Page 46 - QARANC Vol 14 No 6 2013

44 QARANC THE GAZETTE
Chester Branch
Chairman: Lt Col Sylvia Quayle Secretary: Mrs Lynne Orfanelli
Once again the Chester Branch has had a full year. First and foremost our congratulations go to our Chairman Col Sylvia Quayle who was award the OBE in the New Year Honours List. We were all so thrilled on hearing this fabulous news about her well deserved award.
In September a group of 5 of us got together for a holiday in the Lake District. Those who attended were Liz Green, Liz Ashworth, Dorothy Bishop, Meg Fish and Margaret Gregory from Ludlow. We stayed at a self-catering farm cottage, (Irton Farm Cottage) in Isel near Bathenswaite, Keswick.
On arrival a bottle of wine was in the fridge for us and when the farmer’s wife came to chat with us she decided 1 bottle was not enough so promptly supplied us with another bottle!!
The accommodation was excellent with views that were astounding, looking out towards the lake and views of Skiddow.
We visited Cockermouth on the first day and saw just what the flooding had left from 2011. Liz Green then took us on a wonderful tour over Newlands and Honiston Passes visiting St James Church a small church that was used by Waighnwright (the chap who recorded all the wonderful walks around the Lake District) who was the uncle to Meg Fish’s husband! The next day we took a picnic with us to Keswick and sat by the shore of Derwent water to enjoy it and the weather was fantastic.
As with all our jaunts away we all found our niche in the venue, Dorothy and Meg took on the roll of Chefs and
made sure we all ate well at breakfast. In Keswick we had a wonderful time browsing all the shops
and the market.
On the last evening while browsing through photo albums, Meg and
Liz Green found they both had a mutual friend while serving in Hong Kong (at different times)! so
Liz was able to reunite Meg
Champagne Charlie and afternoon tea
by giving her the address of the girl. Another wonderful weekend spent among QA friends from the 1960’s.
October has us sailing on canal cruiser in Chester. And thanks to the skipper who announced we were on board (we were the biggest and I have to say the nosiest). We even managed to recruit a new member!
In November a party of 16 of us travelled down to London for the Cenotaph.
We arrived at our hotel on the Friday afternoon and having unpacked. We set off for afternoon tea at Langham hotel. Nothing unusual you may say. However what we didn’t know was it is a tradition at Langhams that since 1865 at 19.05 they celebrate the change of day with Champagne Charlie celebrating that the busy day is over and the pleasure of the evening can begin.
So who is Champagne Charlie - he is a character from a music hall song of that period. At 19.05 the pianist started to play and he made his appearance in his top hat and tails and served us all with champagne and canapés. What fun we had as you can see from the photos below. The afternoon tea was absolutely amazing.
Saturday came, which had us all doing our own thing. Naturally we were there for the Cenotaph parade for
which we are all very proud to take part in. Once again the Sun shined down on a very moving experience.
Our year ended with our Christmas Lunch at the Westminster Hotel and as usual we had lots of fun. To the relief of our Chairman the raffle was over in less than 20 mins. Mind you Liz Ashworth was charging up and down the room with bag of tickets!
Our main event in 2013 is our reunion, which will be held in Liverpool, from Friday 6th September to Sunday 8th September. The format will be similar to previous ones with the main event being on the Saturday evening. However on the Saturday morning we have booked a coach to take us for a tour around the city including visiting the Beatles homes. There will also be the traditional Sunday Service but we still have to arrange the venue.
If you are interested in joining us for the reunion please forward your details to either: Lynn Orfanelli, 17 Andrews Close Tarvin Chester CH3 8LN Tel: 01829 741189 Email l.orfnelli@tiscali. co.uk or Liz Ashworth, 2 Swansmede Way, Sirchley Grange, Telford TF3 1QR. Tel: 01952 593488 Email ehashworth@ hotmail.com
We hope to see you there to what we expect to be a great weekend. Best wishes from the Chester Branch.