Huddersfield 68 Round Table set a high standard for future anniversary celebrations at its 75th Charter Dinner on Saturday 16th May 2009. 

The event was attended by guests of honour Dave Barker, National President of Round Table, the mayor of Kirklees, Karam Hussian and the founder of Freeserve, Ajaz Ahmed. 

In a break from traditional Round Table Charter dinner events the 75 guests in attendance were treated to a big screen projection showing pictures of previous chairmen.  Later, a film was shown with images and music from Huddersfield Round Table’s impressive 75 year history of charity, fun and fundraising.  Many of the 400 young men (aged 18 to 45 year old) that have been members were seen on screen. 

Whilst Huddersfield Round Table is proud of its past they are also positive about the future as Chairman, Craig Williams celebrated exciting prospects for the group in the coming years.  During his short speech Craig acknowledged that four new members that have joined Huddersfield Round Table in the last 12 months; one of whom, (Sean Pearce from Salendine Nook) was inducted to Huddersfield Round Table on the night by the Round Table’s National President.

Messages of support were received from Round Table patron - His Royal Highness, Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh and from past members and beneficiaries from the UK and around the world.  The highlight of the evening was local businessman Ajaz Ahmed sharing his hilarious and informative account of his rise to riches through the formation of worldwide 1990’s internet sensation "Freeserve".  Mr Ahmed is still living close to his roots in Birkby, Huddersfield and despite his many ongoing business and charitable interests he enjoyed the evening so much he later decided to join Huddersfield Round Table as an honorary member!

Quotes from the night:

"I am only to delighted to add my congratulations to the Huddersfield 68 Round Table on reaching its 75th anniversary. It has an enviable record of charitable activities, particularly for young disadvantaged children and for older people in need"  - HRH Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh (by letter).

 "The word ‘Huddersfield’ just does not sound right without the words Round Table at the end" Dave Barker – National President

"How can we top this for our 80th!" Craig Williams, Chairman

"This was a truly fabulous and enjoyable event.  Your National president was right in saying that Huddersfield Round Table gives a lifetime of friendship, something that I am happy to testify to!" Paul Lucas – Chairman 1978 to 1979.

"It’s good to see that our Round Table is in a strong position and in safe hands for the future" Past Member of Huddersfield RT.

"43 years after we left it, [Huddersfield Round] Table 68 still plays a big part in our lives, and we are very grateful that we were privileged to have played our part in its existence" Austin Holroyd – Chairman 1959 to 1960

"You certainly did adopt, adapt and improve our Round Table for the better" President, Mark Allen

"A superb night for which you should all be very proud" Elland Round Table

"Ajaz was the best speaker that I have heard in a long time" Karl Ashford, Ossett and Horbury RT

"75 Years is truly a remarkable achievement" David Pearson, Chairman of Area 9 West Yorkshire Round Tables

The weekend of 18th April 2009 is one not likely to be forgotten by President Elect Dave Barker in a hurry. Not only was he a guest at Jersey Round Table's Annual Dinner, but ended up, on the Sunday, in a Nazi underground hospital!

The weekend started off by Dave and his PLC Vice Chairman, Terry Porter, being collected at Jersey Airport by incoming Jersey RT Chairman, Elliiot Jackson. They all then went off to the Royal Yacht Hotel for lunch and to meet up with some of the other Jersey Tablers including outgoing Chairman Nick Mourant. Dave was then picked on by a young lady, who perhaps had more "lunch" than she ought to have, who would only speak to Dave.

The evening event was thouroghly enjoyed by all and during which Elliot Jackson was installed as the new Chairman.

The main speaker for the evening was Dennis Hobson, promoter of boxers Ricky Hatton and Clinton Woods, who entertained with many stories of taking these great names in boxing to the top of their profession. It must be said that not many Table events are supplied with produce by the outgoing Chairman, but indeed all the delicious new season Jersey Royal Potatoes were grown by Nick Mourant (and available in all Sainsbury stores now!)

Also attending the function was Brian le Marquand Past National President 1978-1979.

After the dinner ended, the evening was rounded off by going to a night club where the wives and partners of the Tablers were waiting after their own night out.

The following morning, Dave and Terry were again picked up by (now) Chairman Elliot and taken off to visit the Jersey War Tunnels which tell the true story of the Occupation of Jersey during World War Two. It is one of the Island's most popular tourist attractions as well as an important site of heritage conservation and interpretation. Click here for further information on HO8

All in all this was a great weekend and one which will not be forgotten in a long while. And thanks to Nick, Dave and Terry both had a goodie bag of Jersey Royals to take home (and for Dave to get through security as he had no checked luggage!!)

Many Tables belong to "number clubs" where national and even international Tables gather annually based usually on the last 2 numbers in their Table identity number. Rhyl 352 naturally belong to the 52 Club, as do Clitheroe 552, two of the oldest members. Clitheroe invited Rhyl to their Annual Charter at the Stirk House Hotel in February 09, being a particularly important one as Dave Barker, National President Elect from Rhyl RT and the first 52 Club member to become National President, was asked to be guest of Honour at the Charter.

Dave and Mark Roberts travelled to Stirk House Hotel, located between Clitheroe and Gisburn to join their Fellow 52 Club Table celebrate their Charter.

Also speaking was renown comedian Maurice Grumbleweed, member of the famous 1970s’-80’s Entertainers the Grumbleweeds, and knowing the antics they used to get up to, it was anyone’s guess what was on the cards. Maurice gave most in the room a stitch in the side and a sense of breathlessness with his wicked one-liners and twist in the tail stories, and was an excellent climax to the evening.

It was great night, attended by over 80 Tablers from all over the North West - thanks Clitheroe for the invitation and the very warm welcome on a very cold night, and also for nearly cleaning us out of Sharky pin badges - if you want more look at the www.thesharkstable.org.uk  sales page.

Photos soon appeared on Facebook, but most interestingly of all was the migration of Clitheroe’s mechanical calling to order Bell aka "The Wheeltappers and Shunter’s Club" to Lancaster, but worry not, it was soon reunited at Area 34’s Founders Night held at the Lancaster Brewery (where else!)

Dave’s Diary is rapidly filling up, with requests for visits coming in fast and furious.

On the weekend of September 26^th Dave went "island hopping" around the UK, attending Banbridge’s Charter night in Ireland on Friday and flying to Jersey for their 60^th Charter on the Saturday night.

Mark Roberts, his PLC Chairman, had hoped to journey with Dave to Jersey as it’s where Mark first joined Round Table, unfortunately a family wedding has got in the way.

An important part of Dave’s Diary Team’s work is to co-ordinate requests with sensible travel arrangements, however this time, Dave’s been let loose to travel nearly the length of Britain on a Chartering weekend.

More Charters are already booked, ranging from the very north of Scotland to the tip of Cornwall and stops everywhere in-between, we just hope he’s saving those airmiles!

Dave recently attended one of the best ever National Sporting Weekends held at Nottingham University. Arriving on the Friday, Dave settled in at the bar to chat away until the early hours with friends old and new. He’d arrived mid evening (due to work commitments) and laid his suitecase and bags at the bar while chatting – now come on Dave, how long have you been a Tabler…..you guessed it, the bags went "walkies" for a few hours, and there were many a Tabler smirking in the background as Dave casually strolled around looking for his chattel.

Towards the end of the night, the bags were returned from their safe hiding place behind the bar and Dave retired to ready himself for the Saturday’s events, but only after watching the live bands and entertainment laid on by Will Ingleby’s NSW Team.

Saturday was a round of brief meetings, discussions and then the Egg Throwing challenge between Pete Manley and Dave. The idea was to throw and catch the eggs (some hard boiled some not), and you got points for every catch multiplied by the distance thrown. Easy I hear you saying, and it would have been except for the bedevilment of our trusted Webmaster, Terry Porter, who enlisted some rebel Tablers to assist in the atmosphere by egging the President and Vice President as they threw and caught. Both Dave and Pete’s hair looked in wonderful condition later in the evening. [I deny all knowledge of this...Webmaster]

Then to the finale, the Gala Dinner, where Dave shared the Top Table with Pete, and following a hearty meal, excellent entertainment from the Brass Band and dancers, Sports awarding ceremonies and NSW Chairman handover to Mike Routledge of Colchester 2009, Dave was presented with his NSW Colchester Striped Jacket.

One of Dave’s inaugural formal meetings was to attend the first gathering of Presidents and Vice Presidents of the 4 Clubs, RTBI, Ladies Circle, 41 Club and Tangent recently at Marchesi House.

You will hopefully be aware that Round Table, Ladies Circle, and 41 Club are all located at Marchesi House, and have made history in collectively supporting one Annual Charity for 2008-2009 in the form of the Air Ambulance, and many fundraising events will be held over the year.

More importantly, the 4 Clubs meet to plan ahead collectively for the revival of all organisations, in a symbiotic alliance which hopefully will bear greater fruits than acting along.

This also gave Dave the opportunity to meet everyone, some for the first time, and to forge friendships which hopefully will last well beyond his Presidency.

It's not often that you get the National President and the National Vice President turning up at the same Charter event, but that's exactly what happened for Swansea 57 Round Table's 75th Charter evening held at the Dolphin Hotel in the heart of Swansea City on the 25th October 2008.

Dave was originally booked to attend another charter night, as the Presidential Representative, in Dumfries, because the National President, Pete "Manners" Manley was already committed to attending Swansea's Charter Night. However due to a last minute cancellation of the Dumfries Charter Night, Dave was all dressed up with nowhere to go and so an 11th hour booking was made for him to attend Swansea's 75th Charter.

Both the sponsored Seat cars were parked outside the Hotel for full publicity (well they were just adjacent to the Hotel entrance and slap-bang in front of Ann Summers - some would argue that was more suited to Tablers!!0, but the foul weather, allied with he fact that both Pete and Dave had to journey back, the same evening, to Portsmouth and Rhyl respectively, meant that the opportunity for some formal photos was lost, but the two cars did raise a lot of attention from passers-by.

You will have seen in TM that Jamie Gwilliam, Swansea's Chairman. had been hosted by Mark Robert's, Dave's PLC Chairman, as part of Swansea's 2007 Scatter weekend and had attended Caernarfon Round Table's 50th Charter, and it was now Caernarfon's turn to return the favour, with 15 Caernarfon Tabler's making the 400 mile round trip to be with Swansea on the milestone celebrations. This lead to the Toastmaster commenting on how the tide in Swansea Bay had risen three feet that day, simply due to the fact that North Wales had emptied and Wales had tipped southwards!

The evening was really well run, with the usual formalities, speeches by various dignitaries, a moving rally from Pete Manley, and then it was Dave's turn, to rapturous applause and war cries from the, by now quite inebriated, Carnaerfon contingent, and delivered a heartfelt few words on the new direction of Table, and a tantalising "wait and see" message at the end.

Now, although it was a black tie event, and Dave did at least have a black tie, he was bedecked (as is traditional) in the red and black blazer of the NSW 2009 team, which prompted the Toastmaster to comment, as Dave returned to his seat..."and Dave will have to leave us shortly as his next turn at Butlin's Pwlheli is about to start..."

The Drive back started around midnight, reaching Rhyl around 4:30am, with Dave safely snoring in the passenger seat most of the way until we needed to re-fuel at Welshpool, when he awoke almost on autopilot, concerned that the Seat was being filled with unleaded rather that diesel, and as soon as he realised all was fine, it was back to the land of nod for our President Elect - another engagement under the belt.

Dave’s first engagement in his role as National vice President was to visit Chester Round Table’s 20^th Annual Beer festival, which took place at Chester Rugby Club on the 15^th – 17^th May. Amongst the other visitors was newly elected National CSLO Officer Steve Lord from Clitheroe Round Table.

Live bands and gallons of real ale kept the record crowds occupied, and it was a great time to engage in some serious Table banter, especially after attending a very successful Conference at Leeds.

Last Weekend saw Dave spend the weekend with the other Executive members and partners at Pete Manley’s stomping Ground of Portsmouth.

It was not just a business weekend for the Executive, but managed to make plenty of time for fun and getting to know each other better in a relaxed atmosphere, however, from the photos it would appear that the exec were already trying out their National Conference costumes for the fancy dress ball, I wonder what the waiters thought …..