But then you wouldn't expect anything less.
To a packed house, and fresh from his moral victory at the dinner (but for a perverse jury, Santa Claus would now be on the inside looking out) Richard B kicked off the evening as Table Topics Master, asking a variety of questions about travel to and from the moon. Richard finished with a question to Rivka: "If you were to win Table Topics this evening, who would be the first person you would tell?" More of this anon.
For the prepared speeches, we were treated to not one but two ice-breakers.
The first, from Laurence, about Circles of Life, took us on a whirlwind journey from Shenley to South Africa to Ireland to Scotland and back to Shenley, as in masterful anecdotal style Laurence explained to us how it was that he came to be working in almost exactly the same spot as one of his forebears.
Then Anthony B, with classic self-deprecating humour, told us about the (many and varied) events that had led to him being sent to his bedroom when he was a boy. Well worth the Best Speaker award it won.
Hadiza then spoke to us about diabetes, giving us a well-researched wake-up call about the disease.
Corinne, our President, feigned surprise as she modestly announced that she had been voted Best Evaluator.
But the palm for the evening must go to Rivka, for her answer to Richard's question. "I wouldn't tell just one person," Rivka announced. "If I won best Table Topics this evening, I'd go out into the car park and shout about it to the whole world!"
So she did - and she did! And if you don't believe me …
Is that style, or is that style?
With best wishes for the coming festivities, which we can all compare when we meet again on 8 January 2014.
