It certainly did contain nuts!

Last Thursday the lunatics took over the Asylum and we had Ian Coombs & Rich Price give us a presentation detailing the coach trip they and a few other coach members took to Dunkirk and around Fortress Europe.

It was a trip they will remember for quite some time and the rest of us will probably remember the presentation for a long time as well. They were introduced by Kevin Spiers who was in his best RAF uniform (although he was put on a charge for wearing the wrong tie). After that Rich took centre stage and talked us through the history of the retreat from Dunkirk and some of the harrowing stories from the places they had visited. All accompanied by pictures that he had taken plus some footage that had been taken way back when it actually happened.

After Rich’s bit we had a break and were treated to Bread and Ian’s Home made Plum Jam (so far I haven’t heard of anyone dying from food poisoning but you never know).

The second half of the evening saw Ian giving his talk very much in the style we had expected, some serious bits mixed in with a lot of his usual banter & joke’s. We learnt that his Grandfather had aided in the evacuation from Dunkirk and didn’t get home again for 4 years! The Flags that you see in the background of some of the pictures were from the ship his Grandfather served on.

It was a brilliant night with several club members that weren’t actually taking part in the presentation dressing up in 40’s clothes. If you want to view some of the pictures from the evening then you can take a look at Ian’s & Rich’s Flickr ‘streams by following the links earlier in this post and also at these sets taken by Andro Andrejevic and Mark Stone.

Warning: May contain Nuts!

 

I was sent a serious picture to put into the newsletter as an advert for this Thursday's meeting. Nah I don't think I want to use that. So you get one taken on by Andy Milne (he went on the trip as well).

Last year several club members went on a trip to Dunkirk. Despite our best efforts they made it back. This Thursday Rich Price & Ian Coombs of the Escape Committee present their tales of daring night time raids and how they escaped capture. Please arrive with Promptitude and be ready for, what is quite possibly, the strangest club night we will ever have.

It's also a themed night so if you want to use it as an excuse to dress up in clothes from the 1940's please do so. Just remember it's all being done as entertainment. So don't take anything seriously.

Dunkirk and Fortress Europe

Back from our tour of Belgium and France, 4 intrepid Reflex members with their 4 compardres find themselves exhausted from a full itinerary but keen for more. Moved from some of the locations and stories that accompany them yet awe struck by the scale of the formidable enemy, we find ourselves with mixed emotions. There are so many ways that the war could have panned out but to see how close Germany were to the total annihilation of England with its V weapon projects is very humbling. Along with this the "miracle" of Dunkirk and its evacuation is now understood and it's clear it was certainly a "miracle" in more ways than the evacuation alone.

Ian, Barrie, Keith and myself all thoroughly enjoyed the trip along with the non members that joined us. With days full of touring various locations the evening were packed full of food, drink and a good laugh. We conducted ourselves with the utmost "promptitude" and "clarity" and we even learned a bit about "wenching". Ian scored 8/10 for his colouring at a contemporary restaurant even though the waitress had no idea what we were on about.

I'm afraid there may be things written here that are meaningless unless you were there and you may have no idea what I am on about, but all will be revealed on 9th February when we have our Dunkirk evening.