Regional North East Christmas Party,
Eden Arms, Rushyford Saturday 13th December 2003
After the success of last years first regional Christmas party
I was extremely excited and eager to start planning
as far back as January 2003 for this years festive event. Not far
from where I live and close to the A1M is a lovely vintage Swallow
Hotel called the Eden Arms. After contacting them I secured 13 double rooms
for our Club party which was held on Saturday 13th December. I wanted it to be
a weekend night so more people could attend and not have to be up early for
work the following morning. So by early October I had confirmed 13 double
rooms and 26 seats for the party and entertainment night which included a 4
course traditional festive meal, perfect, well why not its Christmas!
With the aid of having all the north
east members set up on a group email it was much easier for me to inform
everyone attending the party and relay important last minute information to
them, meeting times, agenda, etc. The plan was to meet between 2.30 and 3pm
in the bar at the hotel. I thought myself and Joanne were the first to arrive as
there were no other MR2s in the car park, but I should have spotted Gordon
and Allison's bright yellow Renault Meganne who arrived much earlier after a
good run down from Hawick ( Pronounced Hoyk, near the Scottish Borders),
both by this time had become a bit too friendly with the bar, well why not, its
Christmas!
By 4pm the last of the late arrivals
had all arrived at the hotel and had been successfully checked into their
rooms. The remainder of the afternoon was 'free time', mainly the bar and the
superb swimming pool and leisure facilities before agreeing to meet up again
in the bar for pre dinner drinks around 7pm.
Everyone was kindly invited to Steve
and Jo Austin's huge room for a drop of wine and a few G and T's before
descending to the bar area to meet up with Dave and Penny Watchman who made
the trip across from Redcar but unfortunately were unable to stay the night,
still it was great to see them.
So picture the scene, 2 tables
full of MR2 MK1 Club members all enjoying the festive night, eating, drinking,
laughing, dancing and really getting into the spirit of what the clubs all
about, fun, well why not, its Christmas! As the night wore on and the drink
flowed we began to see members behave in a manner not accustomed to regular
pub meetings or runs out, and I do believe the pictures tell more of the
story, so I'll leave it up to your creative minds to decipher what went on,
alternatively a cheque payable to myself for £5 will tell the whole story!!
We retired around 01.45 to our rooms
and reflected on a great party night, the next morning over a hearty full
English brekkie we reminisced on the previous night events before wishing each
other a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Please note there will be a pub
meeting on Sunday January 4th, usual time and place. If you could all bring to
the meeting some ideas of what you would like to do during 2004 then that
would be much appreciated, unfortunately I won't be able to attend as I will
be in Ireland but Mac Sheavills has kindly stepped in to look after the
meeting.
Michael Sheavills
