Friday 18th October saw the third running of the club's annual End of Season Social Evening.  It was good to see the clubhouse full of members and their families and friends, many of whom came to honour Bill Dunn, a much loved member of the club, who lost his battle with cancer in the summer.

We remembered Bill and his infectious laugh and enthusiasm.  Bill always supported events like this, and it was heartening to see that Yvonne Dunn had brought so many of their family along to pay tribute to Bill.

Music for the evening was supplied by Ian Robinson, playing solo on his guitar and providing his own vocals, and as well as showing fine musical prowess, he demonstrated remarkable stamina, playing through the dinner of tarragon chicken followed by sticky toffee pudding, and only getting his dinner after everyone else.  He certainly had to sing for his supper.

Chairperson Barry Chung was master of ceremonies, and he highlighted the work done by the captains of the 14 teams that the club put out in the Northumberland & Durham League this summer.  Organising this year was an even greater challenge than normal, due to the adverse weather early in the season and throughout the summer, which meant that many fixtures had to be rearranged.  Each team captain received £10 in vouchers to be spent at the bar in recognition of their efforts.

Barry also presented the winners of the nine finals of the club championships with their trophies.  Some of these are now in the new trophy cabinet in the entrance hall, on show to all.

There was also a special presentation by Mariana Warwick and the coaching team for John/George/Jess Robertson (let's just call him John), whose enthusiasm when coaching the youngest of the juniors is surely unsurpassable.  John, as is his wont, was quite emotional when receiving his trophy, which shows how much he cares about getting kids active and outside having fun.  Well done John!

As the evening wore on and the drinks flowed, Ian Robinson produced some crowd-pleasers, such as 'Take Me Home, Country Roads', and impromptu dancing and singing along broke out, and we even got some harmonica playing from Janet Robinson.  Bravo!

Hopefully he 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 2025.