March 2025 Meeting

We met on Tuesday 4th March for the popular Skittles Evening with Supper, at the Royal British Legion, Limpsfield. 21 members arrived to compare their skittle skills. Names were picked randomly and 5 teams were quickly organised, namely: Pilgrim, Firebird, Dropkick, Titsey and Crumbs. Beer afficiandos will recognise the team names as local breweries. 

After 6 rounds, the eventual winner was Crumbs, comprising Janet, Mary, Pat and Francis on 140 points, and leading by 16 from Pilgrim. The winners received products from the local breweries.

The player with the highest individual cumulative score was Mary with 46, well ahead of the chasing pack. Brenda was 2nd on 36, and Janet and Francis, 3rd equal on 35. The highest score in a round was 11, achieved by Mary, Brenda and Derek L. Supper seemed to have a positive effect on performance – the average score for the 3 rounds after supper was 8% higher than before victuals.

Many thanks go to the British Legion for the welcome, venue, bar, and for a warming and plentiful supper, to Graham and Caroline who organised the scoring expertly and the prizes, and Graham B for some of the transportation.

Our next meeting is a musical evening with Paul Stanworth on 1st April. Please contact Janet Bailey (822333) for further details.

December 2024 Meeting

A bumper turnout of twenty-six members, all wearing Christmas themed items of clothing, attended our Christmas Party on the 3rd December. A warming and welcome glass of mulled wine was very kindly provided by Graham which gave everyone a chance to chat. 

Background Christmas music was provided by Kent (on his blue-tooth). The buffet table was a veritable sight to behold with a cornucopia of food contributions provided by individual members from which we helped ourselves. A very big thank you to all members for providing such a wonderful array of goodies.

Then there was just time for a Christmas-themed quiz (top marks achieved by Graham and Caroline) before the raffle, which, as always, was a wonderful array of gifts superbly organised by Mary and Derek.

Look forward to catching up with everyone at our New Year Dinner on Tuesday, 14th January at the Red Lion, Bletchingley. Happy New Year to all!!

November 2024 Meeting

November was our AGM meeting and was well attended with nineteen members and three guests. A minute’s silence was held in memory of two members who had recently passed away.

Before getting down to the ‘serious’ business, as it was Bonfire Night we had our own bangers to enjoy (not the exploding sort), accompanied by mash and baked beans.

Our Chairman and Treasurer then duly presented their reports and we then moved on to the subject of electing Committee Officers. The Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer all expressed a desire to stand down. Luckily, Kent agreed (with not too much arm-twisting) to take on the Treasurer role, but as no-one else was prepared to take on the Chair and Secretary’s positions, they agreed to stand for one more year.

The Committee for 2025 is as below:

Chairman : Val Large
Secretary : Janet Bailey
Treasurer : Kent Sandiford
Committee : Heather Charman, Mary Freeman, Derek Freeman, Graham Bailey and Chris Hoskins

Liz Lake also very kindly agreed to do the monthly write-up for the Nutfield Link.

The planned programme for 2025 was discussed and agreed and we concluded with a light-hearted quiz on the subject of Bonfire Night and Guy Fawkes. Many thanks go to Mary and Derek for organising the raffle.

The Christmas Party is on the 3rd December. Mulled wine will be served before the meal, with a festive quiz to round off the evening. Details will also be available for our New Year Dinner on Tuesday, 14th January 2025.

October 2024 Meeting

Sixteen members were treated to a wonderful musical evening by local singer and guitarist, Paul Stanworth. Paul took us through 25 well-known popular songs from the 1950s to the 1980’s, from The Kinks, Buddy Holly, Simon and Garfunkel, Elvis, Billy Joel and REM, to name but a few. Between songs, Paul also entertained us with a running commentary (and jokes) detailing his time as a professional musician. 

Our very own Graham B. (on bass guitar) joined Paul on some of the songs as did many of our members giving extra vocal accompaniment. It was surprising that we all knew most of the words!!! 

Towards the end some dancing even took place. 

It was a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable evening with a request for Paul to join us at a future date. Thanks also to Mary and Derek for another great raffle.

Our next meeting on the 5th November is the ‘highly popular’ AGM. Being bonfire night, it seemed appropriate that we should put on a supper of bangers & mash. Who Knows? It could be an ‘explosive’ meeting.

September 2024 Meeting

Due to a last minute change in our programme ‘A Talk on New Zealand Wines’ has been postponed to a later date. A swift alternative had to be organised, so nineteen members and three guests were treated to a trip down the Nutfield Wine Club’s Memory Lane thanks to Graham (B).

480 photos had been selected and made into slides focussing over a period from 2007 to 2020. Many of the photos had been taken by Debbie Amphlett and they certainly brought back memories of the many activities and visits that took place over those years. Visits to Vineyards (of course!), Breweries, Wisley, the Royal Albert Hall as well as talks on the subject of wines (naturally), cheese, postcards, stately homes and Club Nights featuring horse racing, quizzes, French and Italian-themed evenings, to name but a few.

A vote of thanks was given to Graham for the time taken to put together this Memory Lane trip which was enjoyed by everyone. The raffle then took place, for which a big thank you to Mary and Derek for organising, after which we all went home with minds buzzing of the yester-years of the Nutfield Wine Club.

Our next ‘meeting’ on the 8th October is a musical evening with well-known songs played by Paul Stanworth, a talented singer and guitarist from Crawley.

July 2024 Meeting

On 2nd July, twenty-three members and three guests enjoyed the Club’s Summer Party at the local venue of the South Nutfield Cricket Club (SNCC) where we were also able to enjoy watching the SNCC Colts playing a friendly match against Horley. 

We enjoyed an al fresco spread (together with liquid refreshment of course) on a fairly warm, but rain-free evening followed by a very informal quiz. 

Many thanks to Jim Paulett and the SNCC for making us feel very welcome and for setting out the tables and chairs. Thanks also to Mary and Derek who organised an excellent raffle (first prize was a bottle of champagne) and to the members for their delicious food contributions.

We are having a break in August so our next Wine Club Meeting will be Tuesday, 3rd September when our ‘own’ member, Francis, will be talking to us on New Zealand Wines. 

June 2024 Meeting

On a surprisingly warm and dry (but not sunny) evening, the Club’s popular “Tipplers Stroll” on Tuesday, 4th June, was another success, thanks to the generous hospitality of our hosts, Maggie and Geoff Allen, who started the evening off, then Jane and Kent Sandiford who followed on. Happily the strolling distance was very manageable between the two venues.

Nineteen of us were treated to an interesting range of wines to suit all tastes and a very ample spread of appetising accompaniments. Maggie and Geoff provided a delicious choice of savoury treats followed by an informal stroll (not compulsory) around their delightful garden. 

Moving on to Jane and Kent’s, we were presented with a wonderful array of desserts, including a birthday cake (as it just happened to be Jane’s birthday!) Sparkling wine was produced by Kent for the toast and happy birthday sung.

Many thanks to our hosts for the trouble they took to make us all so welcome and to Jane for allowing us to share her birthday!

Our next outing is the Summer Party on Tuesday, 2nd July starting at 7.00pm at the South Nutfield Cricket Club.