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80th

CLOG Birthday celebrations

2017 marked CLOG’s 80th birthday, and to celebrate this milestone, we organised 2 special events – a tea party in London, and a weekend at a hotel in Eastbourne.

These events, open to current and ex-members, were organized for our 75th birthday celebrations and were a great opportunity for members to meet each other.

It is no mean feat for an organization like CLOG to have survived and flourished for 80 years, given the enormous social changes that have taken place over that period.  At both events photos, factsheets, newsletters were exhibited to reflect how CLOG has evolved.



Tea party – Sat 20th May, 3-5.30pm
Tara Hotel
Scarsdale Place,
Kensington W8 5SY

The first big event was held in May when 73 current and former Clog members gathered in the plush surroundings of the Copthorne Tara Hotel in Kensington for an afternoon tea with all the trimmings!

The huge room was decorated with balloons and banners with a table on one side of photos and albums showing Clog from the early days, and a rolling slide show of more recent walks, events and trips away – we all enjoyed spotting ourselves! Many ex-members of Clog from past decades came and it was great to catch up with old faces and meet new ones. The most ‘vintage’ ex-member had joined Clog in the 1940’s and the most recent member there had joined only 2 months ago!

The tea arrived on art deco cake stands and we tucked into fruit smoothies, sandwiches, mini-cakes and piles of scones, jam and cream. Bob and Sudip gave short speeches towards the end and we all continued to chat and catch up until the late afternoon when many of us retired to the hotel bar to continue the craik - and a good time was had by all! Thanks to Melissa and Anne, who were the main organisers for the event, and everyone who helped on the day.

 


Eastbourne weekend
Sat/Sun 16-17 September
Best Western Lansdowne Hotel
King Edward’s Parade
Eastbourne BN21 4EE


Festivities began on Saturday evening, with pre-dinner drinks at 6.00pm before a 3-course dinner (vegetarian and vegan options will be catered for) and a live band, playing music for all ages and tastes until midnight, but there was also plenty of space in the hotel bars and lounges for members who would prefer to chat. On Sunday there was a choice of walks ranging from the beautiful South Downs and Seven Sisters to a local stroll around Eastbourne.

After the event, one of the attendees wrote:
It was perhaps appropriate that so many ‘80’s Cloggies’ turned out for the CLOG 80th celebrations at Eastbourne. Following many helpful and detailed emails from Bob we rolled up by various means and at various times to begin a great reunion – and to meet all those other Cloggies from different generations.


The weather was stunning: sun and cloud, comfortably warm and the sea like a millpond – with one sensational deluge with painfully large hailstones just to add interest. On our ventures out we bumped into other groups of Cloggies, on a variety of choices of walks and sightseeing across the clifftop paths and Wealdway (and then tried to sneakily arrive at the teashop before them).

The Lansdowne hotel couldn’t have been better: all demands, however reasonable or otherwise, were met by a smiling staff member, all keen to give us a great experience. The food was superb – I (and I expect the 20 others who ordered it) will always remember the ginormous, and delicious, chocolate and coconut parfait that finished off our dinner (and finished us off too).

Those of us that didn’t hit the dance floor spent a great Saturday evening in the ‘memorabilia’ room, reminiscing over photos, slides and old copies of Clogprints from times gone by.

And while we sauntered in leisurely fashion into breakfast or dinner or tea, various members of the organising committee could be seen from time to time moving around at a rather greater speed, occasionally wearing a slightly frazzled expression. And all to give us such a fantastic time!

So, to all the current ‘teens Cloggies’ involved in the organisation, thank you so much; the large number of us ‘80s Cloggies’ really appreciate all you did in the set-up and over the weekend. We are looking forward to the next one already!"