The Club Annual Dinner is one of our formal occasions held during the year and as such it is felt that a few reminders about the evening would be appropriate:

Dress:

Many members wear formal dinner suits, with the ladies in evening attire, a semi formal dress can be appropriate i.e. jacket, shirt and tie for gentlemen. Evening Wear, Cocktail or Ball Gowns for ladies;  jeans and tee shirts, even club regalia is not allowed.

The format of the dinner is as follows:

On arrival from 18:30 take pre-dinner drinks in the bar, nearby you can also order wine for your table, to find which table you are on refer to the nearby seating plan.

When you are called into dinner at 19:00 please do so graciously and promptly, before sitting down for the first course grace will be said.

The three course meal will be served at your table, followed by coffee and mints, the menu has been pre-ordered by your committee.

And for 2012 is:

        Soup De Jour ( Vegetable )

        Roast Turkey and Accompaniments

        Apple Pie and Cream

Smoking is not allowed in the Main Dinning Area until after the formal events i.e. Dinner, Speeches and awards have been completed.

It is not considered good manners to leave the table between courses, or indeed until after the main speeches and presentation of awards; the club chairman may however order a comfort break during the evening if minded too.

Following the dinner there will be a series of speeches from: the Chairman, the Club President and a reply by the guests.

The presentation of the Club Awards will then take place, this can be less formal with robust clapping and cheering for your favourite winners.

Photographs may also be taken by members, guests and the Web Site Official Photographer.

During the evening a prize raffle will be held; Members of the club will circulate to sell tickets, the winners will be announced during a break in the dancing.

After all the formal events have taken place the rest of the evening will be taken up with the disco.

Which will finish at 1:30.

The bar will close at 1:00.

The evening will finish at 1:30 Members and Guests should arrange transport, or retire to their rooms at this time.

The club has negotiated favourable rates for those members and guests who wish to stay over at the hotel, those wishing to do so should contact the hotel directly quoting the Stevenage and District Motorcycle club discount rate, which is £50 for a standard double room and £35 for a single, including breakfast.

Any questions or issues resulting from these notes should be directed towards any committee member or sent to the Club Web Master via the Club Web Site.

With the Dinner and Dance now upon us once again, it is also time to hand out our annual trophies this is just a little insight into the names on the trophies.

This is awarded for the best entry by a club member on the George Brown memorial run Dave Green was a Vice President of the Club and also landlord of the Crooked Billett and the Hermit of Redcoats Green Public Houses.

This is awarded for the best performance by a club member on the George Brown Memorial run.

Ian was a club member for a great many years, and was one of the top motor cycle sprinters in the country. Sprinting his then famous 1000cc supercharged Vincent "Satan" unfortunately it was sprinting that took his life while competing at the Brighton speed trials.

This is awarded for the best entry by a club member riding his own bike on the George Brown Memorial run.

Again Don was a member of the club for a great many years a truly wonderful man there are so many stories about Don, if you have a spare few minutes or so ask our president Pat Barrett about Don Davies.

This trophy was presented to the club by one of our late vice presidents Jack Knott.

Jack was landlord of the Yorkshire Grey Public House in Stevenage Old Town, and presented the trophy for fastest time of day at the clubs sprint meeting it is now being presented for the fastest time at the tyre changing competition.

This is awarded for an achievement by a club member (or silly thing) done on the annual pilgrimage to the isle of man, Dave Kelly, whom we have not seen or heard from in a long while, is a vice president of the club and lives on the isle of man.

Should not need to tell you what this trophy is for.

Dave was a club member, and a keen photographer for many years and had served on the committee, the trophy was presented to the club after his death by Dave’s wife Maureen, who still comes to the Dinner and Dance

Frank or Uncle Frank as he was better known in the club was a true gentleman in all aspects, if you needed to know where Frank was all you had to do was to look round for a big cloud of smoke, and there puffing on his pipe would be Uncle Frank hence his trophy is one of his pipes.

Stupid name, but that is what this trophy is about, it is awarded to a club member who has done something silly over the past year. It was presented to the club by our ex treasure Les Ward or should that be Wes Lord?

This is awarded to the club member who has done an outstanding achievement during the past year. It was presented to the club quite a few years ago now, by the then local newspaper "The Stevenage News"

I think most of you knew Jeff, who passed away last year; the trophy was presented to the club by Cherry.

This trophy speaks for itself, but the actual trophy is one used by the Vincent Motor Cycle factory inter departmental bowls championship last used in about 1950.