Christmas Gala Dinner

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What an evening was had by all at the Christmas Gala Dinner.  Organised with the sheer aplomb by our amazing social secretaries Vicky GilbArt and Kim Slater and compered smoothly by the illustrious John Newton.

Watch a wonderful video of the evening, filmed and edited by Steve Scott-Robson – http://vimeo.com/114258208

The evening opened with drinks at the bar and John singing the Cole Porter classic ‘Day and Night’.  Much like John’s tennis play it was smooth, calm and mellow, just the right way to start the evening.  Accompanied by Peter Wilson on piano with sound provided by Duncan Stroud the evening then got going.  Chanya and Amy served up a wonderful Japanese ‘fusion’ meal (Wagamama’s eat your heart out!) whilst the guests drank themselves in preparation for the main event.

First up was Andrew Holt, better known as a professional photographer, Andrew’s poem of ‘no conclusions but only assumptions’ had everyone in stitches.  This was followed by the very talented Zeth Townsend, son on Jeff, who sang like the Leonard Cohen of Highgate, mostly his own work, and some story about Duncan Stroud banging tennis balls against his bedroom wall…Anyway, Zeth has a CD out soon, so watch out for that.

Then one of the highlights of the evening, our very own Frank Sinatra, Gerald McGrath who seemed to spend more time powdering his nose before coming on stage than singing, treated us to love songs that would only make you weep!  A beautiful rendition of ‘strangers in the night’ was simply marvellous.

And then our very own Susan Patterson, who as well as being a marvellous singer has also in the past won a bronze medal for fencing in the Commonwealth Games.  Susan kept her compusure right until the end of her set, even when the music failed her and her version of ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ left not one dry eye in the house – brilliant!

Gina Harkel followed Susan with stunning renditions of ‘I didn’t know what time it was’… and ‘everytime we say goodbye’…magic!

The crowd joined in at the end with a Christmas sing-a-long, what a way to finish!  Thanks to everyone who made the evening possible, a lovely way for the club to celebrate Christmas.