MINUTES OF THE 9th MEETING OF 2005 OF THE ESTEAMED AND ADMIRED GENTLEMANS CLUB

January 2005

Minutes of meeting 12^th January 2005

Venue : ‘Kayalami Castle’.

Time : 19:00

Present:

Mr. Stubbs

Mr. Walsh

Mr. Huggins

Mr. Roux

Mr. Spencer

Mr. Jackson

Late:

Mr. Gibbs

Mr. Rouse

Mr. I’ons

It was decided that Mr. Stubbs would sort out the first meeting of the year after his engagement during the December period. It was thought that the Venue should be selected so as to upstage the previous members engagement exploits.

It certainly wasn’t that difficult to improve on eating ‘tripe’ at Wandy’s in Soweto or having another meal at Vinney’s in Bedfordview.

Nevertheless, those that arrived on time met for a quick beer or 2 on top of the Castle.

After viewing the city from a different angle and plotting the various landmarks, it was decided that a beer downstairs in the Library would suffice. A beautiful setting that brought us back to the days of the Rand Club a few months earlier. A kilkenny moment had arrived! Perhaps it could have, had the bar stocked some of the nectar.

Once Mr. I’ons had eventually joined the gents for the evening and all the pretcils & peanuts had been consumed, we would be estcourted to our private room, where dinner and a few more beers would be served.

After Mr. Stubbs had explained the finer details of how and where he had proposed at the castle, we would listen to Mr. Weels explain how he had to ask his misses parents permission. A daunting challenge for the big lad, so much so, that it took him 3 months to actually get engaged. With most of the gents having been there, done that. We could all sympathise with Mr. Weels. That is except for Mr. Rouse! As far as I can recall from memory, he bluntly stated to his future farther in-law(as blunt as my razor blades are from 4 months use) that he would be marrying Stasia! Hope you can make it to the wedding!

While the evening slowly drew to a close, those die hard GC members moved from the dinner table to the Bar area for ‘one last one standing’.

Mr. Spencer took it upon himself to arrange the next meeting at the Blues room.

Back

May 2005

Meeting arranged by Mr. I'ons, No Minutes.

Back

June 2005

Jambalaya Lounge

Meeting arranged by Max, but minutes have been misplaced.

Back

September 2005

MINUTES OF THE 9^th MEETING OF 2005 OF THE ESTEAMED AND ADMIRED GENTLEMANS CLUB

VENUE – WERNERS BESTRO – BOEING RD WEST, BEDFORDVIEW

PRESENT: Collen Geoffrey

Fluffy Walsh

IMM

Wielle

Rouse House

The Coal Miner

Spencer

Wining Jackson

Jacko Jnr

Ions

MISSING WITH NO DECENT EXCUSE

Grinaker Jones

Wellbeloved

Coach Clark

MISSING WITH DECENT EXCUSES

The Engineer Bails

The Teller Nielson

Well done Surfing

Allan’s mate Gary

AND, I divided the club - Stubbs

OVERVIEW OF THE EVENING

It’ll probably go down in the books as the meeting when the club was truly divided. Many a Gentlemen have now had the opportunity to marry, but very few have used the wedding as a tool to divide the club. Very few have made sure that those that were not invited, where made to feel so left out that they spent most of the evening wining about the travesty. It was a really terrible sight to see grown men, sitting heads in hand contemplating why they should have been left off the Wedding list. Jackson Snr infact took it upon himself to fine Stubbs for his total mismanagement of the entire affair.

So beside the griping and gnashing of teeth, the evening got off to its usual start with the usual suspects arriving seconds after the chairman’s Nocia signaled the start of the evening

The chaps settled in for a few quite ones while poking fun at each others Spring attire. Being the Spring edition, the chaps donned the fashions of summer which we only recently released from the catwalks of the southern hemisphere. The highlight was certainly tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber (Lawson and Spencer), wearing their GC tie and jackets but sporting khaki shorts and horribly un tanned legs. Rouse, in yet another attempt to oust Walsh as the chairman, arrived fully kitted out in Standard GC gear. Obviously the drive to and from work is sooo long that Mr. Rouse hadn’t realized that it was infact Spring. He was fined accordingly

The food was special, with our waiters providing the usual giggles as they served the chaps

Another really special part of the evening was the Welcoming home of Mr. Lawson. The chaps all welcomed Mr. Lawson home in the best way they know how – to vote for the peanut. Beside walking away with spot fines, Mr. Lawson was truly welcomed back with an undisputed land slide victory in both Big Brother and Survivor. I’m confident that if the Weakest Link was still being played, he would have gone home with a tri-factor!! Welcome Back old Chap.

Minutes were once again not available! This was the umpteenth meeting that these were not available. It was at a point that everyone has agreed that the fine for no minutes will carry the penalty of Death – the drink to be decided at each meeting – by vote.

It was also agreed that attendance at the meetings is compulsory and failure to excuse yourself prior to the evening will be strongly punished

I was asked to table the following fines so that retribution could be served at the next meeting:

Jones – 2 drinks – not yet married

1 drink – no minutes from Indian Disaster

Wellbeloved – 1 drink - No decent excuse for not attending –Bedfordview is on his way Home, and then sends out emails about Captain’s evenings the following night

Clarkie – 1 drink - No Minutes from Previous meeting – Baron

- 1 drink - Simply not turning up and sms ing Spencer at the meeting as an apology!

Stubbs – 3 drinks - Mismanagement of his wedding invitations that didn’t get to everyone on time

Jackson – If the weekend away was not firmed up and in place by the next meeting

Once the meals and onion rings were dealt with, the chaps retired to the bar. Usual banter ensued, but after some time that attention was turned on Ions and Jackson by Gibbs and Walsh as the Lessons In Love unfolded. Walsh and Gibbs explained who the web of passion has to be patiently woven and how the unsuspecting succulent prey is to be enticed into the web of passion before being trapped. Ion's and Jackson made copious notes as the lesson unfolded and each made the commitment to arrive with a battle story at the next meeting. Jackson as usual was more vocal than Ions in his ambitions for the month of September. Lets see…

By the stroke of midnight, everyone abandoned the evening and headed safely home to their respective loved ones. In some cases, I’ve been lead to believe there are more than one – IMM, Spencer and Lawson.

The next meeting will be arranged by Dr Lawson.

Back

October 2005

Meeting arranged by Mr. I'ons, No Minutes.

Back

November 2005

Meeting arranged by Mr. I'ons, No Minutes.

Back

The evening was held at the Baron in Bedforview and was organinsed by Mr Walsh. Being an end of year Christmas meeting it was always going to be a special meeting and once again the Christmas decorations didn’t disappoint. The evening got off promptly at 7PM with only 4 members not being fined for being late (Mr Walsh, Mr C.Jackson, Mr Spencer and Mr Lawson). Mr Gibbs sms’d to say he’d be 37 minutes late (interesting to note that he works 500m away from the venue). Drinks were ordered as the gentleman waited for the few late comers to arrive. It was refreshing to see the “Big Guy” arrive, he’d earlier indicated that he wouldn’t be able to make the evening due to work comitements, good on you Grantie.

At 39 and ½ minutes past 7, a Christmas tree with a shiny top was seen arrogantly marching into the Baron. Colin “unplugged“ had arrived. The late comers were dealt with in the usual potion manner, and those arriving past 7:30PM were dealt with even more harshly. It’s was at this point that Mr Walsh raised an issue which he feels strongly about. Those who break the rules of the club should be penalized with the potion, and those who don’t break rules should not be given “revenge drinks”, it seems all members get 2 or 3 potion drinks regardless of whether they abide by the rules or not. People coming to a meeting past 7PM should get fined, (the reason for 7PM is so we can squeeze as many hours of fun as possible, without having all-nighters). Members not bringing minutes should get a fine greater than the late fine, members not dressed appropriately and with wrong or no tie should also get a drink, as for the rest of the members, they should be able to pace themselves throughout the evening with a drink of their own choice. Mr Walsh suggested that he’d be keen for a competitional drink or 2 eg Survivor, Uncle Archie etc, but that some of these games were becoming tired and needed to be reinvented or even left out.

Mr Gibbs was presented with his on going penalty drink for not throwing a housewarming and Mr Jones received his “still not engaged annuity drink” with an angry glare. Mr Stubbs received a drink for showing no Christmas spirit and a lack of no “chrismas cheer” was present. It would have been easy to assume at this stage that Mr Roux had brought his gran along as a guest and it wasn’t easy getting him to stop chatting the eldery people at the table next to us.

As the drinks flowed and the evening continued without our little Christmas tree being lighted up, despite Mr Gibbs paying the waitress for a 2 pronged plug, the gentleman were in for a momouth surprise. Imagine our surprise when a special guest arrived, late as usual and took his seat opposite the GC table, none other than the infamous Gary, Gary he took his seat pretty much as the gentleman were pulling their Christmas crackers, to the tune, complements of Jacko jnr, of “Isn’t it ironic”. Eventually, once the members regained consiciousness and pulled themselves together, a brave Mr Walsh broke the tension and offered a christmas branch to Gary, who clearly was enjoying the atmosphere as well as us (it was interesting to note that later in the evening it looked as though Gary had lost another round of survivor and was no where to be seen past 10PM)

In tradition with the Christmas suppers, presents around the value of R50 where handed out randomly. The spread was probably as good as it’s ever been with Mr Huggins masterfood combo a classic, (too bad Mr Rouse was not in attendance). Other notable presents were Mr Spensers miniature car set (which provided some drinking games along the bar counter later on), a cap from St Andrews, the “double” presents from Mr Ions and Mr Clark and some foreign beers.

Another highlight of the evening was Mr Jackson’s “wish list”, and it was touching to hear his warmness and one can only hope that the new year brings these good wishes, lets just hope by the time I read this in the new year Mr Jones wish has come true and he no longer gets his annuity drink. The members will keep an eager eye on the developments at home with young Lawson, will he still be at home this time next year?

If there’s one thing Mr Stubbs learned from his 40KM trip to the Baron, it’s that you can’t go wrong with a Barons fillet. The food was exceptional and it was at this point that our very own Christmas tree plugged himself in at on the bar counter and lighted up the evening for the gentleman and patrons alike. Great photos by Mr Spencer.

The previous meetings minutes were well recalled to the members by Mr Lawson, and once the formalities were over it was to the bar for a few more quiet beers. The model car set that Mr Spencer gave away as a present were test driven along the bar counter and penalties were given for those who’s cars fell off the counter. It was at this stage of the evening that the law of diminishing returns came into effect, Mr Walsh thought that someone had stolen his phone, and complained to management until he realized he was looking in the wrong jacket. A patron introduced himself to the gentleman and gave out free samples of a new drink which reduces the effects of hangovers, Mr Walsh speaks for himself when he says he felt pretty good on Thursday morning. Its was interesting to notice the “pink panther” approach used by certain members, one being Jacko snr, who just seem to slide away into the night without a farewell greeting.

The next meeting takes palace on the 2^nd Wed of Jan and is to be organized by Mr Huggins in PTA.