Written by Matt Dyer unless otherwise stated.


Saturday 4th September - Alton Towers

Write up from Tom Scott coming soon!

(Tom, Courtney, Louise, Helen Dixon and Helen K)


Wednesday 25th August – The Expendables, Toms Cinema Night

Lots of shooting, lots of action and some comedy to boot, with many legendary names. A really good fun film - good suggestion Tom!

(Matt D, Tom and Matt Cluff)


Sunday 14th August – Rock n Roll Exhibition at Pump Rooms

My first ever trip to the pump rooms (apart from the library next door) despite living in the area all my life. A really good historic look at pop photography in the 50's and 60's - particularly if you like Cliff Richard, the Beetles, Buddy Holly or anyone from that era. They didn't have the camera's we have today!

(Matt D, Tom and Laura)


Wednesday 11th August – Helen Ley Quiz

Time for our monthly trip to Helen Ley to run our quiz and entertain the residents. This time we had a debutant quizmaster in Laura - and what a fine job she did too, despite the toughest ever round - geography, and my team got 1 and a half! The turnout was good, 7 of 8 on my side which was completely female apart from me (some would say including me) and the other team was completely male apart from Anna (I won't say anything Anna!), which the same numbers again. Plus John and a few other familiar faces were there. An enjoyable evening - and well worth missing the England game for!

(Matt D, Tom, Anna and Laura as quizmaster)


Thursday 5th August – CHARITIES FOR 2010/11 ANNOUNCED AT CLUB MEETING

Courtney announced that the Friendship Project won the voting as club charity and she selected Dogs for the Disabled as President's charity. Our first opportunity to raise money for these 2 worthwhile causes is the Moonlit Walk on Saturday 21st August which is open to anyone. Speak to Matt for a poster and further details.


Saturday 31st July – Bon Giovi at Cox's Yard, Stratford

Bon Jovi tributes don't get any better than this lot, at a venue I really like. Lots of good music, and then we went to Chicago Rock to continue the celebration of good music. A good night, and thanks to Dan for driving! Lots of energy from Tom in the dancing stakes, and lots of facebook updates from Dan!

(Matt D, Dan, Tom and Matt Cluff)


Wednesday 28th July – Leamington Town Walk & Drinks

Well - what a fascinating insight into Leamington's past this was - elephants, the 2nd world war, Leamington's connections with the likes of Brunel, Frank Whittle, Dickens, Churchill, numerous members of the royal family, the reality behind the stunning white frontages of many of Leamingtons buildings, and so on! Sadly the karoake wasn't happening at Willoughby, so instead we had to make do with good old fashioned conversation! An enjoyable evening.

(Matt D, Dan, James, Tom, Courtney, Craig, Claire, Anna, Alex and partner Jess, Paul and Kate from Coventry Rotaract)


Thursday 22nd July – Bowling at Leamington Tenpin

Our first trip to Leamington Tenpin for a few months and Dan was on decent form with 2 wins and 2 scores of 127 - I won't inflate his already large ego by saying it was anything other than decent. In the other game, Matt Cluff won first time round, and then I had a rare win in a low scoring contest. Much good banter was had, we then played around on the games afterwards. A good night. I won't do a blog for James birthday night - what happen's on these nights can stay out of the public domain! :-)

(Matt D, Dan, Matt Cluff, James and Lucy his girlfriend, Laura, Anna and Alex)


Sunday 18th July – Warwick Rotary Thai Festival

The Rotaract lads put a shift in again in the name of charity! The 5 strong group all adorning the new Rotaract t-shirts met up at 5.30pm to help clear away, at the end of what appeared a really successful day where Warwick celebrated Thai food and culture. We collected litter, and helped move chairs, tables and barriers. We then headed to the Zetland, sat outside and had a pint while torturing a wasp in a jar - it had a happy ending as the wasp was released. Warwick Rotary were appreciative of our efforts and their president said they would visit one of our meetings very soon, and that a cheque was on its way to us for £200 for our support of their events. Hopefully in the next 12 months we can do even more as our club gets stronger! I was then home just in time to watch Top Gear - happy days!

(Matt D, Tom, James, Dan and Matt C)


Saturday 17th July – Warwick Lions Beer Festival

After paying £4 for the bus, £5 to get into the beer tent and then £5 for the drink tokens, we finally got our first beer and sat down in the centre of the drafty racecourse. To drafty for us, so we went inside - sampled various beers and witnessed 1 or 2 people in the marquee getting a bit rowdy, then Dan dropped us into Leam. We had a sharp drink with Paul before he headed back to Coventry, and me and Tom went to koko's for a couple.

(Matt D, Tom, Dan and Paul Griffin from Cov Rotaract)


Wednesday 13th July – Helen Ley Quiz

Anna volunteered to be quizmaster this time, in partnership with Dan who prepared the questions. Very good questions too, although a few of us really struggled with the Sherlock Holmes round. It was really tight throughout and tied going into the final round. Despite the other team losing John Major for the last round which was sport, against all odds the team with only 4 people beat the team of 7 by 1 point! It was the first time Tom had lost for a long time, probably not helped by the presence of me on his team!!

(Matt D, Tom, Ellen, Laura and Anna as quizmaster)


*NEWS* - Tuesday 13th July - James announces new Rotaract forum for all members to discuss ideas etc - http://lwrotaract.freeforums.org


Friday 9th - Saturday 10th July – 24 hour Football Marathon for Charity

While this wasn't a club event I'm giving it a quick write up because it was organised by 3 former club members in Dave Gibb, Neil Collins and Mark Constable, and it was supported fantastically by our own James Lovatt who played 7 hours on Saturday morning. What a star! Former club president, welshman and allround top man Dewi Williams also made an appearance between 2am and 10am. Dave Cooling made an appearance too, although only to support the lads. 1 or 2 others with links to the club were involved. At the last count well over £1,000 was raised for the homeless word cup charity. For more info see:

http://www.warwickathletic.co.uk/
http://www.homelessworldcup.org/

Warwick Athletic was originally started by Rotaract back 7 or 8 years ago!


Thursday 8rd July – 2nd visit to Disc Golf of summer 2010

Another fine warm evening at Quarry Park where this time we had a guest from Coventry, who basically showed us how its done. Paul ended up winning by a few shots, closely followed by Tom, James, Matt, me, and then a long way back Dan and Anna. The entertainment was again provided by Dan who seemed to have some magnetic thing going on between the disc and his head. It was one of those classic comedy moments when James caught him on the back of the head from distance and Dan shouts "James!" in a semi aggressive retort. There were numerous other near misses, but then he did keep getting in the way and was often found on his iphone instead of concentrating on the game. Other incidents included Matt Cluff walking on an upturned boat, which then collapsed and he fell in, and quite a long break as one of James typically powerful yet mega wild shots flew into some undergrowth - so we all had to find it. Check out facebook for some pics from the evenings entertainment!!

http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=5550648125

(Matt D, Matt C, Tom, James, Dan, Anna and Paul Griffin from Cov)


Email circulated on charities, vote to take place at next meeting on Thursday 15th July. For those not present you will be able to submit votes via email. Charities to be unveiled at meeting on August 5th.


Saturday 3rd July – Riding for the Disabled Cheque Presentation

A few of us drove over to Shrewley on the other side of Warwick to present a cheque of £940 from last years fundraising to Riding for the Disabled. Like the WNAA presentation last month, it was very satisfying to hand the money over - we took a few snaps and headed off. Check out our facebook pages for pictures!

(Matt D, Matt C, Helen D and Courtney)


Tuesday 29th June – Burnt Post Grill and Quiz Night, Coventry

On a very warm evening we met up with the Cov Rotaract clan to try our hands at the Burnt Post Quiz. We didn't quiz get up to the heights of 4th place like last time, but we got a very similar score again thanks to the quiz brilliance of Tom - I think we were about 6th out of 12. I know I'm poor at quizzes, but it was good fun, and the food and atmosphere is always good in here. I'm sure we'll be back for more.

(Matt D, Matt C, Ellen, Tom, James, plus 4 from Cov Rotaract)


Sunday 27th June – Picnic at Mill Gardens and Eng v Ger at Pub

Well, I enjoyed the picnic and sun - and making 2 new friends in Matt Cluff's kids, who seems to liked me, ha - but the trip afterwards to Robbins Well to watch England was depressing even by England's standards. A 4-1 defeat, urggh!

At least the sun shining on what was the hottest day of the year helped to get me over the loss! Next up a trip to the Burnt Post in Coventry on Tuesday for a quiz and a chance to catch up with that nice bunch from Coventry Rotaract.

(Matt D, Tom, Louise, Courtney, Matt C, Claire & Ellen)


Sunday 20th June – World Cup Night at Matt D's

A good game, some snacks, a drink and a bit of conversation - more importantly, an excellent host!

(Matt D, Tom and Matt C)


Saturday 19th June – End of Year Meal, Bistro Pierre

Nice food indeed! Courtney arranged for some free giveaways for everyone, Helen and Dan were recognised for their contributions over the year, and I did a quick run through of some of the things we've been upto over the year. Afterwards Dan left us for a night out in Northampton - boo, and the rest of us went to Sozzled Sausage, Voodoo and then Mumbai.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed over the year, however much - it all counts!! We continue to do good work, and have a bit of fun at the same time!

(Matt D, Tom, Dan, Louise, Courtney, Matt C, Nick, Helen D, Claire & Ellen)


Wednesday 16th June – Helen Ley Quiz

This time I did the questions, and after a seriously mad rush - including some speedy driving and wolfing some food down I picked Tom up and we did our latest quiz at Helen Ley. A decent turn out of 4 or 5 of of the residents on each team and 1 from Rotaract. We did rounds involving; History, 1980 (as it was my b'day last week), South Africa and Famous Quotes - my world cup round wasn't used. The quotes proved particularly difficult - I thought the residents were going to revolt! Surprise surprise Tom and John Major's team was victorious! Another enjoyable evening.

I also discovered on the news tonight that there is a serious risk of Helen Ley closing down after MS Society declared they would be withdrawing their funding in 12 months. Lets hope they find a backer!!

(Matt D, Tom and Laura)


Monday 14th June – World Cup Night at Tom's

We visited Tom's new place for a bit of footy and general chat. Beer and pizza was also on offer. The game (Italy v Paraguay) was okay, with Italy just about scraping a draw.

(Matt D, Tom and Matt C)


Thursday 10th June – Coventry Rotaract Beetle Drive Event

Another really good fundraising event organised by Coventry Rotaract at the cricket club down Binley Road, Coventry. This time the name of the game was passing a dice around a table of 4, and needing different numbers on the dice to draw a beetle, i.e. first you need a 6 to draw the body, then 5 for a head, 4 for a wing, 3 for a leg and so - the loser would move one way, and the winner the opposite way. So you'd get the chance to network with different people. The first person to draw a complete beetle shouts out "beetle". A fairly simple game once you get into it, but great fun. Coventry Rotaract raised £175 on the night, and again we got to find out a bit more about the new Rugby Rotaract.

(Matt D, Matt C, Tom, Dan, Ellen)


Sunday 6th June – 2 Castles Run Marshalling

After their all dayer yesterday, Tom and Helen were at it again today helping support this event. Matt Cluff and Tom were stationed at Kenilworth Castle and Helen at Woodloes Island near Saxon Mill. Great work again guys, I'm sure we'll get another donation for our charities.

(Tom, Matt C and Helen Dixon)


Saturday 5th June – Coventry Rotaract BBQ

A group of us headed over to Canley in Coventry as Paul Griffin of Coventry Rotaract invited us to their BBQ. We arrived at 6.30pm and stayed until gone midnight, including much conversation, some fun and games with the barbeque and some action on his wii. Had a really good night and discussed doing a few things together in the near future, we also got to meet the young group from Rugby Rotaract who were present. We've also invited them to any of our events/meetings and given them our details and social list.

(Matt D, Tom, James, Matt C and Dan)


Saturday 5th June – Kenilworth Agricultural Show, 9am until 5.30pm

Again we used the hammer slammer like last month at the Kenilworth Festival, yet this time we also had our own white Rotaract t-shirts, a gazibo, and a couple of other competitions - all thanks to the fantastic work of Helen Dixon and her family. Helen was at the stand all day, as was Tom - what stars they are!! From the 3 hours I was there, it seemed really good with a steady flow of "business". We raised £76 for our funds. See our facebook pages for many pictures from the day.

(Helen D & Tom all day, with Dan, Matt D, Claire and James)


Sunday 30th May – Helping St Mary's Immaculate Church Celebrations

On a sunny but very blustery day me, Tom, James and Courtney helped this local catholic church with their 150th anniversary celebrations, I was serving local beer at the bar, Courtney serving tea and coffee and Tom and James helping with the skittles game. A really enjoyable afternoon, with some nice complimentary food thrown in and an extremely generous £200 donation given towards our two charities. Very pleasing! Me, Tom and James then went to a pub to reward our efforts.

Earlier in the week I also took a cheque for £50 round to former member Ian Grime's as a club donation from our admin account for his charity canoe "adventure" from Leamington to Stratford, going to the worthy cause of Birmingham Childrens Hospital. His fundraising efforts have now passed the £400 mark, so a big well done from all of us at Rotaract!

(Matt D, Tom, James and Courtney)


Thursday 27th May – Quarry Park Disc Golf

It was a fine evening with plenty of blue sky and fairly warm as we set off, it quickly became clear that despite not playing before both James and Matt Cluff were actually pretty good at this frisbee throwing lark. A sign of the later drama was quickly beginning to develop as I consistently threw my frisbee off at angles into nearby, and distant trees and foliage. Yep, I found the River Avon, then shortly after James did the same - although at least I paid for mine! We had several instances of throwing our discs into trees, while Ellen was holding up the tail, Matt Cluff went on to win the night. Dan didn't feature in the top 3 - he was saving himself for his trip to Oslo for Saturdays "event of the year" - Eurovision! Hands up if anyone else agrees that a) we shouldn't enter anymore and b) it should be relegated to BBC4! All in all a good laugh and an enjoyable evening - and damn chilly by the end!!

Check out our facebook group for plenty of pictures from the evenings entertainment!

(Matt D, Matt C, Dan, James, Tom, Ellen and Claire)


Sunday 23rd May – NEW PICS ADDED TO OUR FACEBOOK GROUP!


Sunday 23rd May – WNAA Cheque Presentation

On a real pearler of a Sunday afternoon with only the occasional fluffy white cloud breaking up the pure blue sky - we presented the Air Ambulance (our charity from last year) with a cheque for £940. It was after the annual Air Ambulance 5k that we presentated our cheque near the helicopter itself - visit our facebook pages for many pictures, along with some good shots from last weeks Kenilworth festival. It does give you a nice sense of achievement to hand over some money that concludes quite a bit of time and effort in fundraising - very rewarding!

As it was such a nice day after the cheque presentation me and Tom went for an enjoyable walk starting from Kenilworth castle, taking in a lot of history (including King Henry V's pleasure palace set 1km away from castle), before meeting Matt C for a refreshing drink at the Queen and Castle where we stayed for almost 2 hours soaking up the sun.

(Matt D, Matt C, Louise and Dan)


Saturday 22nd May – Banbury/Leamington Night out

We jumped on the train and headed down to Banbury for Courtney's local Toby Carvery where she also works 1 day a week - had a large meal before hitting a few bars in the lively nightspot of Banbury!! We found Dan a nice nickname that he rather liked, finished in a bar/club called Fever playing loads of cheesy songs, but we had to leave to catch the last train back. Once in Leamington we headed for Rios, my first trip of 2010! My personal highlight - the way Dan enjoyed and danced to an Ndubz song! Classic! We didn't stay right until the end, left at 2.30am.

(Matt D, Matt C, Dan, Tom, Lucy P - for meal only, Courtney and Craig)


Sunday 16th May – Kenilworth Festival, Hammer Slammer

A glorious day of sunshine and a fantastic team effort was on offer at a packed Kenilworth Festival in the heart of Warwickshire! Much appreciation must go to Helen and her dad an ex rotary member who brought a Hammer Slammer to the festival this provided great fun during the day and we raised £75  for our chosen charities through giving people the opportunity to have a hit to see how high they could score! We were also fortunate to have a promo stand there as well so people could read about all the different social & charity events we do. Next to us was a live stage where live music was provided, what more could we ask for? Sunshine, Music, and a great event to top it all off!!!

Written by Dan.

(Dan, Tom, Louise, Helen D, James, Ellen, Matt C, Matt D and Anna)


Wednesday 12th May – Helen Ley Quiz

No write up - but I hear it went well!

(Helen D, James, Ellen)


Sunday 9th May – Ian Grimes Charity Canoe paddle

Well done to former club member Ian Grime who completed the course from Warwick to Stratford in a canoe, raising over £300 in the process for Birmingham Childrens Hospice.


Wednesday 5th May – Charity Skydive

Nick and Helen Dixon went over to Cambridgeshire to do their charity skydive in aid of Phab and Zoes Place - our 2 charities for this year. Apparently there were a few nerves, but overall it sounds like they really enjoyed the experience - plus they've raised around £700 - loads of bottle and an allround great experience. Well done to both from everyone at Leamington & Warwick Rotaract!

(Nick and Helen Dixon with Matt C watching)


Thursday 29th April – Bowling at Leamington Tenpin

I didn't actually go to this, but apparently Matt won both games and a good evening was had.

(Matt C, Nick, Rachel, James, Anna and Ellen)


Sunday 25th April – Harbury Walk

Originally my hangover cure was to do a walk organised by Pooley Country Park over by Tamworth, but that was cancelled by the park due to lack of numbers. Instead we sampled some lovely countryside around the nice village of Harbury, just south of Leamington on a sunny and warm April afternoon. A bit of history was added to the melting pot, finishing with a cold drink at an old fashioned country pub.

(Matt D, Tom and Dan)


Saturday 24th April – Matt's Birthday Night out

This was all about celebrating Matt's 30th birthday, and I think he enjoyed his night. We took in numerous bars around Leamington before hitting the launch night of the Assembly Room's Classics Night - with music from the 90's and 00's. I think Tom and Matt in particular burnt quite a few calories on that dancefloor! We also bumped into Louise with her hen party in fancy dress in the assembly.

(Matt C, Matt D, Claire, Tom, James, Nick and Rachel)


Tuesday 20th April – Grill Night and Quiz at the Burnt Post, Coventry

A good turnout and an enjoyable evening. Some decent food (and cheap) followed by a Tom inspired quiz performance, ably supported by the rest of us. We ended up finishing 3rd or 4th out of 12 teams! Tom - I still don't believe Yorkshire folk have roast dinners every day of the week!

(Matt D, Tom, James, Matt C, Nick, Rachel, Ellen, Katie and Ant)


Friday 16th April – Night at the Dogs, Hall Green

A smaller turn out than our previous two visits, but great fun again on a clear but chilly evening. I won on 4 out of 10 races again using the experts tip from the racecard - my wins only paid for my other bets mindyou. Tom also had a flutter on a tip from one of Dan's mates on facebook - making use of his iphone! As last time, the journey there and back featured a lot of cheesy tunes from a £2 CD that Tom brought specifically for this trip! Do we know how to live!

(Matt D, Dan, Tom and James)


Saturday 10th April – Royal Priors Tinshake for Zoes Place

A lovely sunny and warm day, although a poor turn out after the £110 we raised when we were last here in January. Still waiting to find out how much we raised, but while there were many generous people I don't think we got close to that figure. All counts though and our stand covered in Zoes place material was good promotion for Zoe's Place which is a fairly new charity. We also wore nice yellow Zoe's Place tshirts.

(Dan, Matt D, Tom and Louise)


Sunday 28th March – Matt's Walk, 1st of the year, nr Offchurch

Come on, where were you all?! A nice Sunday afternoon - a nice walk in the country that costs nothing! We started off by walking up the Offchurch Greenway, which used to be part of the Leamington to Rugby line, walking along the Grand Union Canal for a good distance, before turning onto an extremely muddy track with lots of puddles. The last leg of the walk involved returning along the disused railway, however, first we had to get down from the track to the railway - and believe me, it was a very high steel bridge, Tom was keen to slide down the high almost vertical drop - thankfully he didn't. I had visions of accidents happening! We were further down a field and go onto it that way. We encountered quite a few more huge puddles and mud before returning to a dryer path. Some pleasant views of the Warwickshire countryside were enjoyed before arriving back at my car. Next time I want more of you to join me!! :-(

(Matt D and Tom)


Thursday 25th March – Bowling at Leamington Tenpin

Usually a well attended regular event and a particularly impressive turnout this time. We split across 3 lanes with groups of 5. I was on the middle lane and we were the highest scoring lane over the 2 games, helped by some dynamite-like bowling from Dave Cooling - making a guest appearance. We witnessed yet more spectacular competitiveness from Dan - where glory was dramatically pinched from his grasp right at the death in the second game to the joy of the watching hoards - well, not hoards, just the rest of us! I finished last in our second game - even beaten by Louise! Oh well!!

(Matt D, Dan, Claire, Louise, Katie, Ant, Nick, Anna, Courtney, Ellen, James, plus guests Dave Cooling, Rachel, another Matt and Craig)


Thursday 25th March – £100 awarded to club

The Coventry University charity committee (where I work) have topped up the money raised from our recent quiz night by an extra £100.


Saturday 20th March – Cox's Yard, Stratford

When we went to see the Official Receivers back in September I absolutely loved it, and again it was fantastic this time round, a really good night. Some great music at a great venue. I think judging by the dancing and numerous photo's being taken all the others enjoyed it too. Me, Dan and Tom rounded the night off by going to Chicago Rock - and yet more music and dancing!

(Matt D, Tom, Dan, Louise, Katie and Ant)


Friday 19th March – Dave Coolings Charity Ball, The Glebe, Barford

Dave C’s Heart Foundation Balls offers an opportunity for us Rotarackis to put on our best frocks and dance the night away, all in a good cause. Tom, Matt C and Nick appeared like a triumvirate of James Bonds whilst Helen D + Claire added the glamour with stunnin black dresses. Whilst the dance floor was taken up with older couples doing energetic seroc dancing, eventually the rock came on and Tom led the group in full blown air guitar “handbag” dancing which had the serocers stunned. They didn’t join in, merely waited until Tom had finished his craziness. One lesson to learn is always plan your journey in advance – getting a bus to the Longbridge island and then running in the pouring rain to Barford in a tuxedo is a very stupid thing to do…!!!!

Written by Tom.

(Matt C, Nick, Helen D, Claire and Tom)


Wednesday 17th March – Helen Ley Quiz

Its that time of the month again - Helen Ley Quiz time! This was my turn to do the questions - and having realised last night that today was St Patricks day I quickly rattled up a St Patricks day round, well, you've got to haven't you - so hopefully the residents learnt a bit about Ireland from tonight. From Rotaract we had the regular Tom and Ellen making her debut appearance. Unlike most visits we only had 3 residents on each team, they and I still really enjoyed the night. John was again there, and on the winning side captained by Tom. I also did a Comedians and Clowns round, and an interesting general knowledge round where every answer ended with "o" and was 4 letters long!! I think it was enjoyed by all - but I won't count my chickens!

(Matt D, Tom and Ellen)


Saturday 13th March – Trip to Cadbury World & Live Music at the Moorings

Using some discount vouchers we had we went to Cadbury World to have a nose, sample some chocolate and find out about the history of chocolate and one of the most famous British brands of all. Nick was on fine form, doing a handstand on the camera where your image is covered in chocolate, while Matt was trying to pinch additional chocolate from the factory. Both of them bought half of the cadbury's shop!

In the evening we went to the Moorings and enjoyed some fine music - mostly covers were played, including songs from Van Morrison, Elton John and many many others. Some of the talk was a little x rated, but that's often the consequence of having Louise around on a night out! A really enjoyable afternoon and evening!

(Matt D, Nick, Matt C, Claire and Louise during the evening)


Thursday 11th March – Prezzo's Meal

That was a good shout! For 10 quid we had a drink, a starter and a main course - and nice food too! Sitting on a roundtable so no avoiding people - I always try to avoid that Dan Wearden! Then after the meal we went to Satchwells for a drink!

(Matt D, Dan, Nick, Matt C, Hannah, Lucy and James)


Monday 1st March – Slug & Lettuce Meal

Not the incidents we had on our last trip here (me dropping my plate on the floor!), really enjoyed the food again and had a good chat - although quite a bit of a wait for the food! Excellent value for money (50% off all food), and a good way to start the week/month - even despite the company of Dan and his phone.

(Matt D, Dan, Nick, Matt C and Louise)


Sunday 28th February – Haiti Fundraising Day, Ricoh Arena

I thought I'd put this on even though only me and Dan went. It actually turned out to be a really enjoyable afternoon with some good music and dancing on the main stage, interspersed with celebrity spotting - numerous stars from soaps like Eastenders, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale and Casualty. All in aid of the recent Haiti Earthquake.

(Matt D and Dan)


Saturday 27th February – Leamington & Warwick Rotaract Annual Quiz

What a successful night! A big thanks and well done to Louise, and all those who helped and came along and enabled us to raise in the region of £450. This includes a donation of £135 from The Moorings from their new years eve pyjama party. A very nice and surprising bonus. There were around 70 people who attended and a staggering 22 teams! No surprise that the winning team contained Dave Gibb (twice past president of the club) and former member and good friend of the club Dave Cooling! One of the most successful quizzes of recent years and taking our yearly fundraising total past £1,100 with a lot still to come!!

A big thanks also to Coventry Rotaract who brought 2 teams along, and all the Rotarians who supported us!!

(Louise quizmaster, Tom, Nick, Helen, Matt D and Anna helping - Courtney and Matt C on teams)


Friday 12th February – Comedy at the Glee Club in Birmingham

We all made our separate way to Birmingham and met up at New Street before heading to the Glee Club. We made it harder than it should've been, but once we were there - what a good night it was!! It was my first trip there, it was quite a small intimate venue, with lots of tables and chairs closely packed in. The 3 acts and compere were all very different but hilariously funny - although some of them probably not for the easily offended! One vocal girl in the audience was thrown out for being too rowdy after the 3rd act of the evening absolutely laid into her, but she still wouldn't shut up. I had to leave early to catch my train, so snook out and moved quickly - I don't think he noticed me! On leaving the club, the rowdy drunken girl was loudly arguing with the bouncer - I wanted to stick around, but knew I had a train to catch. To anyone who hasn't been - I strongly recommend it! Hopefully we can do it again sometime!

(Matt, Nick, Matt C and Hannah B)


Thursday 11th February – Bowling at Leamington Tenpin

Our monthly visit to bowling, and the usual mix of competitiveness, particularly from Dan, and the general thrills and spills - plus a visit from Melissa. There was a good turnout so we split across 2 lanes. On one side all the girls and Matt C, and the other side the rest of us plus Melissa. Dan started off pretty well and won, then Ant won the next game by a country mile and I snook into second. Dan finished a disappointing 4th! Overall, Ant winning, that's right isn't it Dan? I think Matt C won both games on the less interesting other lane! (sorry if you were on that lane, I'm sure it was great!) Then afterwards I had to trek down the road to the Mothercare car park as the Tenpin car park was pull, beats parking where you shouldn't park, like Dan! Disabled - pah!

(Matt, Dan, Nick, Matt C, Katie, Anna, Melissa, Ruth and Ant)


Wednesday 10th February – Helen Ley Quiz

Nick took a turn at being the "hostess with the mostess" of the Helen Ley Quiz for this month. He also included one of the rarities which is a picture round, and in colour too! (I'm impressed Nick - Matt) Pity it was a "I'm a Celebrity Get me out of here" round rendering Tom useless. Tom's "Simply the Best(ish)" team wiped the floor with Claire + Dan's "3 girls plus 2" and gave them one hell of a hiding with an impressive 33 out of 40. Afterwards Dan and Claire got a guided tour whilst Tom and Nick chatted with the teams about Ancient Greece Architecture and drinking games/pub crawls.

Written by Tom.

(Nick - quizmaster, Tom, Dan and Claire)


Saturday 6th February – Ryton Pools Volunteering

This Saturday a group of Rotaracters gave up our afternoon to volunteer at Ryton Pools Country Park near Ryton. The weather was cold, but with joy in our hearts, we boldly marched on together up a hill where hedge laying was in progress. This involved bashing in of stakes and weaving branches in between them. Sounded like girls work so Tom and the park ranger Craig left to drive about in the buggy, chainsaw up logs and manually chop firewood - yes Tom learned an important manly skill and was very macho for a limited time! Events took a surreal twist when Craig and Tom had to stop the chopping and go and plant a memorial tree for a family who had suffered a bereavement, but the family were very appreciative, even though Tom was wearing a hoody. We then met the others and decided it was time to end and so if was back to the visitor centre for tea and biscuits.

Written by Tom.

(Dan, Tom and Helen K)


Friday 5th February – Taybarns Meal & Lazerquest

Going to an all you can eat venue is always very appealing but going to Taybarns (not Tayburns Dan!) added a new dimension to food. A great evening was had by all as we started by helping ourselves to all kinds of food which was available, this included a carvery, fast food, salad and some nice desserts. We were lucky enough to have some free drinks vouchers which Nick had. We then went across to Quasar and had a great game of lazerquest with Coventry Rotaract. We had a team of 9 and it was action packed. The game went at a fast pace, we won the game so we were happy. All in all a very good night was had by all, some tasty food followed by a good game of lazerquest can't be bad at all.

Written by Dan!

(Matt D, Matt C, Dan, Nick, plus 3 from Coventry Rotaract)


Thursday 4th February – Club Meeting - £600 cheque presented to club!

As a general rule I don't tend to include write ups from club meetings, unless something interesting happens, so this is an exception. Once again we were pleased to welcome former member Dave Cooling to our meeting to promote his forthcoming charity ball at the Glebe, but to our surprise he presented us with a cheque for £600 for our help with Roundtable's Santa's Sleigh. So a big thanks to Dave and everyone at Roundtable, and a big thanks to everyone at the club who gave up some of their time to help with what is now a very popular event. We also discussed the £107 raised at the tinshake, as well as forthcoming planned events such as a camping weekend away between 29th-31st May and a skydive by Nick, Helen D and possibly Ant in aid of our charities.


Saturday 30th January – Tinshake at Royal Priors in aid of PHAB

A successful day was spent raising money for Phab in the Royal Priors. As well as a fantastic opportunity to raise the profile of the club in the local area, we were joined by Simon La Barbera who is Chairman of Warwick and Leamington Phab. Simon helped throughout the day to support us with our charity collection and it was a great opportunity for us to work closely together, whilst getting a much better idea of what Phab provide for their members and the valuable work that they do. We have invited Simon to come and visit the club so we look forward to seeing him at one of our meetings in the near future. We raised over £100, so well done to all involved!

Written by Charlotte

(Matt D, Dan, Tom, Louise, Claire and Charlotte)


Monday 25th January – Half Price Meal at Slug & Lettuce

This was an eventful trip - food was lovely, service was poor and I dropped my plate!! Ruth had finished her main course before Louise had even started her main course, and while Louise was giving the waitress some polite "feedback" she was informed that it wasn't her problem, while this was going on I somehow skillfully dropped my plate of food on the floor in such a way that all that I lost was some of the many leaves/garnish on my tasty tostada that I didn't really want, and a few tomatos that would later appear in the vicinity of my seat! Enjoyable though, despite the setbacks, you have to laugh!

(Matt D, Louise, Matt C, Anna, Claire and Ruth)


Friday 22nd January – Hall Green Dogs

Our second trip to the dogs didn't disappoint, although Dan's driving and musical tastes left a lot to be desired. In fact, I've never had a journey quite like it - never have I quite feared for my life so much, and I can't believe I still have my hearing in tact. On the night, I won 3 of the 11 or 12 races I betted on, which wasn't bad, got a few quid back. The others won a few races too, it was a fairly mild evening by recent standards and it stayed dry. The return journey was just as action packed as the outward trip, except this time Dan and Tom decided to sing as well - and don't spend 10 mins looking to your right when you're driving past an airport, keep your eyes on the road mate!!

(Matt D, Nick, Dan, Tom, Louise and Helen D)


Saturday 16th January – Leamington Pub Night

We gatecrashed Louises' mate - Jo's birthday drinks. Starting at the Jug and Jester, before having a quick drink at Satchwells and spending most of the evening in Mumbai Blu. A good night, although no nightclub!

(Matt D, Nick, Matt C, Louise, albeit unofficially and her mate Jo and Lucy and her partner)


Wednesday 13th January – Helen Ley Quiz/Pub Night

I'd prepared my questions, I was ready for a quiz, but instead we ended up having an evening at the pub watching Liverpool lose to Reading in the cup! It was a freezing evening, with a lot of snow around and sadly Helen Ley only had 12 residents of which only 3 were up for a quiz, so instead it was cancelled and we went to the Copperpot in Leamington. My questions won't be wasted though, I'll use them for the March quiz.

(Matt D, Tom, Dan, Ant and Katie)


Tuesday 5th January – Burnt Post Grill Night with Coventry Rotaract

Despite the large amounts of snow and difficult driving conditions quite a big crowd made it out. 5 from L&W Rotaract and 5 from Coventry Rotaract. Some nice food (and very cheap given all their offers) and good conversation, with a quiz thrown in for good measure. Everyone seems keen to carry on doing events together in future - and they are a great bunch - despite Paul Griffin's consistent micky taking out of the fact that me and Dan were both wearing a shirt and tank top! (yeah, as well as clothes covering up the lower half) I owe you one Paul, I won't forget! An enjoyable night!

(Matt D, Nick, Matt C, Dan, Helen D and 5 from Coventry Rotaract)


Thursday 31st December – Assembly Rooms, New Years Party!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Sometime New Year can be a bit of a damp squib (nice word that!) but this was great, so thanks to everyone who came along! It was packed, the music was brilliant, and the company was pretty good too! Started off in the Jug and Jester, although I did join a bit later than the others who met up very early on. Louise was hassling the manager of the Jug and Jester, getting pictures of them both together - no one is safe when Louise is around. Shy is certainly not a word to describe our Louise! Then at about 9.30pm we headed to the Assembly Rooms. It wasn't long before we were dancing the night away - but where oh where was Auld Lang Syne?!?!

(Matt D, Nick, Helen D, Louise and Claire)


Sunday 27th December – Bowling, Leamington Tenpin

Another competitive dual thanks to the likes of Nick and Ant. On Sundays they have a 3 games for £5 offer, so we got a bonus game thrown in. We split into groups of 3 and 4, with Matt C, Nick and Helen D on 1 side for the first games, which I think Matt won (or maybe Nick). On the other game Ant won convincingly, beating Ruth - with me and Melissa contesting last place. For the 2nd game we swapped things around slightly so that Ant could test himself against Nick and Matt in an all male contest. Nick won the 2nd and then Ant won the 3rd. In our game Ruth easily won the 2nd game - an all girls game, with me being an honoury girl (say nothing!). I won the final game when everyone else was too tired, and a seriously low scoring game with a record number of gutter balls!! I think Ant is probably the unofficial Rotaract bowling and betting champion - although I intend to challenge the betting crown next month at Hall Green, and I'm sure Nick and Dan will take issue with the bowling tag!! I think Helen and Melissa are the unofficial Gutter Queens - that sounds nice doesn't it! :-)

(Matt D, Matt C, Nick, Melissa, Helen D, Ruth and Ant)


Friday 25th December – HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!


Wednesday 23rd December – Pre-Christmas Drinks, White Horse

I'd been out with the family, so only joined the fun towards the end of the evening, but it was fairly late by that point yet no one had left and everyone seemed in good spirits - so I think a good night was had. Dan was full of excitement after getting an early christmas present - an iplayer. I can't believe I managed to slide my way back to my mum's without hitting the deck - it was skiddier than your average ice skating rink!!

(Matt - later on, Louise, Katie G, Claire, Helen D, Ant and Ruth, Dan, Nick and Matt C)


Tuesday 22nd December – Santa's Sleigh

While many others have helped out on different dates during the last couple of weeks, I thought I'd do a write up for my first appearance helping with this. It was an absolutely freezing evening and the roads were very slippy, but it was worthwhile to see kids getting excited at the visit of santa - even though it was Louise! She passes off well as santa, could be a future in it for you Louise!! Very satisfying collecting a bit of money for Warwick Roundtable and all the local causes that they support.

A big thanks to all the others who have helped this year, probably forgotten a few but Louise, Nick, Helen D, Helen K, Tom, Melissa, Ruth, Courtney and I think Claire and the other Matt have all given some of their time to help raise money! Great work folks!!

(Matt, Louise and Helen D)


Saturday 19th December – Carols in the Castle

Oh come ye oh faithful, joyful and triumphant...........what an enjoyable evening!! Damn freezing, but good fun. Our group of 7 was split between the jacket potato, tea/coffee and soup stalls - with most of us serving soup - although the tasty tomato and basil soup wasn't as popular as it should've been, with a bit of singing to boot! After 3 hours of standing outside in sub zero temperatures we went to the Moorings and sat by the fire while a really good band provided the entertainment, and quite a lot of snow fell outside!! All in all - very good!

(Matt, Louise, Melissa, Claire, Helen D, Ant and Ruth)


Wednesday 16th December – Helen Ley Quiz

The last quiz for 2009 was certainly interesting. The Tiny's v The Xmas Plonkers was the line up for the evening. The rounds included general knowledge, geography, 2009, nouns and fruit connections. The 1st round was very close and a particular question about Cluedo really had both teams guessing. The next round was about geography, a very interesting topic and the Tiny's did well on this round as they had John on their team, a living legend who is particularly strong on this round. 2009 was always a year to remember and both teams did well on this round. The evening finished with the Tiny's winning on 35 points and the Xmas Plonkers on 27. A very enjoyable night was had by all.

Written by Dan.

(Dan - quizmaster, Claire, Ruth, Helen D and Nick)


Saturday 5th December – Christmas Meal at Paprika Club, L'Spa

5 or 6 of us met up at Voodoo for a pre meal drink. There was then a crowd of 9 for the meal, and we had the nice room upstairs - although the gents were a little on the tropical side, some kind of heating problem I think! The food was great but we had to wait quite a while for our main course - getting a free Baileys for our trouble. After Paprika we went to Willoughby, stayed in there for quite a while where Nick took quite a number of pictures for facebook as well as breaking a glass. Half of us moved on to Mumbai Blu and some went to Rios. An enjoyable evening - although on this occasion I was too tired for Rios so gave it a miss! *shock news*

(Matt D, Tom, Dan, Nick, Matt C, Helen D, Courtney, Tim and Lucy P)


Tuesday 1st December – Bowling Night at Leamington Tenpin

Our first trip to bowling since early October - how long ago does that seem now? Once again another great turnout for this social event. Ant won both games in his group of 4, also featuring Matt C, Claire and Helen D. My group had Dan, Anna and Nick. Dan won the first and Nick the second. I was generally rubbish, finishing last and 3rd. I've lost it - if I ever had it! After bowling at around 10ish Louise and Katie joined us and we went to the White Horse for a drink where we found a nice sofa to home in on, some board games and Dan's facebook pictures to entertain us!

(Matt D, Tom, Dan, Nick, Matt C, Claire, Anna, Helen D, Louise and Katie G)


Monday 30th November - SANTA'S SLEIGH 2009

Once again Leamington and Warwick Rotaract is looking to support Warwick Roundtable and our former member Dave Cooling, aka Santa (shhhhh) with this fantastic event, which always raises a lot of money for good local causes. We need to drum up as much interest as possible by the end of next weekend - Dec 6th, as their first outing is shortly after this date. I've excluded those dates where they already have plenty of support. Its more enjoyable if there's a decent group of us on a few dates. The slots are as follows (people currently interested in brackets):

Wed 9th Dec - Chase Meadow - 6pm-9pm (Matt D?)
Thu 10th Dec - Spinney Hill - 6pm-9pm (Katie G)
Sat 12th Dec - Shires Retail Park - 9am-1pm (Tom)
Sat 12th Dec - Shires Retail Park - 1pm-4pm
Thu 17th Dec - Myton Road - 6pm-9pm CLUB MEETING NIGHT (Katie G)
Sat 19th Dec - Sainsbury's, Leamington Spa - 9am-1pm
Sat 19th Dec - Sainsbury's, Leamington Spa - 1pm-4pm (Helen D)
Sun 20th Dec - Lidl, Leamington Spa - 9am-1pm
Sun 20th Dec - Lidl, Leamington Spa - 1pm-4pm
Mon 21st Dec - Woodloes - 6pm-9pm (Claire, Matt C, Nick)
Tue 22nd Dec - Warwick Gates - 6pm-9pm (Helen D, Matt D?)
Wed 23rd Dec - Packmores - 6pm-9pm
Thu 24th Dec - Sainsbury's, Warwick - TBC

(Please note that night collections leave from Warwick School, Junior school car park in the tennis court area at 6pm and return by 9pm latest)


Saturday 28th November – Leamington Pub Night

On a dismal wet and cold evening we started off at the Star and Garter and then Tom's cunning plan of drawing the next pub out of a hat came into fruition, so on we moved to Willoughby's. Me and t'other Matt sat in rather grand thrown like seats, and I certainly wasn't the queen. On we went to Satchwell's, then we went to the Assembly Rooms, unfortunately while Tom had a ticket, they weren't selling them on the door, so Tom managed to sell his own ticket and we went and joined the others in the Duke (formerly Yates). Shortly after we moved on to Koko's, and after Tom consumed a couple of shots we soon closed in on the dancefloor on the 1st floor. Dan's coat was pinched and hidden, and Tom continued to knock back the drink, including numerous shots! If he didn't have a very sore head, I'd be very surprised. I left shortly before the others (unlike me) as I had an early start on Sunday - an interesting night, but a good one in the end!

(Matt D, Tom, Dan - albeit quite a bit later, Nick, Matt C and Helen D)


Thursday 26th November – Victorian Evening

This didn't quite go to plan, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. By the time our group was together and we found our contact from Rotary they didn't need our help. However, we had a fantastic turnout, so a big thankyou if you're reading this. It was still a good chance to look around, because I'd never been to this evening before. We bumped into Mr Dave Cooling AKA Santa Claus and we had a drink in the Rose Crown. I didn't realise how big this event was.

(Matt D, Tom, Dan, Nick, Matt C, Claire, Anna, Helen D, Courtney, Louise and Katie G)


Monday 23rd November – Coventry/L&W Rotaract joint pub night

A good night was had in Lloyds in Coventry city centre. A decent sized group from our club met up with about 8 or so from Coventry Rotaract for a few drinks and a chat on a Monday night. For them it was also a new members night and they had a few new faces so was a successful evening, plus we chatted again about doing plenty of other stuff together in the future. We'll both be stronger if we join forces as often as possible - its win win for both I think!

(Matt, Tom, Dan, Nick. Matt C, Claire and a large group from Cov Rotaract)


Saturday 21st November – Wii Night at Toms

Cheers Tom for putting this on! Makes a change to do something a bit different on a Saturday night. There were an assortment of games including bowling, mario kart and golf, some booze, some snacks and some pizza! I won the bowling, I had a go at mario kart but finished last in every race and had a lot of Pringles and Strongbow. I also recall the momentary panic when I thought I was trapped in the bathroom, at least I managed to free myself, unlike t'other Matt!

I've also just booked a table for between 10 and 12 at Paprika Club for 8pm on Saturday 5th December, I will call back a day or two before to confirm exact numbers, so there's still time for people to join us!!

(Matt, Tom, Nick, Matt, Lucy, Helen D, Tom's mate)


Thursday 19th November - Thanks to all who attended the club meeting on Thursday, it was a very pleasing turnout. Lots of good events coming up, with lots of names down!!

Friday 13th November – Lazerquest, Coventry Tenpin

A very enjoyable night was had by all as we joined forces with Coventry Rotaract for a great night doing lazerquest. We had 2 games, the first was us versus another group. If you have never tried doing lazerquest I would strongly recommend it, its in the dark and great fun. We were hiding in all sorts of places and shooting the other team in all directions. It was very energetic and being tactful was key, when the game finished we were pleased that we won. The 2nd game consisted of myself and both Matt's against Paul, Lauren and Nick. Again this game was at a fast pace and we got hit quite a few times and had to recharge our lazer at the energizer point. We were unfortunate to lose the game but it was very enjoyable playing against each other. We finished the night by having a drink to discuss the nights games and a planned night out in Coventry.

Written by Dan

(Matt, Dan, Nick and t'other Matt and Paul and Lauren from Cov Rotaract)


Wednesday 11th November – Helen Ley Quiz

I was back as quizmaster tonight, having just about shaken off my flu bug! Nick, who came to his first club meeting last week also joined us and was on "Team CCC" - a team which included John (a Helen Ley regular and quiz supremo!) and Tom's team was Magnificent 7. After 5 long rounds Tom's team won by 4 points, although there were only 1 or 2 marks in it up until the last round and Team CCC did lose John and another member for the last round. Another enjoyable quiz, and the residents were again very appreciative. Next time round both myself and Tom are unavailable, so Dan has kindly volunteered as quizmaster already - don't miss it!!

(Matt, Tom and Nick)


Tuesday 3rd November – Cinema, This is it

I was really keen to see this, being a big MJ fan so only sent out an email a day or so before, thankfully someone did come forward. He may have had his problems, but this film showed that he had lost none of his genuis and talent. He may have keeled over and died trying to do 50 live performances of that kind of energy - but they surely would've been awesome to witness. In my opinion, the greatest performer we'll ever witness!

(Matt and Helen D)


Sunday 1st November – Coventry Blaze v Cardiff Devils

The last couple of Blaze games I've been to now have ended in disappointing defeats. They were kitted out wearing their Haloween strip, but nothing was scarier than their performance on the ice. There weren't even many goals (finished 2-1) or fights - apart from a scuffle at the end. Lucy made a surprise late appearance and was taking numerous pictures with her professional looking camera.

(Matt, Dan, Tom, Lucy, Helen D, Courtney and Craig)


Saturday 31st October – Haloween night out in Coventry

As no one came forward for the original plan of a pub night in Stratford we thought we'd move it to Coventry - which kinda suited me as I was late back from Wolves' game at Stoke. It was a really busy evening, with lots of fancy dress. We finished the evening in Lava/Ignite on their great dancefloor that lights up.

(Matt, Dan and Tom)


Wednesday 28th October – Goodbye Michael Jackson

We had to wait quite a while before he emerged, although there were some decent acts before him, but when he did emerge he looked ridiculously like the real thing. He moved like him, sounded like him and had even had quite a lot of plastic surgery to look more like him. It was just a pity he wasn't on for longer than 1 hour. I think Dan and Helen also enjoyed it.

(Matt, Dan and Helen D)


Saturday 24th October – Meal out at Ruby, L'Spa

We'd been to Ruby before and really enjoyed it, I hadn't been for a few months and hadn't eaten much all day so was very much looking forward to this. It didn't disappoint. We had 2 rounds of starters - so even before the main course we were all bordering on full. A quick mention also to a new face joining us in Helen Dixon. Ant wasn't feeling too well to begin with and was adamant he wouldn't be eating much - after our first round of starters his plate resembled the leftovers from a lion enclosure after feeding time on a particularly hungry day - a huge pile of bones! I also came in for particular ridicule (mostly from Ant and Louise!) for firstly using my hands to eat the seaweed and then asking for cutlery when everyone else were using the chopsticks. After the meal me and Dan met up with Tom and hit a few pubs, before ending up dancing the night away in Koko's -NO RIOS may I just add!! A good night - with a bonus hour in bed! The payback is we now have very dark evenings - booooooo!

(Matt, Dan, Louise, Helen D, Ant, Ruth and Tom afterwards)


Friday 23rd October – Warwick Pub night/Mop

We billed this as a trip to the Warwick mop, but we met at Lloyds on the market square, had a couple of drinks - then when we all fancied a go on some of the rides just after 10pm they were all shutting down - very frustrating! So it was a pub night around the mop - for anyone who might be reading this wondering what this mop thing is, its a long tradition in these parts where there's a large fair in the streets of Warwick over 2 weekends. I used to go to this as a young child many many moons ago - brings back memories! After missing out on the rides we went to the Zetland down the road for a couple of drinks before calling it a night.

(Matt, Tom S, Dan, Tim, Dewi, Anna and Katie G)


Friday 16th October – Night at the Dogs, Hall Green

What a great night this was! We got in for 1p thanks to a voucher downloaded from their website, this also included food. It was a slightly chilly evening, but dry and not too cold. I didn't place my first bet until race 5 of the 13 scheduled, I won my first two races, then lost every other race until the final race - although 3 wins out of 9 isn't bad. The real Mr Smug of the night was Ant - I don't know how much he won, but its fair to say he drove away from Hall Green with more money than he had when he arrived!! My winnings covered my drink, so I was more than happy. Everyone seemed to have a good night - whether they were winning or not. Hopefully we can have a return visit in the not too distant future!

(Matt, Tom S, Dan, Louise, Claire, Ruth, Ant, Courtney, Craig, Lucy and Tom)


IMPORTANT DIARY DATES ANNOUNCED

Annual Quiz - Saturday 27th February
Casino Night - Saturday 27th March
Salsa Night - Saturday 24th April
Annual Ball - Saturday 19th June


Wednesday 14th October – Helen Ley Quiz

We ran a slightly different quiz for the residents and guests of Helen Ley last night. Louise was our question-master and her 5 rounds included guess the chocolate bar, guess the advert from the tagline, find the girls name that 2 artists sing about and the lethal killer final "fish or fowl" round where the answer was either fish or fowl. A 50-50 guess. Unless you know the answers! Tom's team (called "Tom's team") slowly gained a slender lead of 1 point by the final round - including a full 10 points on the chocolate round, but Kate's team (called "Kate's team") knew their fowl from fishes to win the quiz by 2 points.

Pretty much fowled up there - damn - bit of fishy business I would say.

Written by Tom.

(Tom, Kate M and Louise - Quizmaster)


Sunday 11th October – Matt's walk, Wootton Wawen

The morning was grey and wet and it looked like being the worst weather yet for one of my walks this year, but by lunchtime the weather had brightened up and for much of the walk it was blue sky and sun - a really nice autumnal afternoon with a large sprinkling of golden brown and yellow leaves under foot! Don't you just love the changing seasons - or is that just me?!? Probably just me! An enjoyable walk - even if it was just me and Tom (not that Tom is bad company!). I very almost caught a steam train passing under the aquaduct at Edstone, but despite a 200 metre sprint, I only caught the back end of it. We went up 1 or 2 steep hills, almost went the wrong way around a farm, trespassed along a private road and walked through a really nice wood before returning to the Stratford canal and a cold drink at the pub.

(Matt and Tom)


Saturday 10th October – Horse of the Year Show (RDA) - NEC

Having been set up by Courtney, a few of us went over to the NEC to support our charity from last year Riding for the Disabled. They had a stand at the leading horse show for people to leave their items and collect them later in the day. Our shift started at 1.30pm. Dan was out the front using his natural charm on the public (yep, mostly female!) collecting and bagging up people's belongings, Tom was out the back putting together a system so we knew where each of the bags were. I was doing a bit of both - a kind of free role! At times it was manic, the amount of bags being dropped off, and the size of the bags - many people buying virtually life size horse toys and dropping them off. Me and Dan left at 6.30pm, while Tom stayed until his last train at 9.15pm because he was keen to see the job through and his numbering system. Before catching our train we had a quick and well deserved pint at the station. Dan was gutted because we heard that Katie Price had been around earlier in the day and we just missed out on seeing her. What's he like?!?! :-)

(Matt, Dan and Tom)


Thursday 8th October – Leamington Tenpin Bowling Night

Time for our monthly visit to the bowling alley! Once again some very fiercly contested games and another good turnout. In my group of 5 both of our games were very tight, the first being a draw between me and Lucy, and the second being won outright by Lucy. In the other game Adrian won the first game with some powerful bowling and Anthony won the second - no win for the off form Dan! He was secretly disguising his disappointment I know he was. After this a few of us went over to the Moorings for a drink.

(Matt, Dan, Tom S, Louise, Ruth and Anthony, Adrian, Lucy and Tom)


Saturday 3rd October – Leamington Pub Night

We started off as just 3, me, Dan and Lucy in the Star and Garter but it wasn't long before Tom made a surprise appearance at our next stop Voodoo - showing off a new very close cut hairstyle (even shorter than mine!), and Helen also joined us. Suddenly the night picked up pace, we went to Satchwell's for a drink before all of us except Helen somehow ended up in..........yep, Rios!! It wasn't my choice - it was mostly Tom's. We danced away until 2.30am before heading back. I'd been feeling pretty under the weather all day, not half as bad as how I've felt all day today (Sunday!). A good night - thanks guys!

(Matt, Dan, Lucy, Helen and Tom)


Monday 28th September – Mel's leaving meal, Slug & Lettuce

Melissa - wax crayons and getting lost - the themes of the night! I've lived in this area all my life, yet I still proceeded to drive up and down the wrong road when offering to pick Louise up. Idiot! After eventually realising my error and finding Louise, we had our tasty half priced meal and Dewi, to my utter delight discovered some wax crayons and childrens fun sheets on the table, good times!! However, the night was about Melissa - moving on to pastures new after some sterling service at Leamington & Warwick Rotaract - but she'll be back, of that I'm sure!! All the very best from me and the rest of the club Mel, and Happy Birthday for next Monday!!

(Matt, Melissa, Louise, Lucy, Anthony, Ruth, Dewi and Anna)


Thursday 24th September – Coventry Rotaract Annual Quiz

A very enjoyable evening was had as we went up the road to support Coventry Rotaract's quiz night!! A few months ago we were lucky enough to attend their race night which was a great evening and we knew that we weren't going to be disappointed again. In our team were myself, Kate and Melissa.

Before the quiz got underway Kate was lucky enough to win £15 on the Irish Bingo, a game where the last person standing wins! The quiz got underway and we had 10 rounds to get through so we knew it was going to be a long night! The rounds included General Knowledge, Sport, Picture round and anything James Bond related.

Just over the half way mark we were kindly given some food, which I must add was very nice. At the end of the quiz we all bought raffle tickets and again Kate was lucky enough to win a bottle of wine! As the results were read out, we came in the bottom 3 with 43 points which I didn't think was too bad (Matt - it is bad Dan - but its not all about that!). A very nice evening and was worth supporting our fellow Rotaractors as well as their chosen charity (Air Ambulance).

Written by Dan

(Dan, Katie G and Melissa)


Saturday 19th September – Official Receivers Soul Band, Cox's Yard

I've had some great club nights this year, and this one was right up there for me personally. We set of at 7.20pm catching the bus into Stratford, picking up Kate en route and having to listen to some annoying drunken bloke for most of the journey. Once we got into Cox's Yard, I was ID'd again upon buying a drink (and Dan wasn't!) - as is usually the case these days! We found a nice cosey room with sofa's in to have a pre-band drink - nasty Tom decided to scare the girls with a large spider that was climbing the wall. Once the band started - I loved every second of it, okay, its music from an era before my time, but so many classics (including music by Otis Redding, Stevie W, Sam and Dave, James Brown, Ike and Tina Turner and many more) and such a good band. I couldn't help but dance to the rhythm! To be fair, most people in the packed out room were dancing away. It finished at around 11.15pm, after a long bus journey back which seemingly toured around every village in Warwickshire me, Tom and Dan had a drink in Koko's before calling it a night. I wouldn't mind going back to Stratford when they return in December/January time.

(Matt, Tom, Dan, Ruth and Katie G)


Wednesday 16th September – Helen Ley Quiz

I was greeted at the door by quiz regular John - what a quiz and Helen Ley legend this man is! I'm not great with names, and don't know any other residents (or my own name!), but fortunately I'm always on John's team, and we always win. He's the loveliest and sharpest man around! Dan put together an excellent and very well received quiz on his debut as quizmaster - he also showed his authority on a couple of occasions despite fierce challenges from each team. My team was actually coasting home with a lead of 5 going in to the last round, but John (as he always does) left 1 round before the end and we squeezed home by 2 points beating Tom's team. What have I learnt from the night? - Anna is a big David Beckham and Backstreet Boys fan - you know what I mean Anna! After the quiz me, Tom and Dan went for a quick drink to catch the end of the football. A very enjoyable evening!

(Matt, Tom, Melissa, Anna and Dan - Quizmaster)


Thursday 10th September – Bowling Night at Leamington Tenpin

We split into two groups as there was a large group of nine of us playing - Tom only joined us later on for a drink or two. In my group I had the overly competitive Dan, Louise and Ruth. Louise won the first game and Dan finished last, and then in the second game the tables were turned with Dan fluking a win - no, to be fair it was a good score of 127 or something like that. I had a shocker and had quite a few gutter balls - I think I may retire from this bowling lark! In the other game I think Kate won both games! After the bowling a few of us went back to the Moorings - look out for the revealing Rotaract Calendar and the sponsored cycle using Bertie! :-P An enjoyable night despite my own performance!

(Matt, Dan, Louise, Melissa, Jo, Anthony, Ruth, Anna, Katie G and Tom)


Monday 7th September – Meal out at Slug & Lettuce

After the last successful trip to Slug and Lettuce we went back again for more good value food with the half price offer that they have on Monday's. So good conversation was had, and we also had the company of Bertie the bike, who was parked on the other side of the window next to our table. We also stood around and watched/helped as Louise tried to cram quite a bit of shopping into the baskets and sort out her rear light.

(Matt, Louise, Melissa, Lucy, Ruth and Anthony)


Saturday 5th September – Day out at Thorpe Park

On a Sunny September Saturday we were all lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to Thorpe Park via complimentary tickets from Helen. We set off in 2 cars early in the morning so we would have enough time to do all the rides.

Once we got to the park and met the others we went straight on the rides, the 1st is always meant to be the easiest but this ride set us of to a good start! Slammer is a ride where you are propelled 105 feet into the sky then slammed back to earth!! I knew it was going to be to a rough afternoon ahead!!

Next was Colossus, a ride which I thought was excellent, 10 vertical loops, being taken upside down. Can't be bad!! If you thought this was bad then you haven't seen anything yet! We then went on Nemesis Inferno which was good followed by Tidal Wave, a ride where we all got completely soaked I think girls came off the worse!!

After our lunch had settled some members decided they wanted to go to the pub for a drink (including me - Matt), this left myself, Louise, Anna, Melissa and Craig. The next ride on the menu was the Detonator a 45mph drop that pulls 5.5Gs - was very quick and the view across Surrey was quite amazing! (Surrey - amazing?!?! Matt) This was nothing compared to Stealth which was next, the FASTEST rollercoaster in Europe 0-80mph in under 2 seconds (yes you heard that right)!!!

We did have to queue for quite a while, an hour and half I think but it was worth it!!  An amazing experience which I could do again. There was no time for any analysis of this whilst you were on there as it was over in 30 secs, this was so far the highlight of the day!!  However there was 1 final ride to go - SAW: the newest ride for 2009. Again this lived up to expectation, this was a vertical drop of 100º from a terrifying height of 100ft, this was once again quite amazing!! (mad mad mad - exactly why I didn't go on it! I did do a few though! Matt)

We left Thorpe Park with the delights of knowing we all had a great day with the theme tune of the event Savage Garden (Animals) and a bit of the late Michael Jackson in the car, it rounded of a superb day and not 1 for the faint hearted either!! It was then topped off with a drink at The Moorings when we got back to Leamington.

Written by Dan

(Matt, Dan, Tom, Louise, Courtney, Craig, Jo, Helen, Kate M, Melissa, Anna)


Tuesday 25th August - Breaking News!

I've set up a fan site on Facebook for Louises' new bike, its already got several fans and includes pictures of several club members posing on the bike. Its titled "Bertie the Bike" (Louise Roberts vintage 18th century bicycle) - and can be found somewhere on my facebook page, and there's a link at the bottom of the L&W Rotaract facebook group! Are you a fan?!!?


Sunday 23rd August – Matt's Walk - Berkswell

I can't believe how lucky I've been this summer with all the walks I've been on. Once again, a lovely sunny Sunday. I'd done this walk a few weeks previously and really enjoyed it so was keen to do it again, and I don't usually do the same walk twice. Very peaceful and some nice Warwickshire countryside - plus Berkswell is a pretty little village. Not to mention some good conversation! (and no mention of sport!!)

(Matt, Jo and Rhiannon)


Friday 21st August – Interact / Southam Rotary Bands Night

We went to Grange Hall in Southam to lend a hand with this fundraising event. We kept an eye on the youngsters and helped with clearing up at the end, but in truth, there wasn't too much to do, so we enjoyed the music - and there were some really good groups on show! Me and Tom also both won bottles of the same wine on the raffle. Well done to the organisers though as I enjoyed it, and I'm sure a decent amount of money was raised.

(Matt, Tom and Courtney)


Wednesday 19th August – Helen Ley Quiz

Good night at Helen Ley quiz and for once we weren't the ones who were late! A few residents were late back from their day cinema trip but we didn't wait for them and got started. Tom and Anna's "Do Gooders" were only 1 point ahead of Dan and Kate's "ASDA" team going into the last round but then the last round was revealed to be history and so a thrashing ensued as the "Do Gooders" stormed ahead to win by 6 points. So yes, Tom's team won which is not the point of the evening, but the residents do enjoy my competitiveness (and mine! - Matt). Thanks to Melissa, the quizmaster, for 5 quick rounds of quite hard questions.

(Tom - written by Tom, and Kate, Dan, Anna and Melissa - Quizmaster)


Sunday 16th August – Picnic, Cricket and Riding Louises Bike!

We again used the fantastic green plastic bat and ball that were recently purchased for what 99p and had a high quality game of cricket in the sun at the Mill Gardens, played out with loud Indian music booming away in the background thanks to some festival at the Pump Rooms. Stars of the show? No one really, although Rhiannon showed great skill at moving away from the ball even when it was coming straight towards her for a catch! Melissa provided a frisbie, so we invented a new game where you had to throw the frisbie from where it landed! What innovators we are?! Finally we all posed for pictures on Louises bike, and most of us took it for a spin too - what a bike!

(Matt, Louise, Melissa, Dewi, Anna, Jo and Rhiannon)


Saturday 15th August – Pub Night (with a difference)

Yes, we didn't go to our usual places!! Instead we stayed in the New Inn down Leam Terrace, played pool and chatted for most of the night, and then later on a few of us went into town and Koko's for a drink. Once again poor Dan was the centre of attention! Dan "Safe and Secure" Weirden - those who were there will know what I mean. If there was an award for receiving stick on a major scale with a smile - Dan would get it.

(Matt, Dan, Louise, Melissa, Dewi, Anna and Helen)


Thursday 13th August – Bowling

Well bowled Dan! He was on tremendous form tonight, winning both games with scores of 117 and 127 (or something like that). I personally was pretty poor, finishing last and then finishing second with a score of 100.

After the bowling we went to the Moorings for a drink, where Dan was pretty much picked on by Louise - but he took it well! We're a nice bunch really!

(Matt, Dan, Louise and Anna)


Sunday 9th August – Cotswold 9 mile walk, near Winchcombe

We set off at 10am with a car full on a really nice Sunday morning. We stopped at various points around the route, to break it down and make it more leisurely. There were some nice views to begin with looking out over Winchcombe and Sudeley Castle, then we looked around a neolithic tomb/buriel at Belas Knap, we stopped to eat in the tiny and peaceful village Sevenhampton and then visited a pub in Brockhampton and sat outside for a bit in their nice beer garden. We took a slight diversion to check out a lovely 13th century church before heading for the final climb to the end, via a brief stop to harrass some horses! We finished off at another pub right next to a steam railway to round off a perfect relaxing Sunday. We were back just before 7pm.

Check out our facebook pages for plenty of pics from the day!

(Matt, Tom, Dan, Helen and Courtney)


Friday 7th August – Toby Carvery, Banbury

Good food, good conversation and then back to Leamington for a few drinks! I don't know how I ended up in Rios, I'm not going there again this year! Honest!

(Matt, Tom, Dan, Courtney and Craig)


Monday 3rd August – Slug and Lettuce Half Price Meal

A good chat, with some great value food, I'll definitely be back for more while this offer lasts! A nice evening - plus they've changed the parking in Leamington from the ridiculous 8pm to 6pm!!

(Matt, Louise and Melissa)


Sunday 2nd August – Tom o the Wood Pub Walk

A lovely Sunday morning with a bit of cloud cover and a bit of sun. A slightly shorter walk this time, probably around 4 miles. We went off the opposite way down the canal but didn't take in even 1 stile! We were surprised to learn that the pub is closing next weekend because of finance problems, but the group will organise their own walks and they have my details. As always, enjoyed it!

(Matt and Tom)


Wednesday 29th July – Rotaract Fantasy Football launched

I've set up a private mini league at the link below, its free to join, a lot of fun and easy to use. I'm going to ask for £2 from people, just so that we have a prize pot - anyone can join, even non members - the more the merrier, its great fun - so get your team in! The season starts on August 15th so there's plenty of time. Once you've set up a team, to join the Rotaract Superleague click "Mini Leagues" on the bar at the top, then "Join" and then enter the league reference - 8004026.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fantasyfootball/index.html


Tuesday 28th July – Disc Golf

We did all 18 holes/baskets! How good is that?! As we started it was trying to rain, so it could've gone either way, it was also very windy, but as the evening progressed the rain stopped, it brightened up and even the wind died down. Tom was on great form all night, I kept pace with him up until the 4th or 5th basket, then I dropped back badly - put off by the close presence of trees! The first interesting basket was the one near the river which was surrounded by around 20-30 fiesty looking geese! Thankfully they all jumped back into the river as we got closer. Never mess with geese!! A couple of baskets later we had one really tricky one where the basket was situated at the top of a steep hill. I was already doing quite badly but managed to hit the side of the basket from long range, and it rebounded all the way back down the hill and into a wooded area - very frustrating! This was one of 2 successive baskets where I scored 10! I managed to recover a bit and beat Tom on a few towards the end. Tom still won comfortably with 99, then me on 108, Louise with 119, and Melissa on 135 or something similar! Another enjoyable evening at Quarry Park! Hopefully fit one more in before the end of the summer!

(Matt, Louise, Tom and Melissa)


Sunday 26th July – Rotaract Crazy Golf Championships, St Nics

18 holes of drama! Sky Sports put in a late bid to secure coverage of this event, but we had to decline - a comedy channel had already won the contract! Dewi set off an early pace with a hole in 1, where I got an 8. I slowly improved a bit, while Dewi and Anna consistently picked up 2's. One of the best holes featured water - unsurprisingly I found myself in there, so did Dewi. I think I managed to save some respectability with a 5. While it was overcast the weather held up until the end. By the 18th hole we didn't know the scores but we had a pretty good idea that it was Dewi and Anna fighting it out for the ultimate prize. It had to go to a play off for Anna to finally win. Louise was third, then me with Lucy picking up the wooden spoon. Now onto disc golf on Tuesday, anything could happen.............

(Matt, Dewi, Anna, Louise and Lucy)


Wednesday 22nd July – Helen Ley Quiz

Another highly enjoyable quiz, this time quizmastered expertly by Louise. Some excellent questions selected from a book, they were well received and appreciated as always by the residents. I had the legendary John on my team (The A Team) so we were always going to beat Anna's not so Magnificent 7. We won by 8 or so marks in the end, but hey, thats not what its all about!

(Matt, Louise and Anna)


Saturday 18th July – Warwick Lions Beer Festival, Racecourse

By the time me and Tom arrived they were literally scraping the barrel, but there was just about enough to go around. A couple of different ales and a cider remained, we helped finish these off at 50p for half a pint! Fill your boots time, and we did! We also got free hot dogs, lucky us. We then visited Lloyds for a couple and the Rose and Crown before heading back - needless to say, I had a headache the following day!

(Matt and Tom)


Sunday 12th July – Cricket style Rounders, Picnic and Boating

We met up at the Mill Gardens by the river Leam, just off Willes Road - but we didn't have a rounders bat, so off went Louise and Anna on a quest to find a bargain bat. Louise, who has a head for bargains after her recent bicycle purchase came up trumps again with a great £1 bat and ball that will no doubt make another appearance this summer. As there were 7 of us we thought we'd play more of an individual rather than team game - and it was more cricket than rounders. Helen, who could probably play womens cricket professionally judging by her performance smashed everybody. I had a few big hits, but Helen was the star. After playing rounders for a while, the girls took a trip down the Leam on a motor boat, although the motor conked out so they had to use the oars - unlucky!! The rest of us kicked a football around for a bit. Earlier in the morning there was a lot of heavy rain, and this was almost cancelled, thankfully we had faith in the English weather as it was great fun!! We'll be looking to do something similar again in the next couple of months!!

(Matt, Tom, Louise, Helen, Anna, Melissa and Lucy)


Thursday 9th July – Bowling at Leamington Tenpin

As there were 6 of us we managed to squeeze onto 1 lane. The first game was incredibly competitive with not much separating anyone. However, it was Courtney who came through to win in the end, just beating Dan (by 1 I think!) and he was 5th going into his last throw, but managed a strike and a spare. In the second game again it was very close - I was leading but threw it away when I failed to get anything on my last go (not even 1 - my worst all night), and that was after getting a strike before and the possibility of getting double points on whatever I got. Next to bowl was Dan who only needed 2 or 3 to go past me, he couldn't manage that. Next up was Kate, her first throw was straight into the gutter - rubbish, and then her next was truly superb - getting 9 to clinch a dramatic win under pressure! 3 of us getting 100 or more! Dan and Kate were disappointed not to get a print out of the scores at the end as their printer wasn't working - oh well!! I was quite happy not to see it. Me, Dan and Kate then made the short journey over to the Moorings to discuss the night's drama over a pint!

(Matt, Dan, Kate, Anna, Courtney and Craig)


Sunday 5th July – Walk organised by Tom o the Wood pub in Rowington

This was a walk organised by the Tom o the Wood pub in Rowington on the other side of Warwick going towards Solihull. It started at 11am on a nice bright morning, without being too warm. There was probably a group of around 20, it included a stretch of canal, a record number of stiles and kissing gates and lots of rolling fields and hills. A nice walk! We were back shortly after 1pm. We then sat outside at the pub and had a very refreshing cold drink before heading off. They do these free walks on the first Sunday of every month, look out for this on future social lists!

(Matt and Tom)


Thursday 2nd July – End of year handover meal at The Moorings

A good night had by all I think. Louise came up with the fun idea of everyone contributing an interesting fact about themselves and we had to guess which fact belonged to which club member - some interesting things learnt about some people!! (Dan in particular - won't mention what he said, and Rhiannon and her stones - and not forgetting Kate with her love of Rupert the bear) Tom deservedly won the Phil Harris award for his fantastic attendance at events throughout the year - and I won the club award for my contributions over the year. After the meal we had a few group pictures before going outside into the canalside beer garden and having another drink. A successful night - well done to Louise!

On a personal note - thanks to everyone who voted for me, the club means a lot to me, its been a tower of strength when I've had my troubles over the last year, I've got a lot from the club so its nice to give a little back. Here's to a great club year in 2009 - 2010!

(Matt, Louise, Tom, Dan, Tim, Charlotte, Helen, Anna, Melissa, Courtney, Jo, Rhiannon and Kate)


Wednesday 1st July – Cinema Night (Hangover......)

..................well, that was the plan. It was a boiling hot day that reached 30 odd degrees, who'd want to go to the cinema on an evening like this? Well, half of Leamington seemingly!! The good news was that we managed to get cheaper tickets because we had the Orange Wednesday discounts, the bad news was that we had to watch another film because Hangover was full. We ended up watching "My Sisters Keeper" in an audience of almost entirely females, I was after an upbeat comedy to give me a lift, but instead this was one of the saddest films ever about a girl with cancer who's sister was born with the intention of being a donor to save her older sister. A really good film, but a very sad one!

(Matt, Anna and Kate)


Sunday 28th June – Matt's walk, part 4

This almost didn't happen due to a serious petrol leak in my car, but thankfully, as always - but mum helped out and lent me her car!! The walk started from the Blue Lias near Stockton on a very warm Sunday afternoon, we first of all headed off the wrong way down the canal - completely my fault!! So half an hour after we started we got back to the start point to start properly and head in the right direction. Again it was a circular route with a good couple of miles of it along the Grand Union Canal heading out towards Napton, we then came off and headed through some fields. We had a very close encounter with a farmer who was landing his light aircraft in his field (I thought farmers were hard up!!). We walked through Stockton where hopes were high that we'd find an ice cream, but we didn't!! Thankfully we didn't have long to wait until we returned back to the Blue Lias and we all enjoyed a nice Magnum and a cold drink. The walk lasted just over 2 hours, which was about right given the warmth. Conversation at the pub centred around theme parks and in particular Tom's formative years spent working at a theme park up north! Another enjoyable afternoon I thought.

(Matt, Tom, Jo and Rhiannon)


Thursday 25th June – Disc Golf

What a good evening this was! The weather was really nice and warm, we even tried a few new baskets down towards the river avon, with the sun going down. Thankfully no-one found the river. Highlights of the evening were Dan losing his disc in a densely wooded area, so we were all digging around in the undergrowth for what felt like ages before Tom came up trumps and found it. Tom also produced shot of the century to find the basket from extremely long range and get it in 3. Tom won overall with 46 from 10 basket, then me on 52 and Kate on 57. Poor Anna was struggling seriously from hayfever so had to wear some sunglasses which meant she could barely see.

After the golf 4 of us went back to the Moorings and sat outside and had a drink. I think many of us will remember this night though as being the night when Michael Jackson died. It was when I was driving through Bubbenhall on the way back to Coventry that I first heard the news, absolutely couldn't believe it. The kind of pop is dead, long live the king!! So a great night, but a really sad one too.

(Matt, Tom, Dan, Louise, Anna and Kate)


Helen Ley Quiz dates confirmed for next 12 months

Get these dates into your diaries, 7.30pm start as usual:

- Wednesday 22nd July
- Wednesday 19th August
- Wednesday 16th September
- Wednesday 14th October
- Wednesday 11th November
- Wednesday 16th December
- Wednesday 13th January
- Wednesday 10th February
- Wednesday 17th March
- Wednesday 14th April
- Wednesday 12th May
- Wednesday 16th June


Saturday 20th June – Broad St Pub Crawl, Rotaract Preconvention

On a night where International presence was upon us it was all about showing our fellow Rotaractors what Broad Street had to offer. We had to 2 groups that started the pub crawl I was lucky to be with Dave Gibb a fellow Rotaractor who had been in our group previously. We started in the Pitcher & Piano a reasonably busy pub but fairly lively.

Our regular monthly quiz at Helen Ley is still as popular as ever with increasing numbers of residents participating. Some of the recent social events that we have had include:

Halloween Ghost walk in Stratford, which everyone enjoyed despite the freezing weather

Trip to watch the Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey team play after which i managed to loose my voice a little due to the screaming

Numerous nights out in Leamington (need I say more!)
Tapas night at La Tasca where you can eat as much as you like (and we did)

Fundraising collection at the M40 services to raise money for our 2 selected charities for this year

Boating on the river Leam

We are always after new ideas for events and trips so if you have any suggestions or if there is something you would like us to organise, then please let me know.

Louise Roberts
President & Social Secretary