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Dalton Book Club 2019-2020 Annual Report, June 2020

Membership remained stable this year, starting and ending with 17 active members. Mr Dawes was as industrious as ever in press ganging his co-workers. Sadly we lost another Honorary Member, Gordon MacGregor in April. Our President described him as “A fine and unforgettable character”. Unusually this year we had one member voted in who didn’t attend any Meetings and was ultimately asked to resign.

The Ladies’ Night Dinner at the King Alfred on Walney and the Simpson Dinner at the Village Inn at Newton were both great successes thanks to Mr Moore.

Book stocks remained nearly static, beginning the year at 135 items and finishing with 137.

Due to the exceptional Covid-19 situation fewer books were loaned this year than usual totalling 78, of which 9 were borrowed twice and just one, “An Industrial Archaeology of South Ulverston” by McKeever and Layfield was borrowed three times.

A good time was had by all at the 2020 Simpson Dinner, which was held at the Village Inn in Newton. The Members would like to thank the Entertainment Secretary, Mr Moore, for his excellent organisation.

By long-standing tradition the Ladies’ Night Dinner was held on the second Wednesday of November, 2019, at the King Alfred Hotel on Walney. The Members thanked Mr Moore for his hard work organising the event in his capacity as Entertainment Secretary. Below is a 360° image of the event.

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At the recent July 2019 Meeting it was decided to book the Chetwynde Hotel for the Ladies’ Night Dinner on Wednesday 13th of November. Below is a copy of the menu on offer for Members’ perusal.

EDIT: At a subsequent meeting it was decided that the Chetwynde Hotel would no longer be an appropriate venue and that Mr Moore should be asked to investigate the King Alfred on Walney instead.

This year the Book Club Simpson Dinner was held at The Village Inn in Newton as suggested by our Entertainment Secretary Mr Moore. An excellent time was had by all. We were pleased to welcome as a guest member for the night Mr Doug Blake. Doug is a former Member who now lives in Aberdeen but we forgive him.

Mr Dawes, our President, has visited the Club Archives stored at Barrow Library and obtained an electronic copy of this cartoon which portrays the Members as they were in 1923. At this time the club had a full membership of 29, with the thirtieth place being kept open for the son of a Member. Also pictured is a silhouette of the cartoon naming the Members.

The Members were sad to learn of the death of our Honorary Member, James Edmund (Jim) Walton, at the age of 89. Jim had been a Member since 1976 and as our President said: “He was an all round great guy and always an asset to the Club, and of course a previous club president.”
Bill Jones, who knew Jim well and had visited him several times during his final illness, reminded the Members of Jim’s great loyalty to Dalton and of his many talents including that of composer and pianist. Jim will be much missed.

The annual Ladies’ Night Dinner was held on 14th November 2018 at The Crown on Walney Island. An excellent time was had by all as the pictures below will attest.