I Went To A Marvellous Party

I went to a marvellous party
I must say the fun was intense
We all had to do
What the people we knew
Would be doing a hundred years hence….
From I Went To A marvellous Party. Sir Noel Coward
English Playwright, 1899 – 1973
For the rest of this monologue, narrated by Sir Noel !

Yesterday, Monday December 13th we celebrated the 30th anniversary of our Probus Club, Probus Club of Karori Inc.? Do you know Probus? Is there a club near you?

We are told by Wikipedia “Although Probus membership has its greatest concentrations in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, clubs today exist in many parts of the world, including the United States, Belgium, India, South Africa and several other countries in Africa and Asia.”  So there may well be a club near you.

65 members and guests met to celebrate the occasion. It was a happy collection of friends, some new and some old, but all determined to enjoy themselves.

Good food, cheerful chatter, lively table companions and even the weather behaved, with the sun coming out from behind the rain clouds behind which it has been lurking for several days. Oh dear. I vowed to myself I wouldn’t discuss the weather.

We were joined by two Probus Ambassadors, one of whom was part of the team originally tasked with getting the club established. The other has become a personal friend in the months since I gave her a copy of the booklet I produced to celebrate this milestone.

The Ambassador presented a certificate to our President commemorating the anniversary. In thanking him, the question was raised by the President that as there are nine committee members, whose living room wall would the framed certificate grace?

One member had made two cakes. One with icing and brandy, one without. Both were greatly admired by all.

The cake was cut by the President and Heather, not the oldest, as she loudly proclaimed, but the longest serving club member and ex-president . Heather and three other ex-presidents each shared a short memory. The two Ambassadors each gave a short introduction of themselves and their responsibilities as Ambassadors.

The cake was then distributed by three bridesmaids, so called because we were the ‘back up’ team, tasked with the many small tasks that inevitably arise in such a gathering.

Coffee to have with the cake and then it was time to go. The room slowly cleared and we were faced with the detritus of such a gathering. But many hands and cheerful chatter make any job easy.

“There is nothing better than a good friend, unless it is a good friend with chocolate.” 
 Judith Baxter

JB 14 December 2021