MEETING PROCEDURES
Today, the Club follows in the traditions laid down in those early years by meeting one evening a month, from September to May. It is usually the last Saturday, with as many guests as can be mustered, to welcome the season’s President and enjoy a three course meal, the main course always being Steak and Kidney Pudding, whilst partaking in a round of wine toasting.
Sung Grace and the Loyal Toast follow, before the brewing of the Punch to a traditional recipe, during which a chant, written by a Past President, is sung. The Special Toast for the evening, proposed by a Brother previously appointed by the President, is followed by some entertainment and a toast to Absent Brethren. Our ‘Scribe’ (correctly titled: Minutes Secretary) then reads his Minutes of the Last Meeting and offers them to the President for signature, which are usually denied by the Brothers as being a true record, not that anyone can really remember, so it is promptly signed anyway.
Three of the nine meetings in each season enjoy the ceremony of the Loving Cup, whereby the attendees, in turn, enjoy a sip of wine from a silver goblet as a true recognition of fellowship and camaraderie, a tradition that dates back to the year 978, when Edward King of the English’s step-mother, Queen Aelfrida, instigated him being stabbed to death in the back whilst drinking from a vessel when staying at Corfe Castle, to enable her son Ethelred the Unready to take the throne.
The toast to the Guests then follows, to which two of the Guests are asked to respond, after which a toast to the Officers of the Club is proposed, without whom the meeting could not have taken place. The meeting is then closed with a rousing chorus of Auld Lang Syne.