FROM THE CHAIRMAN
The past month has been a game of two halves; soccer
everything in the first half followed by AGM everything in
the next. So, starting out with the soccer news, was it France
that won or was it Africa? Trevor Noah got himself in hot
water with the French Ambassador to the US which led
to a bizarre chat on screen from Trevor where he happily
used the USA’s number one derogatory word for… Whoops,
I’m drifting into the world of the clichés that drives every
soccer fan mad, but really, you couldn’t write a script for
what we saw on social media about the African French team,
all I know is the Soccer World Cup was a blast and here
in Thornhill we had our very own day that was a roaring
success. The day was split into two parts, the junior team’s
competition followed by the senior teams. Our social com-
mittee put together a great day indeed that saw Elm St win in the senior section with
Blazing Stars winning the junior section. Before the final whistle was blown we did
see some controversy with the rules and the tactics employed by the managers. To
encourage the boys to make room for the girls a free goal was given to any side that
put a girl on the pitch, only one goal per game though. This lead to shouts of #Men-
Too, it’s demeaning to woman, what happened to FIFA Fair Play and, “She was only
on for 16 seconds!” For some it was a real competition, to others it was a fun day out.
Whichever way it was viewed there is no question, it was a day to remember and I
look forward to seeing more of this sort of thing in the summer months too.
As the sun slowly set, and it really was slow, we did try to put up the screen for the
actual WC Final, but it was just not fast enough, the sun setting, and that last part of
the day had to be abandoned due to great light. For many that was a blessing in dis-
guise since South African Kevin Anderson had made it through to the men’s final at
Wimbledon so for some, heading home to several TV’s looked like a better bet than
sitting in the cold watching their spouses shout on a team they could not connect to.
As a former Scot I rolled from the tennis to the football to the Scottish Open where
another South African, Brandon Stone, was looking like a contender indeed. He did
finally win beating out Eddie Pepperell from some other country I don’t recall! A
great sporting weekend indeed and it was great to see so many residents coming out
to support our activities in the park, thanks very much to all involved in the event
and let’s hope we see more of this going forward.
Onto the second half, the AGM. After having to reinvite you all to attend, and constant
appeals for the younger families to come and attend, we were pleasantly surprised
by a decent turn out on the day. The earlier time brought out a different crowed and
at first, we were worried as the numbers seemed low picking up only close to start
time. We got off to a running start and never looked back. Everything went smoothly
with great interaction between the trustees and the residents alike. Ian Boxall, our
main mannequin, was well turned out sporting his best linen jacket and I had my
Day at the Races waistcoat and jacket on trying to keep up with his eloquent style.
Not sure I pulled it off, but we had a bit of fun trying to lift the image of the occasion.
The AGM started on time and ran smoothly. The trustees that were nominated where
all elected at the end.
Continued....