Even though the rain lashed down all Friday evening the true sprit of the N&R shone through.

My boys Mark & Chris Hill battled the elements to site the 21 vans booked in that evening.

Camaraderie between the Nutty Rutters was exceptional, they had so many offers of help to man handle the vans into quite a tight space.  It was expertly & swiftly done given the weather conditions & volume of vans at times.

The venue is ideal for socials & the ever amenable Peter the site Supervisor can’t do enough for you.

Friday evening was spent supping hot mulled wine with extra medicinal brandy! & reminiscing over many albums of N&R photos of days since past, when we were all a lot younger, men had hair & even some had 6 packs!

Sue held a quiz on ‘past rally books’ which got all involved. The cries of ‘it can’t have been that long ago!’ echoed round the staff room many a time!  Tea & toast with toppings finished the evening off nicely.  Marmite - you either love it or hate it!

Saturday night was jimmy jam night; I must admit I never thought I would ever see so many members in their night attire! It was so nice to see so many dress up!

The fancy dress competition was judged by the two non-centre couples, voting for   George & Janet Lee as out right winners.  George did look so sweet in his Wee Willy Winky outfit!  Both couples phoned me on the Monday morning to say they wanted to join our fun & friendly centre.

Everyone enjoyed their supper, which Sue & I could not have done with out the help of Kev & Trish Harrison & Daph & Malc Pack who helped cook & serve the jackets & fillings for all.

We kicked off the sleep over style evening with a Chinese auction, strange how no-one could keep hold of the lottery ticket or scratch card for long!

Followed by a game of Teddy Ted & Tilly Ted left & right game (I still think my bear Lingus joke was good!!!)  

Then volunteers were sort for the dress the Teddy Bear run.  I think they had all forgotten just how to put baby clothes on.  Richard Arch & Geoff Rose had problems getting poor Teddy’s trainer pants on!  John Teat stood Teddy on his head to get his T-shirt on.  Andy Todd had to be sin-binned for kidnapping the other teams Teddy!

The winner of the best dressed Teddy Bear competition was Daph Pack, with the oldest most loved & cherished bear there.

My thanks also go to Richard & Marge Arch who provided a vat of wine to help them celebrate their 1000^th rally.  Angela Rose had baked & beautifully decorated for them.  At Sunday’s flag, they received a wooden plaque to commemorate the occasion & I even think I saw a tear in Papa Bear’s eye during his acceptance speech!

I really do thank all those who supported my rally & a huge thank you goes to Sue & Chris Hill who were ‘Simple the best’ assistant Marshals.

I look forward to repeating the fun & hopefully seeing you at my Burns Night & Valentine rallies in the New Year.

On behalf of Mark & myself we would like to wish all N&R members a Very Merry Christmas & good health, luck & much happiness in 2010.

Shaz Jenkins