Lovely sunny weather for the whole weekend. Light winds. A chilly Friday night, but otherwise perfect conditions considering the time of year. A very good turnout as usual,  -  13 boats + 2 cars.  4 teams ( each of 6 to 8 persons) took part in the quiz, and over 30 members and guests attended the weekend. Early on Saturday evening, we enjoyed individual portions of cod and chips before all crowding inside the double-gazebo for the actual quiz, followed later by some easy-going music and ditties from Bim and John.

Most of us were moored up by Friday afternoon, and so we decided to erect both gazebos there and then, on the green near to the office, with the usual struggle trying to fit them together – but ably supervised by Ray, so no big problem! Most of us then set up their chairs outside and proceeded with drinks and chatting. Some went up town for their Friday evening meals, and by 9.30pm or so most had returned to their boats, and early bed.

Saturday was another restful day, sitting out in the sunshine, trying to escape the increasingly cold shade of the trees. A few more boats came in during the day, with Sylvia being the last at around 5pm, but all boats had reserved moorings, thanks once more to Tim. More drinks, more chatting, before it was time for the Fish ‘n chip supper at 6pm. 28 meals were ordered, and Bill & Sandra kindly volunteered to go with Tim to the “Cod house”, where they endured ooh’s, aagh’s, and tut’s from the long queue inside whilst they jumped in and collected our big order. The chippie gave us an even bigger discount than expected and we managed to put £13.50 into club funds from the change. Weather was still nice, so most ate sitting outside or on the back of their boats, with a few beers and wine as usual. The meal was lovely, too many chips was the only complaint that I heard!

The big quiz started at 7.45pm, and we assembled inside the gazebo into 4 teams of 4 – 8 members. Bob announced the questions, with Norma being timekeeper for the 10 second quick-fire posers. 4 sets, each of 20 questions, were quickly run through and answers marked, with my team “Back-of-the-Tent” being victorious with 40 points. The “Quizzers” ( Hilda and co.) were a very, very close second; John’s team Winkle third; and bringing up the rear was the aptly named ( their name, not mine!) “Laughing Stock”, headed by Ray & Roger. It was a fun quiz, bit tough, but everybody had a good time doing it. It was all over by 9pm, and we all mooched around for a while before John & Bim began playing around 10pm – just for half hour or so, to round off the night. We left our tables and chairs in the gazebos and closed up, and went back to our boats just after 11pm.

A great night once more.

Sunday morning was another lovely sunny start, and so we opened up the gazebos to let them dry out before starting to dismantle them at around 11am. We put Gazebo no.1 into Tim’s office, before putting it into store later. Gazebo no.2 was loaded back onto “Lady Grace” to return to “Grandad” Dave’s boat, when he and Dawn are around again.( They have both been celebrating the birth of grandchildren, a baby girl for Dave’s daughter Katie and a baby boy for Dawn’s son and daughter in law, congratulations from us all)

A few boats stayed on another day or so, most departed on the afternoon ebb tide.

Next event is Beccles again – the finale! The End-of-Season Dinner dance, on 12th.October. Please all do your best to attend.

Regards, Ken   -  September 2019