On a warm sunny Saturday afternoon on 22 June, we welcomed Club members and friends to the Shenfield Parish Hall for our annual afternoon tea. With delicious sandwiches, scones, jam and cream provided by Sue Grandison and light and fluffy cakes made by Brenda Le-Surf, we gathered and drank lots of tea and coffee whilst enjoying good company. In fact we had over 20 people attend - more than had booked - and it was lovely to meet people new to the Club.
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This year's tea was also a chance to launch the new Janet Cass Memorial Cup. Janet was a longstanding member of the Club who passed away recently and to honour her memory, the committee decided to create a cup in her name to be awarded to any member of the Club who has provided outstanding service to the Marlborough during the preceding year. We were lucky to have one of Janet's sons, Philip Cass, join us at the tea to officially hand over the Cup to the first recipient.Travelling all the way from Bristol for the day, Philip was delighted to be able to present the silver cup to the first winner, stating how much the MDC had meant to his Mum over the years and the good friends she had made through the Club. Chairman Bill Wells announced the winner after the meal, stating that this first year, the recipient was voted for by members of the committee, but that in subsequent years all members will have the opportunity to vote for the winner. He continued that this year's winner was a talented actress as well as doing a lot of work towards the running of the Club, taking minutes, and writing the newsletters and confirmed that Juliette Bird would win the Cup in 2024. |
Philip handed over the Cup to a very pleased Juliette. She mentioned that if it wasn't for Janet, she wouldn't have known about the MDC. Juliette met Jan and her husband Bill at the Ingatestone Hall Tudor re-enactment for school children and it was then that Janet invited her to a Marlborough production before Juliette joined the club in 2013. Juliette said she was very glad Janet had taken her under her wing and to have become a member as she has made some super friends. She thanked the Club for the honour.
Shortly after 5pm we began tidying up the tea, washing up the plates and putting away the tables and chairs and left to enjoy the rest of the sunny evening. We made £83 which we will put towards the costs of running our Autumn production - Ten Times Table. Thank you to everyone for making a very enjoyable event!
