by Anura Guruge
on August 3, 2023

---

Click on images to ENLARGE.

---

I missed a few weeks (e.g., last week because of ‘Tall Ships), so this was my first meeting under the new, dynamic leadership of Paula P. & Jason P. It was a good, fun, productive meeting with 17 members (but no guests or visitors) in attendance. Paula provided sandwiches, chips & drinks (from Hannaford) for those that wished to partake & most did. It was good.

There was no program scheduled for the meeting. It was going to be a ‘Club Meeting’ & it truly was. We had received three Thank You notes & they were read out. That was much appreciated.

We discussed a wide range of pertinent matters such as: forthcoming programs (ably led by our new member, Gail), membership, club Website, club Facebook page (& advertising on it), membership status, membership drives, Band Stand & Dragon Boats. As expected we ran out of time & barely managed to squeeze in the all-important raffle. Alas, to his intense chagrin, The Chief did not have the winning ticket (most likely because his usual partner in these shenanigan’s was off to the races (no doubt making out like a bandit)). Given the late hour, some attendees had already left ahead of the raffle. The raffle was supposedly won, in absentia, by John P — but the Colonel-in-Arms held on to the winnings (which he probably will invest for the week in a 5% U.S. Treasury (so that John will get even more).

That was it, as far as I could remember. Good gathering. Great spirit.

by Anura Guruge
on June 22, 2023

---

Click on images to ENLARGE.

---

This was our first meeting after what had proved to be our BUMPER ‘Bike Week Raffle’. It was well attended (i.e., 18 members) & everyone was in high spirits (though we (alas) lacked any bubbly to toast our success). I won’t divulge exactly how much we made, though it is said to be the ALL TIME RECORD & we sold over 4,000 tickets. (You can do the math.)

There was an announcement about the ‘Rod Dyer‘ recognition event, in ‘Laconia’, next week. We were also informed, to everyone’s delight, that our indefatigable treasurer had worked behind the scenes to ensure that 94-year old Navy vet, who came & spoke to us in March, ‘Norm Sanborn‘, was awarded an honorary High School diploma — which he did not get because he was too busy serving the country during WW II. That was well received.

The winner of this week’s raffle (for the 2nd time this year (if I am NOT mistaken)) just happened to be Rod Dyer, Esq. Though he picked TWO cards from the pack he, alas, was not able to locate the ACE. (The Chief has probably appropriated the Ace already for his next win (most likely next week).)

Today’s eagerly anticipated program was “The Old Man: His Life Legacy” by ‘Prof. Inez McDermott‘. The ‘Old Man’ in this case being our ex-Man of the Mountain as opposed to our ‘Chief’ (who did attend). She is the curator of the “An Enduring Presence: The Old Man of the Mountain” exhibit at the ‘Museum of White Mountains‘ in ‘Plymouth’. He was very informative & she regaled us with a fascinating collection of old pictures & tales about the ‘Profile Hotel’ that used to be there. Excellent.

Just for the record we did NOT receive any strawberry shortcakes from ‘THE BAKERY’. Maybe next week.

---

Here are two pictures of LAST YEAR’s (i.e., 2022) raffle winner visiting our booth last Saturday.