Astley Meet Report - March 2025

Report for Midland 2-night meet & AGM 7th – 9th March 2025 at Astley Village Hall

Warm sunshine heralded our first weekend meet of the 2025 season which was well attended by 17 units, who were welcomed by our stewards Tim and Ann.  We were pleased that Alan Ross (Tosh) our FSDG Chairman and his wife Alison, who came for the AGM, were able to stay for the whole weekend. After afternoon refreshments and much greeting and catching up on news from friends we took our own food to the hall to enjoy a convivial supper followed by our usual dancing and floor spots compered by Bob the Elder.  There were enough musicians to form a good-sized band led by Ann and some competent calling from Mark, John J, Mike, Gay and Alison, together with well performed songs and poems, made for a very enjoyable evening.

Saturday saw the inaugural pairs knock out competition of the popular American game of Cornhole take place outside on the field on a beautiful sunny morning.  It was a close final, but Gay and Tom walked away as the overall champions.  In the afternoon Ann led a craft, making suncatchers from old CDs, whilst Tim gathered together strummers and singers for a well-attended sing around where there was a lot of talent on show.  Projecting the words and chords of the songs onto a screen for all to see and join in proved a popular innovation.  The AGM was followed by a shared supper – featuring John’s famous trifle - and another evening of fun entertainment ably compered by Beth.  The Dingbats quiz was won by Beth and Bill, whilst Daphne and Mark scored the highest marks in Tim’s fiendish spring quiz.  It was a fantastic weekend full of laughter, friendship, music and dance – so full in fact that the customary jigsaw was left untouched!