Category: Events

Garry Adams achieved a hat trick! No, he was not on the cricket field nor did he turn out for Exeter City but simply carried out his dual duties as Chairman and Treasurer at the Annual General Meeting of the Club at the Exeter Golf and Country Club recently wearing a different hat for each office.

There were no changes to the Committee nor to the annual subscription  of £5 and members heard of a planned 10 events in the forthcoming months some free and others heavily subsidised.

The full minutes of the meeting may be obtained by emailing Les Rendell on lesrendell41@gmail.com

Following the formal business, members were treated to an excellent presentation by Andrew Millington, former Organist and Director of the Choir at Exeter Cathedral.

Andrew  (see below) gave an informative, interesting and illuminating talk on his career as a professional musician for over 40 years. From his early days in Malvern, Worcestershire, his work in Worcester Cathedral, his scholarship to Cambridge, his role as Organist in Gloucester Cathedral and then at Guildford through to his 17 or so years at Exeter Cathedral, Andrew illustrated his enjoyable life with recordings of some of the music and choirs with which he had been involved and with humorous anecdotes of his experiences. He took great joy from being able to train youngsters in choirs in wonderful buildings in the art of teamwork and in striving for professional standards.

Members then adjourned to an enjoyable (and subsidised) lunch at the Club.

Over 70 members enjoyed a great lunch at the Victoria Hotel Sidmouth where the food and service, augmented by the lovely Christmas decorations, were very much appreciated by all. The quality of the lunch gave a lie to the price paid by members – just £12 – as the meal was heavily subsidised. There was much chat, much laughter and the Christmas spirit was much in evidence.

Our October lunch was very successful and enjoyable. The Tiverton Hotel did us proud with quality in both the food and the service. Only 33 members and friends attended but there was no shortage of lively discussion and laughter. Everyone who attended indicated that it was one of our most pleasing functions so the committee are pencilling in the venue once again next year.

Members and friends gathered at Sidmouth in late August to watch the performance of ‘Strictly Murder’ at the Manor Pavilion. This is the second year running that the Club has initiated a theatre visit mainly thanks to committee members Peter and Barbara Johnson. Tickets were subsidised by the Club so a highly entertaining and easily affordable evening was enjoyed by those who attended.

In early September the venue was the Hartnoll Hotel near Tiverton when a superb cream tea both in quality and quantity was provided free to members. Again this was a repeat of the same event and venue as last year and the committee’s decision to return to the Hartnoll was certainly justified.

 

The Belmont Hotel was the venue for our Spring lunch and what a good choice it turned out to be, not simply the excellent fare but the glorious surroundings and views on a perfect day weatherwise.  53 members enjoyed the friendship and food provided and were left wondering where else could they have partaken of such a lovely meal at a heavily subsidised price and in such great company. Membership of the Exeter Spread Eagle Club has distinct advantages!

The connection between nursing and the National Gardens Scheme (NGS) would appear to be tenuous but, in fact, one emanated from the other.

At our AGM at the Exeter Golf and Country Club on March 8th, Julia Tremlett  provided an illuminating, informative and entertaining presentation, laced with humour, on the NGS and augmented by an excellent visual program.

The origins of the scheme date back to 1859 when a benefactor, William Rathbone, asked his former wife’s nurse, Mary Robinson, to find a suitable beneficiary for his largesse. Unsurprisingly, Mary nominated a need for the training of District Nurses, so that Rathbone built a training school for that purpose. Eventually the need to raise funds to maintain nursing training was recognised by Elsie Wagg who, in 1927, recommended fundraising via the opening to the public, on one day a year, of suitable gardens for which a charge would be made. With Royal approval and support this blossomed into the NGS we have today.

The NGS now donates to a range of charities with four prime beneficiaries being Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Hospice UK and Carers Trust.

Julia illustrated her talk with many photographs of the Devon gardens within the scheme and members were able to take away the NGS 2018 booklet.

Julia was thanked by Chairman Garry for a first-class presentation which had been hugely enjoyed by members. The photo shows Julia (second from left) flanked by Peter and Barbara Johnson, who organised the speaker, and Chairman Garry Adams.

At the formal AGM, there were no changes to the officers or committee.  Garry, who is also the Treasurer, stressed the benefits of Club membership with the subsidies  on lunch functions plus free coffee mornings and cream teas.

Any member requiring a copy of the full AGM minutes should email Les Rendell  on lesrendell41@gmail.com or phone 01884 254375

Our Christmas Lunch does it again !

At the risk of being boring, Exeter Spread Eagles enjoyed another sunny day for their 2017 Christmas Lunch. In fact, the photo to prove this was so similar that we need only refer you to last year’s picture on these pages.

As we arrived at the Victoria Hotel, Sidmouth, we were greeted in style by a very cheery doorman.

Inside the Victoria was decorated in its usual sumptuous style.

But a real surprise was to see Cinderella (or so it seemed) being re-enacted in the Hotel Lounge.

Apparently, so we were told, Wendy had a breakage with one of her shoes, and a Hotel maintenance man came to assist.

Despite these dramatics, Chairman Garry Adams summoned us all to order, and so we sat down to enjoy a delicious festive meal, with good wine and even better company.

If you are a local Barclays pensioner, and haven’t been to one of our lunches before, why not resolve to come along to one next year? You will be made most welcome.

A new venue proved a success as around 30 members attended the Hartnoll Hotel near Tiverton for a Tuesday afternoon cream tea on October 3rd.

In very comfortable surroundings and with excellent service plus delicious scones (fruit or plain) and plenty of jam and cream, a very pleasant couple of hours passed by – and all of this was free! It is clear that our coffee mornings and afternoon teas are becoming popular and the committee is trying to organise these at a variety of places, not always in south coast venues.

Mick Mabbutt brought along a terrific replica of the Golden Eagle he had made (see ‘That Golden Spread Eagle’ article on another page) and provided one of the many talking points generated among a happy bunch of Barclays pensioners, partners and friends.

A party of club members gathered on 24th August to enjoy a performance of ‘Birthday Suite’, a light-hearted farce, by Robin Hawdon at Sidmouth’s Manor Pavilion Theatre and where we were able to spend some social time together in the bar beforehand.

The general consensus from the group was that this first night performance was a successful evening and that further theatre outings should be considered in due course.

Exeter Spread Eagles enjoyed another splendid afternoon Cream Tea at Froginwell recently.

But the dilemma of the day for members was “Which way up?”

Wendy favoured the Cornish way with jam first, and then the cream.

Her husband, Hugh, was clear that, as we were in Devon, the jam should be on top.

Mick could not make his mind up, and tried to have it both ways.

Let us know what YOU think !