Otterburn XXVII

The Otterburn Society have traditionally indulged in the pleasures of the leaf during their annual conferences.

At Otterburn XXVI the Treasurer reported that he had failed to persuade legislators that the Otterburn Society should be exempted under The Smokefree (Premises & Enforcement) Regulations 2007. 

It had therefore been agreed that additional facilities would be required if the tradition of enjoying Cigars in Otterburn was to be maintained.

Cpt Beattie,  defence advisor to the Society,  had been tasked in providing this facility. 

Members were delighted to find that Cpt Beattie had procured a British Army Officers' mess tent to serve as a Smoking Pavilion !.

The first task awaiting members on their arrival at the Tower therefore,  was the erection of their Smoking Pavilion.

Military tents are renowned for their excellent quality of construction.  They are designed to be used in the most inhospitable parts of the world,  such as Otterburn,  and Karl was congratulated on what was considered to be an excellent choice as a place for members to enjoy their cigars.

Members were quite dismayed to find that,  despite having completed training at Sandhurst,  and having been a member of the 1^st  Otterburn Scout Troup,  Karl was unable to adequately lead the members in erection of this army facility,  mainly because British Army mess tents do not appear to be provided with assembly instructions. 

Not least of his other problems were the frozen soil and the difficulty in driving in the tent pegs !

Fortunately the member responsible for procurement and enjoyment of cigars,  Randall Flack,  had arranged supply of an alternative.

In line with the long tradition of the inflation of toggies in Otterburn,   Mr Flack had provided an alternative “baloon pavilion” that was inflated in less than 5 minutes by plugging it into a 13A socket !

^  Members inspect the internal walls of the smoking pavilion for robustness against puncture from Samurai swords !

^   The completed Otterburn Society Smoking Pavilion

With the Smoking Pavilion erected,  members assembled in the Green Room so that presentations could commence. 

Chairman of the Otterburn Society,  Basil Firth,  opened the conference by welcoming the members back to Otterburn for their twenty seventh conference and for proposing a vote of appreciation to the Treasurer of the Otterburn Society,  Alastair Scarborough,  for what was, in comparison to the monumental disaster of the previous year, the flawless organisation of this year's conference.

• Mr Firth was the first to make his presentation.  Mr Firth talked about his observation that the value of shares are likely to fall as well as rise and proposed an investment strategy for taking advantage of this.   It is fair to say that this received mixed reviews from members of the Society,  more familiar with trading than Mr Firth !

• Mr Flack,  somewhat predictably,  made a presentation on his company Pearson Engineering.  Unfortunately, unlike in previous years, the full scale demonstration of the tactical capabilities of equipment manufactured by his company were limited to the earlier inflation of the smoking pavilion.

• Andy Jordan presentation was entitled "Dairy Farming 2008 - An Update on Milk Quotats"

• John C Beck talked about offshore supply vessels.

• Big Dick talked about the surprise of being told that he was to become a grandfather !

• Lifetime honorary secretary to the Otterburn Society,  Jeremy Featherstone,  explained about the fun that he had been having on the beach over the summer and how he had lost his “spade”,  a JCB tracked excavator.

• Members were delighted that “mad” Mike Hall had been able to return to Otterburn after a number of years.   Michael talked enthusiastically about seals.

• Mr Scarborough showed some pictures of his native Malawi and a band playing at the ceremony held to present the people of Thylo with Moet & Chandon !

Following their presentations,  members dressed in their traditional attire for their Annual General Meeting:

^ From right to left, Wanduwl Fwack,  "Mad" Mike Hall, Andy "MQ" Jordan,  Big dick Tarn, Alastair Scarborough, Jeremy Featherstone,  John C Beck,  Karl Beattie, Basil Firth

The Annual General Meeting was chaired by the Chairman of the Otterburn Society,  Mr Firth.

First item on the agenda was apologies for absence.  The Treasurer informed the meeting that he had not received any apologies for absence !

The agenda had a number of resolutions that were all unanimously passed.

It was decided that the traditional gift to the Nchima trust would be made again - rocket stoves. 

The accounts¹ for the year ending 2007 were unanimously accepted.

Mr Randall Flack was elected Treasurer of the Otterburn Society.

"Mad" Mike Hall was elected Secretary of the Otterburn Society

Following an uncustomary TWO years in the post of Treasurer to the Society,  Mr Firth was very pleased to be able to nominate Mr Scarborough for the post of Chairman of the Society.  This nomination was unanimously approved and Mr Alastair Scarborough was elected Chairman of the Otterburn Society.

Their being no further business,  the members turned their attention to the serving of the Champagne.

1.  Subsequent to the meeting the (unsigned) Accounts for the year ending 2008 were prepared and filed in the society archive.

^  Rocket stoves "Dom" and "Perignon" in their now home

Champagne has long being enjoyed by the members at their annual conference.  Large bottles have been enjoyed in the past however in more recent times,  restraint has been demonstrated and a larger number of smaller denomination bottles are now traditionally enjoyed.

As usual,   Mr Scarborough had provided the Champagne from the cellar at his house in France.

Mr Scarborough was very pleased to demonstrate a novel technique for opening Champagne that he had learnt whilst with the British Army in Germany - La Saberage.

The technique is relatively straight forward,  as demonstrated here.

In order to perfect the technique,  Mr Scarborough had enjoyed a number of cases of magna prior to Otterburn,  however had saved the last few bottles for the members to try the technique.

It was obvious that our esteemed treasurer had been very “relaxed” in the weeks preceding Otterburn – as his technique executing “la Saberage” could not be faulted.

The society's learned honorary life secretary,  and disgraced inventor of the Otterburn syringe,  Jeremy Featherstone,   immediately saw the advantages of the technique ie the fact that the bottle could be opened with a wide variety of implements typically available to members of the society at Otterburn.  Unfortunately the Society's armourer,  the former laird of Fingesk,  Gavin Stuart Murray-Thriepland,  FMOS,   was not able to be present and therefore a range of non ballistic millitaria were not available to chose from.

Despite this,  Jeremy proceeded to see whether or not the society shears would have the desired effect  !

Despite the challenges posed,  members did (eventually) enjoy some Champagne.

^   Michael and Jeremy reviewing the stress raiser caused by the manufacturing technique.

                               ^  Inventor of the Otterburn Syringe JJR Featherstone trying to open a bottle of champagne with a pair of tailoring shears !

Cigars

^      The luxuriously furnished, but cold, Otterburn Smoking Pavilion

^   The cold still night air is perfect for enjoying fireworks with a cigar

For many years it had been a tradition for members of the Society to re-enact the battle of Otterburn after dinner.  This involved a trip to the Hall.   In recent years the practice of making this long walk in the cold has declined in popularity with the members.

It is now a number of years since members have been able to make the trip to the lake.

In recognition of the members' advancing years,  the Tower Hotel had had a lake specially constructed in their grounds for the specific enjoyment of the members of the Otterburn Society.

The lake has been conveniently constructed to the east of the Tower and is easily accessible by the members from the comfort of the Green Room.

Unfortunately members didn't discover its existence until the Sunday morning by which time the appeal of the challenge of getting across to the island had significantly worn off.

The ice was thick,  but we never determined if it might have carried a member's weight.

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