September 9^th – 11^th

What a fantastic event this is. This truly is the epitome of all that is great about being a member of The King of Clubs, Round Table. Over seven hundred lean; mean athletic machines pitching themselves tooth and nail, jowl and jaw just to get to the bar!!

I spent my Friday evening with members of three Areas celebrating my birthday in an Italian restaurant before returning to Campus to enjoy the entertainment and company of many Tablers from across RTBI. As you’d expect of a man in my position I retired early to bed (around 2am), as I needed to preserve my energy for the sporting challenges ahead…

Saturday morning I was up with the lark for a fulsome breakfast and as always, almost gob smacked at the enthusiasm of people rushing to play darts, football, boules, rugby, table tennis amongst do many sports despite the volume of alcohol they’d consumed the night before and the ensuing lack of sleep. In my mind our 2012 Olympic prospects become all the more impressive when I think what Tablers may do with some training and sleep before NSW!!!

And so the competitions began – I took off with President Gary to visit as many sports as possible and to offer my considerable sporting expertise to many competitors. I know the power and motivation of a ‘Get stuck in’ and ‘Good Arras’ to our sporting elite…

As lunchtime came and went and the Tug of War heralded the conclusion of another fine day’s battling by everybody we retired to the bar and left Sean Smith and Biggsy with an abacus to work out who’d won what.

The celebratory dinner was a resounding success. The meal was accompanied by an outstanding brass band whose repertoire met the demands of every Tabler from all corners of the organisation.  A resounding Jerusalem reminded us all that we were as competitive, hungry and fit as the great England Team that were stomping all over the Aussies at The Oval and as the Band left the stage so the announcements began…

Area 14 were announced as overall winners for the third year running – a fantastic achievement and my sincerest congratulations go to everybody involved. Coming in second were our excellent hosts for the weekend, Area 2 – they put on a great event and still managed to get enough members out on the fields of play to make a substantive effort in trying to wrestle the trophy from Nottinghamshire. Sadly for me, just one point behind in third place was my own Area 33. Resplendent all day in their black with red and white striped rugby shirts – everybody will have seen the superb numbers that turned out from the depths of Essex and I am personally grateful for the magnificent support they showed me and Area Chairman - Paul Marsh.

We were to be roundly entertained by three live bands giving us variance from Jon Bon Jovi to Blondie into the very early hours of Sunday morning before bed summoned again and another great weekend was drawing to a close. Breakfast was a more subdued affair although more stories of Corridor Golf until 6am resounded around the Campus. As the weary journey home commenced all that was left to do was reflect on another outstanding event – congratulations to Richard Biggs (Biggsy) and his whole Team for a quite brilliant performance – it may be three years in the planning and just three days to actually happen but it will bestow a lifetime of memories – well done and thanks guys.

Richard