33rd Annual Dinner of the Society

The Annual Dinner was held, as usual, at the Fairlawn’s Hotel, Aldridge, on the evening of Wednesday 26th April. The pictures below rather speak for themselves… except the last one. They were taken towards the end of the evening after a certain amount of drink had been taken and feature (from l. to r.) President Jeremy Nicholas, Guest Speaker Ian Macmillan ‘The Bard of Barnsley’, and Chairman Tony Gray.

Ian regaled us with 30 (or was it 40? nobody was looking) minutes of hilarity, ending with an improvised rap song about Jerome – and got all but one sour-faced guest to join in with gusto. The photos (thank you Sophie!) capture the general spirit of the occasion, while the one on the right shows Ian presenting to the Chairman the Holy Grape (‘Grail’ was a misprint, apparently… well, you had to be there).

Huge thanks to John Pette and his staff, to Peter and Jennifer Wood for organising everything so meticulously, and for the enthusiastic participation of members which helped make the dinner one of the most memorable.

Author: Jeremy Nicholas

President of the Jerome K Jerome Society Olivier Award nomination for performance of his own adaptation of Three Men in a Boat (Edinburgh Festival, May Fair Theatre, London, national tour). Adapted in a Boat and on the Bummel for BBC Radio 4; further lengthier adaptations of both books for Argos & EMI spoken word recordings; TV adaptation of stage show for Channel Four. Forewords to On the Stage - and Off (Allan Sutton), Three Men in a Boat & Three Men on the Bummel (Readers' Digest), Below the Fairy City (JKJ biography by Carolyn Oulton) (Victorian Secrets); editor Idle Thoughts of Jerome K Jerome (Jerome K Jerome Society).