Jill Afford reported on the early 2019 events at the last AGM, on 9th April 2019.  The rest of the year’s programme was completed as planned, with the exception of a planned tour of Burghley House in October, and a visit to the East midlands Designer Outlet.  The Burghley visit was an experiment, to see if visits to local attractions might attract more Members, but only 6 people signed up for it, and it was cancelled.  The Outlet trip was also cancelled due to lack of support

We just managed to get a very enjoyable January 2020 holiday to Warner’s Alvaston Hall completed before the shutters came down in March.  Bit-by-bit the rest of the 2020 programme was cancelled due to Covid, as was the January 2021 holiday to Warner’s Littlecote House. The rest of 2020 was a case of waiting to see who blinked first – If we had cancelled the events ourselves, we would have lost at least all of Member’s deposits, and in some cases the whole of the cost of the event, so we had to hold onto the events until the event provider cancelled it.  Jill Afford, supported by the Committee, held her nerve, with the result that we were able to return all the monies paid, to the Members.  We thank Jill for all her effort, both in putting the programme together, and in achieving this very welcomed result.  We also thank Brian Law for helping Jill with the programme. Jill is not able to be with us at the AGM.  Shortly after standing down from the Committee she had a fall, followed by a major operation for a condition that, as I understand it, she didn’t know that she had.  Jill is back at home now, and recovering slowly from this procedure.  She is regaining her mobility, but cannot drive at the moment.  We wish her a full recovery.

We have now formed a small Sub-Committee to develop a programme of events for 2022, starting with a January holiday to Warner’s Littlecote House, in Berkshire. The intention was then to basically repeat the planned 2020 programme, but this is getting off to a slow start, because of some unforeseen consequences of the pandemic.  It appears that the supplier of most of the day-trips has gone bust, the venue proposed for the late summer holiday has closed, and it is unlikely that we will be allowed on the Perkins premises for tours or events in the restaurant. We will continue to search for alternatives, and would ask Members to keep an eye on the website for emerging details.

We are continuing to review the events programme timing and content, to try and produce a programme which will appeal to a greater proportion of our Members, and in particular to our Members who are still in employment. Any suggestions or comments would be very welcome.

Garth Perry