The event had been planned down to the last detail, table plans set, order of service for the serving of food, and all of the other finer details. 10 members of the Spinoza Lodge with 5 of their wives were attending their very first Ladies Festival, they have nothing like it in Belgium and so it was all new to them, they really enjoyed the whole experience.

First problem of the evening, an additional 2 guests who had been paid for, not on the seating plan, and then a further guest who had also been paid for, not on the seating plan. Did this cause any problems? Not a bit of it, the caterers responded, making the required extra meals available, the waiting staff responded and added the guests to the tables, Graham Hogben being excellent as he coped with the situation on behalf of the President and his Lady, whilst Kevin Kemp’s blood pressure rose like the pressure in a steam cooker. Not to worry though it all went very well.

The MC had been provided with a very strict timetable of events, he was able to stick to the plan so that all of the normal formal items were ticked off on time. Taking of Wine and Toasts were made, then came the Ladies Song, a performance by WBro Mike Scurfield that was excellent in its delivery and the 2 Wardens Bro Paul Nicholls with Bro John Miller, (rumoured to be Father and Son, but nobody knows which way round they are) lifted the Presidents Lady up on to her chair with ease.

Then came the response to the Ladies Toast and Song, delivered by Coralie in her own unique style, microphone range was a bit of a challenge so to the centre she came, with her prompt cards, using them and then discarding them over her shoulder like pieces of confetti, the content was spectacular, having all of the guests laughing and then crying as she pointed out that we had come together this evening to celebrate the Ladies, that was her goal, what a response, many a Mason saying it was a great response. She explained what the Charity was, Target Ovarian Cancer, which we have been supporting all year. She talked briefly about her sister who attended that evening but was suffering from Ovarian Cancer, she made every person attending understand the whys and wherefores of this deadly disease, some of us wiped tears from our eyes.

Ladies gifts were distributed by the Lodge Stewards who did a fantastic job on the night, led by Bro Chris Curling and ably supported by Bro Mariusz Owczarzak who by the way had friends from Poland attending) and the rest of their team

The surprises didn’t end there, as Coralie finished her response unbeknown to any of us, she had arranged a bit of a surprise, some of the young girls who had been serving us with food all of a sudden stopped what they were doing and the music struck up, before we knew it all of the Ladies in their spectacular evening wear were up singing and dancing with the young girls, about 2 minutes in the men started to stand up and dance with their ladies, what a performance, it lasted about 10 minutes and included the President and his Ladies Daughter Millie who is a bit of a star in her own right, and her Theatre Group giving up their time to support the evening and such a worthy cause, brilliant entertainment for everybody.