September The AGM was held and the yearly report was presented and the officers
were appointed for the forthcoming year.
October The Club met at Rowlands for a long awaited dinner, a very convivial
meeting.
November RPC held a committee meeting
Later in the month, Chrissie and I gave a talk (in costume) at a local primary
school about Dickens and Victorian culture. We were invited as this subject
was on the school curriculum and the Head knew that we attended the
parades. We spoke at great length about Dickens works and they were
currently reading “A Christmas Carol”. The 60 children listened and asked
questions, the whole session lasted 1.5 hours. A very enjoyable experience
for both Chrissie and I.
December RPC held a committee meeting. The Dickens festival went ahead and was
well attended. The Mistletoe Ball also went ahead, again well attended and
all had a thoroughly good time and this year we did manage to get an RPC
table. On the Saturday evening we all met again and had a wonderful time at
Sol Y Sombre organised by Katie (an Associate member) our heart felt
thanks go to her for organising.
January The 38th annual RPC dinner took place at the Masonic Hall Rochester, with
27 members and wives in attendance. There was sincere apologies from the
Chairman (who was 45 minutes late), however an excellent carvery meal
was consumed. Our thanks to David for organising and also thanks to Brian
and Sylvia for decorating the tables. The entertainment this year was
provided by the West End choir, absolutely excellent and thanks going to
Tony for organising this.
Later in January Brian, I and our ladies attended the Dickens Christmas
wash up. Brian raised the question of where we would be placed for our
photo shoot due to the fiasco we endured last time, the Council will look
into it. The Chairman will be meeting with the council re their participation in
the Summer Dickens ie the playlet “The trial of Samuel Pickwick”, and the
proposed cricket match on the Sunday of the parade.
February Both Tony and I represented RPC in costume at a ceremony held at the
Guild Hall. There were four members of the Dickens Family (Ian & Harry) who
were kindly donating a letter written by Charles Dickens to Medway Council
for inclusion in the Dickens exhibition at the Guild Hall.
Also in February the RPC was invited to join with the Dickens Fellowship for
afternoon tea at Mrs Tickits in Rochester to celebrate Dickens birthday.
Several members went along and enjoyed both the readings and the
comradeship of the Fellowship.
March Discussions took place with Medway Council with regard to the new look
Summer Dickens. It was decided that RPC would be centre stage with a
“cricket match” in the castle grounds.
April Early April saw 15 members (including wives) meet at Gad’s Hill Place and
did a tour. Tour guide was Steve from the Dickens Fellowship who gave an
amazing insight to the history Dickens’s house . After the tour we all made
our way to “Copperfields” where we all enjoyed a very agreeable lunch and
conversation.
Also RPC had a committee meeting where upon a list of events was
mooted.
In addition to this, on the following week, members met at Rowlands for an
evening meal which turned out to be a lively affair.
May 8 Members met at Doughty Street in London, some had a difficult train
journey into London. Victoria and although an hour late made it and a good
time was had by all.
June 18th June Brian and Sylvia attended the Choral Evensong dedication
service for the new Mayor of Medway on behalf of the Rochester Pickwick
Club.
25th June Brian and Sylvia represented the Rochester Pickwick Club in
attending the “March through Rochester” of the Princess of Wales Royal
Regiment in recognition of the regiment having the Freedom of the City.
July. 4th July 14 members met at Covent Garden enjoyed a coffee (or wine)
before exploring the “actors” Church across the way (St Paul’s). For lunch
they moved in the vaults of the “Crusted Pipe” and there followed a
delightful 3 hour lunch with much laughter and song. A very enjoyable
afternoon in London and in such good company, priceless.
On the 11th July 17 members held their costumed meeting in a new venue
“The Three Crutches” just outside Strood. Our Ladies accompanied us so it
was not an “official” meeting as such. That said there was plenty of parking,
food was of good quality plenty of it and relatively inexpensive for three
courses. The Landlord (Rob) had been in post for 9 weeks and because it
was a tavern used by Dickens (on many occasions as Gadds Hill was less
than a mile away) wanted to rekindle the history of the place and felt that the
RPC would be a good opportunity for achieving that. He took many
photographs which will be used in forth coming publicity. He even
asked us to put forward names for the revamped top bar. The winning
suggestion was “Boz’s Bar” suggested by Chrissie Wells as this was a
pseudonym used by Dickens in his early years and Rob felt that this was
most appropriate. Lots of chat both round and across the table, sadly, after
four hours, it was time to go. A decision as to whether we would support
this tavern for our costumed meetings in the future will be made at a later
date.
August: 6th August was the date for the Afternoon Tea at the Chairman’s. A total of
20 members and their wives attended this function and a jolly good time of
chatter, laughter, plenty of wine and bless my soul even the members
bursting into song at one point! In spite of the weather the planned outdoor
showing of “The Greatest Showman” commenced after tea but quickly had
to be abandoned. Fortunately the members were able to re-group indoors
and the film continued helped along with copious amounts of ice cream and
popcorn. A great afternoon and evening was had by all.
Sept: 16 members and ladies met at the Leather Bottle in Cobham for Sunday
lunch. We met at 12.00 and left at 4.00. Weather was glorious, Sunday lunch
was great and those prawns, well what can I say apart from “please sir, I
want more”. Conversation and banter was in abundance both inside the
pub and outside in the garden as the members mixed and moved around.
The singing of the loyal Toast brought applause from the adjacent bar! This
was the last event of this club year although we have one more before the
calendar year end which will be reported on next year.
So, the past year has seen us enjoy a very active year with many events taking place,
several of which we also enjoyed with our ladies.
Please do not forget that membership of the RPC is as you know is a “privilege” and not a
“right” and as such relies on consistency of support although I would urge you to identify
at least one potential candidate each to join us, we have plenty of room for Associate
members who hopefully would ensure continuity of the Club well into the future. Thank
you fellow Pickwickians for your support over the last year.
Comentários