February 2011

 

 

 

 

TaffMog’s Winter Weekend, 2010 was a great success, in spite of the fact that severe weather conditions in the form of heavy snow prevented 3 couples from attending.

53 members, from as far afield as Derbyshire, Kendal and Surrey arrived at the Marriott St. Pierre Hotel, Chepstow on Friday, 3^rd December to make a full weekend of it, including both our Chairman, Brian Lee and his wife Jean and our Vice Chairman, Andrew Hirst and his partner, Sara. The hotel was most comfortable and the staff couldn’t have done more to help.

 

The Friday evening was an informal affair, with everyone enjoying their meal in the Zest Restaurant. This set the friendly scene for the weekend. After breakfast on Saturday we set off on one of Stuart & Jackie’s scenic runs to Tintern for a light lunch at the Abbey Mill. Here we were joined by two more couples. Then it was back to St. Pierre for the customary mince pie reception, by which time the rest of our party had arrived, making 65 members in all.

 

The Saturday night was, as customary, a formal occasion and the ladies, as always, looked stunning while their partners looked like gentlemen. Thank you to Caroline, who had again provided us with an odd ode that summed up the year’s activities and got the evening off to a good start.

 

The meal was followed by a slide show, which eventually worked, thanks to the help of Stuart, Carl, one of the hotel staff and the guy in charge of the disco. Not a problem really! Then came our famous charity raffle.  We were fortunate to have been given some excellent prizes by our web site sponsor, Newtown Motors of Cwmbran as well as by the Morgan Motor Company and the St. Pierre Hotel itself. Together with donations made in lieu of distributing Christmas cards, we raised over £500 for the MS Society’s Therapy Centre in Swansea. Dancing then continued until the early hours.

 

A run on Sunday morning took us to Llancaiach Fawr Manor House near Nelson (Mid-Glam.) for tea & coffee before being escorted on a tour of this magnificent 16^th Century building by staff who appeared to have stepped right out of that era.

The weekend ended here with a carvery lunch before members bade their farewells and headed for home.

 

I am grateful to Stuart & Jackie for all their help in making the weekend a success.

We will be heading to foreign climes for next year’s event at the Salford Hall Hotel, near Stratford upon Avon.

 

Nick & Elizabeth’s noggin had to be held in daughter, Katherine’s house due to building work at their own home. Sixteen members turned up and were warmly greeted with mulled wine to take the chill off the evening. Peter took over the bar and made sure that no one went thirsty. A lot of time and effort had gone into the preparation of the food, which we all thoroughly enjoyed. My only problem was that I couldn’t do justice to the desserts – there were just too many of them – although I did try, as did everyone else. A big thank you goes to Nick, Elizabeth & Katherine for a most pleasant evening.

 

 

The final meeting of the year for TaffMog was the Christmas dinner at Usk. Thank you, Jackie, for organising this once again. The evening was well attended in spite of some members being away on holiday and others with works parties or legs in plaster or even heads wrapped with vinegar and brown paper. Our members no longer seem to just bounce when they fall over! Let’s hope Jackie and Mollie make full and speedy recoveries.

 

Rob & Kay tried to give the impression of feeling guilty about winning BOTH the raffle prizes. They wouldn’t qualify for RADA on that performance but they were very generous in sharing the Ferrero Rocher and considering (just) opening the whisky.

 

By the time you read this we will have held our AGM and should have a full programme in place for the year. Full details will be forwarded to all members and will also appear on our website.