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Just to remind you all that this year's annual reunion will take place, as usual, at the Keighley RUFC Club House, Utley, on Friday, 13 September, between mid-day and 4.30-ish.
Gill and I look forward to seeing as many of you as can make it.
"The next annual Old Keighlians’ Reunion, the seventeenth since 1995, will be held at the Keighley Rugby Union Football Club House, Skipton Road, Utley, between noon and late afternoon on Friday, 13 September, 2019.
The price of the buffet lunch this year will still be £17 per head – the same as the last five years – for which, our grateful thanks to Janet Feather. Wives and partners are, as always, very welcome, as are indeed, and especially, widows of our deceased ex-school-fellows."
Thanks to David Seeley, once again, for your attempts to recruit more Old Boys (and Girls) for this event. We certainly need them for numbers are well down at the moment of writing, even on last year's turnout. I think that very soon, maybe this year if we don't amount to thirty even, we shall have to call it a day. We can't expect KRUFC to keep hosting us at no charge in the large room we occupy, nor for that matter Janet Feather to put on the super lunches she provides for us at what must be an ever-diminishing profit margin. There must also come a point at which the vibrant atmosphere of past reunions is lost simply through lack of numbers. Fixing the ideal date in September has always been problematical - understandably, many of us senior citizens take our holidays in September, so there have always been a few regular attenders who couldn't make it in a particular year, but it seems to be rather marked this year. We still have a fortnight or so to go but judging by my experience of previous years I can't be too optimistic. Sic transit...
As usual, another good meal - and good company (again as usual).
A shame that they are reducing year on year (the numbers that is rather than the size of the individuals).
I felt guilty last Friday! I would loved to have been able to get to the reunion luncheon but I was just too far away to be able to get to Keighley in time. How many were able to attend? Was a date fixed for 2020? Are we likely to be able to see any photographs?
Denis, no need for feelings of guilt - it's the first time you've missed in the ten years I have been organising the event. In the end, twenty-five people managed to get there, but clearly the earlier date in September caused more than you difficulties, so basically my fault. Gill and I are taking a group of ten to Italy this coming Sunday, for a week, and it was that trip which necessitated the shift towards the middle of the month. Next year the reunion will take place on Friday, 25 September, so let's hope for a better turnout. Sadly, Janet Feather, who for the past six years has fed us so well and so cheaply, is retiring at Christmas, and we have no idea who will replace her or, indeed, whether we shall still be able to count on the support of the rugby club with regard to the venue. Janet has promised to help us negotiate a smooth passage but in the last analysis whatever decisions are made will be out of her hands. Unfortunately, Joe McDowell is apparently a much less frequent presence at the club than he was formerly - he has not been to the last two reunions, and is not in the best of health - and I personally know no one now at the club. So, there is an air of uncertainty over everything at the moment.
We did take a group photograph but as far as I am aware no others were taken.
Joe McDowell and I played with Keighlians 1st XV back in the early 50’s and I am still a patron of the club. Not that I ever get in here much these days but you never know, it might help when they are considering whether to ‘chuck us out’.