Issue number 97 Spring 2017

WINERY FISHERY JIGGERY POKERY KNOBKERRY Decanter GIFT SUGGESTIONS FROM £75 The East India THE SECRETARY’S OFFICE

Club directory Ties The East India Silk woven tie in club Cut glass tumbler 16 St James’s Square, SW1Y 4LH colours. £20 Telephone: 020 7930 1000 Engraved with club Fax: 020 7321 0217 crest. £30 Email: [email protected] Web: www.eastindiaclub.co.uk The DINING ROOM – A History Breakfast by Charlie Jacoby. Monday to Friday 6.45am-10am An up-to-date look at Saturday 7.15am-10am the characters who have Sunday 8am-10am Scarf made up the East India Lunch £17 Club. £10 Monday to Friday 12.30pm-2.30pm Sunday (buffet) 12.30pm-2.30pm Bow ties (pianist until 4pm) Tie your own and, Saturday sandwich menu available for emergencies, The Gentlemen’s Dinner clip on. £20 Clubs of London Monday to Saturday 6.30pm-9.30pm New edition of Sundays (light supper) 6.30pm-8.30pm Anthony Lejeune’s Table reservations should be made with the Front classic. £28 Desk or the Dining Room and will only be held for 15 minutes after the booked time. Pre-theatre, Hatband let the Dining Room know if you would like a quick V-neck jumper supper. £15 Lambswool in AMERICAN BAR burgundy, L, XL, Monday to Friday 11.30am-11pm Saturday 11.30am-3pm XXL. £55 & 5.30pm-11pm Cufflinks Sunday noon-4pm Enamelled cufflinks & 6.30pm-10pm with club crest, Polo shirt Members resident at the club can obtain drinks from chain or bar. £24.50 In red or black, the hall porter after the bar has closed. L, XL, XXL. £25 EAST INDIA ROOM Monday to Friday. Light food and wine menu. Use of electronic devices on silent is permissible. SMOKING ROOM & WATERLOO ROOM Drinks and light menu from 9am to 10.30pm. Mug Saturday and Sunday 10am to 10pm. £14 BILLIARDS ROOM Open to members from 9am to midnight. Chocolate mint Pass keys will not be issued after 11pm. creams £8 GYMNASIUM Blazers Club shield Open to members from 6am to 10pm. Suitable attire must be worn. £395 (navy) £350 (sports) £35 BEDROOM CHARGE Waistcoat Includes early morning tea, newspaper, English £160 breakfast, discretionary £5 per person per night Golf balls contribution to the staff fund, and VAT. All bed- Titleist golf balls. Bearing rooms are non smoking. club crest. £29 per dozen Napkin Members & immediate family Single with bathroom £120 (£74*) hook Single with shower £100 (£64*) £40 Golf tees Single without facilities £82 (£54*) Tin of 50 ‘personalised’ Double or twin room for single occupancy £155 East India golf tees. £7.75 Double or twin room for double occupancy £178 St James’s Suite £288 Reciprocal members & guests Blazer buttons Single with bathroom £150 (£95*) Golf umbrellas Double breasted. £50 Single with shower £131 (£85*) Made in club Single breasted. £35 Double or twin room for single occupancy £181 colours of silver, Double or twin room for double occupancy £209 St James’s Suite £319 blue and red. £17 * Special rate on Friday, Saturday, Sunday Post and packing for non-breakables from and bank holidays £3. Breakable items are for collection MEMBERSHIP CARDS from the club instead of posting. Members are required to carry their membership cards at all times when visiting the club, and Umbrellas Rugby ball present them on arrival. It is essential that they are CLUB WINE: produced when signing for charges to accounts. Short. £20 With club Long. £25 shield. £25 See page 17 for details

2 EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 A year filled with activity gives the chairman cause to celebrate Club diary... the East India Club’s finest attributes and endeavours: social

occasions, wine tasting, the recent rugby lunches, sailing, CHAIRMAN’S REPORT May 10 Annual general meeting carols and our remarkably long-serving staff 17 Beer tasting 18 Guards Museum dinner CHAIRMAN’S REPORT June 3-7 Normandy battlefield tour y father told me once that his Graham’s 1985 is the vintage port currently 8 Tri clubs summer party mother would wake him on a gracing the East India list – a truly great wine 16 Young members’ dinner M Monday morning with the words only slightly in the shadow of the 1970 we 29 Conservation Trust garden party “Seven o’clock, Monday morning, tomorrow’s were treated to later on. It was also a delight Tuesday, the day after’s Wednesday, half to taste the Taylor 20-year-old tawny aged July the week’s gone and you’re not up yet!” Well in barrel rather than bottle – a different but 2 Cricket match v Chobham it is already March and the year is flying equally impressive experience to top the bill 4 Shakespeare in the Square past. Already we are looking ahead to the St for the evening (see page 14). 7 Jazz barbecue George’s day dinner on 20 April. Another great occasion was the yacht 13 Sweet wine tasting squadron laying up supper at which the Newman VC trophy was presented to the September winner of the inaugural race. The evening 7 Lord Mayor’s luncheon was made special by the presence of 28 Grouse dinner members of Colonel Newman’s family. The club presented a fine portrait of Lt Colonel Newman VC in uniform to his great grand- Bank Holidays daughter Evelyn Dalton. A similar portrait is Over bank holidays, bars and catering displayed permanently in the club. Rugby lunches on the Friday before are closed but accommodation and international matches at Twickenham continental breakfast is provided. This have become a popular fixture and are applies after breakfast on the Sunday well attended. I was present at the lunch of the bank holiday weekend and before the vs Australia game where through the Monday. we had the pleasure of the company of The chairman at the tri clubs carol service in St James’s David Campese. He entertained us in true Australian style and taught some of the more The sensation of time rushing by in an vociferous diners what a rugby ball looks like. uncontrollable blur is made more acute by my He was stunned to an awed silence when we birthday which this year has a zero on it. I will visited the Rugby Room with its hall of fame. celebrate it with a weekend at the club. I am pleased to report that the club is It has been an active season as usual. The in good heart following 2016 which was Christmas events were as uplifting as ever; a successful year socially and in all other Reverend Lucy Winkett gave a thought- important respects. Although we face provoking sermon at our annual carol service challenges in 2017, the cheerful support of in St James’s church with the In & Out club and members and our excellent staff will ensure the Rag. She observed that, in the computer that we rise above them. Among our staff, a age, millions of us are asking particular mention must go questions through Google, He was stunned to Ofelia who has retired. Wikipedia and the world- to an awed silence I am sure everyone knows wide web. Such questions as when we visited her and she also knows all of you and has made our ‘Do penguins have knees?’ the Rugby Room East & West apparently asked more than “ breakfasts very special. a quarter of a million times. She invited us She will be much missed. It was my privilege Editor: Charlie Jacoby to ask more probing questions of ourselves to present Ofelia with her award for 40 years’ 07850 195353 [email protected] and gently guided us to some answers in the service to the club, a grand achievement. Designer: Chris Haddon 01279 422219 [email protected] Christmas message. I often” hear people say that the East Among the highlights for me was the port India Club has such a lively and pleasant Photography: Phil McCarthy. To download or order photography, login to the members’ tasting in November led by our Sommelier atmosphere which makes it such a good area of EastIndiaClub.com and select event Eric and presented John Symington, of the place to be. I know myself that this is true and photography family that has for generations produced the there is of course a reason for it which does 3 Printed by: Colour (ColourCubed.co.uk) greatest port under such names as Smith not often get a mention – we enjoy being Published on behalf of The East India Club by Woodhouse, Graham’s, Warre’s, Taylor and amongst such great members. So thank you Charlie Jacoby, c/o The East India Club www.charliejacoby.com Dow. Tasting the range of Douro wines and to all of you for your company and fellowship. Cover photo: the gardens in spring the different styles and vintages of port was educational as well as heart-warming. The Iain Wolsey, chairman

EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 3 NEWS

Rugby was at the forefront of many members’ minds as the Six Nations gathered pace. England’s success until the last made it easy to keep the home fires burning with the club’s own series of rugby lunches in advance of the England games Sports shorts

PLAYERS MAN THE PUMPS EPICS night

Warming up for the EPICS dinner in March

he club’s golfing section EPICS, has a full programme of matches T throughout the summer: Friday 2 June 2017, Woking Golf Club Tuesday 11 July 2017, president’s day, Hankley Common Thursday 31 August 2017 New Zealand Golf Club Club president and former international Micky Steele-Bodger pulls a pint of Bodger’s Best for former Australia captain David Campese Friday 6 October 2017, captain’s day, Worplesdon Golf Club season of rugby lunches has kept The EPICS annual tour goes to North the bar in credit and clearly been Norfolk on 12-15 September 2017. A a major factor in England’s suc- Between April and October, EPICS will play: cess. The club holds lunches before England Farmers Club, , , games in the Six Nations. , Croham Hurst GC, Royal Among the great players who came Blackheath Golf Club, The Bar Golf Society, to the lunches, former Australia captain Wrotham Heath, and the multi club Bath David Campese was at the club prior to the Club Cup. Australia game. Meanwhile, David Duckham MBE entertained members and guests after Fish starters the lunch prior to the Calcutta Cup. David played 36 games for England from 1969. A good showing of members in club blazers ould you like to take up His last appearance was against Scotland at flyfishing? The flyfishing Murrayfield in 1976. W section, in conjunction with The lunches are the brainchild of member the Lawyer’s Fishing Club, is holding a Matthew Ebsworth, who also chairs the Beginners’ Day on 6 May at Rib Valley near club’s young members’ committee. For more Ware in Hertfordshire. All are welcome. on rugby, this issue’s member profile is club Please book in advance via the secretary’s rugby section chairman Tom McGoldrick. See office. For more on flyfishing, see page 8. page 14. Change of gear

The lunch prior to the Calcutta Cup date for the diary in the autumn: the classic car section’s annual A rally and black tie dinner will take place on 14 October 2017. All motoring enthusiasts are welcome. Please contact the secretary.

David Duckham speaks at the Scotland lunch The lunch prior to England vs Australia The culmination of last year’s event

4 EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 NEWS Club activities range from racing and cricket to the more Shorts sedate backgammon, jazz, the reading of old copies of Punch magazines and the drinking of excellent port. Port revolution A great racing year

ith flat, jumps and the presence Box prices include car park passes but are of HM The Queen, it promises exclusive of VAT. W to be a superb year for racing Catering costs are additional. The at Ascot. The club has box 447 at Ascot. It secretary has a selection of menus. holds 12 for a sit-down meal and 18 for a The annual fixture list is announced at buffet. Please contact the Secretary’s Office the end of each year and posted on the for further details. These are the available noticeboard. The house of Quinto do Noval dates: If you are interested in racing, please Saturday 24 June Royal Ascot flat £4200 advise the secretary’s office to be added to embers continue to show great Saturday 15 July Family Raceday flat £490 the mailing list. interest in the club’s prestigious M selection of vintage ports and the time has come to list new wines from the club’s cellars. In April, Quinta do Noval 1995 will become our new club vintage port by the glass, and members will be able to enjoy magnums of Fonseca 1985 and bottles of Taylor’s 1992 as well. Taylor’s 1992 is the first vintage port to have been awarded the perfect 100 point score by renowned critic Robert Parker. The club’s primeur purchase policy allows us to offer this outstanding port at well under its retail price. Members have been requesting a tawny port and so the wine Our box at Ascot, with framed images of the club on the walls committee has selected the Fonseca 20-year-old Tawny and Taylor’s 30-year- Board clackers old Tawny to be available by the glass Willow whackers from the Waterloo Room bar. For more on port, see page 15. by Edward Case he cricket section is gearing up Jazz aficionados for a busy and exciting season. T First fixture is in the middle of ember Howard Lambert has May, with regular fixtures against a variety taken up the chairman’s of opposition throughout the summer, M initiative and has formed an including playing for the Turnbull cup at interest section to be called Jazz at No Chobham on 2 July. The playing season 16. Members who would like to be on the ends with a tour to Malta in October. The mailing list for events, please email the section is looking for new players of all secretary or sign up on the noticeboard. abilities. We hold regular drinks in the For the latest jazz night, see page 10. club. We also have nets sessions at both Lords and the Oval that are open to all. This year marks the 10th anniversary Punch below weight of the re-establishment of the cricket Backgammon section captain David Brace in a section and we are planning an event to match against Home House he Library has successfully celebrate this. To get involved, please advertised unwanted Library email [email protected] he club’s enthusiasm for T books with a 100% take up by backgammon outweighs its results members. It is also seeking donations to T in the London League. In the complete its collection of bound copies 2016/17 season, we have played six and of Punch magazine. It is missing issues won one, against the Groucho Club, a good from these years: 1912, 1918, 1919, 1920, 10-8 result. 1929, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1970, 1982- Maxim McDonald is the club’s top 1992, 1996-2002. Please contact the player in the league with 17 wins out of secretary if you can help. For more on this 30 games played. For more results, go to initiative, turn to page 8. Club team on tour in Portugal last year LondonBackgammonLeague.com

EAST & WEST – APRIL 2017 5 The Anglo-Irish explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton was the subject 1914-1918: of a Library lecture in the autumn, given by the force of nature LIBRARY LECTURES LIBRARY Rob Caskie, who has entertained members and guests in the not all bad past with his description of Rorke’s Drift. In defence of Haig ‘DIFFICULTIES ARE JUST iscussions about the First World War usually return to the theme THINGS TO OVERCOME’ D that it was a pointless waste of life in pursuit of outdated imperial by St John Brown ambitions. Gordon Corrigan, who gave a TheLibrary Queens lecture Cemetery, in February, opposite disagrees. Sheffield He Memorial Park, near Puisieux, France n November, Rob Caskie gave an argues that the British army did well in engaging lecture about the exploits fighting a war that was both necessary I of Sir Ernest Shackleton, whose and just. He points out it was the only expeditions in the first two decades of the time a large British force defeated the 20th century are synonymous with bravery main enemy in the principal theatre of war. and exceptional leadership. Rob’s lively and detailed account covered the difficulties that Shackleton faced from the elements and his Rob Caskie’s terrifying knobkerry competition with explorers Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott. members after two years of hardship. The adversity they faced and the resourcefulness that Shackleton displayed are remarkable. Their ship drifted for ten months before being crushed by pack ice and the group drifted on ice floes for a further five months. Shackleton and five of the group sailed in lifeboats 800 miles to South Georgia and made the first Haig, says Corrigan, had to fight the Somme crossing of that island to seek help. Rob gave some idea of the appalling clothing and conditions that Shackleton and his explorers faced on their expeditions. The clothes they wore had low heat retention compared to modern fabrics and their diet of seal sounds revolting. The Antarctic mountain Rob Caskie in full flow ranges are equal to the highest peaks of the Alps and the ice and snow was physically In 1902 Scott led an expedition with draining for the expedition to trek through. Shackleton to reach the South Pole. They Instead of retiring to a more leisurely life in came closer than any previous attempt but England, Shackleton died on South Georgia in had to turn back because of weather and 1922 in preparation for another expedition to scurvy amongst the men. Shackleton led his Antarctica. He was a true Anglo-Irish leader Questions and answers in the East India Room own expedition in 1908 and, although again who added much to the field of exploration. unable to reach the South Pole, he and his team achieved the first ascent of 12,500 ft Mount Erebus. The most inspirational aspect of the talk was Shackleton’s exploits involving the ship Endurance and the survival of all 28 crew

Mud, Blood & Poppycock came out in 2003

Members and guests in the Smoking Room Rob Caskie and St John Brown Gordon Corrigan signs copies of his book

6 EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 Club members were able to entertain their daughters at a dinner in February. Meet an East India Club member day to day, and the word ‘loving’ does not usually spring to mind, even if ‘predictable’ does. However, the best familial sentiments were on display at the dinner, and the daughters dined as well as their (male) parents & DAUGHTERS FATHERS FATHERS & DAUGHTERS DINNER

ame Fiona Woolf DBE DL gave a well-thought-out and D consummately-delivered speech at the fathers & daughters dinner in February. She recalled a swimming teacher who gave her advice she tried to stick to throughout her life: set your direction and keep going. A high achiever, Dame Fiona served as the 686th Lord Mayor of London in 2013-2014, and only the second woman to hold the role since 1189. Above all, this dinner was about fathers’ relationships with daughters – and daughters with their fathers – which Dame Fiona covered.

Fiona Woolf giving the after-dinner speech

scrutinise other members’ shoes. Hints for A message from the Pigeon Loft improvement will be gratefully accepted and members thus addressed will slip away by Alan Taylor throughout the club we have drawn up the quietly to the cloakroom below to carry out following plan. our recommendations. f a pigeon lofter is lucky enough to be Imagine groups of pigeon lofters and Our task completed, we choose the next retired (with no early ’plane to catch), he many other members sharing similar high sunny spring day to emerge into the square Ihas the time to indulge in a rewarding ideals descending into the Smoking Room and stroll around in our blazers. Crowds task – cleaning and polishing his own shoes bearing blazers equipped with special soon gather to find the cause of all the in his bedroom. To promote our community brass buttons requiring polishing. sparkling sunlight. Some are a little startled spirit this could be done in small groups Before tins of ‘Brasso’ are shaken and at the glare and dazzle, others annoyed at in the corridor. But then we might get in the polish applied, button sticks are slipped having to leave the pavement because of the way of staff. In a recent discussion, we into place to protect the blazers and to our numbers. One pigeon lofter (known for thought we had found a solution to this allow the backs of the buttons to be given his powers of oratory) prepares to address problem: communal shoe-cleaning in the their own gloss. The polishing session may them. He first thinks of beginning with Smoking Room. Alas, ‘spit and polish’ means now begin. To prevent tedium we sing our ‘Friends, Romans’, but abandons the idea. what it says and so the proposal had to be favourite songs – Take Me Back to Dear So it’s: ‘Dear people. Be not alarmed. We are abandoned on aesthetic grounds. Old Blighty and Pack Up Your Troubles in but members of yon club out to welcome in But surely we could come together and Your Old Kit Bag featuring prominently the spring sunshine and to air our brass the enjoy polishing something else? Inspired among them. Occasionally we stroll around while.’ Thereupon the crowd disperses and by the daily sight of gleaming brass the room – polishing as we go – and leaves the Square, mumbling humbly.

EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 7 SPORT

Club members’ sporting interests are varied, from braving the waters of the Caribbean in search of some of the world’s most exciting fish to reading about golf clubs in the Library. Where the opening of Cuba as a tourist destination has changed the character of the Caribbean, our librarian notes that British golf clubs have altered little since the 1950s. BONES ON THE SPANISH MAIN

by Stephen Allen that our presence caused no disturbance. Of course, that made for easy fishing and embers of the flyfishing section we landed permit, jack, Spanish mackerel, returned to the exquisite Los snapper, needle fish and bone fish in short M Roques marine national park in order without a change of fly. Later, near January. The trip has become something a tiny island a shoal of parrot fish writhed akin to a pilgrimage, and is a reflection of through the coral in a foot of water, a living the beginning-of-time perfection of the oil slick showing glimpses of blue, magenta lagoons, the abundant wildlife and the and yellow. Several took the fly but were quiet hospitality of the people. We saw no lost as the hooks clicked out of their beaks. fellow fishermen and few other visitors Fishing and almost catching is a tantalising on the main island of Gran Roque, most pleasure; ask any dry fly trout fisherman. probably because fly fishers from the USA There is no doubt that we will return. are now flooding to Cuba and general tourism to Venezuela has dwindled due to Pure bone: Stephen with his ‘primary purpose’ economic instability and security concerns. Consequently, there has recently been to show the ravages of time but is worth even less fishing pressure than usual so every cent of his fee. We caught several bone we had plenty of opportunities to cast to fish every day, so our primary purpose was fish despite the rather unfavourable tides. fulfilled: lightning quick fish on light tackle, We were fortunate to engage our usual reliably difficult but reliably rewarding. Never guide, Guereke, always relaxed, expert before had Los Roques served up to us and confident, though devoid of swagger. such a varied range of flyfishing. We stalked He knows every rock and inlet of the 500 tarpon by a wall of mangrove, hooking square kilometres of the fishing grounds and playing them until their acrobatics in within the outer reef and is clearly viewed the water, and in the air, set them free. as a grandee among the guides. Like his One afternoon we came upon a small bay

clients for the week, and the oil-thirsty scintillating with fish of many species all Left-right: Stephen, Guereke and flyfishing outboard engine on his boat, he is starting apparently so intent on eating each other section chairman Peter Matthison

gave a glimpse of a vanished world and made Library me wonder about the benefits of the new Austin Cambridge A50 versus the Hillman Minx ‘Magnificent’. A snapshot of All the handbooks provided detailed infor- mation about the courses and club facilities golf in the 1950s together with a range of photographs show- ing how little most of them have changed.

by Jane Trodd, club librarian I was delighted that so many of the clubs replied quickly to take up our offer and to I have been finding my way around the thank the club. To date we have returned at collection and was intrigued to find a for- least three-quarters of the collection. I gotten stack of handbooks from various One golf club manager wrote to say that golf clubs. The Library committee felt that the handbook ‘provided a wonderful insight the best course of action, no pun intended, to past golf club life’ and as major changes was to repatriate them to the respective golf were taking place in 2017, whereby the clubs. Nearly all the golf clubs I researched course was reverting to the way it was were still in existence. The handbooks were originally laid out, the old handbook provided published by the Golf Clubs Association at important information. Another club advised around the same time, but were undated. they would be celebrating their centenary By checking some details I was able to de- in 2020 and as they were researching the termine they had been produced in the early history of the club prior to the event, the old 1950s and the advertisements of the time handbook would add to their knowledge. The golf club handbooks

8 EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 From young to not-so-young, club members find plenty to do in

the evenings. The Burns Night supper is a fixture in the club’s ENTERTAINMENT calendar, as is the young member’s casino night. THIRD DEGREE BURNS

he club’s Burns Night celebration has a skeleton. Micky and Muff Steele- Members and guests enjoyed drinks in the Smoking TBodger form its backbone, and Andy Room before supper Macdonald its funny bone, with ample help from other members and guests who variously recite Tam O’Shanter, the Selkirk Grace and give after-dinner speeches. The culinary side of the evening includes Scottish specialities such as haggis, neaps, tatties and whisky. Burns’ Address to a Haggis is another highlight of the evening, rendered by Keith Wallace: ‘But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed / The trembling earth resounds his tread’ – and that is how The haggis offered by, left-right, Joe O’Farrell, Pipe members and guests felt the world should Major Jim Lucas and Andy Cockran Double act: Andy Macdonald and Robyn Stapleton feel as the evening drew to a close.

Club president Micky Steele-Bodger Keith Wallace approves of the haggis

Casino Night

f only it were real money. Some East India Club members would have won big. Then Iagain – thank goodness it was pretend. Many would have crept home penniless. The annual casino night attracted highrollers and future whales from among the J7s, as a complete casino set up in the Smoking Room. It also provided vital lfe skills training. Those who didn’t know now do know how much pays on a colour in roulette, plus when does bank twist in blackjack?

Alex Langley and his winnings

EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 9 Events in the clubhouse remain many and varied. You may find a trio of top jazz musicians in the Smoking Room, while downstairs in the East India Room, the club’s yotties are celebrating

SMOKE ON THE WATER one of the great seaborne escapades of the Second World War. And at both you will enjoy club hospitality at its finest. COOL AND SMOKING

by Iain Wolsey talented freelance pianists in the worlds of own featuring Chris Laurence on bass. Chris jazz, pop and gospel music and his credits is a sought-after musician in both classical he Spike Wells Trio made a welcome include Chris Rea, Dae Stewart, Paul Weller (with the London Bach Orchestra among return by popular demand for a and even Bruce Forsyth. With Spike he Is a others) and jazz circles and has played along- T Friday evening of jazz in the Smok- long-standing member of the great quartet side Spike many times since the 1970s. He ing Room. The members who booked early led by the late Bobby Wellins. He continues has credits in partnership with saxophonists enough – it was a sell-out – were treated to to tour extensively in Europe and is a prolific Alan Skidmore and John Surman, trumpeter a buffet supper, a continuous flow of wine record producer. Kenny Wheeler, pianist John Taylor, and vibes and some great music. The evening started A priest as well as a musician, Spike was player Frank Ricotti. This delightful number with a rousing setting of Wedding – a fitting inspired by a visit to the shrine at Walsin- showed Chris’s considerable virtuoso talents display of the talents of the trio. The treat gham in Norfolk to write a piece in three to the full. to follow was a Mark Edwards arrange- keys with a passing genuflect to the saint, Spike Wells has had a remarkable career ment of Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise by called Waltzingham Matilda. The evening as chorister, scholar, lawyer and priest. Sigmund Romberg. Mark is one of the most continued with the Lovely All Blues from the Throughout it all, he has been a great jazz iconic 1958 Miles Davis album Kind of Blue, drummer working with Ronnie Scott, Tubby which is the title the politician Ken Clarke, Hayes, Humphrey Lyttleton, Bobby Wellins another jazz aficionado, gave to his recent – the best jazz musicians this side of the autobiography. Atlantic and many from the home of jazz. Gabriel’s Oboe, which followed, is one of Spike and I shared a study at King’s Canter- my favourite numbers. The lovely render- bury as well as a love of jazz. I particularly ing had everyone’s wrapt attention. The remember the efforts we went to get copies old standard Cherokee, beloved of Bird and of a promotional album issued by Good- Dizzy, received a progressive treatment mov- year which featured unique recordings of ing from gentle standard time into a lively Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. A piece 6/8 and a accelerating away to a dazzling of Ellington magic paved the way for the high-speed finale. evening’s closer: a special (“outrageous,” The second set started with a great according to Spike) setting by Mark of the crowd-pleaser by Herbie Hancock called hymn How Deep the Father’s Love for Us. Water Melon Man given the treatment by The melody provides a splendid riff which Mark and Chris. This was followed by a Kenny surges forward to a climactic drum solo from Spike, as he appeared at the club last summer Wheeler number Everybody’s song but my Spike – a brilliant finale.

Yacht squadron St Nazaire hero

he club’s yacht squadron held a dinner to present the T inaugural Newman trophy, which commemorates Lt Col Newman VC‘s The two portraits of Lt Col Newman VC Pre-dinner drinks in the Clive Room leadership of the commando raid on St Nazaire during the Second World War. The club presented a portrait of Newman in uniform to his great grand-daughter Evelyn Dalton. A similar portrait hangs in the club. The yacht squadron’s annual fitting out supper will be held at the club on 5 April 2017 in the Clive Room. Dress code for the evening is reefers (blazers) with squadron tie. Jim Miller, commodore of the squadron, will talk about ‘Racing as a foredeck ruffian on the 160-foot schooner Eleonora.’ Members and guests had dinner in the East India Room

10 EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 Club member Nigel Farage entertained members and guests at a ‘Library lecture luncheon’ in February. The man who made the humble pint of beer into a political badge is one of the best and funniest speakers – and even those who do not leap with joy at his beliefs enjoyed his talk, STRAIGHT, NO CHASER STRAIGHT, peppered as it was with anti-European feeling. THE MOUTH OF THE MEDWAY

is politics may be flavoured with London Metal Exchange, with firms including and I said that I wanted to lead a campaign to Marmite but those who went to Drexel Burnham Lambert, Crédit Lyonnais get Britain to leave the European Union, you H club member Nigel Farage’s ‘Library Rouse and Natexis Metals. all laughed at me. Well I have to say, you’re not lecture lunch’ agree he is an entertaining As well as a general feeling of discomfort laughing now are you?” speaker and good company. Over the years with the European Union ideal, Nigel set about the club (which remains resolutely apolitical) a one-man campaign of exposing corruption has provided the scenery for some of Nigel’s among MEPs and European Commissioners. political success. The UKIP Patrons Club has He had been active in the Conservative Party met at the club, and Nigel is a keen member. from his school days, but his politics included It has been an extraordinary few years voting for the Green Party in 1989 because for the former broker turned politician. of what he saw as their then ‘sensible’ and In the opinion of many members of the Eurosceptic policies. public, he has singlehandedly beaten He was elected as an MEP in 1999 and re-elected in 2004, 2009 and 2014. In 2004, he announced in the European Parliament that French Commissioner- designate Jacques Barrot had been barred from elected office in France for two years, after being convicted in 2000 of embezzling £2 million from government funds and diverting it into the coffers of his party. He said that French President Jacques Chirac Nigel in full flow in the Dining Room had granted Barrot amnesty. President of the Parliament Josep the British Government in a referendum, Borrell ordered Nigel to retract his personally gained more than 10% of the comments. The following day it was vote in a General Election, and is the only confirmed that Barrot had received an British politician to be eight-month suspended taken seriously by the new jail sentence in the case. president of the United You all laughed at In 2005, Nigel requested States. Like Evita before him, me. You are not that the European Commission he even has his own radio laughing at me disclose where the individual show. Some demand he be commissioners had spent their now given a knighthood. Others’ “ holidays. The Commission did demands are not so printable. not provide the information Born in Downe, Kent, and educated at requested. The German newspaper Die Welt Dulwich College, he followed his father into reported that the President of the European the City of London when he left school in Commission, José Manuel Barroso, had spent 1982. Where his father was a stockbroker, ”a week on the yacht of the Greek shipping Nigel became a commodities trader at the billionaire Spiros Latsis. It emerged afterwards that Barroso’s predecessor Romano Prodi approved €10.3 million of Greek state aid for Latsis’s shipping company. UKIP, which he led on and off from 2006 to 2015, attracts a colourful variety of supporters. As members and guests found at lunch, it is his straight-from-the-hip quotes that endear him to all but their victims. On Belgian former prime minister Herbert van Rompuy, “the charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of low grade bank clerk” – and on his life’s work, in a speech in the European Lunch was well attended Parliament: “When I came here 17 years ago,

EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 11 CHAPLAIN The club celebrates some of the great events of the liturgical year in typical style: there are carol services to attend in St Carol Concert

James’s, Piccadilly, and St James’s Palace, and a carol concert he 2016 Christmas carol concert was sees a school choir visit the club for an evening performance. performed in the Smoking Room Tby Wells Cathedral School, one of the best school choirs in the country. The school has recently successfully raised the EASTER MESSAGE necessary funds to build a start-of-the- art performance centre called Cedars Hall within the ancient footprint of the school, by Canon Roger J Hall MBE, club chaplain One name you might not know is Casidorro providing a 350-seat recital auditorium, de Reina, who completed the first bible rehearsal rooms, teaching suites and omans 15:4. ‘For whatever was translation in Spanish in 1569. This bible is recording studio. Member Roy Hatch and his written in the former days was often called the ‘Bible of the Bear’: on the wife Maureen have been active participants R written for our instruction, so that title page a bear consumes the sweet honey in the fundraising effort, which Roy chaired. by steadfastness and by the encouragement out of a beehive, even as it is being attacked They were on hand to see the club welcome of the scriptures we might have hope’. by the bees. The title page also includes a Wells Cathedral School principal Elizabeth This year the German scholar and quote from Isaiah 40:8: ‘The word of our God Cairncross to the concert here in December. theologian Martin Luther will be will stand for ever’. remembered as it was in 1517 that he In order for Reina to publish his translation claimed his 95 thesis which began a he had to flee his home country of Spain, revolution in Christian thinking. He wanted eventually dying in exile. Sticking to what The Bible to be interpreted properly. we believe in can be costly and I try to never You may have heard of John Wycliffe, forget what the cost was in bringing the who produced the first handwritten English word of God to us. translation of The Bible in the 1300s. May I wish you all a happy Easter and Or, perhaps you know the names of assure you of a warm welcome if you decide William Tyndale or Myles Coverdale, the to come to church at the Tower of London. first to print The New Testament and then All details about the chapel can be found The Bible in English, so that ordinary people at TheChapelsRoyalHMTowerofLondon. could understand it. org.uk or via the chapel administrator Toby. It cost Tyndale his life. [email protected] Wells Cathedral School in the Smoking Room

Tri clubs carol service

h three clubs of St James’s Square – the East India, the Army & Navy and T the Naval & Military – joined together at Christmas for the tri clubs carol service in St James’s Church on Piccadilly. The East India club fielded club chairman Iain Wolsey and member Alasdair Shaikh to read lessons. Afterwards, members came back to the clubhouse for the annual Christmas party, with carol singers, an excellent buffet and Bir Kathuria is buttonholed at the club afterwards And Patrick Storey is silhouetted the ever-perplexing tableau of reindeer and sleigh in the Hall.

The Rev Lucy WInkett held the service St James’s, Piccadilly

12 EAST & WEST – APRIL 2017 Yorkshire may claim it, Wales may believe it and Scotland may SHOOTING write songs about it but the West Country knows it has the best pheasant shoots in Britain, so a natural place for the club’s shooting section to go for a shooting weekend. Devon screamers by Bill Downie A box of cartridges at work

t the end of November 2016, members of the shooting section A came from Finland, Kent, London and the West Country to Devon for a weekend of game shooting and fine dining. Bickleigh Farm, Totnes, was base camp, with the first dinner engagement at the New Inn, Moreleigh, a delightful country pub renowned for the quality of its steaks. The same family has been cooking them for more than 35 years. A strict timetable demanded an early start on Friday morning, but not before a full English breakfast, after which the members travelled a short distance to Torr Brook. Guns lineout at Torr Brook

The day concluded with the guns and beaters enjoying a hearty lunch of homemade soup and beef pie topped up with a glass of port. On departure, the shoot presented guns with a brace of dressed pheasant. Members travelled into Totnes on Friday evening for a private wine tasting at Amalie’s Deli accompanied by charcuterie and cheese boards. They were joined by other Devon-based club members for the evening. The wines for the evening were Two days, two shoots and two exceptional dinners all excellently presented by Nigel Pound of Club members and guests meet Anton Piotrowski Totnes Wine with the Chaume 1er Cru and Shoot owner Mike Reeve gave the safety Ribera del Duero topping the popularity list. woodcock and plenty of sky around your bird, briefing, and guns were then escorted to Julie Godfrey of Amalies Deli introduced the please. Gara Barton has large holding blocks their pegs with the promise of driven high exquisite selection of cold meats and unusual of miscanthus overlooking its valleys and the pheasant and dashing partridge in deep but delicious cheeses. steady growth of new woodland ensures the Devon combes. The shot to bird ratio was Everyone was on parade for breakfast and driven birds present a sporting challenge. All expected to be high. the group left Bickleigh Farm in convoy along seven guns were on peg by 10am for a driven While Torr Brook has a strict policy against narrow, steeply banked Devon lanes for the pheasant day with lunch taken in the shoot shooting groundgame and woodcock, there brief drive to Gara Barton and the second day lodge after five drives and elevenses: sloe gin was an opportunity to bag an American of their game shooting weekend in identical and local pork sausages. A further two drives turkey, locally known as the Flying Fortress. weather conditions. Shoot owners John and followed after lunch to conclude the day. But they decided to stay well above the cloud Sue Potter invited guns to take coffee, teas Could the team surpass their achievement base throughout the day. A downed bird and biscuits in a comfortable shoot lodge of day one? While everyone took tea and would have cost the successful shot £50, during which the guns drew peg numbers and homemade cake in the lodge, John announced donated to a local charity. listened to the safety talk: no ground game or the bag: 88 for just over 500 cartridges. If The day was dry but overcast and cold. nothing else the team are consistent shots. The team of seven guns enjoyed shooting in On departure, all guns were presented with a unspoilt countryside, a landscape which has brace of pheasant in feather. changed little over the centuries. That evening, guns and guests dined at As expected, the guns were presented the Treby Arms, Sparkwell, a Michelin-starred with testing and fast flying birds throughout gastropub run by Masterchef 2012 winner the day and, after four exhilarating drives, Anton Piotrowski, who prepared a special the final tally for the day was 84 pheasant, five-course game theme menu. The main three partridge and a pigeon. The cartridge dish, venison Wellington with greens and count was in the high 400s, which the shoot calcannon, was superb and the dinner – and owner generously called 5:1. Shooting section guns the weekend – was declared a stroke of genius.

EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 13 Young member Tom McGoldrick runs the club’s rugby side – and it has been having some success

MEMBER PROFILE since Christmas with, as he says, some of the best rugby the club has played. Rugby has been an important part of Tom’s life, from home in Northampstonshire to life in London. TOM McGOLDRICK

om McGoldrick played rugby for his together. It has a collegiate atmosphere. I met town, school, county, university and a lot of like-minded people and it was clear I T now chairs the East India Club rugby had found my place in the club.” side. Tom is from Kettering where he started In his second season with the side, Tom playing for the local club aged seven. Now became hon secretary. Then, when Jonathan aged 31, he joined the East India Club as a J7, moved to Lincoln with his firm, Tom took but not straight from Wellingborough School. up chairmanship of the rugby section. Tom, Tom went to UCL after a gap year working as any good chairman, has delegated many for a law firm in Northamptonshire and of the roles and responsibilities to more interrailing round Europe. As he was moving to effective people. London a schoolfriend told him about the club. “George Ellis runs the fixtures seamlessly, “As a student I couldn’t immediately see John Messer and now Charlie MacClelland the value of joining.” he says. “However my have captained heroically and Henry Gilbert parents did and covered the fee. I’m glad they is unparalleled in his ability to collect the kit were so generous.” from the club and transport it to matches.” The club did not have a rugby side when This year has been a mixed bag of results. Tom was studying geography at UCL. “We had a poor start to this season,” he In those days, as well as playing for his says. “There were a few heavy losses before college’s 1st XV, including helping to Christmas against strong sides when we were win the London Varsity Match, King’s missing some of our more seasoned players College London vs UCL, he travelled who tend to bring the team together.” home to play for These Sunday social matches Kettering 1st XV with I have made are open to all comers. “We play big matches against Old many lifelong as many members as possible Northamptonians and friends thanks to however we do supplement with other local teams. Aged 19, friends of friends when needed. the club and its he was playing three times“ It makes it a far better match a week. After university support of our when you have a big squad and is he stopped playing for rugby side helpful for those, like myself, who Kettering and joined may have played the day before Hampstead Rugby Club where he still plays. or enjoyed a few shandies on the Saturday Tom left university as the 2009 night.” recession got underway, and interned for Several of the casual players have become various companies until, eventually, an ”regular attendees and quite a few have energy company offered him a role. This subsequently applied to the club and are now was the start of a professional career that fully fledged members. sees him working as a structurer at EDF Since Christmas, the club has played the Energy today. EDF Energy is a subsidiary of HAC and London Business School, winning the French company EDF supplying 5 million both. “It is some of the best rugby I have seen residential and business accounts with the East India Club play,” says Tom. electricity or gas, producing around one-fifth He plays fly half or scrum half though of the nation’s electricity. Tom manages bids dislikes passing too much. “On the pitch for EDF’s largest electricity supply contracts. I mainly rant,” he says. “Occasionally it’s Aged 23, Tom felt he was not engaging deserved, but generally everyone puts in a enough with the East India Club and good performance. was unsure if he could justify continuing “It can vary from match to match but membership beyond the J7. Happily, he bumped generally the skill and fitness of players into Jonathan Taylor in the American Bar. seems to depend on the number of female Jonathan ran the rugby section and encouraged supporters we have so I do my best to Tom to put down his name for a few matches. encourage a crowd.” That is where Tom discovered the group of The social aspect is a key part of the rugby. people who put the club firmly into his life. “Many chaps who cannot make it down to Aged 18 to 35, their rugby skills range widely play still stay in touch and join in on other but their enthusiasm is faultless. events” says Tom. “I have made many lifelong “Such a good bunch of lads,” he friends thanks to the club and its support of says.“Rugby is very good at bringing people our rugby side.”

14 EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 WINE

The club welcomed the head of perhaps the greatest port-making family of the Douro valley. Johnny Symington is the fifth generation of a family that established when his ancestor married a vineyard owner in 1882. Symington Family Estates makes Graham’s, Warre’s, Taylor and Dow port, as well as pioneering ordinary wine. Club members and guests tried a selection. PORTUGUESE FARMER GRIPS CLUB

by Eric Lagré, head sommelier premium but it wasn’t anything as seductive, for more time in the bottle is needed for it to am so honoured that Johnny Symington, mellow and integrate. the joint managing director of Symington I Family Estates, accepted my invitation to come and present his wines last November. Since 1882, having married into an Anglo- Portuguese family who had been making port since 1652, five generations of Syming- tons have been present in the Douro Valley. With a history stemming from the origins of the industry, it is no wonder that the Sym- ingtons have grown to become the leading premium port producer and a dominant force on the UK market. “Producing wine in the Douro is tough, but Johnny Symington and one of his ports Tasting the Altano white... we love it,” says Johnny. Johnny’s son, Will, is not involved in the farmers,” he says, “and we know that a bit family business, but he wanted to present of rain before harvest helps soften the skins Graham’s 20-year-old tawny. “Since it has and facilitate maximum extraction. This is always been a family favourite, it is easy for what happened in 1997, hence the freshness me to talk about it,” he says. Despite being of fruit in this charming Warre’s.” deliberately oxidised, the style retains a Johnny was moved to revisit Graham’s sense of freshness. “We always serve this 1985, for it was his first vintage in the family attractively amber-coloured, spicy and nutty business. He remembers that “the vintage wine slightly chilled.” was marked by a serious power cut, but since One morning, Johnny remembers asking his electrical energy supply was something new grandfather: “Why drink port at this early hour?” in the valley, it made no difference”. The port wines at the tasting He answered: “You can drink port at any Chairman Iain Wolsey observes that “Gra- time. Time spent not drinking port is a waste ham’s 1985 is the main Vintage Port on our Passion is needed to grow grapes in the of time.” list at the moment and the wine is brilliant.” dramatically beautiful, yet awe-inspiring val- A bottle of tawny port can be left open “The quality of the 1977 overshadowed ley. Work cannot be done any way but by hand for weeks, but no one in the room spared a that of the 1980,” says Johnny. “The 1980 on the steep slopes planted in terraces and drop to compare it with the vintage ports to vintage was only declared by a handful of baked in sunshine. Yields are frighteningly follow. Johnny’s great-uncle, Maurice, shared port houses, yet, doesn’t the Warre’s look, low. If the tight bunches of tiny grapes prove a bottle of Dow’s 1898 with Churchill in the smell and taste incredibly youthful and fresh a blessing when making port, they give poor trenches of the First World War so, obviously still? That longevity explains why Bucking- results with table wine. port can be drunk anywhere as ham Palace chose no great wine of the world The Symingtons started much as anytime. other than port to toast the Queen’s jubilee making Douro wine in 2000 Time spent not Dow’s 2007 is the first vintage and 90th birthday”. and, already, they cannot drinking port is a port to have been awarded the meet demand. waste of time perfect 100 points by a critic At the tasting, we quickly in the 21st century. You will be moved from the obscure “ happy to know that there is Altano white to the reds that the Symingtons plenty of it in our cellars. As we were experi- found so challenging to produce at first. encing that ultimate ruby style, we knew that After calling on the expertise of Bordeaux the” indulgence was depriving us of all the winemaker Bruno Prats of Cos d’Estournel, promises yet to develop in the bottle over the they eventually launched the impressive next decades. Johnny jokes: “Regularly pulling P+S brand. Members and guests enjoyed the cork is the best way for us to check that the big and fruity 2011 Prazo de Roriz. That we did not screw up when declaring the more entry-level offering stood out thanks vintage a classic vintage year!” to the outstanding quality of the vintage. Johnny didn’t want to be pedantic and talk The barrel-aged 2013 Post Scriptum is more about the weather but, “the Symingtons are ...a more traditional colour for port

EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 15 Mariya’s pedigree in London hotels is impeccable. She has now been head housekeeper at STAFF PROFILE STAFF the club for nearly five years. Were there anything wrong with your room, the buck stops with Mariya, and it is testament to her skill that there is hardly ever anything wrong with a room. STAFF PROFILE MARIYA LAZAROVA

rom Bulgaria, Mariya was born and qualifications, she came to the East India Mariya’s assistant is Fay. She checks the brought up in the town of Pezardjik, Club in 2013. She liked it at once. “There is rooms on the St James’s Square side of F about 80 miles from the capital Sofia. less stress” – is the biggest difference she the club and Mariya looks after the Duke She studied hotel housekeeping and came notices between her old life in hotels and Street side. to London in November 1997. her new life at the club. “Here, we know all This work takes her up to 1pm when He first job was at the Hilton Olympia. the members. They know us as well. You she has lunch. She then has two hours of After that, she worked at only know lots of guests in a admin, checking timesheets, dealing with the Royal Garden Hotel, small hotel. calls and emails. The evening maid arrives where maitre d’ Peter When we have a “In hotels, we have celebrities, at 3pm and Mariya goes home at 4pm. Vasilev worked, though who are difficult to deal with. Mariya lives in West Norwood and has full club, I have five their hours were different. You should do whatever they two daughters. Both of them are working She went to the Hilton or six maids and want if you want an easy life.” as stylists in London, and her husband is Docklands and then the “ three cleaners Mariya normally arrives at a builder. She has a brother who lives in Hilton Knightsbridge the club at 7.15am. She goes London, who has two daughters. before moving as head upstairs to the housekeeper’s “My husband was curious about the housekeeper to the MyHotel Chelsea. office to check the arrival lists. Then she club when I started working here.” She “Everywhere I worked, I took courses,” she checks rooms, she checks the linen room says. “I never knew about clubs. When says, and that is what helped bring her to and” deals with maintenance issues. I saw the advertisement in Caterer the club. “I took a management development “On a normal day, when we have a full magazine, I thought I would try it. I knew course in Knightsbridge.” club, I have five or six maids and three it was like a hotel. Now I do not want to go With the right experience and cleaners. Each maid has their own section.” back to hotels.”

16 EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 A WORD FROM THE SECRETARY SECRETARY by Alex Bray

am pleased to share seven third-floor rooms in the summer. There Finally, an eagle-eyed member spotted in a member’s apprecia- are other repair and maintenance projects on The Spectator’s letters to the editor that a I tion for the efforts of the cards for the year, all of which are man- parent’s concern for their young son’s social our night staff. On arriv- aged using a five-year rolling plan for refur- wellbeing, whilst a long way from home in his ing at Euston on a cold bishment. This enables the committees to see first job in London, was to recommend mem- autumn night for the what is coming and to manage commitments. bership of the East India Club. With thanks to last train to Rugby, to the The big staff announcement is that on The Spectator for encouraging a young man member’s horror, he had left his wallet in the 17 January Ofelia Santos, our very excellent to apply to the club where the membership’s taxi. Bereft of ticket, cards and cash he writes: breakfast supervisor, completed 40 years’ ser- average age is the lowest in traditional club- “I was in a pickle”. With minimal battery left, a vice at the club. A huge achievement made all- land at just 42 years. quick explanation saw the night staff find a the-more special by Ofelia’s ever professional way to have a bed made up. Member and wal- dedication to her work and wonderfully en- let were also reunited, so all was well. dearing and happy personality. Ofelia is a joy Membership was recorded at an all-time to work with. The-not-so-good news is that high as 2016 ended. The window in which Ofelia decided to retire at the end of March. to renew annual membership has closed and Read a valedictory profile of her on page 18. the committee requires the front hall staff be The widely-publicised increases in busi- especially diligent in asking members to show ness rates presents a daunting prospect and their membership card on arrival. Please sup- the chairman writes on this subject by sepa- port the staff in this important duty. rate letter in this issue of the journal. Applications for annual membership, pro- At the beginning of the year the staff party posed and seconded by existing members of took place with thanks to the staff panel who two years standing, continue to be welcomed. made the arrangements and to those com- The refurbishment of six fourth-floor bed- mittee members who kindly gave up their rooms in the middle of the building is com- time to serve behind the bar and to be jolly plete, with both the property committee and hospitable. A good, social time was had and finance committee minded to follow this with was much appreciated by the staff. One of the club’s refurbished bedrooms

East India Club Wine Order Form

ORDER THESE WINES ORDER THESE WINES FROM OUR WINE FROM THE ACCOUNTS MERCHANT FOR HOME DELIVERY OFFICE FOR PAYMENT AND COLLECTION FROM THE CLUB

Wines and spirits per case of 12 bottles Club claret £127 Club white £132 Club red (de Ciffre) £132 Club white Burgundy £162 Club Champagne (per case of 6) £149 Club Cognac VSOP per 70cl bottle £43.50

Wine gift box Three East India Club wines in Wine per case of 12 bottles Please order on-line or by phone. presentation Club Champagne / £155 for 6 box – Club white / £144 club claret, Davy’s Wine Merchants, club white Club white Burgundy / £174 161-165 Greenwich High Road, and Club red (de Ciffre) / £144 Greenwich, London, SE10 8JA club white Club claret / £139 Tel: 020 8858 6011 Burgundy. £43 Fax: 020 8853 3331 Email: [email protected] All prices include VAT Website: www.davywine.co.uk/eic Not chargeable to account. Card with handling fee, cash or cheque.

EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 17 Ofelia says farewell to the club after 40 years working here. the Waterloo Room. “It was much nicer STAFF PROFILE STAFF Doyenne of the Dining Room at breakfast, she has seen the having lunch on the ground floor, both for members and for staff,” says Ofelia. club grow to become the extraordinary place it is today. She recalls how the buffet was at one end of the Ladies’ Luncheon Room, and members with lady guests would sit at STAFF PROFILE the other end. Six years ago, with the renaming of the Luncheon Room as the East India OFELIA SANTOS Room, Ofelia took on breakfast only in the Dining Room. In 1977, Ofelia’s accommodation was at the back of the club on the fifth floor. She stayed in club accommodation until she married, when she moved to East London, near where her sister lives. Working for the club, her days starts there at 4am when she takes the night bus to the club. She works until 11.30am. Ofelia is impressed with the improvements in the club over the last 40 years, especially the new decoration and the modernisation of the bedrooms. One big change is the refurbishment of the basement. “When I came here, it was the ‘haunted basement’,” she says. Ofelia has gone back to the Philippines every two or three years of her working life, and her first move on her retirement will be to go back for a few months before returning to the UK. “I am really sad,” she says. “I would like to put back the clock ten years. I like working here. The members are very kind, the staff are friendly – the club is good. “I said in my resignation letter that the club is like my second home. In 40 years, I haven’t encountered a place like it. I am really happy to have been a member of the staff here. It goes deep…” she pauses. “My heart… no words can express it. “I wish the club success in coming years – and good health to the members.”

e will miss her. Ofelia Santos retired lunchtime. Ofelia was only allowed to serve from the club at the end of March lunch in rooms outside the Dining Room. W 2017. She worked here for 40 When she started, there was a buffet years. The cheerful first lunch available in what is now face many of us see in the Rugby Room. The Clive the morning, she runs I would like to put Room was a ladies’ bar. Then the breakfast in the Dining back the clock Clive Room became the Ladies’ Room with panache and ten years. I like Luncheon Room, where Ofelia efficiency. served only a light lunch. working here Originally from north of “ By 1985, Ofelia was in charge Manila in the Philippines, of breakfast and lunch. At she was friends with the much-missed about that time, lunch for members with Leonora Morales at home. She joined the club lady guests moved to what is now the East in 1977. At the time, lady guests were not the India” Room. Meanwhile, lady guests gained only women barred from the Dining Room at the Ladies’ Drawing Room, which is now Ofelia’s staff profile inEast & West, August 1989

18 EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 T Hodne Esq CJ Neal Esq AD Stevens Esq New members NEW MEMBERS PP Johnson Esq F Neri Esq NP Stone Esq The club welcomes the following: PP Keating Esq D Parker Esq P Kurukgy Esq BR Purgavie Esq Dr S Sundar TJ Adams Esq G Douvartzidis Esq S Laird Esq J Read Esq JW Whately-Smith Esq N Baldwin Esq PG Edwards Esq AEN Lersten Esq Dr H Schaefer JF Whybrow Esq RG Barrie Esq Dr TJ Gardiner SJW Martin Esq R Sherwood Esq DKE Cordery Esq T Halgas Esq AR McGarel-Groves Esq MA Smith Esq QD Williams Esq GL Davies Esq JRA Hammond Esq GJ Michael Esq SR Springett Esq HY Yeung Esq

Loughborough Grammar Rugby School Warwick School New J7 members School YCD Chen Esq JR Jones Esq The club welcomes the following: S Al-Hariri Esq Abingdon School Haberdashers’Aske’sBoys’ Sedbergh School Wellingborough School A Baronti Esq SHM Hickman Esq A Moore Esq Manchester Grammar LJ Draper Esq TA Lawler Esq L Vaz Esq School TE Murdoch Esq H Hudson Esq Sevenoaks School M Ansell Esq Bedford School Haileybury Winchester College WR Parr Esq JBE McWhinnie Esq C Courtney Esq Marlborough College AHW Bagnall Esq B Landymore Esq G Holland Esq HJ Peters Esq Sherborne School Berkhamsted School D Turner Esq Y Liermann Esq H Bromell Esq JW Rackley Esq EPG Polsue Esq Hampton School Merchant Taylors’ School Deceased Bishop Wordsworth’s School BJ Sherry Esq It is with regret we announce Al K Shah Esq Shiplake College OTR Smallwood Esq the deaths of the following Harrow School OHC Riley Esq M Edwards Esq Milton Abbey members: HCC Elsom Esq JB Atkinson Esq GHM Chitty Esq St Bede’s School Charterhouse A Korobkov Esq AC Brown Esq NR Kuznetsov Esq E Cudlipp Esq MO Barley Esq RM Buoy Esq A Sham Esq Monmouth School WRM Dewar Esq DE Cook Esq ELW Short Esq LKI Jevtic Esq St Columba’s College St Albans P Daniel Esq Cheltenham College DJ Fletcher Esq Hurstpierpoint College Oratory School JC Carr Esq O Thorley Esq D Hall Esq ENF Lord Esq B Moore Esq JT Gallagher Esq WJF Lord Esq TE Stewart Esq GM Hayward Esq Colfe’s School Ipswich School PSW Henwood Esq MJ Ashdown Esq L Buckley Esq Oundle School St Paul’s School PY Kernisan Esq GCJ Buchan Esq UPS Maudgil Esq MP Letheren Esq Durham School John Lyon School L Poon Esq D Morton Esq CD Field Esq TJ Beresford-Smart Esq Pate’s Grammar School KR Palmer Esq MD Manning Esq EJ Nicholson-Smith Esq Stonyhurst College ER Smith Esq Ellesmere College M Antonyuk Esq JG Stanley Esq JL Bateman Esq SP Cannan Esq King Edward’s School, Princethorpe College Professor R Storer GW Beal Esq G Diaz-Rio Varez Esq Bath SJ Fisher Esq District Judge CJ Tromans OC Maddox Esq P Gasowki Esq Eltham College Radley College JGJ Morrison Esq King’s School, Canterbury Stowe School M Dixon-Ward Esq Gone aways JTM Curtis Esq G Parish-Wallace Esq MS Dimitrov Esq Eton College AB Marsh Esq J Diwaker Singh Esq W Kingsley Esq Lancing College Tonbridge School D Whitmore Esq Royal Belfast Academical WN Oakes Esq JP Geldmacher Esq Exeter School GA Locke Esq J Stubbs Esq JH Hsu Esq TO Packer Esq Llandovery College JSA Lee Esq MEB Davies Esq Royal Grammar School, Uppingham School VCK Lo Esq Framlingham College OMB Davies Esq Guildford TWH Esse Esq DGC Toomer Esq JR Watt Esq HQD MacGarvie Esq OFE Kvam Esq SJ Watson Esq T Wheeler Esq

on the same table as him at the East India Clubs over the Pond Club’s carol concert in London. The Metro- politan overlooks Central Park and the food by John Wheelwright Nothing doing at the Lotos on the Sunday is brilliant. By around 10pm it was obvi- first went to Toronto and stayed at night, so I went to the Union League which was ous Donald Trump was going to win, other the National Club, where I have stayed in full flow and had a lovely dinner. Saturday members told me. They invited me to the Imany times. It is a lovely club but I have and Sunday are dress down days, I was shocked party, which was going to start at 2.30am. never met anyone there. They have a nice to discover. I took off my tie and even then felt Sorry to say that, even with East India Club dining room on the top floor but it is open overdressed. However, they assured me that training in our Front, I felt I could not take up to the public. The main part of my trip was you cannot go into the Union League from their offer. I regret it now. When I went for in the USA. Monday to Friday without smart dress and a tie. breakfast on the Wednesday morning in the From Toronto to New York on the Sun- The Lotos Club is still as good as ever for Lotos I thought the world had come to an day of US election week. Being an East dining. I dined on Monday evening in their fa- end. The gloom at the place was incredible. India Club member, I usually stay at the mous basement dining room. On my final day, I had time for lunch at Lotos Club. I have known its secretary Bill The Lotos is a Democratic place. Six blocks the Princeton, which was very good. Next Chaput for the last 15 years and he greeted away, the Metropolitan is very Republican and time I would like to stay there. It is Mid me like an old friend – and who is retiring very Donald Trump. As America went out to Town, in Broadway’s theatreland and, with this spring. To my mind, he is the Lotos. I vote on Tuesday 8 November 2016, I went to Bill Chaput not at Lotos, I now feel I could am sure many East India Club members will the Metropolitan and dined in the top-floor move. I have stayed many times at both the have met him and will be sorry to hear that bar and dining room. I met a young East India Lotos and Metropolitan. Perhaps now it is he is going. Club member there – and a week later was time to try something different.

EAST & WEST – SPRING 2017 19 Reciprocal clubs

BERMUDA PAKISTAN The East India welcomes members of Tucker’s Town Mid-Ocean Club Karachi Sind Club other clubs from all over the world, Islamabad Islamabad Club CANADA who may use the club’s facilities as if SRI LANKA they were their own. A reciprocal Montreal ] James’s Club Colombo Colombo Club arrangement has been made for University Club Nuwara Eliya Hill Club members to visit these clubs when a Toronto National Club SINGAPORE card of introduction, obtainable from University Club of Toronto Singapore Tanglin Club the club secretary, is required. These Albany Club SOUTH KOREA clubs have all been chosen for their Seoul ] Seoul Club suitability for our members but have Vancouver Terminal City Club UK different facilities. Vancouver Club Belfast ] Ulster Reform Club Victoria, BC Union Club of Edinburgh New Club If you are going to visit any of them, British Columbia Royal Scots Club we suggest you telephone first and ] Union Club, St John Glasgow Western Club find out about them. Let us have your ] EUROPE Guernsey United Club views on your visits and tell us if you Henley on Thames Phyllis Court Club Barcelona Círculo Ecuestre have found other clubs with whom we Liverpool ] Athenaeum Club should enter into reciprocal Bilbao Sociedad Bilbaina London ] arrangements or if one of these, in ] ]] Hurlingham Club Brussels ] Cercle Royal Gaulois your opinion, is no longer suitable. (membership card and Dublin Stephen’s Green Hibernian Club photo ID is essential ) Newcastle Northern Counties Club Frankfurt Union International Club upon Tyne AFRICA Gothenburg ] Royal Bachelors’ Club Perth Royal Perth Golfing Society & County and City Club SOUTH AFRICA The Hague ] Nieuwe of Literaire Societeit USA Cape Town Cape Town Club de Witte Albany, NY Fort Orange Club Durban Durban Club Hamburg ] Anglo-German Club Berkeley, CA Berkeley City Club Johannesburg Country Club of Helsinki ] Svenska Klubben Boston, MA Algonquin Club Johannesburg Harvard Club Luxembourg ] Cercle Munster Union Club Rand Club Madrid ] Financiero Génova Bethesda, MD Kenwood Golf & Country Club Pietermaritzburg Victoria Country Club ] Real Sociedad Española Cincinnati, OH Queen City Club Polokwane Pietersburg Club Club de Campo Chicago, IL Chicago Athletic Association Port Elizabeth Port Elizabeth St George’s Club Oporto Oporto Cricket & Lawn Standard Club Union League Club Tennis Club KENYA University Club of Chicago Paris ] Cercle de l’Union Interalliée Detroit, IL Athletic Club Nairobi Muthaiga Country Club Travellers Club Los Angeles, CA Riviera Country Club ZIMBABWE Mountain Lake, FL Mountain Lake Stockholm ] Sällskapet Osterville, MA Wianno Club Bulawayo Bulawayo Club HONG KONG (open May-Nov) Harare ] County Club Minneapolis, MN Minneapolis Club Hong Kong ] Hong Kong Club Harare Club New York, NY Princeton Club ] Hong Kong Cricket Club Lotos Club AUSTRALIA Metropolitan Club INDIA Union League Club Adelaide Adelaide Club Calcutta Tollygunge Club Norfolk, VA Norfolk Yacht Naval, Military and Air Force & Country Club Club of Adelaide Mumbai Royal Bombay Yacht Club Philadelphia, PA Union League Club Public Schools’ Club Golden Swan Phoenix, AZ ] University Club Brisbane Queensland Club San Francisco, CA Marines’ Memorial Association JAPAN University Club Tattersall’s Club Tokyo Tokyo American Club St Louis, MO Racquet Club Canberra Commonwealth Club Seattle, WA Rainier Club MIDDLE EAST Hobart Tasmanian Club Fort Worth, TX Fort Worth Club Bahrain ] British Club Richmond, VA Bull & Bear Club Launceston Launceston Club Dubai Capital Club Washington DC Army & Navy Club Melbourne Athenaeum Club Cosmos Club Australian Club NEW ZEALAND University Club Melbourne Club Auckland Northern Club ] Accommodation not available Royal Automobile Club Christchurch Canterbury Club ]] Sports facilities not available Newcastle Newcastle Club Christchurch Club Members are reminded that the production of a Perth ] Western Australian Club current membership card and photo ID is essential Weld Club Dunedin Dunedin Club when visiting the Hurlingham Club. Our reciprocal clubs Napier Hawke’s Bay Club Sydney Union, University & usually require an introductory card which may be Schools’ Club Wellington Wellington Club obtained from the secretary’s office.