DECEMBER 2009 / JANUARY 2010
NEWSLETTER
Christmas is now a distant memory, the tree has been taken down, the decorations put away in the loft and the cards recycled but the scene outside the window remains the same. Snow and more snow everywhere, the side roads untreated and a spasmodic bus service. However, we are a resilient lot in this part of Lancashire and hopefully like us you all had a good Christmas leading up to New Year. As I pen this newsletter things have not changed a great deal except that most of Britain is now experiencing snowfalls causing more disruption to people’s working patterns and schooling. Our car is still a snow sculpture having stayed outside our home since Christmas Eve and at last my council tax got through to the powers that be whom were kind enough to send a gritting wagon down our road so that at least, we could walk out with a degree of safety.
However, snow had not arrived when we took to the water for our annual Christmas sail on the Leeds & Liverpool canal on board the Marton Emperor. It was nearly a full barge as we sat down to a splendid meal cooked up by Skalleague Martin Cleaver in such a tiny kitchen which arrived at our tables piping hot efficiently served by two of his staff. Much talking and laughter caused the windows to steam up but a cloth was passed round so that could all take on the role of window cleaners which meant that we didn’t miss out on the wildlife and the brightly lit up moored barges.
Kate and Tony Skaife made it from York although Dorothy and Norman Case didn’t having picked up an early weather forecast that there would be fog. Skalleagues brought guests, even a former Mayor of Skipton was aboard – I’ll leave you to guess who invited him along and representatives of local tourism had been invited as guests of Martin. Our youngest guest was 3 year old Katrina Roberts, daughter of Past President David who coped with the excitement of the raffle and the treasure hunt map which yielded a Christmas cake for the lucky recipient who located the exact spot where it was ‘buried’.
If you can access the Pendle website look out for photographs taken by Tony Skaife of our time on the Marton Emperor and the regal departure of Kate Skaife as she was ‘piped off’ by Martin Cleaver and his second mate.
-2-
Hopefully we will be able to hold our A.G.M. on the 18th January as long as the snow does not disrupt journeys there. Nomination forms have been sent out for vacancies on the council and a special thanks to those members who have sent them back either proposing or seconding people for office. If you have not already done so please can you let me know if you intend coming along to the A.G.M. so that I can formalise final numbers for the hot supper.
The programme for 2010/11 is all but formalised and should be in place by the 18th January. It promises, we hope, to be interesting, informative and should hopefully appeal to all our members.
The minutes for the A.G.M. are included with this newsletter. The reason for their lateness has been the erratic delivery of post especially the Christmas deliveries. We have now come to expect only four deliveries a week and if we are lucky delivered sometime between 1 and 2 p.m. Please remember to bring them along with you in readiness for the meeting which starts at 7.30 p.m. prompt.
In conclusion I wish all Skalleagues a healthy and trouble free New Year and look forward to meeting up with you when we can compare and contrast the depth of snowfall and the degree of coldness that we have experienced in our various localities.
Yours in Skal,
Doreen A. Rawstron
Newsletter Editor