The Club’s sixth Winter Dinner took place at the George of Stamford on Friday, 6th February.
After the success of the previous dinners, I was hoping that the choice of venue for the dinner would prove popular. Fortunately, it did. The room we reserved was for a maximum of thirty people, and twenty-nine signed up, many of whom stayed at the hotel overnight.
Thanks to Grant Charlesworth-Jones and David Tunbridge’s efforts, a visit to the Triumph Sports Six Club at Lubenham (about an hour’s drive from Stamford) was lined up for Friday afternoon.
Those taking part met for lunch beforehand at the Coach and Horses in Lubenham. The tour of the club lasted about two hours, starting at 2 pm. We were most fortunate to have as our guide the Chairman of the TSSC, Chris Gunby, who was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about his subject and made us all feel very welcome.
The dinner that evening proved a great success, with people eventually retiring to bed at about midnight.
We were very fortunate to have with us Paul Taylor, one of the Club’s committee members, to talk to us about the present state of play in Estonia, where he and his wife Kulliki and daughter Gabriela (who was at Shrewsbury until recently and is now at Manchester University) live. Paul owns a group of hotels in Estonia and was awarded an MBE last year.
The following morning, many of the group were entertained by a vivacious and enthusiastic guide, Nicola, who first gave us a potted history of Stamford and then led us through some of the streets of the town, which has an amazing mix of medieval and Georgian architecture thanks to the differing architectural preferences of the 9th and 10th Lords Burghley. The former wanted to tear down the medieval and succeeded in doing so to quite a large extent, but his son wanted to preserve all the old houses that survived his father’s efforts. The net result is a splendid mix of both types of architecture.
Thanks go to the Club’s committee for organising such a successful and happy event and to all the members and their guests who came and made it all work so well.
Miles Preston
Chairman, SDC