It was nice to see Peter Moloney's photograph of the Irish noggin we visited last summer in Miscellany the other month. I would like to thank Peter, Nick Koumarianos and everyone that was there for making us feel so welcome. We did have a wonderful time, so much so we hope to return next year. Robin Henderson and I are looking into visiting Cong and the County Mayo area in June or early July next year. I would like to revisit my friend Marty who mans the Alcock and Brown landing site near Clifden ' he would be thrilled to see us all. Please have a chat with us at future noggins if you are interested in this planned expedition. It should be a great trip!
Our attendance at the World Rowing Championships held at the Dorney Lake, Eton College was thoroughly enjoyed by all those that were able to come along. Watching the racing was very exciting indeed. Fortunately we had Thelonius Cous-cous on hand to explain the proceedings to us - thank you Theo. I know many of you got some famous signatures on the day. I hope you managed to see us on television. I would like to thank Jane Davies for organising this great event, due to the complexities of the day Jane had to use all her ingenuity to ensure things ran smoothly. This meant poor Jane didn't get to watch as much of the racing as she would have liked, so thank you Jane very much. Theo, our new sports writer, will be reporting back on this event soon. Let's hope Jane can get us in for the 2012 Olympics.
We also enjoyed, over the August Bank Holiday, Geoff Giles' weekend at the Arundel Festival. Geoff was joined by the local Centres for what turned out to be a very pleasurable long weekend with time to take in the Amberley Working Museum as well as the highlights of Arundel. A Brighton Centre member told me that she led a walk along the river Arun on one day, to visit a nice local hostelry by the river, which sounded just right to me. With help from Tom West, Geoff organised a brilliant trip. On behalf of the Centre and all those that were able to join you, thank you Geoff and Tom very much.
Incidentally, Geoff and Tom are investigating the possibility of a holiday to France to start immediately after Mog 2007, i.e. mid-August next year, heading for the Beaujolais region. Please have a chat with Geoff and Tom at future noggins if you could be interested in the trip. It looks like 2007 is shaping up rather nicely!
As this is our December Centre report, I would like to wish all the readers of this column a very happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year with above all good health! To celebrate, as normal, we have a Christmas lunch at the Hampden Arms with Anita Pullen while I shall be running our Christmas Dinner at the Poacher. These events are very special and set us up well for the festive season. Please contact Anita or myself if you want to go depending on which event you fancy, we will tell you if there are any places left at this late stage, of course you can be like me and go to both! I look forward to seeing you all there. With all these festivities it is just as well we get a lot of exercise!
On the subject of exercise, this month we shall be going for lovely walk in and around Binfield Heath and on New Year's Day a ramble in the Seven Sisters National Park with Hopmog and Brighton Centre. See the events page for more details.
To end my Centre reports for 2006, I would like to thank everyone for all their hard work in organising events during the year. I would also like to thank those of you who have supported our various excursions, making all the effort worthwhile. I hope 2007 will be as good!
Take care & see you all soon