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Minutes of the SPG held at Twin Farms on Thursday 19th September 2019
A meeting of the SPG was held on Thursday 19th September 2019 at the Twin Farms Gastro Pub. The meeting convened at 8pm. Those present in round the table order were Mary-Clare Robinson, Maureen Angus, James Henry, Adrian Morley, Brian Angus, David Robinson and David Appleton. Apologies were received from Chris Wright.
As usual the conversation was wide ranging. Members were amazed at the price Adrian had paid at an auction for a old Steinway Grand Piano, a snip at £4,000, although some restoration was required. The ascendancy of woman’s golf , epitomised by the Sondheim Cup had rekindled David Appleton’s statistical instincts; apparently the UK team won after 4,500 shots had been played by the respective teams combined and the game was won by a single putt.
The Edinburgh Fringe was attended by both Adrian and David & Mary- Clare. They were mightily entertained, especially Mary-Clare who was invited to dance by Stephen Fry, who, on being introduced to her exclaimed “You must be an actress!”. Blushingly she accepted his invitation to the floor.
Members discussed the return of Alastair Burt to the Pathology Department. Brian has ascertained from Phil Sloan that he had been appointed as University Professor of Precision Medicine, or perhaps Precision Pathology, but had a significant clinical commitment also. One member enquired after Robert Perry and Adrian remarked that he had recently visited the Dilston Physic Garden, created by the Perrys on their land as a collection of plots each dedicated to cultivation of different medicinal plants, and open to the public as a visitor attraction. Adrian had met SPG members and former colleagues such as Petra and Fraser Charlton at this fascinating venue.
The abandonment of cash and cheques in favour of electronic financial transaction was discussed. This notetaker was convinced there were situations in which cash would always be required. Another member thought that a cashless society could minimise the black economy in which, for example, tradesmen who were paid in cash were avoiding tax. Mary-Clare related how she had withdrawn cash from an ATM , but after taking her card and receipt, had forgotten to take her money and walked away. Guessing that the machine had taken back the money, she phoned her bank who confirmed that she had forgotten to take the cash and was duly refunded. Brian related a similar incident as the second biggest financial mistake he had ever made, but he did not get his money back as he thought it had been stolen in the minutes after he left the automatic teller.
On raising the question of the venue for the next dinner, Poons was suggested by one member. There was agreement that the food was good, although one member reported a flea bite on his/her last attendance. Other venues were discussed including “A Taste of Persia”, the Carriage at Jesmond and its counterpart at Corbridge and others. The Carriage in Jesmond was decided upon on the basis of previous experience of SPG attendance and adequacy of parking. Brian agreed to canvas members now for availability in late October. It was to be hoped that Margaret and Cath Ashcroft could attend. The Carriage now seems to be called the Valley Junction.
Conversation continued with discussion of the murky world of allotments. Brian was amazed at the small plot rentals of this British tradition, typically £35 pa, although Yvonne and James pay a hefty £85 pa. Competitions for the “best allotment plot” were an established tradition in this community, with judges from other allotments bearing clipboards recording tickbox scores for every detail, for example: “Number of weeds: 1-10 □, 10-20 □, or > 20 □” . Tick the box.
The aristocratic connections of some members were discussed. One pair of members resides presently in a stately pile in Gosforth (with a lift and servant summoning bells) formerly owned by a distinguished Earl.
Some members (Adrian and David A. I think) remember the visits of Presidents Carter and Mohammad Ali to Newcastle. Ali had met a boxer from Newcastle in the US, and in response to a plea from him to travel to Newcastle to support a Boxing Charity, agreed to visit gratis.
Brian and David discussed the undoubted merits of older models of car. David runs a 20 year old Lexus 400 with an impeccable reliability record. It has a 4 litre, 8 cylinder engine, generating 400 hp. Modern cars all have distracting (dangerous) finger smudged touch screen controls, annoying engine stop start systems, and complete lack of the convenient creep function (on taking the foot off the brake) in automatics. None of that on the Lexus or for that matter Brian’s rather less venerable Volvo . No-one seemed interested in this conversation.
Much fine ale (e.g. Rivet Catcher) and other beverages, was consumed. The food looked great, with giant cod and chips the second most popular choice. Adrian recalled having superb cod on his recent Norwegian Holiday where you selected your fresh fish from seawater pens in the harbour.
The meeting ended at 10.30 pm. The next meeting is planned for late October at the Carriage, Jesmond (or is it the Valley Junction). Brian will poll for availability.
https://dilstonphysicgarden.com/
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/precisionmedicine/definition
https://www.valleyrestaurants.co.uk/valleyjunction.php
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