March 2018

Presidents Report
For me one of the hardest parts of being the president of the Brit Club is
coming up with the opening message for the newsletter. Just like clock-
work, I get an email from our editor demanding, (not really demanding,
just pushing) for input for the newsletter (I thought demanding added a
bit of drama!)
So here I sit looking at a blank screen wondering what shall I say this month. Oh well, here goes (if
you have stopped reading my input at this moment, I won’t blame you). I was very pleased with
the response that Malcolm C received from the members when he introduced the masterpiece of
the Brit Club web page (now I’m sucking up to Malcolm). It will be a great tool not only for the ex-
isting members but also for attracting new members. Thank you Malcolm. Also, a big thank you to
Ron B for stepping in and wearing two hats at the last meeting. I should really call this a thank you
letter.
Whilst I am in the thanking mode, thank you Ray for supplying the membership with their monthly
staple of the British Canadian newspaper .... although I believe they read it while the business
meeting is going on.
So that is enough of my ramblings. I hope I have not bored you all. See you at the
meeting and “Top of the morning to ya”
Best regards
Colin

Dates to Remember—Mark Your Calendar

1. Thursday, March 8th International Women's Day
2. Monday, March 12th Monthly meeting @7:30 pm
St. Patrick & Horse Racing (wear green)
3. Saturday, March 17th St. Patrick's Day
4. Sunday, March 25th Palm Sunday
5. Friday, March 30th Good Friday
 UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS
March April
Graham S 5th Alan P 4th
Rob H 7th Phyllis S 10th
Malcolm H 19th Alison L 11th
Michael B 20th Ruth F 20th
Elizabeth C 31st

The BC Honour Band Performance

The BC Cadet Honour Band will be performing their annual concert at the Port Theatre on Tuesday 27th
March. Concert starts at 7:30 pm. No charge for entry so to be certain of a seat it is recommended that
you arrive early.
John M

Website: www.nanbritclub.ca email: nanbritclub@hotmail.com

Armchair Wanted New Members

Are you downsizing and have available for sale a
single reclining armchair?
If so please contact John M who would be inter-
ested.
Welcome to new members Karen O and Phil H,
please give them both a warm welcome when you
meet them.

2018 Executive Name Tags

President Colin B
Vice President Ron B Friendly reminder to please remember
Treasurer Susan B to wear your name tags.
Secretary Alison L
Past President Allen C
2018 Committees
Audio #1 Brendan R
Audio #2 Ian H
Audio #3 Bob D
Luncheon Host Graham S
Membership Sec. Christine C abritchick@gmail.com
Newsletter Editor Malcolm C
Webmaster Malcolm C
Photographer John M
Publicity John M
Social #1 Jill S
Social #2 Gill W
Sunshine Person Jill S
Telephone #1 Pat H
Telephone #2 June H
Telephone #3 Margaret M
 Sunshine News
We send our best wishes to Alison L, who is recovering from pneumonia. Get well soon, Alison!
Alan P will be having knee replacement surgery on March 8th. We hope that all goes well and Alan has a
speedy recovery.

Luncheon Report
Only 17 people stayed and had lunch at the Coach & Horses on Monday. It is
rather expensive and for a group having to order at the bar it is not a great idea.
Next month we come down to earth at the Black Bear Pub. March 26 @ Noon.
See you there.
Graham the Gourmet

2018 Bowen Park Tea and Show

We know that this is very early in the year to be thinking about December and the Christmas Show at
Bowen Park, but we would really like to make a start with performance ideas and pre-planning.
Last years show was very well received and many compliments given to us, so we have a reputation
to maintain.
Club members who have skills in any of the theatre arts and who would be willing, and able to provide
help to us would be gratefully received. Please remember that the net proceeds from the Show are a
large part of the Clubs income for the year.
Your Club Executive

Understanding Engineers
Two engineers were standing at the base of a flagpole, looking at its top.
A woman walked by and asked what they were doing.
"We're supposed to find the height of this flagpole," said one, "but we don't have a ladder."
The woman took a wrench from her purse, loosened a couple of bolts, and laid the pole down on the
ground. Then she took a tape measure from her pocketbook, took a measurement, announced,
"Twenty one feet, six inches," and walked away.
One engineer shook his head and laughed, "A lot of good that does us.
We ask for the height and she gives us the length!"
 Mayan Riviera Highs & Lows
We should probably call ourselves the J and G travel group, as we have travelled together frequent-
ly. Jill, Gill, Gerry and Jim-always up for something new and different. So we all agreed that an All
Inclusive West Jet Holiday at the Sandos Caracol Eco Resort sounded just right. The guys would en-
joy the sunshine, the food and the drinks, and the ladies would enjoy being in a jungle setting where
the local animals and birds roamed free-we’d also enjoy
the sunshine, food and free drinks!!
We set off to the Waddling Dog Hotel in Victoria, where we
left the van, and then stay a night on our return. We were
taking the red-eye flight from Vancouver, so would sleep
on the plane on our way down. Somehow we managed to
get lost in Victoria, which pushed the stress level up a bit,
especially as Gerry said we needed gas!!
We were put on the right track at the gas station, found the hotel, took the included in the price taxi
to the airport-which was driven by a maniac-sending the stress level up a bit more.
We made it safely to Vancouver, but Gerry took a tumble coming off the plane, and WestJet were
immediately there with wheelchairs and “folks wagons”-having identified us all over the loud speak-
ers while we were sitting, after supper. Once we were all safely on the plane to Cancun-having been
loaded first, we were about to take off, when there was a medical emergency, and the plane had to
go back to the gate to unload the patient and family and their luggage. We finally took off and flew
through the night to Cancun, to the accompaniment of a child (sitting in front of Jim and myself)
who either had a bad case of pneumonia or croup!!
We landed safely in Cancun, the transportation to the San-
dos Caracol was there, and we sped along the highway,
weaving in and out of traffic , until we finally arrived at our
destination. We checked in, but our rooms would not be
ready for 3 hours. So we all had a much needed drink and
went off to find the International Restaurant, which was
hidden at the end of a jungle walkway overlooking a river
full of turtles. Lovely! We had met our first reptiles.
When we finally got settled in our rooms, after watching
chickens wandering through the lobby of the resort, we went to explore. The resort was huge-even
had its own farm of rescued animals, 2 donkeys, 2 pigs, several rabbits, a goat and lots of chickens.
We had heard there was a “Cat House”, but couldn’t find it anywhere on the map.
Contd:
After supper that night we went to see a Mayan performance of the Fire God. It was very exciting
and energetic-wonderful masks and lively dances, and a lot of smoke (scented) from the fire god’s
pyre, plus all of the flaming torches around the stage. As we were ”old” people, one of the staff
brought us chairs to sit on, because we’d got there a bit late-having had trouble finding it. Well
worth the effort though.
We did enjoy a couple of trips to the casino in Playa Del Carmen. Great fun-all the machines were in
English!! We did have one visit to the beach, but Jill and I are not beach people-too much sand
getting into places where it is not wanted. It was quite rocky with a lot of coral. The snack bar
there was great.

The next few days were spent exploring the resort, enjoying the pool and eating and drinking. We
did go on one of those tours where they try to get you to buy into the resort, but we declined. How-
ever, we still got 2 bottles of tequila and 2 lovely sarapes for suffering through the presentation.
We discovered several neat things in those days. There were a band of Spider Monkeys who lived at
the resort, and would accept a banana from anyone who happened to have one when they came
down the pool in the late afternoons. We had wondered why people were wandering around with
bananas in their hands. The “Cat House” was actually an
area for feral domestic cats who wandered around the re-
sort, and were happy to accept pieces of chicken, bacon,
beef.......or anything else that people may have slipped
into their napkins, while eating in one of the amazing res-
taurants. And then there were the coati mundis, who
wandered happily around the resort-occasionally dropping
out of trees or running across the back of chairs of unsus-
pecting guests.
Jill and I couldn’t get enough of the deer (rescued from a hunting area) and kept in a safe ravine, the
birds, the iguanas and the Mexican hairless dogs who lived at the resort.
One day we took a taxi to Coba which is a Mayan ruin, similar to Chichen Itza. I don’t think our driv-
er spoke English. It was a long drive, and when we got there, we discovered the ruins that one
could still climb were 2 kilometers from the entrance. Gerry found a place to sketch. Three of us set
off to the other ruins. This writer gave up after about a kilometre, and just enjoyed the ambience of
the jungle. Jill and Jim plowed on to the pyramid, but were too tired and also out of time, so didn’t
climb it. We were supposed to also go to Tulum (a much nicer area with a pyramid) but by the time
we found our taxi driver, we just wanted to get back to the resort, the pool and the drinks!!
To be continued next time ...