The Chairman's Report

Our Silver Jubilee year proved to be the most fantastic year in the history of our organisation—and certainly a year to be remembered.
The celebrations really began at our AGM last year, when for the first time, we gave free lunches and a free £3,000 worth of raffle prizes, these were well received, and as I have already said, we are continuing with these at this years AGM.
The first celebration was a five day spring break at Pontins of Pakefield, a good time was had by all, on the last night, everyone received a pre-dinner drink of champagne and a prize was presented to the best dressed silver table and Paul Jones entertained us as a special surprise.
A big band dance in April performed by Todd Miller and the Joe Loss Orchestra, a first for us, was a complete sell out, and was so successful, we have booked another one for this year, this time at Ditton. The KentARA Tea Dances in May and November were also sold out, we added silver balloons and tablecloths, to fit the celebration, and most members wore something silver in their dress, again members came from every corner of Kent. Our next Tea Dance is here at Ditton on the 25th May.
The John Hardiman short mat bowls memorial cup competition, played in August, was won by West Malling, I understand it was a very close run game at the end, it’s a shame they could not paint their bowls silver. The Silver memorial Cup was presented by the President, Frank Fellows.
The highlight of the Silver Jubilee celebrations had to be our 11 day cruise to the Mediterranean, words alone could not express my feelings for the sheer joy this had given me, it could not have been any better. When I saw how everyone was enjoying themselves and creating such a wonderful atmosphere on board, I realised this dream had come true. Dreams do come true, but it takes a lot of hard work to achieve them. Enough said, or you may ask me to arrange another one.
The KentARA horse racing night went well with everyone having a good time, I certainly did, being £42-50 up on the evening, being winning owner of a horse in my make believe silver jubilee handicap. I understand another one is being arranged this year again here at Ditton.
The Thanksgiving Service for Retirement at Canterbury cathedral was well organised by Birchington ARA and proved to be ideal for our silver jubilee year. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for.
KentARA line dancing at Larkfield celebrated their own 10 year success, a cake was baked for the occasion, large enough for 100 slices to be handed out to the dancers, we then turned up the tempo to make sure they all worked it off before they went home. We are so successful here I can see us continuing for the next 10 years.
We ended our silver jubilee year with the best ever Christmas Concert we could ever have wished for. Performed by Todd Miller and the Joe Loss Orchestra and singers they played our kind of music, that made it a magical ending to a fantastic year. I am sure we shall see a  lot more of them in the future.
Many of the ARAs arranged their own events to celebrate our silver jubilee, and I was invited to one organised by Area 5 at the Game Cock Meadow, West Kingsdown. I opened the Garden Party on the hottest day of the year, but this presented no problems with a beer tent, cold drinks and ice cream close at hand. There were various Arts and Craft stalls, displays of Line dancing and Keep Fit plus games of Skittles and Petanque. What a great afternoon, well done Area 5.
Although KentARA had a very busy year, we still managed to open three new clubs. Thus making a grand total of 77, plus another one last month at Leyton Cross near Dartford. The three clubs opened last year were at, St. Mary’s Bay (MarshARA) South East Maidstone (SemARA) and Headcorn (HeadARA) I would like to welcome all four clubs to our organisation and wish them all a successful future. 
Finally may I thank Shirley our secretary for all the hard work and dedication she has put into this task, also for arranging the coaches and making sure they arrived on time for the Jubilee Cruise, in fact we sailed an hour early. I shall miss throwing her into the deep end in the future. A thank you also to peter our vice chairman for preparing the opening of the new clubs, arranging the horse race evenings and the Tinsel & Turkey break and for being at my beck and call. Roy our treasurer who’s workload increases year by year and the money that has passed through his hands this last year must have been a record and he always seems to get his sums right?. Shirley our membership secretary, who also compiles the activities lists, her workload also increases as we grow larger, and with a seriously sick husband to nurse, she deserves a medal. The workload of Tony our editor of the Kent Active increases as more clubs send in material so the pages are increased, he also arranges the Christmas Concert and the Short Mat Bowls competition.

Gerald Benham

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