The final Pre-Match Lunch of the season is to be held prior to our match against Sittingbourne on Saturday 6th April. PLEASE NOTE ALL READERS, ESPECIALLY PAUL WALSH. There has been a change of venue since rugby cannot be played at the Rectory Field after March. The match will therefore be played at WELL HALL where our match will be the only one being played. As this is our final PML of the season, I urge you to come along and support the Team in our final League Game of the season. Hopefully the weather will be brighter and kinder than it is now and at £10 a head what better way to kick-start the new Financial Year. I’m sure there are some clever financial wizards amongst you who can advise on how to make the cost tax-deductible.
Keith Spurgeon – Funeral Arrangements
Sad News. Ian Valentine has informed me of the death of Keith Spurgeon. He passed away peacefully at his nursing home on Sunday 3rd March, 15 months after suffering a major stroke. Keith’s funeral details are:
Monday 25th March 2pm at St Lawrence Church, Bidborough, TN3 0UJ
followed by a wake at Tunbridge Wells Tennis Club, Nevill Gate ( off Warwick Park) TN2 5ES
Rugby Club Annual Supper 12th April
The Annual Rugby supper. The venue is confirmed at the Rectory Field on Friday 12th April so plenty of time to recover from the exuberances of the PML!!!! The cost is held at £27, the same as last year, so well done to Ian Lunn on his fabulous negotiating skills. The evening will take the usual format of free ‘champagne’ (probably R WHITES!!!!) reception followed by the 2 course meal then the annual awards and fantastic speech by Ian. It is worth paying £27 just to listen to Lunny.
As usual, we will be asking the affluent amongst you (those that have at least one shoe with no holes in the sole) to support the younger, less well off players by contributing £25 towards their meal. If you would like to make a donation but are unable to attend the evening, please let me know and I will give you ways in which to pay. Remember the hospitality we received when we joined the club so many years ago. I know we all appreciated it then, so let’s make sure we can sustain the tradition, it is what Askean Rugby is all about, having fun on the pitch, making life-long friends with whom you can recall vivid memories of the by-gone years.
Pilgrimage to Faversham
Chris Comber RIP
It was with much sadness that earlier today I heard from Rita Comber that Chris had passed away last Saturday, the 2nd February. I understand from his Son, Matt, that his health had deteriorated over the past year. I last saw Chris at the OA’s Advent lunch in November when despite having broken his hip earlier that year, suffering a bout of pneumonia and walking with sticks to aid his arthritic ankles, he was his usual chirpy self.
Neville Hodgson RIP reported by Dennis Johnson
It is with great sadness that I have to have to tell you of the passing of Neville. He died early on the morning of Tuesday 8th January. Ann and I did visit them just before Christmas, he was frail then and I believe it was his heart that gave out on Tuesday. He was at home, with wife Barbara and is succeeded by his wife and children Andy and Kathy.
He was a thoroughly good fellow, although he was a little older than me we ended our time at Aske’s in the same form, 6th Remove. We were each courting girls from the Girls’ School at the time, we later found out that the girls were cousins, subsequently both couples were married. Thus, we were close friends over a very long period. Until a couple of years ago when his health deteriorated he and Barbara were enthusiastic supporters of OAA events, including the Rambling Club, Advent Lunch and City Diners.
He spent some years as an Ordinary Member of the OAA Committee and he was especially helpful in haberdashery matters and played a significant part in the 2006 Blazer Project. Neville was able to attend the reunion last September of those that started school in 1947 or thereabouts, and with Barbara in recent years he has kindly hosted the OARC Annual picnic in the garden of their home at Ashurst, Kent.
I shall miss him and so will many Askean and other friends who knew him.
I understand it will be a small family funeral and the details will not be circulated. Dennis Johnson
Were you at Hebden Bridge in 1953?
Are you in this photo? Do you have any memories of this trip? if ye please let me know so that we can include them in future editions of the Old Askean Magazine.
Funeral of Dave Kingston
Some 150 plus people crowded in to the North Chapel at Eltham Crematorium on Thursday 6th September 2018 for the funeral of Old Askean Dave Kingston. There were many Old Askean in the congregation who had come to say farewell to a good friend. The service was conducted by fellow Old Askean Deacon Barry Mellish and one of the two eulogies was given by another Old Askean Robert Noble.
After the service the assembly moved to the Royal Blackheath Golf Club where Dave had been a member. Memories and anecdotes were shared for several hours over a glass or two of beer and plates of food. It was a fitting farewell to a good man.
Thames River Cruise Sunday 22 July 2018
Forty-one landlubbers were aboard the Thames Barge “Lady Daphne”
on Sunday 22 July 2018 on a trip organised by Roger Pawley. It was a splendid day in all senses of the word. The weather was perfect. The on board Guide, Bill, was full of information about what we were passing as the Barge went through Tower Bridge
and past historic Greenwich and the Thames Barrier. We were treated to morning coffee, a two course lunch and tea and cake mid-afternoon, before our return about 5 pm, having left London Bridge Pier around 10.30. For some shipmates the act of boarding and disembarking on a choppy Thames tide was an adventure in itself.
By Dennis Johnson
OAA AGM 5th July 2018
Some 25 plus members attended the AGM in the lovely setting of the Royal Blackheath Golf Club. Andy Jordan-Smith was elected President for the coming year.
After the meeting the members plus guest enjoyed a very pleasant meal. A more detailed account of the meeting will appear shortly.
