A Truly Festive Dinner

Loadshedding at the most difficult time, from 6pm to just after 8pm on Saturday night, as annoying as it was, was not enough to dampen the sprits of the just over 100 people who shared in our Christmas dinner themed end-of-year- function.

The food had all been prepared off-site, so was cold when it was time to eat, the ovens, hot trays and bain maries (water bath used to keep food warm) in the well-equipped kitchen useless without electricity.

As has been the case so many times in the 14 years the club has been going, when the going got tough the members rallied and saved the day; Carol Stier rushed home with the turkeys to start warming them and the kitchen brigade used the gas hobs to warm the rest. Mbali Zulu in the meantime kept the guests warm as master of ceremonies.

                         The turkey carvers hard at work

By just after 8 when the power came on again, most of the work had been done and the turkey carving competition was soon in full swing. Hillary Biller, the judge at the last Christmas dinner pre-Covid, was a participant this time and a worthy winner.

The six turkeys were all tastefully presented and soon joined the serving table outside, which was already groaning with roast potatoes, salmon, gammon, roast vegetables and every kind of salad conceivable. The New Dawn magic was at work again.

                        Full plates and happy guests at the starters table

                        The salads made quite a spread

Although there was way too much food, none of it went to waste as guests took leftovers home with them to pass on to other hungry people. A lucky dog even got all the turkey bones.

The Argentinian Hall at Marks Park proved to be a wonderful venue despite the problems we had and is definitely one we will consider using again in the future.

                                                 Ivone Vosloo leading the way

A lot of members put in a lot of effort to make the evening a success, none more than Ivone Vosloo, one of our newer members and also leader of the new social committee.

Amongst the guests were DG Koekie Quashie, who came all the way from Eswatini, PDG Annemarie Mostert and DGN George Senoshi. Quite a few members brought their own guests along and the guests outnumbered members by quite a large number.

All in all 80 people paid to attend, bringing in R20 000. There were also 22 sponsored guests including Rotaract members and the NSA jazz ensemble who provided the music for the first part of the evening, but missed out on the dinner because it started so late.

                                MC Mbali with PDG Annemarie

The raffle for the barrow of booze, won by a guest, Darryl Killian, netted a further R5650 to give the club coffers a bit of a boost.

Another highlight was the draw for the Power of Pennies, fittingly won by Helene Bramwell, who pocketed a full R5000.

                                Mbali with Gavin Atkins

                                Lucille Blumberg partying the night away

                    Diane Stewart from North Carolina and Leigh Ravenscroft, guests of Helene Bramwell

                    Hillary Biller and her hostess, Helene Bramwell, wearing their masks

                   The masked Joan Sainsbury and DGN George

                    Amina Frense and Rayana Edwards

The festive dinner wrapped up the New Dawn year in high spirits, a definite boost after what, for many, has been a tough year of load shedding, government turmoil, economic hardship, flooding and storms. In true Rotary style we take these setbacks on board and look to a future that we know we can influence for the better.

Enjoy the festive season and the break of five meetings from Rotary and see you all again on Wednesday, 11 January 2023 at the Parkview Golf Club. Get there bright and early and rested, for there'll be lots of work to be done in the new year.

A Thought for the Weeks Ahead: Errors like straws upon the surface flow: / Who would search for pearls must dive below. - John Dryden (1631 - 1700)