TOPIC:

Ian & Stephen
Thank you for reporting on the AGM of what must be one of the most exclusive clubs in the world. The venue, meal and topics on the agenda make you the envy of many other members of this forum, who wish that they too could have been there.
Best wishes
Brett

PS Today is Mother's Day in South Africa, and at a planned family lunch later I will add a silent toast to the ABW AC with my glass of medicinal red wine (for my eyes) to the more general toast to the mothers present.

Ian and Stephen,

That sounds a fantastic meeting with all the ingredients for the perfect AGM.

Brett,

I hope you have a lovely lunch and enjoy what sounds to be very agreeable medicine.

David

The lunch was indeed very pleasant in spite of rain and an icy wind blowing off snow on the Drakensberg. The temperature indoors was about 14C, which is the equivalent of below freezing in the UK. (As you have probably noticed on your visits, there are many things in SA, not just the weather, that differ from those elsewhere in the world.)

It was an ophthalmologist (who I have kept in business for many years) who prescribed the midday glass of red wine. After I had become an addict, he confessed that I actually needed to drink a gallon a day for my eyes to get any benefit, but by then it was too late to change the one glass a day habit. Also, I had lost confidence in his ability to correctly prescribe medicines.

Regards
Brett

That glass seems to be rather empty, Iain, but, what is the purpose of the padlock?

LinneyI wrote: Gentlemen
The 2017 ABWAC get-together occurred on Wednesday, 10th May at the Ball-and-Chain Steakhouse, Salamanca Place, Hobart. No other takers - so it was just IL and Stephen Bayley to tackle the fare. The first and only item of business was a toast to David and the regular contributors to the Forum. Then matters got down to discussing recent acquisitions. Stephen had recently added ANOTHER NZ QSA with "Rhodesia" clasp (amongst others) to his collection and IL was able to provide Stephen with details of the ABW service of HMS "Rattler" plus a medal roll. Naval QSAs were discussed; as was IL's recent acquisition of a QSA to NSW Imperial Bushmen. Discussion then became more general.
The fare was excellent (the steaks almost overflowing the plates), the Holm Oak Cab/Sav was pretty good and - after the customary pic - the stalwarts wended their way homewards.
IL has to apologise for appearing to be slightly inebriated in the attached pic. Really, he was just savouring the last of the glass!
Regards to all
IL

Hello Stephen,
Yes, okay, life goes on, such as it is, impoverished and as hungry as a church mouse, I note Private Carr's medal appears to have been sent out to him at Devonport on the 13th of May 1904, very nice.
Glad all is well with you,
Regards Frank

Stephen Bayley wrote: Greetings Frank,

Ian passed on your regards, good to hear from you. Life is going well however albeit very busy and my contributions to this site have been meagher to say the least!!

I am enjoying my medal collecting and researching with some success. I tend to share at least one of these at our annual ABW Antipodean Chapter. I must share at least one of these stories for the ABW before to long!!

Trust you are well.

Cheers
Stephen