Posted 28/11/06: A good time was had by those who attended the 30th OLCC Dinner at the Beetle and Wedge. The setting was decidedly upper deck. At least lofty enough to keep our feet dry just above the swollen Thames. The food was excellent, plentiful, though for some, a little tardy.

Our M/C for the evening, Graham Carter, did a sterling job in the absence of the Dinner Organiser: Mr. Stein. Robert was otherwise engaged at Old Trafford, meeting and greeting as a representative of the sponsors of Manchester United (priorities). Graham's M/C work clocked in at 43 minutes. The annual sweepstake on Graham's length was won by the book-keeper ! Charles Allan. His was the second highest prediction. Sally Adams had texted in with 51 minutes. The lowest guess was a naive 9 minutes from William Denselow. A school-boy error from a school boy.

Mr.Stein put up for auction a minature cricket bat signed by the England Squad just before they left for Australia. Charlie won this as well, with a bid of £40.

The speaker for the evening was Nottinghamshire Chief Exec and OL: Derek Brewer. He started off with a few nuggets from OLCC prehistory that had been dug up by the Nottinghamshire CCC archivist. He mentioned OLCC tours of the 1920s. This made Graham wince, as he was a non-attender. Derek then moved on to his recollection of managing the 2005 Trent Bridge Ashes Test. As Derek reminded us, this was England's last win over Australia. After making sure that nothing was audible beyond our gathering, and checking that Graham's audio equipment was turned off ! he gave some fascinating insights into what goes on behind the scenes to help and prevent the smooth running of a Test match during the most hyped-up series in Test history.

After Derek's speech, Graham handed out doughnuts to the 3 members who had made written requests for them.

Geoff Samuels and John Acland-Hood gave us a resume of the candidates for the Gaffer award. Graham Carter was a contender, but it was pointed out that his 2 best performances, including a 50 at North Perrot had been in oppostion to the club. In the end, another solid season and a chanceless 100 in The Presidents Match entirely witnessed from 22 yards by Mr.Hood, meant that the Gaffer Award was again awarded to Andrew Moss. He was unable to collect it on the evening, as he was attending Susan Moss's 60th Birthday Party.

Edward Carter collected the Cheque and Trophy for winning the Fantasy League. His father was relegated to the Lower Deck. So no "Down by the Riverside" this year, and now no chance of it next year either! so those who were 50/50 about attending the 2007 Dinner can now book early.

The evening drew to a close after pudding and petit four accompanied by perusal of Stats and Chronicles. Notable in the Chronicles, was Ed's nerveless eye-witness account of Dave Burton's night of derring-do in Yeovil. He's now working on a version in the Homeric idiom. It seems that What Goes On Tour doesn't always Stay On Tour.

Many thanks to Robert and Graham for arranging another memorable evening.

Thanks are also due to the anonymous donor who paid Paul Chalmer's champagne bill.