It was a real pleasure attending the "Ex-Bobbies Christmas Bash" held at Mad Hatters Restaurant in the Mariners Club on Thursday lunch-time 8th December 2016.  There were about 30 of our former officers present for the occasion and a very good time was had by all.

Dave Cook opened the proceedings by welcoming all those present.  Dave gave a brief history of this popular annual event:-

Dave Cook welcomes everyone

"As best my memory serves me, back in 1992 after I retired and was working for Paul Field at Bermuda Alarm Company  I received a call from George Rushe inviting me to lunch around Christmas time. To the best of my recollection joining us were Barrie Meade, John Instone, Peter Duffy, maybe others but I can’t recall. This became a regular occurrence at Christmas time just with the four or five of us. Over the years the numbers steadily increased. We met at MR Onions Restaurant on Par-la-Ville Rd. When they closed we moved to Fisches Place, now the Mad Hatters Restaurant,  here at at the Mariners Club.  We have had as many as 40 attend the lunch which has become a regular yearly get together. "  At the conclusion of his remarks Dave asked everyone present to raise their glass in a toast to "absent friends" and listed all those guys who have left us since last December.

Attending todays "bash" were  Dave Ashurst, Oliver Bain, Dave Barber, Roddy Barclay, John Barnett, Reese Bartley, Arthur Bean, Ray Bell, Foster Burke, Bill Butterworth, Keith Cassidy, Dave Cook, John Dale, Orson Daisley, Eddie Davies, Steve Dunleavy, Alan Gorbutt, John Greatrex, Neil Halliday, Pat Hamlett, Gerry Lyons, Brian Malpas, John McConnie,  Rex Osborne, "Moby" Pett, Kevin Reeves, Mike Shaw, Pete Shaw, Roger Sherratt, John Skinner, Phil Taylor, and Norman Wilson.

We had assembled at the Mad Hatters at 12 noon for drinks before taking our seats for an excellent meal.  In recent years it has become the custom to have "Fast Eddie" Davies tell a few jokes during the proceedings and he never fails to bring the house down.  On a more sombre note,  Eddie announced that he was retiring from his position at the Monetary Authority at the end of January and he and his wife will be heading to the U.S. to settle there later in the year.   Most of us believe he is irreplaceable - as a comedian! 

The food was superb and camaraderie was first class.

We had two of our former officers visiting from abroad. As we reported last week, John Greatrex, was visiting from South Wales,  and Orson Daisley had just arrived from Barbados. Our most senior man was probably Brian Malpas who had travelled all the way from Somerset, while Arthur Bean arrived from the east.

Everyone who attended has been invited to write a quick note about where they are what they're doing these days for the information of our members abroad.  We will also endeavour to locate their old warrant card photos and post them with their replies, although some photos are missing and others have deteriorated - the photos that is!  If that is the case we'll try to find a photo in our ExPo collection. Here are the replies received so far:-

Oliver served from 1969-1995 and after retirement in1995, he was appointed Executive Officer of the United Bermuda until 1998 when the Progressive Labour Party became the government. I am sure you are aware that when one has a political appointment you become a casualty if your party is unsuccessful. Subsequently l worked  for Sun Life of Canada for three years selling life insurance. In 2003 a former colleague and l formed a taxi company and drove and organise transportation for corporate clients. I still do a bit in that regard so l consider myself semi retired. I play tennis three times a week but only doubles as l could always blame my partner if we lose. I am still very competitive. I travel frequently to NY to see my 96year old mother and to Grenada to see family members.