Norwood's 1000th meeting

Monday 9th February turned into a foul day with pouring rain and wind. 36 lengths and tai chi. To Fairfield Halls Arnhem gallery for our 1000th. This was a wonderful evening and all went so well. It was great to see so many old friends. 163 brothers present and 21 of our own brothers some of whom seldom come to meetings. I even met Robert Hero again! There must have been 120 at the excellent dinner. I helped set up and had to look after John Ellery the Provincial President. At the meeting I had to vest the Grand President David Taylor and he really is such a lovely man - so friendly. His chain is beautiful and features St Thomas More. I gave my short Provincial council report and as Catena correspondent reported that Liz had a letter in this month about serving at the Rochester mass. Bill forgot to read the Croydon brothers list which raised a laugh. It was sad that Bill Beach could not come but Kevin and Phil Roberts had been to see him that afternoon. On my table I had Richard Nash, Anthony Phillips from Ealing and John Secker from Australia plus some Sevenoaks brothers. The raffle raised £1400 for Water Aid which is fantastic. we all got an engraved whisky glass and short history. The speeches were excellent and Simon's son-in-law produced excellent photos. Returned home on the bus in a downpour to find Liz safely home from Hexham. Woke up early with butterflies in the tummy so wrote a letter to Liz about how much I love her.