Second thoughts Mike - You come over to my house and look after Imogen. I'll put a pizza in the oven for you and won't charge you! ;D
It didnt need to be constructive, it was an exclamation of shock.
I will spend this at least on petrol to get there and entry fees and the rest. Good food costs too. This will be different from the average open meeting knees up. Looking forward to it immensely. Anyone is free to look after my kids for a pizza too.
meds
Not being good at text messaging, I assume that WTF means "What Terrific Fun!" If not, would you please spell it out Mike?
Kevin
Richard,
No snobbery from my point of view, perhaps you have missed the point completely! What I'm saying is that for a special event the marginal cost is negligible over the cost of any other event - and I would have considered this to probably be within the grasp of all whether you sail an old ac boat or a brand spanking new boat, but I also mean that it seems abit thin from topshop boys when the rest of us old ac types (that do opens) are not complaining - I believe Medds alludes to this - and the event is in reality not excluding any 12 sailors.
Little Bo suggests otherwise though I think her non attendance is more to do with having little ones rather than any thing else. I recall not attending events for the lack of sitters more than anything else but tough, you can't always reduce events to the lowest common denominator, your children will eventual fit with your social requirements, look forward to the centenary!
Roger
I am bringing babysitters with me so that we can both sail and go to the dinner. The cost of the babysitting will be more than the dinner.....
Dont think there is any snobbery going on. The only time that I get snobby is when i turn up in an old boat and beat the new ones. So if there is snobbery it is inverse snobbery. We will be there in the old boat unless the forecast suggests it is going to be windy, and I hope anyone would forgive me for wanting to sail one of our fantastic modern boats when it is windy.
Finally I dont think Jane's rebuke was too harsh unless Kevin's interpretation of the acronym was correct when I agree that an apology would be in order.
good times - hope to see many of you at the Steve Nicholson race this weekend.
meds
Hmmm...maybe I was a little quick assuming I did get the WTF reference wrong! However I do know Mr Cooke Jnr pretty well and therefore my suggestion of McDonalds not as harsh as it immediately sounded. I am revising my offer Mike - the pizza will be thin crust without pineapple and I am more than happy to also supply you and your crew with garlic bread as well.
Jane XX
I can assure you Jane, Mike is now a reformed character - not a single McDonald's in the three years we have been together! A bit of quality girlfriending has rid him of that dispicable habit!!
:D
(PS - Roger, a carbon boat does not mean lots of pennies, expecially when you are putting in the hours on your own boats!)
Jane, I'm looking at things from a distance here, but even at this distance WTF sounds like WTF to me. I mean I think what Mike meant was "Weigh the Fridge!"
At 32 quid a nose they must have a lot of food in it.....
So let's try and be generous shall we? After all it is our 70th....
Personally we would love to come over and meet you all, but we'd not only have to find a babysitter, but also a flight.... :'(
Jim N3130
Helen makes a good point, that people should be careful to be too critical unless you are prepared to raise your head and organise this kind of thing yourself. The NTOA continues (as ever) to depend on a small number of people to do a lot of work.
We've now:
1. Bought dinner tickets for Northampton.
2. Entered Burton Week.
3. Booked some accomodation on that holiday park at Porthpean (Duporth is the name to search for). Confirmed attendence of the necessary grandparents.
It is late January, so it must be time to get organised for the summer.
Antony
Naturally, no offence was meant to you Mike.
However, if I renamed N3130 "Pastisch" and turned up with her for Burton Week, she'd have to have a pie crust rig and be filled with diced meat and veg! (Or was it pilchards and fairmaids?)
(Incidentally, I'm sure that's not what they're going to dish up at Pitsford)
Jim 3130 Big Issue with (single) pie crust bottom.
Dear Anthony (guest user),
You do seem to be a very keen and organised sort of chappie, booking your entries and accomodation well in advance; could I forward to you an entry form for the Trent Valley GILL meeting now that your earlier concerns have (hopefully) been answered (see "Fixtures"). We don't want you to miss the traditional supper on the Saturday night; numbers will be limited to 80!
And, Mike & Emma, the meal plus entertainment will be well within student/younger sailor budgets so that everyone can come along and enjoy!
Sorry Jimbo, I meant 3031! too much time readin the forum, and not enough time with the sails up...
Not sure I like the inference that Northampton is 'cheaper' than HI. This event is taking place in a fairly smart hotel whereas HI is a private sailing club. They will therefore have their own in house caterers and no venue hire and big difference in the price.
Jane
Ok, lots of whinging about costs, but as Jane points out we are going to a commercial establishment with overheads that are far above your average sailing club ( and I speak with knowledge here!!). The average pub meal costs a lot these days and my guess is that we will be getting much better grub than one of those!
Nath's point about Hayling Island is somewhat awry - he forgets that there was heavy sponsorship floating around the Merlins bash with a number of Merlin clubs contributing to his booze bill along with some industry people getting involved too.
Unfortunately the Twelves seem to have lost the club racing basis and I doubt there are any clubs out there now who would cough up the odd keg or two in the way that Hampton and Tamesis to name but two, did for the Merlins.
And to upset the impoverish students - those in further education seem to have more disposable income than their parents.
And will I be there - hopefully, I am trying to get someone to run SYC that bank holiday and also find a boat to borrow.
JJJJ
Sorry, forgot to put my name to the last post!!!
John Murrell
ex too many Twelves to mention!!!!!!!!!
Sorry i also did not mean to offend the people who have put a great deal of time and effort into organising the events. I'm just starting to wonder if there will be any youth left in a few years however thats a different debate for a different topic.
Don't worry Nath, there's quite a few of us working to making sure there'll be plenty of 'youth' around in a few years time!
I don't think we're going to be able to make it to the weekend as baby number 2 is due around 12th May, but we'll see how things are nearer the time.
mark
erm by that i guess you mean babies......Youth in 11 yrs time then lol!
People seem to have neglected my comment about price of a formal meal in Bristol, which wasn't in a sailing club and didn't have any sponsership!
Anyway I think emma has already said everything that I could add to this conversation.
I am very grateful that there are people around who put the time nad effort into organising celebrations such as these, and hope it is a really good night!
Lucy
(a student who does not have more disposable income than her parents!)
What does this thread show us? We al have different budgets and have different personal circumstances which largely dictate what and indeed how much we can afford and how much something is 'worth' to us.
Like most organisations there are probably a few people who do all the work and they deserve our full support. The lesson from this is could we have asked the memebership what they would have wanted - is the frustration due to a lack of input? Could a simple survey have been setup onthis site? There's no doubt you cannot please all the people all the time - the question is do we have reasonable balance in the events being set -up - many are saying yes other's no.
Personally I would have loved to be there for such an event but the timing is not good. Maybe thats another question - could the attendance have been higher if the 70th event was held at a different time of year - once again hard to answer. We not only have to balance out budget in money but also time with family (and work) and not everything is possible.
Good luck for this event - the only way to improve is to have more people get involved and provide whatever it is we all want! It would be great if now we started a list of whose coming to Burton - we should have a target of at least 70 boats for that - maybe evben refine it so we have 'target' figures for numbers of DBs ACs and Vintage. The Firefly class as an example seem to publicise numbers already planning - shows we have an active Class and dumb threads on Y&Y could be avoided as our 'niche' product is great - sure it can be improved but in all this its a question of balance and whats needed for success.
Will be at Dinghy show if anyone wants to discuss further!!
So what are the full details of this dinner so no one gets confused?
cheers nath
I must say the students here sound like a bunch of oldies! Let your hair down, live a little. Interest free overdrafts and grants are the name of this game! Try the grants giving trusts book in every university library. Its amazing how much free money you can find for the cost of a letter and a stamp. :P (Sorry Mike and those with little ones I know this won't help you).
sounds like fun and I wish I could be there but (standing by to b eshot down in flames) why the fuss about 70 years? Surely 25, 50, (maybe 60) 75, 100 etc etc are the traditional landmark anniverseries?
Hmm Hairy Dog - do you not realise it is just an excuse to party??? I say why not 69, 70, 71, 72 etc they are all a lot further down the line than 95% of dinghy classes will ever make it! ;D
Thank you Kean for the comment on "we all have different budgets "and different tastes you are right! I am the main organizer of this dinner now and would like to clarify a few things. The reason for no survey is because we all work long hours have families, try to sail, and its hard enough to find the time to organize the thing at all.Chosing, budgeting, contacting etc takes a long time without having to consider too many points of view. Sorry. Trust me that I will spend every penny of the ticket money on the guests who are there, no-one is subsidising this although if you want to offer sponsorhip please say so - a sponsorship manager is just anothe post no-one has yet volunteered for!The menu will be finalsed when I've costed decorations etc, so we get the best - and most possible.
Yes we are at a nice hotel, we are trying to do something just little bit special. Lounge suits rather than dinner suits will be fine, and thank you Emma for wishing us who do like dressing up a good time. I noticed at last years championship dinner just what a smart lot the student contingent generally seem to be these days! My memories are that it was the youngies that set the standard for glamour!I know that many school have leavers "proms" these days and sales of ballgowns for teenagers are soring (and thats just the boys!)
It looks like we are not in a small number! Ticket sales are looking good, we are inviting a few key people from the past 70 years to come, so come and join us. It's only one way of celebrating but it will be great!!!
Looking forward to the whole Pitsford weekend. I sailed my newly purchased China Doll at the 40th anniversary event at Middle Nene but then went out of the class for a while before coming back with a Proctor IX to train a 7 year old son to crew. Don't remember the 50th and 60th being big affairs so its great to make a big show of the 70th. Have booked accommodation and looked out a vintage DJ so next thing is to book the dinner. See you all there. You've got 10 more years to save up for the 80th.
Steve - well said, I only ever cross the 'hallowed doors' kicking and screaming and escape as soon as possible!
And I will definately be supporting the event if work allows. In the spirit of the meeting should we all be not be forgetting the plastic fantastics and finding boats built with from trees, brass fittings and copper rivets? I have found one and am trying to prise it out of its owners garage for the weekend!
John