Christmas Luncheon ~ November 29, 2007

The Royal City Men's held its second annual Christmas Luncheon at the Victoria East Golf Club on the above date. The cash bar opened at 11:30 and President John Pawley rang the bell at 12:00 to officially start the pre-prandial process. This consisted of introducing the guests and RCMC Board members, a few seasonal quotes to set the mood, a blessing offered by Soren Sondergard, and pointing out the person from the Golf Club who would direct people by table to the food line.

Guests present were: the President and the Membership Director of the GWMC, Gary Clarke and Rob Lindsay and their wives, Kaye and Wendy, and guest speaker Norm Jary and his wife Jean. Formalities were quickly dispensed with and everyone enjoyed their lunch and company at their tables. As coffee was being served, Vice-president Tom Beale introduced guest speaker, Norm Jary.

Photo by John Newstead

Norm gave an account of how he came to be a radio announcer in Guelph, and played a tape of his personal highlight as a sportscaster, himself giving the play-by-play of Bobby Hull's record-breaking 51st goal. He entertained everyone with some recollections of incidents from his 16 years as Mayor of Guelph, and answered a few questions following his presentation. In response to “What advice would you give the current Council?” he responded - the same as he always does to anyone running for Council. “We want a city that is not so expensive that no-one can afford to live here, and not so cheap that no-one wants to live here.”

Photo by John Newstead

President Pawley thanked Norm and had him draw the first ticket for the door prizes. At the conclusion of the draws he announced that Tom Beale had prepared a hand-out of the speakers' program for 2008 and invited members to pick one up on the way out. The adjournment bell rang at 1:40 PM.