good’. Our support crew then proceeded to head to our Friday night campsite, Bride Villa Caravan and Camping International, Wallingford to erect tents.

Later that day paddling took us through Godstow where there remain the ruins of a nunnery dating back to the 1100s. Deep in legends of scandal, it was in the nunnery that Henry II met his mistress, Rosamund Clifford. Later the nunnery became notorious for its ‘hospitality’ towards the young monks at Oxford!

On that note, our ‘hospitality’ arrived in the form of Ladies Circle at Abingdon Lock where they had prepared a very welcome late lunch with Tiger beer arriving, courtesy of Mark Newman and the Everards Brewery.

Challenge Date – 9^th July 2011

In the water at 6am again, at Culham Lock, the somnolent JC, Weller, Richardson and Wardy got the day off to a start. In contrast a spirited support crew very shrewdly having booked themselves into 5 star non-tent accommodation met us at Cleeve Lock about mid morning.

Saturday presented us with its own trials, locked gates proving most challenging, and resulting in 1 to 2 mile hikes before kayaking could commence. Times like this made us thankful we did a lock survey! Still President Ward thought he would keep our spirits up by assigning us nicknames! And so 10 tablers duly became, the Wham Sisters (so named for their moisturising tendencies), Laurel and Hardy, Crystal Tips and Alistair, Little and Large and Victor and Margaret.

Being table, the opportunity to swag and acquire some property was too good to miss. So if anybody knows where this small buoy lives please let us know!

Paddling took us through; Goring Lock, where we received £5 from a total stranger (who in recognising Round Table, instantly knew we all had to be mad).

Henley on Thames, why did this stretch take so long? (Perhaps the ‘fit’ women along the bank had something to do with the speed of the paddlers) and Marlow Lock. Marlow’s original prosperity was brought about by the Knights Templar who had a house at nearby Bisham and built the first bridge over the Thames here.

Paddling by this time was taking its toll. Our 41 club chairman, suffering muscle spasms booked himself into a well earned three course meal and a proper bed that night.

Saturday saw myself and Ash finish at approx 9pm at Marlow Lock, to be greeted by the team stumbling out of the local pub. So that night, burgers and kebabs would set us up before heading for Laleham Camping Club, Thameside.

Challenge Date – 10^th July 2011

Starting at Marlow Lock 6am were Crystal Tips and Alistair and Little and Large. The end was in sight, Teddington Lock here we come.

Along the way £50 was gratefully received from a boat full of happy holidaymakers from Guernsey in Boveney Lock . This just proving that Round Table can both touch and stimulate generosity among people near and far.

Paddlers that day passed by Windsor Castle and through Bell Weir Lock which is upstream from Runneymead where the Magna Carter was signed. Finally emerging at Teddington Lock at approximately 7pm the challenge was complete.

Moving forward to September 2011 in support of LDM500, Leicester St Martin’s 41 Club Chairman Jeff Newton and their members held a charity dinner, in which the guest speaker was Ed Stafford, the first man to walk the Amazon. What common ground I thought LDM500 shared with him. This realised in excess of £600 towards our final total for which we are extremely grateful.

My personal thanks go to everybody involved in making this challenge a reality. Yes it was hard work, but it was a pleasure. We are well on our way to raising a staggering £14,000 which is tremendous. Not bad for 10 generally unfit tablers!

You can still support this challenge, by visiting the website at: www.demontfort500.org.uk where you will be able to contribute through the ‘donate online button’ or by contacting LDM500 directly.

Simon Riley
Chairman LDM500

Ragini (LC chair for Leicester) talked of the challenge plate that has been set up between the two clubs, however unfortunately they managed to have the plate swagged on the night (tut tut). I am sure the Area Chairman can arrange for its safe return at the Area 14 Bowling competition on Tuesday 22nd November in Ilkeston.

Also this weekend was the Newark Ball, which although I was unable to attend, I hear great things from those that were able to attend. I look forward to being able to attend another Newark night before I end my chairman’s year.

So what next?

Thursday 17th November – Bingham Charter
Friday 18th November – Children In Need
Saturday 19th November – Loughborough Ladies night
Tuesday 22nd November – Area 14 Bowling night

I hope to see you all soon, especially if you have an event that you would like me to attend, drop me a line.

YiT
Johnny Mad Dog MacManley

Thursday was Bingham & Radcliffe’s turn to hold their charter, ably resided over by Jason Hull. This was not only a celebration of B&C 59th year, but also the final year of Past Area Chairman Kevin Horn, our very own South African immigrant. It was a fantastic evening at Ashmores Restaurant in Radcliffe-on-Trent, with their guest speaker Phil Smeeton. Phil entertained the room with stories from his acting career, covering Sharp through to Judge Dread. There was even an attempt at Joke from the Area Chairman – well we all need to try something once!

Friday of course was Children in Need, with a large amount of effort going into fund raising all across area. This year National and the BBC teamed up as never before providing collecting tins, signage, Hi-vizs and even Pudsey key rings. If you have any feed back then please do pass onto Tom Bailey or myself as to your feelings of how these helped. So far I have had feed back from three tables and from these we have raised £6k. Hopefully from all across area we can hit the £10k mark. Congratulations must go once again to Hucknall who made it on to the live BBC coverage.

For me not only did I support Derby Merlin going rounds the pubs of South Derbyshire Friday night, I also has the honour of joining Ashby RT (to infinity and beyond) at their street collection on the High Street. Not only did they raise £400 on the Friday, they raised a further £1500 on the Saturday morning.

From the street it was time to dash home, switch my wings for a DJ to join the Loughborough boys in entertaining their Ladies!! I was really impressed by the way Table and Circle work side by side putting on a fantastic evening. Jim (or James as he seems to be known around the ladies) spilled the beans on all the bad habits of Loughborough whilst Lynn Bailey gave a performance evaluation of Jim’s abilities, which thankfully he just about passed. We also had a chance to see the Mo’s from the boys as well as raising over £300 for the cause.

All in all a great weekend and there is still more to come. The 22nd is Area Bowling in Ilkeston, followed by the Mo party in Leicester the next Wednesday (30th)

See you all soon,
Johnny Mad Dog MacManley

A fantastic turnout of 36 gents representing 9 of the 15 tables that make up Area 14 arrived and were organised into teams and placed on what would become the battleground (or alleys depending on your point of view).

At this point I would like to thank Mark Vardy for his help in charming the lovely (!?!) young ladies at Ilkeston 1st bowl and negotiating 3 games for £9 plus burger & chips for the miserly sum of £3.50.

With only the first 2 frames counting towards the Area 14 Bowling trophy battle commenced and I have to say the standard of bowling was extremely high! On this form Area 14 should have no difficulty in repeating last years achievement and should retain the National 10 Pin Bowling title. There were of course some outstanding scores one that has to be mentioned is Ben Shouler from Melton Mowbray who scored a magnificent 198 in the first frame although in the second frame it was our very own 5 a side captain Lee from Derby Merlin who scored a very respectable 171.

The podium places for the bowling were as follows: 1st Melton Mowbray, 2nd Derby Merlin and 3rd Loughborough.

Finally I need to ask a question of Area 14 is there enough support to hold a 5 a side football tournament in January 2012 or would you prefer to support another sport??

Please email, text or ring me ASAP as your answers will determine the outcome.

YIT
JC
Area 14 Sports Officer

It starts at the end of November with the packing and distribution of 80-90 parcels to OAPs in the Beeston & District 573 Area, this is followed like many Round tables with a Christmas float around the district.

This partly raises funds for the parcels but also goes to our “Beeston Challenge fund” which has three key themes, Older people, Children & Young People, Disabled People. for which grants of up to £500 can be applied for from local groups in each challenge category sometimes we have surplus and give more but it all goes back to our locality.

It is the older peoples challenge we are following this year and it is Unique to Beeston & District 573

After the float it won’t stop there because in each parcel is an invite to a party which we will host in January.

All our parcel recipients and a few other local OAPS from care homes will be wined and dined by members of Beeston Round Table & 41 club in a Christmas meal at Chilwell Christchurch Hall In January 2012

Keep following us as the story unfolds….

Mike Richardson

We’ve just come off of two great weekends in a row of great Tabling. First of all we had the Grantham 60th Charter at Stoke Rochford Hall. What a venue and fellowship. Under the presiding Table Chairman John Whaler the whole night went well with great support from Area 14.

They had a brilliant guest speaker Peter Wheeler, former Leicester Tigers and England Rugby Union player. What with lollipops and excellent dining the whole night was a brilliant success.

Then at the weekend just gone Beeston Round Table held their 54th charter at Beeston Fields Gold Club (apparently not Risley Hall). Their Welsh chairman Marcus Jones was well and truly on the front foot when talking about the recent Rugby world cup. They had also a sporting hero on hand for their speech line up, but after I gave my speech they had back up of John McGovern (former Nottingham Forest Captain and European champion) – what a great speaker.

At the evening there was a presentation to Derby Mountain Rescue of £1700, partially raised through the abseil down Derby Cathedral and from the raffle. Beeston also had an auction raising funds for Nottingham Hospice.

So what are in the next round of area events?

Saturday 12th November – Leicester Ladies Night
Thursday 17th November – Bingham & District Charter Night
Friday 18th November – Children in Need
Saturday 19th November – Loughborough Ladies Night
Saturday 3rd December – Long Eaton Ladies Circle Winter Ball

Lastly I would like to politely remind Tables of the Swag rules. Raffle / auction prizes along with regalia and venue property are not there to be swagged. Trophys, banners, etc are the items that are there to be smuggled out of joint area events.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon,

Yours in Table
Johnny Mad Dog MacManley

A magnificent evening was had by budding F1 stars last Wednesday (26th October) where 11 teams from Area 14 vied in treacherous conditions in Newark for the honor of standing on the podium holding a trophy which proved how great a driver they are!

After a tense briefing basically consisting of put your foot down, go round the corners , don’t crash into bales and don’t crash into each other we were ready to go! Well most of us were as Derby Merlin turned up with our illustrious leader Mr Manley somewhat later than anticipated.

With 30 mins of practice/qualifying available for the teams of 4 it meant only 7 1/2 minutes each to get to grips with these 2 engined beasts of the karting world! It is also worth mentioning that the track we were competing on is an actual championship track which hosts international Karting events so clear from your mind images of slow kiddies karts going round in a small loop. Add into the mix the cool weather and the downpour just prior to getting out on the track and to say things were a bit dicey was an understatement! It quickly became apparent which teams had been karting before and it came as no small surprise to see Newark on pole position.

After qualifying came the race and with Fleetwood Mac’s ‘the chain’ no doubt being hummed in every helmet on the grid the race was a go! And what a race it was 60 minutes of pit stops, spins, off track excursions, spins, small bumps, spins, gentle nudging, spins and yet more spins (did I mention it was slippy?) With the leaders out front it was left to the middle order to show where the real racing was and swopped positions with reckless abandonment!

Everyone agreed that it was a fantastic night out and when the Karts had been put away, the helmets & driving overalls stowed away it was off to the pit side restaurant for a well deserved curry & chips plus 2 free drinks to celebrate all our achievements. The track organisers did a fantastic job and also I must thank Scott Bower of Newark for setting this event up for us.

It now only leaves me to give you the finishing positions:

1st – Newark (Bower)
2nd – Hucknall
3rd – Ashby
4th – Beeston
5th – Leicester Demontfort
6th – Newark (Walton)
7th – Newark (Marshall)
8th – Loughborough
9th – Newark (MacKay)
10th – Grantham
11th – Derby Merlin

Fastest laps -

1st (Disqualified) – 01.12.01 Newark (Marshall) – Not taken into account as missed out an entire section of race track!
1st – 01.20.68 – Newark (Bower)
2nd – 01.21.23 – Newark (MacKay)
3rd – 01.22.09 – Newark (Walton)
4th – 01.23.03 – Beeston
5th – 01.23.85 – Ashby
6th – 01.24.31 – Hucknall
7th – 01.25.05 – Leicester
8th – 01.25.13 – Grantham
9th – 01.27.82 – Loughborough
10th – 01.29.05 – Derby Merlin

Also next event is 10 Pin Bowling at 1st Bowl in Ilkeston on Tuesday 22nd November 7.30pm (http://www.1stbowl.com/ilkeston/index-ilkeston.html) a separate email will be coming out for this in the next day or two.

YiT

JC
Area Sports