Brontë Christmas lunch and entertainment

This year 40 of us assembled in the same venue as last year for our now traditional Christmas lunch and entertainment. There was a great atmosphere and we had a varied programme of performances organised by Jones Hayden, who also devised the quiz.

Graham Andrews kicked off with a rendering of “The Wild Rover”. Another Irish item was “A Piece of a Play”, written and read by Pat Weldon, based on Flann O'Brien's writings on “The Brother”. Alex Reis read an amusing spoof biography of the Brontë family, especially commissioned for our event, written by Derek Roberts (Brussels humourist well-known in musical expat circles and author of the song “Belgian commune blues). As always we had a raffle, with prizes including DVDs of Brontë TV adaptations, books, and framed calligraphy work by Marina Sagerman, who also designed the Christmas card distributed to each attendant. After Jones Hayden’s taxing quiz, the proceedings concluded with carol singing led by José Miguel Arranz and Beth Blount.

Photos:
Graham Andrews (in the foreground, Margaret Malone and J-C Samuel) (photo by Marina Saegerman)
Alex Reis (photo by Paula Cagli)
Pat Weldon (photo by Marina Saegerman)
Yanakieva Tzveta drawing the raffle tickets, with Helen MacEwan and Jones Hayden (photo by Marina Saegerman)
Jones Hayden (photo by Paula Cagli)
José Miguel and Beth leading carols (photo by Paul Cagli)
Helen Dicker, Sharon Rowles, Myriam Campinaire and Jan Kelley (photo by Marina Saegerman)
Joana Betson, Michael and Connie Dunhill (photo by Marina Saegerman)
Paul Gretton and Córa de Paor (photo by Pual Cagli)
Valeria Schirru (on right) (photo by Marina Saegerman)