However, the evening was not a washout, far from it. Mine host laid on what was one of the best meals / BBQ’s  I think I have ever been to and is to be congratulated for the choice and variety of food on offer.  The salmon and sardines were especially delicious, reminding me of summer holidays past in the West Algarve and for those whose wives were away, the ‘’doggy bags ‘’ were a great idea!

Husbands in deep conversation with wives, Roger and Pat Williams enthralling us all with tales of their recent China trip, Chris Behan discussing the relative merits of the house red, Brian Foster making us all laugh with his ‘Caruthers ‘ stories…(say no more!), and Jack and Ron in some sort of a trance waiting for the raffle to be drawn!

The only thing missing, if I am allowed to be critical, were the strawberries and cream, the smell of charcoal and ‘cough, cough, smoke, and of course sun block cream, but then this was the Thame Witchert BBQ.

"Actually, I think indoor b-b-q's are great."	"Steady on Caruthers, steady on now!"

Did you know that the word BBQ came from the Caribbean?  Moving Carib through Spanish, into French and English in the Americas, where it has slowly evolved from barbacoa to barbecue and barbeque and bar-b-que and bar-b-q to, bbq!

Originally it was a batch of saplings used to suspend meat over a fire. Well what do you know!

Rtn Peter Jones

"I think yours was a good year."  "Oh! yes, but yours will be better."

Boris let us know of his disappointment at not being able to contribute to the law 
making process of Scotland whilst Scottish MP’s were permitted to involve 
themselves in our law making process.  He ‘sounded off’ about the carte blanche 
acceptance of Brussels’ determination to pass more and more legislation on the 
law abiding British and the effects such legislation was having on the fabric of our 
society.  He touched momentarily, on the Roman occupation of ancient Britain 
and the difficulty of negotiating around Oriental tourists in central London 
whilst riding his bicycle to and from the Palace of Westminster.  And to great 
surprise he told us that his political hero was a character in ‘Jaws’, Larry Vaughn, 
the Mayor of the fictitious town of Amity in New England.  Why?  Because he, 
(Larry), decided not to react to the consumption of residents and tourists alike by 
a giant shark, he knew that would only make matters worse.  Boris told us that it 
was precisely the correct political route to take.

Without doubt, an enjoyable evening when the political commentary wasn’t meant 
to be taken too seriously for a change.

Rtn Brian Holt

Everyone begins to gather and enjoy some quiet fellowship - with a drink in hand!

"Splendid weather"
"Yes, but don't you find it too hot?"

Now down to the serious part of the evening - sorry, did we say serious?

Benediction gets under way -
 thanks Boris, a great evening, enjoyed by all

Meeting this evening, our new president Roger Rickard presided and commenced to introduce tonight's speaker, Mr Robin Rickard, his brother.  This introduction took almost as long as the final talk, and reminded the club, that the main task of Rotarians is to control any sign of verbosity.
Robin Rickard gave a fascinating insight into his life, representing the UK in China with the British Council, and confirmed that as well as educating the Chinese in our language and culture, he ate, drank and talked 'bull' for Britain.

Rotary Blog Monday July 3rd 2006

On a swelteringly hot Monday evening, President Roger Rickard presided over an open-neck shirted assembly and before the meal discussed, among other matters, the Club’s £200 sponsorship of the successful annual Aylesbury Technology Tournament.  Whilst we sponsored the event to the tune of £200,  £240.17 was miraculously returned to the Club coffers thanks to sponsorship secured by the Aylesbury Rotary Clubs who run the Tournament.

Next, Rtn., Chris Behan got the Club’s Shelter Box support campaign off to a generously flying start, selling DVDs of ‘Witchert Rotary Reprise’, the hilarious compilation of archive film of the Club’s activities over nigh on twenty years, for £10 each. Chris had laboured mightily to make enough DVD copies for everyone and they went like hot cakes. He then announced that he would match each £10 paid from his own pocket. Thus the Club has almost reached the total cost for one Shelter Box within the first week of the Rotary year!

And so on to our speaker, who was Keith Clarke of Stewart Linford, a high quality furniture maker from High Wycombe, once the centre of the English furniture industry.  High Wycombe's involvement in furniture is now but a shadow of its former self, with the big boys such as Parker-Knoll having been lured away to other parts.

Keith Clarke with one of the marvellous examples of hand crafted furniture he brought along

Keith brought along a few fascinating items produced by Linford’s who are, it needs to be said, at the quality end of the market. Most remarkable was a limited edition chair that uses spindles formed from oak salvaged from Nelson’s Victory.  This was acquired when the Victory was ‘restored’ in the 1920s.

We were told that this chair would cost something in the region of £1,800

This Club has close connections with furniture making: Rtn., Peter Barnes is managing director of Barnes Branch, specialist timber merchants in High Wycombe, and Rtn., Jack Lazenby taught at Rycotewood College in Thame, a centre of excellence in wood crafts and furniture making. Indeed, Jack trained with the son of the last of the Chiltern ‘bodgers’ discussed by Keith in his presentation.

The entire membership were enthralled to see such craftsmanship

Following his rivetting talk, Keith raffled a prize which he had brought along: a small piece of HMS Victory’s oak, framed and surrounded by Nelson’s famous Trafalgar signal.  Who won it? Chris Behan of course!

Rtn Martin Andrew

Rotary Blog Monday June 26th 2006 7.30pm

The formal end of the Rotary year handover saw Vice-President Roger Rickard take over from last year’s most successful president, Keith Cullup, his second bout of presidency having previously been president of the Slough club. Keith looked back over his year, thanked his Council, the committee chairmen and the members, summing up as ‘great fun, great fellowship and great service to Rotary and thereby to all who we help’. Indeed during his year ‘this little club of thirty members’ had raised over £13,000, demonstrating a keen awareness of ‘Service Above Self’. 

Rtn Keith Cullup, our 2005 - 2006 President

One of his last and most happy duties was to present a Paul Harris Fellowship to Frank Readman, currently District Secretary, former club president, club treasurer, secretary and a key player in the club’s main and very successful fund raiser, the annual Waddesdon horse event.  

This presentation was followed with a one-off award to Rtn David Rankin as the 'unsung hero' of the year.  David has worked hard on behalf of the Club since joining in 2002 and last Rotary year was no exception.  For his support of the Club's Moshi project in Tanzania and for his two visits to that area supervising certain building activities, David was presented with a book which puts on record in words and pictures, his readiness to give service above self.

David Rankin, pleased as Punch!

Partners were, for the first time, invited to witness the handover to Roger Rickard and the evening finished with an hilarious compilation of video clips of events in the Club’s lively 19 years of existence.  

Outgoing President Keith, hands over the chain of office to this years President, Roger Rickard...

...and he in turn welcomes Ken Elphick as his Sen Vice President

Our 'Eurotary87' promotional DVD, shown earlier this month at Eurotary87 in Denmark, was sandwiched between other amusing video clips and very funny it all was too.  Eurotary 87 is an informal gathering of clubs founded in 1987.

Rotarians Chris Behan and Brian Holt laboured mightily to produce this very professional DVD and this ended the evening on a buzzing high note that we are sure will set the tone for another great Rotary year in our Club, which will be further heightened by the festivities for our 20th anniversary of founding.

Rtn. Martin Andrew