December

Although it was a bit early, we had our Christmas Dinner on Saturday December 2nd at The Hunt. A great night was had by all, and many thanks to Ian & Sheila for organising it
Monday Dec 18th saw a number of the members visit Tring Brewery. Along with a few drinks we enjoyed a talk about the various aspects of brewing, and followed by a fish and chip supper. Many thanks to Alan Bradley, who drew the short straw and ended up driving the Round Table mini-bus, enabling everyone else to have a few drinks.
On Wednesday the 20th several members helped the Round Table with their annual Santa Float collection.
Then, as usual, on Christmas Eve we held our traditional Carol Service on Leighton High Street with all money collected being split between our NSPCC collection and the Salvation Army. The weather was very kind to us, which resulted in a magnificent turn out and, in turn resulted in us beating last year's record amount collected. There were a few complaints due to the lorry being at the other end of the High Street which caused some congestion, but was much better in atmosphere and getting Santa Claus in and out. Then a lot of us came back to Alan's place for mince pies and a drink, resulting in a good end to 2006.

November

On November 9th, Alan Bradley, Peter Priggen & Alan Layzell attended the Annual Meeting of the local NSPCC district. There was much made of our contribution to the the organisation and were publicly thanked for our help.
On November 20th, the ladies joined us to listen to Sarah Molloy from SBDC tell us about the recycling aims of the Council.
Hearing Dogs for the Deaf were the main beneficaries of last month's Brain of Leighton Quiz and, at the end of the month, Alan Layzell visited their head office at Saunderton High Wycombe to hand a cheque for £2,000 to Ruth Dunkin, their main fund raiser. On behalf of the Hearing Dogs, she said:- "Your gift will allow us to help more deaf people. The demand for hearing dogs is increasing with more than half a million people in the UK who could possibly benefit from one. As we do not receive any Government funding, we really do rely on donations like yours. Hearing Dogs are delighted that Rotary chose us as one of their preferred projects."
To find out more about the Hearing Dogs follow this link to their site.

Here is a picture of Alan handing the cheque over to Ruth

Here is one of Alan with Max, one of the resident Hearing Dogs.

October

The month started with several members and their wives attending the Town Mayor, Mark Freeman, at his Charity dinner at The Akash restuarant in town.
We then held a Wives Night when the Head Teacher from Oakbank School, Peter Cohen, gave us an insight into the life at the school and it's history. He also spoke on how members of our Club help in the running of the school and helped it get out of the OFSTED status of 'special needs'.
The month finished with an excellent turn out for our Brain of Leighton Quiz. Although numbers were down on last year, we still made over £1,700 for Hearing Dogs, this years charity. The winning team were The Sacred School, with the ladies of Heath and Reach WI getting the Club prize.
Some pictures of the evening can be found here.

September

During September Rob Riddell gave us a potted history of his journeys from the North East, through Scotland, and finishing in Leighton
On the 25th, Tony organised a 10 pin bowling evening at the Leisure Plaza Milton Keynes. Although only 10 members and wives turned up, a good evening was had by all. Giles won the men's title and Trudy the lady's. (Perhaps we should enter a ladies team in the District bowling competition ?)
Later in September several members helped Buzzer Bus with their High Street collection in which they raised almost £300.

August

Mid way through August, we played host to the Town Mayor, Cllr Mark Freeman.
During an entertaining evening he told us about the life of being the Town Mayor - especially as he's held the position for three years.
The following week we had a Wives Night where John & Fenella Halstead recalled their holiday in the Galapagos Islands. It sounded pretty dramatic, sailing on a small catamaran through the various islands.

July

July 1st was the Presidents Handover. A good night was had by all.
For some pictures of the evening, click here.
At a later meeting Nick told us about his latest escapade (some would call it ordeal!) where he told us about doing the 3 Peaks, where he, and his brothers, climbed Ben Nevis, Sca Fell and Snowdon in 24 hours. He can also tell you where you can be bitten by mosquitoes at least 173 times in about 20 minutes!
The next Monday we were treated to a session of wine tasting with Peter White. He had obtained a case of mixed wines from one of the well-known newspaper wine clubs and he brought them along for us to sample (with mixed comments). The month finished with a trip to Leighton Bowls Club. Unfortunately the weather was against us, so we couldn't display our bowls skills but we did however learn how to play Schule, which isn't as easy as it seems. Winner of the evening was Ian R with a flukey 34 points scored.
At the end of July, we helped the Town Council with the Canal Festival; yet another great day was had by all in the sun in Tiddenfoot Water Park.

June

Several members travelled to Granary Farm at the beginning of the month for some Clay shooting, followed by a meal. Later in the month, we played host to Geoff Rudom, from the Celebrity Fat Club and he told us how he became the record holder of the largest amount of weight lost in one week. He also let us know what went on behind the scenes of the film Gladiator, as he had a role in it (which ended up on the cutting room floor unfortunately).

May

On May 1st we held our May Day Fayre. It started off wet and several of us had great foreboding for the day. However, the gods were favouring us and the weather dried - not bright, but at least it was dry. The day went very well with us getting over £6,000 from the event. Several of the other organisations have told us about their receipts, with All Saints topping the charts at the moment with over £1,000 raised on their stall. The Donkey Derby and rides went very well, as did the sandcastle competition. After a wash-n-brush up we then went to the Queen's Head in Wing for a well deserved celebratory dinner.
On the 15th we played host to Kate Grant & Bill Diperouzu from Headway South Beds. Kate told us about the aims and achievements of the organisation, then Bill updated us in the locally famous Headway Bike Ride.
Here's a link to Headway's website
The 22nd May saw the Club members welcoming both our wives and also our speaker for the evening, Claire Mills, who was one of 4 girls who rowed across the Atlantic in aid of ShelterBox, raising over £49,000 in the process for the charity. More details can be found at their website. Claire showed us pictures of her epic journey and the more we saw and heard, the more unbelievable Claire's achievements became, especially when they were disqualified from the competition when one of the girls was injured and had to taken off of the boat.

April

We were visited by our twinned club from Lesquin in France over the first weekend. Six couples arrived at Giles' farm just after lunch, and they were treated to a barbeque ably cooked by the two Mikes (B & R). This was followed by a Clay Pigeon shoot. In the evening we met at St Leonard's Hall in Heath & Reach where we had a dinner and dance, with music supplied by Harmonix.
Sunday morning saw us at Billington Hall, where Mary & Chris Daniels from Crazy Craft Cafe showed everyone how to paint on ceramic plates and several budding painters surfaced. We then headed to the Queen's Head in Wing where we all had a typical Sunday pub lunch. Our visitors left at about 2:30.
(various photos from the weekend can be found by following this link).

March

February

On Feb 13th, we were paid a visit by Jo Parker who gave us an insight into her time in Afghanistan. Our meeting on February 20th was a joint one with the Chairman of South Beds Council, Brian Spurr, with the High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and a number of local Mayors. After the meal we were entertained by Terry Warburton, famous for the All Saints Trust, telling about his life in public relations. Once again our two darts teams were in action. On the 21st the 'B' Team took on the might of Chesham and, although losing the first two legs, stormed back to take the next two, finally clinching a successful night by winning the 1001 leg and the charity 'pot'.
However, the 'A Team' fared better, as they beat Berkhamstead 3-0 on Thursday.

January

2006 greeted us with an icy blast and a business meeting.

Later in the month, several members and their wives were present when Leighton Linslade was granted Fairtrade status. The presentation was given by the Director of the Fairtrade Foundation, Harriett Lamb CBE to the Town Mayor, Mark Freeman, who was also joined in the presentation by our Member of Parliament Andrew Selous. As an organisation that supported Fairtrade, our Club was presented with a certificate of appreciation.

Monday the 23rd saw the Club playing host to our wives and also Anthony Palmer, who is the Director of Nursing at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital who gave us a highlight into his life, both private and at the various hospitals he's worked in.

On the social front, two days later saw the Club's B-Team took on the Aylesbury Hundreds Club in the annual darts competition. Unfortunately, we lost the various games mainly due to the ability of the incoming District Governor to find the doubles to end the games. Considering they were last year's beaten semi-finalists, we don't do too badly. However, the 'A Team' fared better, as they beat Berkhamstead 3-0 on Thursday.

On the 30th we played host to Laurie & Dave from Bedfordshire Police. They proceeded to show us a new investigative tool in the form of a computer driven camera with associated software. This is used at a "Scene of Crime" to record everything that can be of any use during the investigation and trial, and was first used at the recent Hockliffe double murder. A fascinating bit of kit, and Bedfordshire Police are the first in the country to employ it.