Another Cup Final Day - Portsmouth 1 Cardiff 0. Of little interest to me or anyone else I think - (unless you happen to live in Portsmouth or Cardiff).
I arrived at about 3 p.m. having travelled via Norwich to visit Roger Beck who was unable to attend this year, so I was pretty tired, having covered about 350 miles since 6.20 a.m.
First port of call was the Railway Inn at Sawbridgeworth to check in and order a taxi to take me to The Gate pub, where Messrs Baldry and Alexander were waiting to ply me with ale.
It was all rather subdued. An indifferent Cup Final and an almost empty lounge. In 2006 when I last attended the OH reunion, we met in the same pub on a baking hot day (in June!!!) to witness England in their opening World Cup game against Paraguay (we won 1-0). The atmosphere was totally different and of course, we drank far more beer than this time round!
We only had one drink and decided to return to the Railway to give them our custom instead. I only managed a couple of family sized G & T's and had to go to my room for a little rest as the long drive had caught up with me (and possibly the beer and the gin!).
McCready was late as usual and showed his face shortly before we were due to be picked up by our 7 seater cab to take us to the reunion. We all piled in to the cab and duly arrived at St John's. I was last out of the cab (which had fancy sliding doors) and tried to close the door. It was very stiff and I had to really force it to move it about a inch. The cabbie said "It's electric mate." He pressed the button and it smoothly shut. I felt a right wallie! Of course the boys found this highly amusing.
The evening was pleasantly spent and unfortunately, I did not take a menu home this year and I cannot for the life of me remember what we had to eat, but it was very nice. Perhaps someone can remind us of the fayre?
The key event for me was that Tony Cook has decided to retire after 13 years as Treasurer and Colin Porcher was duly elected to take over from him.
I would like to echo the thanks given to Tony on behalf of the Old Harlovians for all the hard work that he has put in over the years and no doubt we will see you at next year's bash Tony - (more relaxed I hope!)
Indeed our thanks to all the committee for the work that they put in to make the reunion a success year after year.
I eagerly await the copy of the minutes from Michael Dyke and I will publish them as soon as I receive them.
The evening finished at about 11 ish and we repaired to the Railway. I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open and was away up to my room at about 11.45. The boys had a couple of drinks and I don't think that they were far behind me.
We were all up at a reasonable time and had a Full English breakfast, cups of tea and toast and a chinwag and I was on the road for about 11 a.m.
It was my birthday on the Sunday (18th) and I planned to be home at a reasonable time to have a celebratory meal with my wife. I spent most of the day in traffic jams on the M6 as 2 junctions were closed due to serious accidents. I eventually arrived home at 4.20 p.m.
There are a few photos that you can access via The Media section that I took on the night. They are in the album titled Reunion 2008. Enjoy.
Next year's reunion takes place on May 16th at St John's Arts & Leisure Centre, (the old chapel) - Old Harlow at 7.00 pm for 7.30 pm. See you there.
Harlovian
