Retirement Charity Event - Honouring Nick Utting MBE

I always knew Nick Utting was a well-respected person in the community, but this was never so apparent than on Saturday evening as we, along with 500 other guests, celebrated the life and achievements of Nick Utting MBE.

The event was held in the fantastic setting of Eden Golf Club in a huge marquee and included Pimm's on the lawn prior to the meal. It was a black tie event with some handsome men in sharp suits and glamorous ladies with fabulous frocks. Our table was predominately female, with Michael Peile a solitary male – and just loving it!

During the evening a number of people including Ian Watson (formally of the MMB) paid tribute to Nick for his commitment to the local farming community and presented him with the Blamire Medal for services to agriculture. This is a local trust and to be honoured with this medal is a great achievement.

Mike Chester also paid tribute to Nick plus there was a message from the other side of the world from Michael Cowen. The compare for the evening was Ian Powley of Carrs Milling Industries plc.

Entertainment was 1st class with 'the singing waiters' who put on an act before launching into full operatic singing (they were a trio who have performed in the West End and Broadway!) along with two local lads who have a great double act of singing about 'local farming crack'.

The food was again 1st class and consisted of three courses along with complementary wine on the table - kindly provided by Nick and his partner Margaret. There were some fantastic raffle prizes donated by various local businesses, however our table was not successful! Other entertainment was provided by a band called Leroy and the Flints then the evening ended (post 2.00am!) with a disco from Loud & Bright and a finale of fireworks.

It was a fantastic night and it was great to be part of the celebration of Nicks great work for agriculture in our area.

Sandra Gowling

A Right Royal Day Out

On Tuesday 15 June David and myself had great pleasure in attending Royal Ascot’s opening day.

We had been invited as guests and although we were very excited we were also a bit nervous as we had never been before.

We stayed in Old Windsor and our host took us by taxi to Ascot, with a guided tour along the way and our driver pointing out various things one of them being Elton John’s home.

We arrived at Ascot about 11.30 before it really started to fill up. After finally making it up to our hospitality box past numerous security, we were greeted by Erik and Andrew our waiters for the day. We were the first four to arrive in our box which was great as when everyone arrived we got the chance to be introduced to some really interesting people.

In total there were about fourteen people in our box with various people popping in and out during the day. After having a few glasses of champagne to get everyone going, we were served numerous dishes of the most delicious food. There was so much to choose from, no sooner was a plate emptied another one was put in its place. The whole afternoon we did not need to ask for a drink; as soon as Erik or Paul could see our glasses going down they were there topping them up. Towards the end of the day as if we had not had enough food, sandwiches of every variety possible were served.

Not forgetting of course the reason why we were there, Royal Ascot opening day. After watching the queen arrive in her carriage we had a flutter on the races. We had got some tips off a top tipster in our office; we were lucky on two races but lost on the other four. One gentleman in our box won all six races so he was well up on the day. We also had a little sweep stake on what colour the queen would be wearing, the same man got half of that (think he had some inside info).

We also had a walk around Ascot, soaking up the atmosphere and taking in all the lovely outfits and looking at some of the amazing head gear that was on display, and seeing lots of famous people. We also had the pleasure of Eddie Jordan joining us in our box for a short spell.

To top off our day, we all went out into the sunshine and joined hundreds if not thousands around the bandstand to sing some traditional songs: My Old Man, Rule Britannia, Daisy and The National Anthem to name a few. Hopefully we were not caught on camera because after all our hospitality for the day we did believe we were the best singers there.

All in all we had an absolutely fantastic day and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and would recommend it to anyone if you ever got the chance to go.

Alison Allen

Howzthat !!

On Friday night, a David Allen Select eleven took on my rugby team Aspatria RUFC in a Twenty20 Cricket game at Bower Park, Aspatria.

This was an unusual experience for me as playing for the rugby club saw me line up against my fellow work colleagues, some of which seemed to take great pleasure in bowling the cricket ball straight at me (Michael failed in his Bodyline Attack!!).

First up to bat were the David Allen team who would eventually score a total of 146 runs from their 20 overs. There were some impressive batting performances from Michael & Ashley Peile along with some shall we say less impressive performances from Craig Pollock and Colin Campbell. Biggest shot of the day went to Michael as he nearly put the ball on the railway line and caused several minutes of searching in the thick weeds and nettles before the ball could be found. David Allen were rightly pleased with their imposing total of 146 but had an air of caution about the quality of the rugby clubs batting abilities...They needn't have worried!!

Once the half time interval had been taken, David Allen retook the field with the aim of restricting the Rugby Club to below the 146 total. The longest bowling over ever seen in cricketing history was produced by Jonathan Miller but even this didn’t hinder the David Allen side and in the end, they managed to win, as the rugby club would be eventually all out for 117 in total. As the last batsmen in (After quickly finishing my Burger & Pint), it was down to me to give my last wicket away and seal a victory for David Allen.

All players then retired to the clubhouse for some light refreshments and general discussions on each others cricket playing abilities. The only topic’s that were agreed upon was that a rematch would have to take place in the near future and more burgers would be required for the BBQ.

A good evening was had by all and the rematch is already eagerly anticipated.

Jack Clegg