March 2020 Meeting

March saw 16 members gather at the Royal British Legion, Limpsfield for our Skittles Evening with Supper.

Names were picked randomly and 4 teams were quickly organised namely Denbies, Sedlescombe, Nutbourne and Godstone (all vineyards in the South East). 

We had time for two rounds of skittles before the food was served. Duly refreshed, we resumed skittling and, after 4 further rounds, the final result was a win by Sedlescombe (Graham H, Ian, Isobel and Val L) with the top score of 135. 

The player with the highest individual cumulative score was Ian with 50, who also achieved the top individual score of 12. Well done Ian! 

Many thanks go to Val L for organising the teams and Graham and Caroline for doing an excellent job on the scoring front.

February 2020 Meeting

For our wine tasting evening in February, Geoff, Kent and Janet introduced their favourite tipples from Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Canada. 

I use the term ‘tipple’ as Kent deviated from the norm and included a Liqueur, but as it was a favourite tipple of his who were we to argue!). 

Members were then asked to mark each one (out of 10) for colour, bouquet, body and clarity. After much deliberation, the Wine Club’s members voted the Canadian Whisky Liqueur (or Fireball Cinnamon Whisky Liqueur to give it its full name) their favourite tipple. 

It certainly was a very heart-warming drink, especially no doubt on a cold winter’s Canadian night!! 

However, as it was a wine tasting evening it was agreed there should be a favourite wine – this proved to be a 2019 Reisling from South Australia, £10.00 from Tesco, selected by Geoff. Finally, to top the evening off, Graham H. couldn’t resist bringing his favourite red wine (it even had a cork not a screw top!) from the Sedlescombe Organic Vineyard in Robertsbridge – you can’t get more local than that which was followed by another wonderful raffle organised by Mary and Derek.

January 2020 New Years Dinner

On a very blustery 14th January (the day Storm Brendan hit the UK), sixteen members ventured out for our annual New Year Dinner at the ‘rejuvenated’ Haycutter at Hurst Green. As you will see from the photograph we are all eagerly awaiting our meal! Thank you for the photo Heather.

December 2019 Meeting

Nineteen members and guests, 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 new members Ian and Val which gave everyone a chance to chat. Individual members brought their own contributions to provide a buffet meal which was laid out for us all to help ourselves.

Then it was time for some games. Our Chairman, Val, had put together a rather unusual game - ‘Guess that Smell’! Eight little fine mesh bags were passed round containing concealed items of an intriguing aroma. It proved to be quite a difficult game, but the outright winner (Pat) obviously has good ‘olfactory’ senses!

‘Name that Christmas Tune’ followed. There were 30 tunes in all to name with only the first 3 or 4 notes played. Despite that there were 3 winners who guessed correctly 26 tunes – well done Mary, Chris and Caroline.

The prize/prizes were then awarded for the best Christmas outfit. There was a tie here between Graham B., dressed in a very festive-themed red and white suit and Heather who was adorned with flashing Christmas lights and tinsel.

Many thanks go to Mary and Derek for an absolutely superb raffle, with the special prize of a Christmas Hamper. Jemima was the very lucky winner.

November 2019 Meeting

November was our AGM where the old committee stands down and the new committee stands up – a meeting that everyone looks forward to!! 

Luckily there was not too much twisting of arms and the Committee for the next 12 months was duly elected:

Chairman: Val Large
Secretary: Francis Dickinson
Treasurer: Graham Bailey

Committee: 

Heather Charman
Mary Freeman
Derek Freeman
Kent Sandiford
Janet Bailey

With the serious part of the evening done and dusted members were then able to enjoy socialising and discussing the programme of events for 2020. Many thanks go to Mary and Derek for organising the raffle.

Look forward to seeing a few more members at the Christmas Party on the 3rd December. Members are encouraged to wear an item of Christmas-themed clothing (e.g. a jumper). 

There will be a prize for the best outfit. Rumour has it that our own unique version of ‘Name that Tune’ may be back by popular demand!!

At the Christmas Party details will be available re our New Year Dinner on the 14th January.

September 2019 Meeting

On 3rd September, 13 members of the wine club met at the Station Hotel for the pub’s monthly quiz.

Simon Bull ran an excellent quiz, which was great fun. The club’s two teams put up a creditable effort, with the Kentish Hills (5th) and Those Baileys (8th), out of 13 teams. 

This was a significant improvement on our previous efforts.

Our next meeting is a talk by the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance, on Tuesday 1st October, 8pm in the Christ Church hall. This is a fundraiser for the air ambulance service, so please bring voluntary donations and spare change for the raffle. Non-members are very welcome to join us for this meeting. Please contact Francis (Ph 822495) if you need further details.

August 2019 Meeting

For our summer adventure on 17th August, fourteen members of the Nutfield Wine Club gathered for brunch and refreshments at the Pilot’s Hub, Redhill Aerodrome.

We then went on to Godstone Vineyards (https://www.godstonevineyards.com/),just a few minutes from Nutfield. We enjoyed a wine-tasting of their excellent sparkling wines, and a cheeseboard. 

We then had a self-guided tour of the vineyard, the walk rising up the hillside and providing excellent views of the countryside looking south, followed by afternoon tea. Several members were tempted to take away liquid souvenirs. 

Many thanks to Graham B for organising the day, and to the drivers.