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From the President………
WALWORTH XV
It gave me immense pleasure to be involved, as President, with our 15th
Walworth Rally. As a “foot soldier”, and more recently as
Secretary/Treasurer, I have attended a number of rallies at the Castle and
believe this has been one of the best Walworth rallies for several years.
Its success was, of course, due to all of our guests, without whom we could
not have had such a successful rally. Successful in financial terms – we
gave £1500.00 to UK Cops, and a further £200.00 to Herriott Hospice
Homecare, who helped to look after our dear sister Bev Leale in her last
days. Successful in human terms in the old friends greeted and the new
friends, some from many, many miles away that we met for the first time.
We introduced a couple of new ideas such as a charity Poker Run (we stole
that idea actually) and an auction (our own idea) to replace the famous (or
infamous) Walworth raffle. Over £700 was raised through the auction, a
figure that was further elevated to £1000.00 by the generosity of an
individual Blue Knight with a big heart.
The planning and organisation was carried out by a very dedicated bunch of
people including,
·
Jim Gardiner my Vice President, who came to the BK’s with me only a few
years ago, has been in post for a few short weeks but who put in loads of
work before that date. And what an auctioneer!
·
Liz Allsop newly elected Treasurer at the November AGM. What a
find!She’s unflappable and her book-keeping is immaculate.
·
Walter Head elected Secretary at the same AGM. I have known Walter for
years both in CID and as a real polis during the miners strike and earlier.
He has brought the same single-mindedness to the BK’s as he did to his
police work.
·
Enid (who must be obeyed!) wife of Jim. A “Knights Lady” who
deserves special thanks for the effort she put into the unseen, behind the
scenes stuff at Walworth, and in the planning & preparation.
As can be seen a very inexperienced crew indeed, as far as the running of a
rally is concerned. And I think that therein lies the key behind the
success! There has been no-one to say “Tried that
before.. it wont work” or “this is the
way we’ve always done it”.
If mistakes have been made, we will rectify them for Walworth XVI. (Yes,
it’s booked – 25th to 27th May 2007 – mark it in your diaries.) We will try to
blend the traditions of Walworth with some new stuff for next year.
And once again, to all our guests, the members who made it possible and,
last but not least, to Surinder and all the staff at Walworth Castle, my
thanks for making Walworth XV one to remember.
Stu McCarthy
President
BK England 3
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