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Home | Presidents Jottings | President Andrews Thoughts 2012

Sat Feb 4th 2012
Initial Thoughts

 

I started my year as President slightly early, having taken over the chain of office during President’s
Night at Phyllis Court. I therefore had the honour of saying farewell to our friends from Hengelo who
had come to the Charter Night/President’s Night/Twinning Weekend.
The following day I chaired my first meeting with the first of a series of very good speakers. Dave
Rooney, the Headmaster of the Lowbrook Academy, was bubbling over with energy and enthusiasm
and it was easy to see how the authorities had selected him to turn his school into an academy. We
were also able to present Dave with a new Sports Shield suitably engraved, thanks to the inside
knowledge of Ray Allen.
For our first partners evening the speaker was Eleanor Cracknell, a Rotaractor, who is the Deputy
Archivist at St George’s Chapel Windsor. Eleanor was an excellent speaker who spoke on a very
interesting subject. Jean and I were also able to talk to her about her visit to British Columbia as a
member of the G.S.E. Team in 2009. We found out that the GSE team had stayed at the Empress
Hotel in Victoria, which, as anyone who has been there will know, is the Canadian equivalent of the
Ritz. Barry & Margaret, Jean & myself had recently enjoyed Afternoon Tea at the Empress.
July finished with the President’s Proms at the Park, which I like to think went well the with weather
kind to us. Jean & I certainly enjoyed ourselves and wish to thank the excellent tent erectors and
also the ladies who made the shepherd’s pies and iced the cakes.
In August we had the annual Golf match against the Maidenhead Club and this year we came
second. As a non golfer I understand this was because Maidenhead played from a different rule book
to Maidenhead Thames. We also received an excellent talk form Kathryn Jackson entitled Terror on
the Thames. Kathryn was an expert and a great fan of horror movies especially those made at Bray
Studios and what is now Oakley Court Hotel.
At the end of August Jean and I went off on our cruise to the Mediterranean and Black Sea. One
week into the cruise we arrived in Odessa and while walking along a wide boulevard in the centre of
the city we met Alex Artyomenko who was in Odessa for the weekend as it was his Mum’s birthday.
Our speakers in September were looking at the past and the future. Keith Adderly the secretary from
Temple Golf Club gave us an interesting talk on the history of the Oppenheimers and Temple Golf
Club. Later in the month Steph James the Town Centre Manager told us of the plans for the future of
Maidenhead. Among the things she told us was that the glorious floral displays in the Town Centre
were paid for by companies who had marketing stands in the town.
In between our two speakers we had a visit to Bletchley Park to see where the wartime code
breaking work was carried out. It was a fantastic day out enjoyed by all made better by a superb
guide. As President, I was allowed to sit next to Winston Churchill in the Churchill museum at
Bletchley.
I am now looking forward to the next two months up to Christmas and the New Year.