Our Christmas lunch gathering is a lovely, relaxing way to end the club year. As someone remarked, Rod keeps us firmly on track on Monday nights, meaning there’s no time between dances for extended chit-chat! So it’s great to have the opportunity to slow down, sit around, and talk to each other.
More than 25 people came along this year, including a few workers who’d managed to arrange their work commitments to enable them to attend, plus club musician Aileen Logie. This is the largest turnout ever, and as tables freed up, we took over the whole front room—in the nicest possible way.
A lot of coffee was drunk and food consumed, accompanied by lively conversation and laughter. Jackie and the team at Café Thyme looked after us wonderfully well, and many of us stayed long enough for a second round of coffee, or just one more little snack …
Relative to all the club’s other events, the club Christmas lunch is an organiser’s dream. Having selected the date, the invite goes out, you make a list, give numbers to the venue, everyone comes full of Christmas spirit and we all have a good time.
There are no decorations, no dance programme or music to organise, no food to order, no money to collect or pay out from the club. And everyone comes when it suits them, and leaves when they need to.
The only thing resembling ‘hall setup’ is arriving early to secure tables. Café Thyme knows we’re coming but doesn’t take bookings, so a few dedicated souls turn up early to claim our tables as other patrons leave. We try not to drive other café-goers away, though we did get a polite request this year to settle in to our seats rather than ‘hovering’ quite so obviously.
Many thanks to Maura Beattie who took over this year’s Christmas lunch organisation, I found it tremendously freeing not to have to worry about anything other than what I would drink and eat (and drink and eat again later).
It was wonderful to spend time in such good company, and it was a very nice surprise to be presented with a card and gluten free food voucher from the club, thanking me for my work over the year as Club President.
Time for a summer break, then on with a new year of club dancing.
Kristin Downey
20 December 2023
All photos by Kristin Downey except where noted
