As is now traditional, the end of the summer season is marked by the End of Season Social.  This year the social evening fell on Friday 11th October  This was the fourth running of the event, and was the result of meticulous and painstaking planning by the Events Committee, namely Yvonne Dunn, Diane Short and Andrea Corless, who laid out the main room in the clubhouse beautifully.

The evening began with general socialising as people gravitated towards the bar, before taking their places at their allotted tables.  Before long it was time for the hot buffet.  I think all of us who were there can agree that the chicken curry, chilli, lasagne (including a vegetarian version, coleslaw and the various trimmings were all excellent, and many of the contingent went up for seconds.  The pre-ordered desserts (apple crumble and custard, chocolate fudge cake and ice-cream, honeycomb cheesecake) were also superb.

Next on the agenda was the presentation of trophies and shields for the winners of the finals of the club championship, which was played in September.  Graham Fewell was master of ceremonies.  This time he had things planned out a bit better than on a previous occasion when he spent most of the time looking for the correct trophies and knocking them over.  The majority of the winners were present on the night, and Graham presented each of them with their shield or trophy (shields in the case of Jill Taylor, who picked up the mixed open doubles and ladies open doubles shields).  Yvonne Dunn nimbly stepped in to present Graham with his trophy for his victory in the men's over-55s open doubles.  You can see all the winners with their shields and trophies in the accompanying photo collage.

Once the presentations were concluded, Ian Robinson took over, armed with his guitar, mellifluous voice and a bewildering array of devices that constituted his amplification system.  After an extended set consisting of mainly 70s classics, Ian soaked up the applause and made his exit, with the music now being controlled mysteriously by Diane.  This was disco time, and soon there were plenty of dancers filling the floor, with Andrea and Paul Johnson taking pride of place.

It was getting late when everyone ran out of steam and the evening drew to a close.  Hopefully the photo collage above captures the atmosphere of the evening, and we look forward to seeing many of the same faces and perhaps some new ones in 2026.