The Annual Concours and Autumn Lunch took place on Sunday 7th October at the Three Ways Hotel, the home of The Pudding Club, Chapel Lane, Mickleton GL55 6SB, between Stratford-on-Avon and Chipping Campden.
The Concours and Lunch formed the conclusion of this year’s Autumn Weekend, all arranged by Jimmy Valentine, and based on the Arden Hotel in Stratford-on-Avon for the nights of Friday 5th and Saturday 6th October. The hotel is close to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, which offered ‘A Comedy of Errors’ on the Friday evening, and ‘Twelth Night’ on the Saturday evening.A number of members attended one of the performances with a few real Shakespeare fans attended both preformances which they thoroughly enjoyed.
On Friday some members drove off to explore the sights of Stratford-on-Avon, including Shakespeare’s Birthplace, his tomb in Trinity Church, and Anne Hathaway’s Cottage in bright sunshine. The highlight of the weekend (at least to this writer) was the amble around the Cotswold lanes and villages in fabulous warm and sunny Autumn weather on Saturday, enjoying good company, seeing various country houses, stopping off at delightful pubs and generally marvelling at the quite exquisite scenery touring the rural delights of Warwickshire and Gloucestershire. This is surely what the 20-Ghost Club is all about.
On Sunday the weather was once again very kind to us all and we spent a happy hour or so chatting about our cars at The Three Ways Hotel, the scene of our Concours (very light hearted) and the wonderful lunch of which the puddings were of course simply magnificent heart attack inducing creations. To save his modesty I shall not reveal the name of the disgracefully slim and fit member who managed to eat SIX puddings, with no apparent ill effects!
Following coffee and fudge, we all regretfully said our good-byes and started our travels home from what was a memorable and enormously successful week-end.
A full report with photographs will appear hopefully in the next edition of News & Record (no. 37).
