It is a tradition of the Company that each year, the Master
of the day hosts a dinner to say thank you to members of the Company for all
the help and support given during the Mastership. It was a great privilege
therefore for the Mistress and I to hold a dinner at the Little Ship Club down
by Southwark Bridge to show our appreciation and to say thank you. The Masters
Dinner is generally held towards the end of the Masters year and with just
under five months still to go some might think it a bit early. However, we
wanted to hold it on Valentines Day to give a little bit of occasion and have
some fun and so we dusted off our dinner jackets and got out the red balloons
ready for a great evening.
We were delighted to be joined by 29 other guests including
Wardens, Past Masters, Court Assistants and the Beadle plus their consorts.
They all looked splendid in their finery and we welcomed them all with a glass
of fizz. The catering team at the Little Ship Club were well organised and we
were served a splendid meal in the Library, ideally sized for a party such as
ours. The Mistress had gone to town with the table decorations (see picture)
and the whole room had a lovely Valentines vibe! Very romantic.
The conversation flowed and the atmosphere was very relaxed.
After the main course (roast duck) I asked the gentlemen to move to the next table
to mix up the company a bit – a good idea which gave people even more chances
to chat. Then followed my speech (see picture).
In it I was able to thank everyone for all their help and
support to me and the Mistress both before and during my Mastership. We have
known several guests in the room for a very long time and it was great to be
able to express our appreciation to all
our friends, old and new. It has been a
wonderful year so far and we have been proud to serve the Company. We hope that
members feel we have done a good job.
Then the coffee and port was served and we moved on to the
main event of the evening – the Valentines Quiz! Cheers and groans broke out in
equal measure as I asked guests to split into teams for the two rounds of Valentines
related questions. A maximum of 29 points was up for grabs but due perhaps to
the lateness of the evening (what else could it have been?!) no one got the
full score (or anywhere near!). But in the end two teams both scored 13 points
each so a tie break was required! The question was “add the digits of todays
date together
(14+2+2019) and then calculate the square root” (calculators not
allowed). A tough question but a worthy winner emerged after some frantic head
scratching; Past Master Colin Drummond! After scrupulous verification from the
judging panel (me!), the grand prize of a bottle of champagne was handed over
the victorious team. Well done everybody!
And so to the bar for a swift one before departure. How nice
it was therefore for the Fire Alarm to sound just as we ordered our drinks! But
after a quick five minutes in the car park we were let back in and the party
continued. A false alarm.
And so concluded the 2019 Masters Dinner and it was a
fantastic evening. My thanks again to the catering team and the serving staff.
Thanks also to everyone who attended and for your support. But the biggest thanks
must go to the Mistress for all her love and encouragement; I simply couldn’t
have done it without you!
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