50th anniversary celebration badge label in golden color

50th Anniversary Celebration

On Tuesday 27th March 2018 we held our 50th Anniversary event at the beautiful Chrysalis Theatre at Camphill in Milton Keynes.

It was a wonderful evening of celebrating our 50 years of existence. Our initial fears that the Theatre which seats 200 might feel rather empty were completely unfounded as there were very few available seats left and the foyer was full to bursting at the interval. There was a lovely atmosphere of people meeting old friends and catching up, a real buzz!

The evening started slightly tensely as our poor speaker Patrick Barkham was held up in traffic on the A14 and only arrived 10 minutes before the talk was due to start. In his words he was ‘a bit flustered’ at the beginning but he recovered quickly and gave an excellent talk which left many of us yearning to visit some of the many islands dotted around our large island.

Peter Hassett had prepared a presentation about the Society from its beginnings to the present day which was a lovely start to the evening (you can view the presentation here). Lewis our new Chairman said a few words to introduce himself and at the end of the evening the Mayor of Milton Keynes David Hopkins presented our esteemed President Roy Maycock with a painting of a badger to mark his 50 years as a founder member and pillar of the Society.

The evening was a wonderful team effort by all concerned which just goes to show what a special Society we have. Here’s to the next 50 years!

What follows is just a few of the many comments we have received starting with one from the Mayor:

“Susan and I found the evening enlightening and compelling with the guest speaker Patrick Barkham truly engaging as he took us on an animated tour of Britain’s finest islands. Please pass on my congratulations to your President Roy Maycock for fifty outstanding years of committed service to the Society. I felt privileged to present him with the splendid picture of the badger.”

“Last night was very special.”

“What an excellent evening! The speaker this evening was absolutely amazing. And what turn out. The evening was almost perfect.”

“Nice to catch up with many people that we don’t get to see very often.”

“Tuesday was a fantastic evening in every way and a fitting celebration of the Society’s 50 years.”

“Well done to everyone for putting on a fantastic evening, which seemed to go down with everyone. A good engaging speaker and great venue.”

“Thank you very much for such a wonderful evening we had a really good time and now want to go on a small island for a holiday too!”

Click on any of the pictures for a larger image or  visit our photo gallery to see all the photos from this special evening.

Special thanks to Julie Lane and Lewis Dickinson for writing this article and to Paul Lund for providing the photos.

 

The Chrysalis Theatre

The Chrysalis Theatre

Julie Lane opens the event

Julie Lane opens the event

The auditorium

The auditorium

Patrick Barkham giving his talk

Patrick Barkham giving his talk

Teo (Theatre Manager) and Carol (Head Barrister) plan for the interval

Teo (Theatre Manager) and Carol (Head Barrister) plan for the interval

Refreshments are served in the interval

Refreshments are served in the interval

Martin Kincaid (vice-president) asks David Hopkins (Milton Keynes Mayor) to make a presentation to Roy Maycock (President)

Martin Kincaid (vice-president) asks David Hopkins (Milton Keynes Mayor) to make a presentation to Roy Maycock (President)

Roy Maycock (President) accepts his painting from David Hopkins (Milton Keynes Mayor)

Roy Maycock (President) accepts his painting from David Hopkins (Milton Keynes Mayor)

Patrick Barkham signing books

Patrick Barkham signing books