Minutes of the 728th meeting of the

Paddock Party Committee

Held at the New Kitchen, Primrose Cottage, Friday 18 July 2008, supposedly
at 7:30pm but the start was delayed whilst members were given a
conducted tour of the freshly painted cupboards.

Present
Graeme in the chair and Maggie on the other, Penny & Richard, Sarah D
& Steve, initially standing but in the latter case decidedly and thankfully
seated, Cathy on the piano stool and Sue accompanied the Minutes
Secretary on a pew. Sarah B and Adrian’s participation was somewhat
delayed as they had insisted on entering via the front door despite frantic
waving and gesticulation by back door members and thus requiring some
rapid shifting of items not yet allocated to the new cupboards.

Apologies
SarahB and Adrian for moving to Cold Higham.

Minutes of the previous meeting

These had been published several weeks ago and a hard copy was
circulated (as some members had not appreciated that the strange address
which appeared in blue and underlined in an e-mail was a link to them but
hadn’t liked to ask), and commencement of proceedings was yet further
delayed while Sue regained her composure after reading the first
paragraph. When, some time later, she was still attempting to stifle sundry
noises of what members hoped were merely of the giggling variety rather
than the after-effects of some sturdy prawn kebabs, the Chairman took the
decision to get on with the job anyway and hope for the best.

Tickets
A brave attempt was made by the Chairman and one or two others to
assess progress in selling tickets and to gauge the likely number of
participants. Eventually it was agreed that the total would probably be a
little down on last year – in the region of 110-120.
Individual distributors for each region were confirmed and wads of Adrian’s
splendid printing handed out on the strict understanding that everyone
would come up with a firm number of sales (and maybe even some money)
within the next couple of weeks so that at the next meeting we would have
a pretty clear idea of how many to cater for.

It was agreed that Maggie and Cathy would attend to 6 and 8 Shoemaker
Close, the others in the Close having been dealt with by the Chairman and
Minutes Secretary one recent fine evening.

Members were also reminded that they should liaise should they either run
out of tickets or have a bundle left over and it would also be a good idea to
have some indication of how many children might be coming. This was for
several reasons including an assessment of how many fat ones might be
getting in free and both taking up space on the bales and eating vast
quantities and also so that we may prepare a suitable enclosure for those
who misbehave. Some off-record discussion took place of how the pond
might be utilised and the merits of high voltage prods disguised as those
small seats on a stick one sees in effective use at County Shows.
 Minutes of the 728th meeting of the Paddock Party Committee

Tables, fixtures and fittings

Sarah B promised faithfully for the third time that she would contact the
Cold Higham Village Hall with a view to borrowing their tables and chairs and
would liaise with Maggie regarding transport of them.

There followed several counts, recounts and even recollections of how many
tents, gazebos and all things canvas we had available and might be needed
with a seemingly different result emerging on each occasion. Penny was
particularly keen that the Committee should not miss the opportunity to
snap up a few more from B & Q should they be deemed necessary and it
was noted that she would remind us of this in no uncertain terms should we
finish up parting with hard-earned dosh elsewhere or even at a price other
than that which she had spotted. The Committee thanked Penny for her
consideration and all made a note to contact her before purchasing anything
in the near future as it was highly likely that she would know a bargain and
have seen one. Richard nodded.

Graeme would book the Scout tent.

Maggie would contact Farmer Evans about ‘is bales.
Richard would repeat his wonderful wiring arrangements and ensure that
the hallucinations and illuminations provided by colleagues would function.
Cathy was happy to donate some electricity for the event, subject to being
able to find a sufficient number of 50ps.

The gate
In the absence of the redoubtable Chris’s abilities to smile convincingly
whilst relieving the queueing hordes of money at the entrance, it would be
necessary for some committee members to come up with a new plan to
replace her. Adrian suggested a turnstile and barbed wire. The Minutes
Secretary wondered whether we might not be able to find some young and
attractive blondes to relieve the men of whatever they may have in their
pockets, for which he would gladly provide training. Neither of these
proposals were carried so it is likely that a rota will need to be drawn up with
two people covering each of the 6-6:30, 6:30 to 7 and 7:7:30 slots. One
would take money and dish out raffle tickets and the other would escort
them in the direction of Sarah B who would be the principal welcome and
good cheer officer, a role in which all agreed she not only excelled but
verged on y- or z-celling.

Sarah B batted her eyelids extremely slowly in acceptance, voicing only a

concern, during one period when they were closed, that she be supplied with
big enough glasses and was occasionally provided with relief. Adrian
indicated that he was ever ready, willing and able to do the latter. Cold
Higham has that effect on people, they say.

After the main crowd had arrived it was also noted that one or two members
should be allocated to the general role of keeping an eye out for
gatecrashers or mean bastards.

Music
Excellent progress had been made on this front to date and the line-up now
appeared to be as follows, and these are in no particular order:
• The Jazz something-tet will oscillate with the Chairman’s organ.
• Nelson the guitarist
• Grace and Anna who isn’t Juliet
• Grace’s boyfriend doing his own thing

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 Minutes of the 728th meeting of the Paddock Party Committee

• The Unpluggers Outside or possibly the Outsiders Unplugged – not yet

confirmed but Steve will work on Tom who, it should also be noted,
regards the Paddock Party as the best gig of the year. It was generally
agreed that this may have been said in the heat of the moment in order
to maintain his father’s financial support for a little longer but,
nonetheless, just went to show that kids today may not all be as bad as
kids today.
• Sue said that she would use her best endeavours to get Amy, Laura and
possibly Caroline to do whatever they could to contribute, recalling their
superb performance at the very first PP.
• There may even be another jazz band.
• A rendition of the Paddock Party Preservation Society acapella con boozi
is also a possibility
Graeme, Richard and Andrew had undertaken to create some suitable
CDs for intervals and should some twisting and shouting require
accompaniment or requests from one committee member to get yer Aretha
out be evident.

Sue was particular pleased that Graeme would be getting his organ out
again this year. Richard, Andrew and Adrian were slightly less
enthusiastic, wondering if they might be able to get out of the job of helping
him carry it. It’s not the easiest of organs to handle and last year Adrian
had suffered when pushing it though the back passage in the kitchen. In fact
it proved necessary in the end to take it through another opening. Even
then, all four gentlemen had to stop and rest on the grass three or four
times and it wasn’t at all easy getting it in the right place.

The Chairman confirmed that a licence had been granted by the local
authority.

Saladeers’ report
This was erroneously prefaced by the Minutes Secretary as an opportunity
to welcome Cathy to the Committee. Whilst recognising the marvellous
work of the saladeers, she would nonetheless prefer the title of Power
Woman and this was duly noted, not without an element of trepidation in
some quarters.

Penny then proceeded to convince the Committee that all was quite in
order, as it should be and ever shall be, as if we should have any doubt
whatsoever. She had agreed a date for shopping – in three weeks’ time.

Her team of saladeers listed some of the delights for the evening which
sounded as though they included parrot and orange, crunchy frog and
variations on those themes but in fact would be the same high quality and
popular products of their kitchens as on previous occasions.

Sarah B was aware that there were, er, issues with rice. Nonetheless she
would produce a splendid rice salad which could be served in dishes
containing a disclaimer label which they could read afterwards, or
beforehand if they could turn over the dish without spilling the contents.

Sarah D had spent what must have been a long time carefully counting the
dishes and utensils and these included 163 plates, 208 spoons, 170 forks, 90
round trays, 244 knives, 80 napkins and 2 jugs. The Chairman noted her
jugs count with interest.

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 Minutes of the 728th meeting of the Paddock Party Committee

Some more table covers may be required and these would be included in the
list of things need for the forthcoming shopping trip. Any further requests to
Penny, please, before the raid on Waitrose.

Raffle
Sarah B agreed to buy 2000 cloakroom tickets which should be enough to
cover this event and possibly the next five too.

She had also offered to donate a crate of wine as a prize. Everyone was jolly
grateful for her offer but it was agreed that we would see what assorted
ideas for prizes and donations emerged between now and the next meeting,
when we would decide what we would make the first, second and just a few
minor prizes. We would not have a massive prize list that would take all
night to announce and distribute, better to amalgamate a few items when
we knew what they were.

Raffle tickets would be sold at £1 a strip at the gate or during the event
itself. We wouldn’t exactly promote single ticket sales.

Next meeting

Friday 1 August at Hibiscus House, 7:30pm with light refreshments.

Thanks to Maggie & Graeme for a mass of food, wine, beer and use of their
facilities.

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