Christmas Party (already)

On saturday night my boat club held its annual Christmas party. We turned up at six thirty to find the club decked out in Christmas decorations, holly and lights, the comitee had worked really well to get it ready along with many members (I was not one of them Im afraid). We took out seats at nicely decorated tables and enjoyed the wine and conversation, I did a spell on the bar and the new till was comfounding everybody who came across it. I was asked at the end of the evening what I thought of it and replied by saying that it was great, but that I had managed to ring up a thousand and fifty pounds instead of one pound zero five pence :o)) the food arrived and just as I finished my stint on the bar it was being cleared away so I grabbed some and sat down, ready for the show. It was brilliant!

It started with a guy, Frank (an old fellow mariner whom I have known for years as owning a joinery business) Playing a number of Akker Bilks numbers on his clarinet, Hard to sing along to these, and then he came out with his Sax and did a number of really hot swinging numbers which got the show off to a really great start. The band in the background were miming and with long wigs gitars being played with bows (bows and arrows types) tennis balls on sticks for percussion and a tea chest base played by someone out of the blues brothers, that the Muppets put them to shame. Dut da, dut da da da dah, (repeat)

Two fellow members mimed to some songs and I was hard pressed to (having extensively checked out their lip sink) form any opinion as to whether that was true or not, they were both really Good! Our membership secretary, Bill, who took the club by storm last year as a cleaned up version of Jethro performed a solo skit originally performed by Dereck and clive. he was great and very professional, as they all were (except the band).

The finale came as a surprise. A board covering the whole of the small stage swung down from the bar ceiling, with material covered holes cut into! it now faced the audience (it took the place of the curtains) It was then announced that this would be the Weybrige Mariners tribute to Queens, Bohemian Rapsody). The music started up and with the first "Queen" note (a bit late)
a "somewhat comfounded looking" glove puppet appeared in the form of a Duck, in the middle hole singing the lead (freddy Bulsara`s) others appeared in the form of sooty, sweep, popeye etc ,ets, nine in all. Brian Mays equivalent, resplended in curly wig, even had a flashing guitar when he did the solos, half way throgh one glove puppet pulled out a gun and shot another one and it all went downhill from there. We all really laughed and enjoyed the sillyness. A bow was taken by all at the end of the show, with noisey stamping , clapping and cheering following

The Disco started in earnest and I believe that at sometime everybody was up on the dance floor dancing (that is the worth of a good disco!) We personally left at about eleven thirty and the party was just getting into its full swing. I went to the club on the Sunday to assist with the clearing up and the new Commodore remarked that this was a really different sort of party this year as "there wasn`t a fight" of some sorts ;O((

(I wasn`t there last year but apparently two grumpy old male members , aren`t they always decided to settle some differences outside the club, which was of course eventually sorted by all, with a bit of sabre rattline and a bloody nose, what a shame!)

Both my wife and I enjoyed the evening and will go to the next year one, (something that as members of this and other yacht and boat clubs we have never done before)

I might even take part. I have offered to do my barbed wire chinese rings act, resplenant in gold vinyl cat suit, as shewn at the street entertainer festival in Ghent last year, Te he! or my Blues harp expertese as busked at Putney tube station last year too. God help them should they accept and encourage me :o)). I can only play one tune (dixie) and I never did get the rings undone spending hours with the barbed wire shredding my catsuit as I tried to escape, Hospitalization was nearly the order of the day :o)) but wire cutters sufficed (spoiled my rings though)