
The 2025 annual Ex-Bobbies Christmas lunch was held at Mad Hatters restaurant in the Mariners Club on Thursday 4th December.
Organised by Bill Butterworth and Dave Cooper, this year, for the first time, the lunch was held in the big hall in order to provide extra room for those attending and this causd a few issues. As Bill explains, "The move to the big hall was an attempt to provide extra room because of the increased demand. The space in Mad Hatters has been a bit of a squeeze in recent years, and this year it would have required putting tables outside on the porch. The food was tasty however although were some service logistic issues. We will be looking for feed back from the attendees and will work with Mad Hatters and Mariners to work through any wrinkles in the process.
The above issue is a sign of success for this popular event which was very well attended and a good time was had by all as we shared lots of banter about the "good old days" in between discussing our health issues and how we try to keep up with our grandkids in this advanced technological era.

Bill paid tribute to the following ExPo members who died since our last pre-Christmas lunch, These were,John Kenyon, Tirena Rollins,Colin "Dusty" Hind, Alex Arnfield, Volney Welch, Andy Heggie, Hilton "Jellybean" Wingood, Ian Matthews, Sharon "Tracey" Armstrong, Malcolm Bull (in 2019), Howard Dill, Richard "Dicky" Coulthard, Gerald Fletcher, Aaron Sabir (Scott), Michael Dale Harvey, Devonish Small, Dean Steeples, Webster Furbert, Dave Garland and Ray Banks.
















Pete Counsell and Neil Anderson
The 39 attendess this year were, Carlton Adams, Neil Anderson, Oliver Bain, Ray Bell, Mark Bothello, Vendal Bridgeman, Tango Burgess , Bill Butterworth, Mike Chlebek, David Cooper, Peter Counsell, John Dale, Paul Field, Sean Field, Larry Fox, Stan Francis, Patrick Hamlett, Wayne Hodgson, Roger Kendall, Kevin Knights, Gerry Lyons, John McConnie, Ernie McCreight, Rex Osbourne, Scott Pacheco, Wayne Perinchief, Moby Pett, Geoff Piggot, Bernie Pitman, Tommy Pratt, Dave Purcell, George Rose, Phil Scarcliffe, Mike Shaw, Peter Shaw, Roger Sherratt, Paul Singh, John Skinner and Paul Towlson.
As stated above, a good time was had by all.
Published 5th December 2025