from the President

This issue comes out on the eve of Family Week. The burning question is: will the weather be kind to us this year , or not? I guess the only answer is that it’s in the lap of the gods; the Water Board may be threatening a water shortage but I’m suffering from severe sunshine deprivation this year.

Even though my family has grown up I still enjoy the camaraderie and simple good fun that pervades the whole week. One item which may not be in the published Programme is the pool slide. We had thought to give this favourite a miss, but after much pressure from our young members I have booked one for Wednesday.

One of our younger members proving they can swim the length of the pool underwater! 

I have always been at odds with the name ‘Family Week’. It is most definitely not just for those who have families but for every member of our club (read ‘family of Heri’.) 

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Our treasurer in typical pose!

The only requirement is enjoying the company of and watching the enjoyment of the 25 to 30 children who will be at the club during the week. If the weather is fine, you have the opportunity, and meet that simple criterion, please join us; you will be most welcome.  

It occurs to me that I would like to extend warm congratulations to Andrea and Lee, Michele and Phil and Lorraine and Eric for the three new members they have brought to the Club. I hope that Jake, William Victor Herbert and Leonardo will have many happy years amongst us and enjoy the benefits we all appreciate from Heri. Looking at the posh names above and in sending our good wishes to Clive and Yvonne on their forthcoming event, perhaps we could start a book on their choice of name. I’m glad to say that Michele’s choice of Bagpuss or Zebedee depending on gender was a wind up.

Adrian

• It has been an awfully wet summer at the wrong times and the few glorious days we have had, have happened midweek. This year we have had very few new members. We hope for better times next year.

99 - and still going strong

Last year John Croker paid us his last visit at the age of 99, but didn't live to see 100. Mary G is 99 this year and of course we celebrate this year and look forward to the next.

Most Heritage members will be aware that our remarkable Hon. President Mary G. celebrated her 99th birthday in July this year.

Mary’s daughter and family invited about 80 guests to a hotel near Wokingham to share this occasion with Mary. Mary’s family and close friends were joined by members of her W.I., Townswomen’s Guild, Scrabble Club and others – illustrating Mary’s many varied interests. The guests included a number of her old friends from Heritage, the club that has been such a big part of her long life.

Many, many tributes were paid to Mary, remarking on her friendship, her kindness, her loyalty, and,  particularly, her sense of humour. It was indeed a memorable occasion and Mary deserved all the plaudits. Perhaps I should point out to newer members how much Mary has meant to Heritage. She, with her late husband Roy (who sadly died in the 1950s) joined Heritage in 1941, only a few weeks after the club’s inception. From the start, Mary and Roy played a significant part in the development of the club, and in 1944 Roy played a major role in ensuring that Heritage became a members’ club – a crucial decision for which we should all be eternally grateful.

Bill I

Rare naturist moment in the Highlands

Ron B is a very long-time friend of ours, and happens to be a naturist as well. He is a member of the Oxford naturist club, OxNat, and has visited Heritage a few times.

Ron is also a keen mountain walker, and at his 50th birthday party, on top of a hill in the Lake District, handed out invitations to his 60th birthday party, to be held, similarly, on a mountain in Scotland . In the meantime, he aimed to climb every other mountain over 3000’ in Scotland . There are 286 of them, known collectively as Munros.

The weather was outstanding and, having laboured up the short but steep slopes of the Cairnwell, we guests all expectantly awaited Ron’s arrival at the top, wondering if, perchance, he might decide to strip off for his appearance at the summit. Alas, no, but there was a kilted piper to pipe him to the the top.

Mallory without climbing gear!

Many bottles of champagne later, the naturist contingent among us decided that it was time for a photo opportunity, in the spirit of George Mallory. That’s how mountains should be climbed.

Pam

We have crept into the modern world.

As part of the modernisations in the office we have installed broadband into the club and we now provide a wifi hotspot. Our thanks go to James B for doing all the techie bit and scrabbling around in the roof.

For a ONE-OFF DONATION of £10 to club funds we will register your laptop ( or whatever ) with the Herinet Server - and then you can browse the Internet for as long as you like under the summer sun ( or rain ). Contact James B through the club office to get yourself connected.

What we do is:

• register your MAC address with the Herinet server
• issue you with the encryption key

This ensures that the club's systems are secure from outside intrusion and that we know who is on our systems, though the likelyhood of someone sitting in a car outside our gates with a wifi laptop trying to 'hack-in' are relatively low!

The wifi signal currently covers the pavilion, pool area and top end sunbathing areas. It does not yet quite reach over to the caravan pitches or apex. For the technical amongst us, we discovered that the tennis court netting acts as a 'Faraday cage'. We will be installing a relay in the not too distant future to overcome this.

CLUB developments - electricity and water - and then the steam sauna

As most of you now know, we discovered that we did not have the electric capacity to immediately do the steam sauna. Then late last year and earlier this year a series of spectacular water leaks and bursts made us realise that getting steam into the new chalet would prove a challenge!

So the Management Committee decided that we needed to install new water pipes and electric circuits prior to going ahead with the new building. This has given the club the opportunity to provide electric hookups next year and to offer all site occupiers ( chalets and tents ) the access to electricity.

We needed a good proportion of chalet owners to agree to meet their portion of installation costs for the club to warrant the extra 'junction equipment'. We are pleased to announce that this has been met.

After Tony’s presentation, as advertised in the last Sundial, all hut and tent site owners were asked to fill in a form to say whether they wanted to be included in the scheme.

Enough support was shown to satisfy our Treasurer, so the project will now go ahead. Not all forms have been returned as yet. If yours is outstanding, please pop it into the office letterbox - and its not too late to change your mind ( either way ).

Safari Supper CookBook!

Every year this is a success. Having committed yourself to being there, the basic format is that couples eat and cook in teams and move around the club to meet and eat with others.

The 'catch' is that you don't know till quite late which course you two have been asked to prepare or with whom you will be having the course - or any of the other courses. 

So after years of eating the writing has to begin. Chris LT is coordinating this and the request to all participants is to give him their recipes, so we can get started on the proposed Safari Supper Recipe Book. Hand-written is fine. But, no recipes, no book. This year's cooking was brilliant as shown by the spread above.

La Jenny - three weeks on the Atlantic Coast

For the past three years Ian has been the organiser of several trips to France for club members. 

 I missed the first, but was encouraged to go on the second to Sablière - canoeing down the Ardèche. 

 Encouraged by people who had enjoyed the first trip, by the fact that it was a trip I could go on as a single female and feel safe in the company of friends, and by the fact that being part of a group meant I could escape on my own if I wanted to, or pick and choose activities with other bits of the group who wanted to do the same thing at the same time.

The latest trip was to La Jenny in June / July this year.  After a successful week there last year several of the group expressed an interest in going again - but for longer.  Ian booked chalets for a total of 3 weeks and then juggled rooms, chalets and people so that some went for three weeks, some for two, 10 days, one week – even for just a couple of days for one person whose work commitments took over!

Arrival was by various means - two of us joined Ian in his car, which I’d been rather rude about.  Until I drove it.  Now I’m just jealous.

[ Its a V8 4.2 with all the trimmings and its very very very fast - and comfortable - yumm like the leather - Ian ]

Others travelled down by train and hired a car locally, but the most popular method was by flying into Bordeaux .  From there, most hired cars or were collected by others already on site.  Taxi fares vary, and then there was the bus that went round in circles… but eventually even Bridget reached Le Porge.

[ Ian has a 'Geocache' setup there as an Earthcache - so come on - log your find! ]

Already the highest in Europe , it is still growing.  A long climb, but definitely worth the effort for the superb views across the bays.  For the more energetic, rolling and running down the dune provided entertainment for everyone else.  The rolling down bit might have been OK, but I didn’t fancy the walk back up again! 

Surprisingly(?), there were lots of châteaux - Bordeaux , wine, is there a connection?  Visits resulted in wine tasting, purchase of wine, and a photo of one person looking as though she owns the place!

Storms provided overnight entertainment on several occasions - including the most incredible electric storm / laser light show I’ve ever seen.  Days were warm to hot, though not with the wall to wall sunshine of the previous year.  This meant that at times it was cool enough to consider bike rides along the coast path (naturist for many miles except when going through villages) to Le Porge Ocean and beyond.

The boys show how its done!

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Then there’s the friendly rivalry between the two larger chalets - we’ve got better facilities, they’ve got more food. They have so much wine that they don’t recognise it when it’s presented back to them!  (‘Stolen’ earlier in the evening.)  They have magic crème brûlée icecream that turns to ice.  We have the facilities to dress the table properly for dinner - and ourselves! (Sorry, but I’ve had to censor the pictures. ‘Properly’, indeed! - Chris)

However one of the highlights of the holiday has to be Midsummer’s Night.  Led by Bridget, we decide that we should all go down to thebeach that evening to watch the midsummer sunset, (sunrise was behind the trees, so we missed that!) and, to demonstrate the high regard and respect we have for our esteemed holiday organiser, the following story has to be told (written at the time by witnesses).

June 21st.  Everyone gathers in various stages of attire and with various beverages to attend the setting of the sun.  Ian is spectacular in red silk kimono, inevitable hat, and an umbrella.  Since he does not have a walking impediment and there is no sign of rain, we ask why the umbrella, but since it’s Ian we do not question his enigmatic responses too much.  No point really - we’re not going to get a straight answer!

A bug appears from nowhere, hovering around Ian.  Ian moves, the bug moves.  Ian stands up, the bug rises higher.  Ian puts up his umbrella and moves a couple of paces.  The bug speeds up.  Ian makes a beeline for the sea 50 yards away and the bug follows - no problem for the bug, he just flies faster in a straight line, and his prey - the big green thing with bright red below - is not going to escape.  Bearing left confuses the bug momentarily, but having worked out that its prey is trying to evade it, it resumes the attack, seemingly attaching itself with an invisible thread to Ian's umbrella.  And bug number 2 joins in.

[ Notice the classy umbrella - Ian ]

Meanwhile all his ‘friends’ are incapable of movement - giggling blobs on the sand creased up double with tears running down faces.  Nobody can do anything to help.

With two bugs now dive-bombing him, Ian continues in a large circle, in the process getting more exercise than he’s had in years.  Eventually his circuitous, zig-zag route brings him back to his helpless heap of friends, déshabillé, minus hat, and with a bug inside the brolly.  Rescue is now available in the form of a quick-thinking Alan who grabs Ian’s hat from the sand and traps the chief culprit.  And the second.  Ian declines to join in the closer inspection of the 1½" long maybug-like bombers.

Daytime on the beach - no bugs!

With Ian returned to the fold we all begin to pack up, but more bugs are gathering.  The walk up the steps past the waste bin proves a hazard.  In the 20 yards of boardwalk to the top of the dune we attract more.  And as more bugs appear it becomes clear what the umbrella had been for - bug defence!  Why didn't you tell us Ian?!  Sarongs, fleeces and bags are utilised in place of umbrellas, probably more effectively!

After climbing the dune, the scene from ‘The Bugs’ subsides and we walk back discussing the comedy scene that could not have been written.  Worth coming to La Jenny just for the sight of Ian doing a  classic combination of Mr Bean and Mary Poppins.

And the climax of the evening?  As I write this, I hear a loud crack.  Bob and Jacky have broken their bed.  And Bob can’t fix it cos he’s laughing too much.

Anne H

Other news

Gwen and Joan’s Tombola

This is held every year to raise funds for Cancer Research, was its usual huge success. Over £1400 was raised, the actual amounts raised by the various activities can be seen on the white board in the conservatory.

Stripper raises cash!

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Obit for Eva

It was not until late June this year, when Denis D. made a lonely visit to the club, that we learned of the sad death of his wife, Eva. She had, for many years, suffered from recurring illness, which accounted for their infrequent visits to Heritage. Even then Eva was generally forced to seek the shadier parts of the club.

Denis is, we believe, after Mary G., our earliest member, although he did have a break in membership before rejoining Heritage with Eva in the 1950s. Older members will recall when Denis played the bagpipes at a Burns’ Night occasion.

We extend our sincere sympathy to Denis and to his family on their sad loss . Denis will of course sorely miss Eva, a kind and gentle lady, but we trust that he may find some solace by visits to Heritage.

Bill I

Read other issues of SUNDIAL

New potential members are met by the membership team and come for an initial three visits, usually on a Sunday 

[ see our web pages on membership ] .