Newsletter of the Great Ayton & District Conservative Club

Issue 14 NOVEMBER 2015

G entlemen

Welcome to Issue 14 of BluePrint, your Club’s newsletter. Almost the end of yet another year. Once again this year we are using the bonus ticket system in an effort to give something back to the members, especially those

members who support the Club throughout the year. Unfortunately, the pot of money which we have available is limited, but we will do what we can with what we have available. The value of the tickets will be decided upon at the next General Committee meeting which is to be held on Monday 30th November. This Christmas Drinks Promotion is largely being sponsored, (as it is each year) by the Sports Committee, who are paying 75% of the cost. It is their fundraising efforts, noticeably the Friday Night Draw, which is to be thanked for our festive pint. All the Summer events and outings went ahead as usual - sadly, still no hole-in-one for the golfers and even more sadly, no fishermen fell-in the water!

Never mind, better luck next year!

Before the end of November, we will have Chip & Pin facilities at the Club, as the card reader and equipment should be installed soon. This facility will enable members to use their debit card to pay at the bar (including annual membership fees) and ask for cash back up to £50.

Once again this year, the Club will be open on Christmas Day lunchtime from 11.00am until 1.00pm, and on New Year’s Eve it will close (as it did last year) at 7.00pm. Annual Subscriptions are almost due for payment again, and the costs remain the same - £11 for a Senior Member and £22 for a Full Member. A Senior Member is someone who is 65 years of age or over, and has been a member for 5 years. Those of you who are in the Club Lottery Syndicate (and pay annually as I do) please note that next year is a 53 week year.

Next year, the biennial Village Fete will take place on Saturday 11th June, based on the theme of “Royalty through the Ages” in recognition of the Queen’s achievement in being our longest serving monarch, as well as her 90th Birthday. The Club will be getting involved in the Fete; the Sports Committee will be organising the children’s sports on the Low Green in the morning, and in the afternoon we will take part in the Parade. If you could assist with the arrangements in any way please get in touch.

Can you help?

The blinds in the Ward Room have mysteriously disappeared! If anyone knows where they are, could you be so kind and let us know! Thank You

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to say a big THANK YOU to Paul and Karen and all of their staff, for the excellent way in which they look after each and every member throughout the year.

My grateful thanks are also due to each member who takes the time to get involved with the Club in any capacity.

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all, and I wish you Good Health for 2016.

View from the Chair

Phil Quigley, Chairman

Eric William (Bill) Redpath 1931- 2015

In the July Issue of BluePrint, we featured an obituary following the recent death of Bill Redpath.

We omitted the fact that Bill left a legacy of £500 to the Club in his will, as at that time, the Committee were deliberating on how

best to use this generous bequest. Bill’s endowment has now been used to help fund the updating of the CCTV system, including

monitoring of the lift and new safety features, incorporating a new alarm system, cameras positioned inside the lift and a sensor

which ensures the lift is lit when in use. This ensures any person or persons aboard are in full view via a monitor behind the bar.

I am sure these improvements will be of great benefit to our members and guests for years to come.

A plaque will be positioned on the Snooker Room wall, close to the lift entrance, in remembrance of Bill.

We are confident Bill would be pleased with the manner in which his legacy has been used.

FREE Members’ Draw

The Free Members Draw (into which all members are automatically) is drawn every Saturday night between 9.00pm and 10.00pm, and has still been won only ONCE.

The prize fund at the next draw on Saturday 7th November

has reached the dizzying heights of £580.

Don’t forget - you must be in (the Club) to win!

Bar sub-committee All licensed premises have been having a quiet time of it lately and we certainly haven’t been bucking the trend. Maybe if you come in at lunchtimes and teatimes you wouldn’t have noticed, especially if you’ve experienced the Thursday “5 o’clock club” scrum. Historically, though, our busiest months begin as the nights draw-in and we will hopefully soon restore the third cask ale to the bar.

In the Summer the Bar Committee provided seven golfing umbrellas in the cloakroom as a courtesy for any member caught in a downpour. The one remaining brolly is getting a little lonely and we hope the other six will soon be returned before the rainy season.

We hope to see as many members as possible fully participating in the Christmas festivities and give-aways.

Bill Neville

Laughter

- the best medicine

1st PRIZE No. 22 Mr Alan Temple £ 250

2nd PRIZE No. 31 Mr George Longshaw £ 50

3rd PRIZE No. 64 Mr Brian Bartram £ 33

100 CLUB

The last draw was made on Wednesday 30th September -

The following members can now buy their partners an even better Christmas present!

The next draw will take place on Thursday 31st December 2015

Please ensure that your subscription is up-to-date before the draw is made! There are still numbers available if you would like to join the 100 Club

- simply ask any Committee Member !

T his is for those of my older generation who do not really comprehend why Facebook exists.

Presently, I am trying to make friends outside of Facebook, whilst applying the same principles. Therefore, every day I walk down the street and tell the passers-by what I have eaten, how I feel, what I have done the night before and what I will do tomorrow night.

Then I give them pictures of my family, my dog and me gardening and spending time in my swimming pool. I also listen to their conversations and I tell them I love them. And it works. I already have 3 persons following me -

2 police officers and a psychiatrist.

SPORTS SECTION It is that time of year when all the outdoor events have been completed and we are well into the throes of Christmas Handicaps, as well as making arrangements for the forthcoming Smoker Night. Despite a reduction in the number of participants in all of the outdoor events, the feedback we have received from those who did take part was very positive.

Golf Our thanks again go to Howard Whitehead for organising this year’s outings - which in itself is no easy task, when having to consider the venue, the cost of the golf package and the budgeted subsidy he has to work with, as well as what he believes the golfers are willing to pay. This year’s outings were at Teesside Golf Club on 3rd June, Woodham Golf Club on 14th July and Castle Eden Golf Club on 11th September, where the Club Championship for the Leven Trophy was played. The Club Champion this year was Jon Nutsford, who scored 36 points off a handicap of 15, beating Tony Wentworth on a back 9 countback. The John Hoult Trophy is awarded to the golfer with the highest aggregate points scored over all outings for the season and was won by Dave Thackray with Jon Nutsford as runner-up.

Racing Only one of the arranged outings to Thirsk took place. The other being cancelled due to lack of numbers. As is usual, a coach was provided free of charge to members who, unlike last year, found winners hard to find. The John Edwards Racing Trophy competition is nearing completion with two legs of the 12 still to go. It appears that “Quiggers” is set to win with his “pin-prick” approach but big JD is hard on his heels. The remainder are also-rans.

Cricket It was unanimously agreed by the interested members that this year’s outing was once again to Scarborough. A free coach took a full load to see Yorkshire play Somerset in Royal London One Day Cup match. True to form, Yorkshire again got beat but what the h*** - it was a great day out!

Christmas Handicaps Snooker A reminder gentlemen that the timetable for completion of the second and remaining rounds of the competition is as follows:

Pool Twelve members took part in the Christmas Pool Knock-out Competition, played over three frames on Tuesday 27th October. Time was the winner on the night but Chris Thompson and Colin Johnson will meet in the final on Saturday 31st October.

Darts The Christmas Handicap Competition will take place on Saturday, 28th November

John Dale

2ND ROUND SEMI-FINAL FINAL

TUESDAY 17th NOVEMBER TUESDAY 24th NOVEMBER TUESDAY 24th NOVEMBER

Single frame Best of 3 frames Best of 3 frames

Ted Appleyard Trophy

As usual, the Ted Appleyard Trophy was played over 2 legs, with the away leg at Middlesbrough Conservative Club being played first on Tuesday 15th September. We were struggling to get a team together until the day of the event when a fine body of men turned out to represent the Club. As we were the holders of the Trophy, we took it with us to Middlesbrough, we even cleaned it ready for the outing, confident we would be bringing it back again. However,

Middlesbrough’s team had other ideas. We were narrowly beaten 3 games to 2.

The day of the home leg arrived, Tuesday 13th October. This time, plenty of willing players for both teams. Games got under way with the singles played first. We started very well, but some players had too much of Karen’s buffet, because after supper we started losing. Once again, we lost 3 games to 2, meaning we had lost the Trophy by 6

games to 4 overall.

For those of you who didn’t have the privilege of knowing Ted Appleyard, he had many passions in life, especially life itself. Golf was one of his favourite games, but in later years he could no longer play, so he turned his attention to snooker. The marks of his cue hitting the ceiling of our Snooker Room can still be seen! When Ted sadly passed away in 2001, the inter-club Snooker Tournament was created in his memory. The tournament would be played each year over 2 legs and would consist of 3 single games and 2 doubles, all of which were to be single frame games. So look out for next year’s tournament in memory of this remarkable man. Next time you’re playing snooker and you aren’t doing very well, just look to the heavens and ask Ted for some inspiration, and smile at the chalk marks on the

ceiling.

Fishing This year saw the Club Fly Fishing Championship fished for over 2 outings, the first of which was held at Leighton Reservoir nr Masham on Wednesday 20th May with George Atkinson winning with a catch of 9lbs 11oz.

The second round was held on Wednesday 19th August at Belflask nr Thirsk. This outing finished with 4 of the 6 fishermen who took part landing catches of 8lbs each. They were George Atkinson, Jim Jackson, John Mayfield and Dick Robinson. This makes George Atkinson the Club Champion for 2015, with a total catch of 17lbs 11oz over both outings. Jim Jackson is the runner-up with his total catch of 12lbs 14oz.

The George Hull Memorial Trophy is a separate competition, which doesn’t feature in the Club Championship. This year, the George Hull Trophy was fished for at Sharply Springs on Wednesday 14th October. Once again, there was an early start from the Club car park for the 8 members looking forward to the final outing of the year. For the first time this year, ALL fishermen landed fish, with Dick Robinson the clear winner with a total catch of 12lbs 8oz. Geoff Stephenson was runner-up with his catch of 6lbs 12oz. The prize for the largest fish of the year goes to Dick Robinson for landing his 8lb fish during the George Hull Trophy.

Happy Hours What time of day do you visit the Club?

Happy Hour 6 – 7 PM

Mildly Despondent Hour 7 – 8 PM

Bitter & Twisted Hour 8 – 9 PM

“Where’s my life gone” Hour 9 – 10 PM

“You’re my best mate you are” Hour 10 – 11 PM

Arthur Cowen

Arthur looks very content here whilst enjoying himself along with some of his many friends on his 8oth birthday on Wednesday 9th October.

Congratulations Arthur.

The photo on page 7 is of Capt. Cook’s cottage, once in Bridge Street, and now in Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne, Australia. Sold to Russell Grimwade in 1933 for £800, it was dismantled brick by brick and shipped to Australia in 253 cases and 40 barrels on board the Port Dunedin.

(photo courtesy of Editor’s daughter!)

A Yorkshireman and his wife walked past a swanky new restaurant.

"Did you smell that food?" she asked - "Incredible!" Being a kind-hearted Yorkshireman, he thought, "What the heck....., I'll treat her!" So .....they walked past it again .....

Since July, we have welcomed the following new members to the Club:

We now have a total membership of 540 (including 5 Country Members), made up of:

281 Full Members 216 Senior Members

10 Honorary Members 32 Life Members

1 Joint Life/Honorary Member

540 Total Membership

Sadly, since the issue 13 of BluePrint, the following three members have passed away:

David Mathias 1st August 2015 aged 56 years, a Member since 2014

David Buckle 2nd September 2015 aged 76 years, a Member since 1975

Ken Charlton 29th October 2015 aged 84 years, a Member since 1969 and one of our Life Members

Hatched, Matched and Despatched

Oliver Hebdon Neil Snowdon Mathew Tyrka Tariq Ali Ernest Dixon-Barker Iain Fraser Thomas Armstrong Stephen Kayley Clifford Kitching Peter Atkinson Paul Sturdy Nicholas Turner David Kish Trevor Reynolds

We hope they will make the most of their membership and the facilities we provide.

The Winterschladens get married Jonny and Vivienne Winterschladen have a daughter, Katy and a son Joe, both of whom

got married this Summer. Katy married husband Peter (photo left) on Friday 4th September in Christ Church, Great Ayton with the reception in a Marquee in the field

behind The Manor. Son Joe (who is a member of the Club) married his wife Grace

(photo right) at Sadberge, one month later on Saturday 3rd October with their reception held in Sadberge

Village Hall.

Jonny and Vivienne, praying everything would go well for both weddings, and of course, helping out where possible, turned to our Steward Paul Ryan for his assistance with our Outside Bar

Services. With 250 guests at Katy & Peter’s wedding and 150 at Grace & Joe’s, there was plenty of work for Paul to do. Luckily the larger of the two events was to be the closer, which made

for less transport problems.

Jonny said how delighted the whole family were with the Club’s Outside Bar Services. So if you’re having any type of

function or event, large or small, in almost any location, contact Paul Ryan (Club Steward), he will be happy to discuss

your requirements with you.

Paul can be contacted by e-mail at: steward@greataytonconservativeclub.co.uk or by phoning the Club on 01642 722334 Alternatively, you could do what Jonny did and call in and have a pint.

All our yesterdays

A familiar sight, but not in its original surroundings? If you can’t identify it, the answer is printed upside down at the foot of page 5 - or you could ask Ted Cumbor!

Tales from the Riverbank! James Stephenson, one of our members was recently selected as a member of the England Fly Fishing Team, an honour indeed. The Team would consist of 6 fishermen, 1 reserve fisherman, 1 official and a Manager. Together they would represent England in the International Stillwater Bank Fly Fishing Competition which was to be held at Woodford Fly Fishery, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland. The competition itself was to be held on Wednesday 14th October, with 2½ practise days prior to the competition. After waving goodbye to wife Lisa, daughter Anya and son Joe and with only a Petch’s Pork Pie for company James set off for Ireland on Saturday 10th October. When James arrived at Carrickfergus he met not only his follow team members but the members of the other teams, which had come from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. On the Sunday they got their first look at the venue for the competition and got some practise and were able to talk tactics with the rest of the team.

The Monday saw another full practise day, now the team were getting used to the water. Tuesday was a half day practise with the afternoon taken up with a team talk which would allow the water and fish to rest ready for the main event. Wednesday 14th October, Match Day, was an early start with all fishermen parading to the venue. They were greeted by cold, flat calm water. Each fisherman would fish four forty minute pegs in the morning and the same in the afternoon. James started slowly, landing no fish in the morning session; at the

lunchtime break it became obvious that Scotland were leading the competition. The afternoon session got underway with James landing his first fish very quickly, with his second not long after. At the end of the tournament there was what seemed to be a long wait for the judges to announce the results. Finally they were announced: Scotland had won this year’s international with 14 fish, England came 2nd with 13 fish and Ireland 3rd with 12 fish. However, the individual winner was James Stephenson. His longest fish was 54.5cm. This is an achievement to be proud off.

Next year’s international is to be held at Garnffrwd Fishery in South Wales.

James would like to thank those people who supported him throughout this tournament, especially those members who contributed to his sponsorship fund which raised £325.

Heart Problem 1. Let’s say it’s 7.25pm and you’re going home (alone of course) after an unusually hard day on the job. 2. You’re really tired, upset and frustrated. 3. Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to drag out into your arm and up in to your jaw. You are

only about three miles from the hospital nearest your home. 4. Unfortunately you don’t know if you’ll be able to make it that far. 5. You have been trained in CPR, but the person that taught the course did not tell you how to perform it on yourself. 6. HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE? Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack without help,

the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.

7. However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally.

8. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.

9. Tell as many other people as possible about this, it could save their lives!

Annual Membership Subscriptions are due on the 1st January 2016

& should be paid by no later than 31st January to ensure your membership doesn’t lapse.

The standard fee is: £22.00 reduced to: £11.00 for senior members (aged 65 & over, who have been a member for at least 5 years)

Please pay at the Bar

Affiliation cards are also available for a small fee

Christmas Wine

& Spirits Draw

President’s Perspective

Club Usage

I recently read an Institute of Economic Affairs publication

titled “CLOSING TIME - Who’s killing the British pub?” and

have extracted some interesting statistics.

The number of pubs plummeted from 58,200 in 2006 to

48,000 in 2013, a drop of 18 per cent in just seven years

The peak in pub closures came in 2009, with 52 pubs

shutting down each week, but pubs were still closing at

a rate of 31 a week in mid-2014, according to the

Campaign for Real Ale (Smithers, 2014).

Some of the cultural changes that have damaged the

pub trade are the consequence of economic change -

better domestic living conditions, a shrinking of the

working class and the decline of heavy industry, for

example. Others, such as the mild taboo against

lunchtime drinking and the firmer taboo against drink-

driving, are the result of changing attitudes. Still others

are the result of changing tastes.

A closer look at the figures suggests that the decline of

pubgoing has driven the decline in alcohol consumption,

rather than vice versa.

The fall in alcohol consumption has taken place almost

entirely in pubs. Between 2003 and 2013, per capita

consumption in the on trade fell by a third, from 3.9 to

2.6 litres of pure alcohol. Sales from off licences and

supermarkets, by contrast, hardly fell at all, from 5.3

to 5.2 litres of pure alcohol (BBPA, 2014: 30-31).

These cultural changes, and other factors such as the

supermarkets using alcohol prices as a loss-leader to increase

footfall as well as the no smoking ban, are obviously affecting

turnover across the licensed trade.

I am sure our members have noticed that the Club is being

used less often at certain times. Your General Committee,

being aware of this, are very proactive in encouraging new

members and I take this opportunity to welcome all our newly

elected members to the Club.

The run up to Christmas and the New Year are historically busy

times in the Club, with various handicaps and other

competitions being held. I would encourage all our members

to get involved with these events. It is an excellent way of

meeting people and getting to know other members.

Finally, I take this opportunity to wish our Steward &

Stewardess, Paul & Karen, the bar staff, all the Committeemen

and Officers and above all, the Club Members, a very Merry

Christmas and a Happy and more importantly a Healthy New

Year. Ernie Taylor

How To Insult a Fellow - in a Nice Way

A man was getting ready to tee off on the first hole when a second golfer approached and asked if he could join him. The man said that he usually played alone, but agreed to the twosome.

They were even after the first few holes. The second man said, "We're about evenly matched, how about playing for five pounds a hole?" The first man said that he wasn't much for betting, but agreed to the terms. The second man won the remaining sixteen holes with ease.

As they were walking off number eighteen, the second man was busy counting his £80.00. He confessed that he was the pro at a neighbouring course and liked to pick on suckers. The first fellow revealed that he was the Parish Priest.

The pro was flustered and apologetic, offering to return the money. The Priest said, "You won fair and square and I was foolish to bet with you. You keep your winnings." The pro said, "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

The Priest said, "Well, you could come to Mass on Sunday and make a donation. And, if you want to bring your mother and father along, I'll marry them.”

Courtesy of Adrian van Loo

Remembrance Sunday is on 8th November, with the 11th falling on the following Wednesday.

Bearing in mind Ernie’s research (published over the past few

editions of this newsletter) into Club members who served, and

sadly perished, in the Great War, it would perhaps be

appropriate to spend a few seconds remembering them, as

well as all the others who gave their lives that we could enjoy

the freedoms we have today.