The juniors spent 3 hours bag packing at Sainsbury’s at Pity Me on the night of 30th December – a fairly quiet night as shopping numbers go, but the amount raised was a whopping £601.54.
The junior Christmas Breakfast raised £76
The junior Christmas fayre raised £570 for the Phillipine Disaster Appeal ( increased to £1070 on a £4£ Charity Matching scheme through Lloyds bank).
A further Bag pack is arranged at Morrisons Bishop Auckland at Easter .
All I want for Christmas is …
And so, to end the year, “Glad tidings of comfort and … “, no, sorry, can’t remember the line …
You may, or may not know that, Junior Co-ordinator, Alan Granlund, has purchased a ‘private boat’’ – a splendid’ Sims coxless quad – which is already in use by the Junior squad. Alan, not adverse to a bit of subterfuge, and some strategic ‘misinformation’ (are we talking about a DARC coach?) managed to arrange for his wife, Joy, to be walking past the clubhouse last Saturday morning, and therefore to be around for the formal boat naming.
(Joy Granlund was the club’s first Ladies captain some years ago, and a successful rower in her own right, with National Championship wins, and many other wins all over the country, and she, and her crew, also represented England in the Home Countries Match.)
So, here we are, the crowd assembled, the boat ready to be named, her bows demurely concealed in festive, Christmas wrapping.
At this point, President. Bill Parker, (no stranger to a bit of subterfuge himself) “forgot” the name of the boat, and picked, at random, a bystander from the crowd, to name the quad ..
“Ah Joy, just rip off the Christmas wrapping paper to name the boat ….”
Joy, confused, stepped up, …
I NAME THIS BOAT, THE … (did I imagine that the Mens squad, a la “Strickly” entoned the boom-bum, boom-bum, boom-bum …)
“JOY GRANLUND”
Shock, surprise, (swiftly followed by, .. someone is going to have to pay for this.)
“Alan, you just wait till I GET YOU home ..”
“Looks like, I’ll be getting MY OWN DINNER tonight”
Recovering from the shock, Joy (that’s JOY, not Joy,) , in the familiar tradition, poured champagne over the bows and wished crews using “her boat” continued success for 2014, to add to their “many wins”.
For the record, the Juniors Christmas Breakfast, was attended by 35 junior members, their parents, coaches and other club members. Aidan Rushforth won the ‘Chocolate Hamper’ raffle, a large quantity of chocolate and bacon sandwiches were consumed, cards and gifts exchanged, and generally an enjoyable morning was had all around. Donations for ‘breakfast’ amounted to £76 which will go to the clubs equipment fund.
On behalf of the coaching team, Alan Granlund would like to thank everyone for the many cards and gifts received by the coaches.
Thanks to all the parents who helped in the kitchen and supported the event.