2017 Fitting Out Dinner Report
On a sunny Friday afternoon on the 24th March, nine intrepid members and guests took themselves across London to the FourPure Brewery in Bermondsey to learn how craft ales are produced. This small, but fully equipped brewery, is the result of much investment and hard work put in by the two sons of one of our members, Bill Lowe.
Here we learned how various ingredients are mixed with pure water and heated to produce a wort, which is subsequently fermented in large stainless steel vats to produce the ale. The fermented ale is then piped about 100m to another building where it is clarified before being bottled ready for sale.
Having seen how it is made, the team then spent a happy time sampling several of the brews during the short time before they had to leave for the main event at the Naval Club in Mayfair.
We all arrived in time to meet up with the other 30 members and guests to be greeted with a glass of sparkling wine before dinner was called. During this period, many old acquaintances were renewed and new ones formed as we all chatted about our yachts and sailing plans for 2017.
Dinner was called at 19.30 and we all trooped upstairs to the dining room to enjoy an excellent three course meal comprising a starter of mozzarella salad, a main course of lamb, followed by meringue dessert, all washed down with some excellent wines.
Dinner was followed by general announcements from our Chairman, Max Hubbard, after which the fun and games started. Our after dinner speaker, X-37 owner, Noj White, was due to tell us the story of his life as a Concorde pilot. Sadly, regardless of a lot of rushing around, it was impossible to find the necessary connector to link Noj’s IPad to the projector. Fortunately for all, Noj is a master of storytelling and was able to keep us all in fits of laughter with tales of the goings on amongst the crew of a BOAC Concorde.
The evening finished close to 23.00 and a very happy group of people made their weary ways home.
