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At the June 2022 Meeting and AGM Mr Moore proposed that the Club continue for another year. Carried unanimously. Mr Davidson thanked the members and officers for their support during his term of office. Mr Proctor assumed the Presidency for the first year of his two and  the other officers of the club agreed to continue in their posts.

We started the year with 14 full members and one honorary member in the person of Bill Jones.  During the course of the twelve months we gained four full members and were pleased to create two more honorary ones in Harry Miller and Terry Braithwaite. Membership currently stands at 15.

Average attendance at meetings this year was slightly up at 9. The decision was taken to remove magazines from the boxes to make space for more books and two book sales were held to further reduce crowding. A total of 94 books were loaned, the most popular being No. 201, Daniel Kahneman’s “Thinking Fast & Slow”.

Thanks to the hard work of our entertainment secretary, Mr Moore, two successful dinners were held, firstly the Ladies’ Night Dinner at the Stan Laurel Inn in Ulverston and secondly the Simpson Dinner for members at The Village Inn in Newton. Pie and Peas, cheese and biscuits and cake were served at the December Meeting, again with thanks to Mr Moore.

Our meeting venue, The White Horse now sports a plaque as part of the Dalton Heritage Trail. The trail was inaugurated at the Celebrate Dalton Day in June at which The Club was represented and a number of people were made aware of the existence of the oldest book club in the world.

Mr Uhe proposed that the Dalton Book Club continue for another year. This was accepted unanimously. The existing Club officials agreed to remain in office. This year at the Club membership has remained steady with 16 members, some more active than others. Of the 12 meetings 11 were held in person and one by Zoom due to covid restrictions. An average of 8 members attended each meeting and a total of 72 books and magazines were loaned. Mr Imlach was absent for a period due to heart surgery but has thankfully rejoined us and Mr Jones has been made an honorary member in recognition of his long service to the club. We have had the pleasure of two dinners, expertly organised by our entertainment Secretary Mr Moore with the Ladies’ Night Dinner held at the Brown Cow in Dalton on November 10th and the Forster Dinner for members at the Stan Laurel Inn in Ulverston on February the 9th. Members were treated to a pie and pea supper in July to celebrate meeting again in person and also at the December Meeting as customary, also courtesy of Mr Moore. The Club featured in a long article in Cumbria Life, April 2022 issue, after being interviewed at the January Meeting by the editor, Sarah French. Mr Davidson completed his second year as President, the Presidency being handed to Mr Proctor for the next two years.

Michael Ross, Secretary

After a hiatus last year due to Covid-19 on the 10th of November Members and their Ladies enjoyed a convivial night out at the Brown Cow in Dalton. The President expressed the Members thanks to Mr Moore for his excellent organisation. Due to the Secretary’s oversight there are unfortunately no photographs of this gathering.

Kathleen Miller recently sent me a link to an article in the Westmorland Gazette that I hope will interest Members. I had intended to embed the article in this post but the Gazette doesn’t allow it so here is a link for Members to find it for themselves:

The Westmorland Gazette

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.

Click on the cardboard spectacles symbol at the bottom right for a full-screen image. Click and drag to rotate the image. ESC to return to the page. Mobile users will get a VR image.

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.