Forthcoming events
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01 August - Annual bowls
18 August - Auction night 15 September - Annual clay pipe smoking contest |
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| The Pipe Club of Norfolk 1973 to 2010 Miscellany |
A Short History of the Club and its Activities  |
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Len Ellis won this year's outdoor competition with Tony Larner second. The competition tobacco was Optimum - not a popular choice to say the least.
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| Ronnie Bobbin presented another of his excellent famous pipe smokers pictures quiz. John Eason was the surprise winner with Keith Garrard a close second. |
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History was made this evening in the 4 grams competition when the record of 97.01 mins set by Len Ellis on 1983-02-16 was broken by David Woollard-Kingston with an astonishing time of 113 mins. With his pipe still going, David retired so we could all go home. The tobacco apparently continued to burn for about another 15 minutes. We shall have to start earlier next year! |
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John Betts won the annual cigar competition with a remarkable length of 3.3 inches.
Newsletter report Imagine if you can a dozen grown men sitting in a circle lighting cigars and then seeing how long they can keep their ash. Hardly an Olympic sport or come to that a spectator one, but as they say "little things...". Various poses were exhibited including laying back in ones chair with your end in the air until your hat drops off, innuendos filled the air, "who's got the longest length?" etc. Keith Coleman with his brand new all singing and all dancing measuring instrument acted as judge, leaping around the room like an Olympic gymnast. Several members beat the 3 inch barrier with the eventual winner being John Betts with 3.3 inches, John was presented with a fine Havana cigar and a "certificate of length" to take home and show his wife. |
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If true, this means that the smoking ban is invalid. |
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John Eason won the St Patrick's Day quiz - no surprise there!
Newsletter report New membership cards were distributed: our thanks to John Betts for producing these. The main event of the evening was a tobacco sampling. Three tobaccos were on offer: Orlik Bullseye, Erinmore Balkan Mixture and Larsen's No.30. While these were being sampled the Secretary had devised a St. Patrick's night quiz. There was a picture round of 12 famous Patricks or Pats, and 15 questions about all things Irish. The winner with a score of 18.5 was John Eason. A raffle and sandwiches rounded the night off. Subsequently one of our more inventive members (the webmaster) came up with the suggestion that the winner of a PCN quiz should be encouraged to set the next one. 'The only way we'll stop Eason winning' were his exact words... The Ramblings of Old Smokey Fenland district council is to investigate allegations against John West, the Mayor of March, that he smoked a cigarette 30 centimetres from two fellow council members. They were outside at the time, tidying up the gardens around March railway station. Mr West said "I never realised that people walked round with tape measures, and I am not going to apologise for being a smoker." It could cost up to £5,000 to investigate this horrendous crime. A Turkish television station has been fined for broadcasting unacceptable scenes during a Tintin cartoon. The channel was fined 50,000 Turkish lira (£21,000) for a scene in Tintin against the Chicago Mafia that showed American gangsters smoking. This must be bad news for Tintin's companion , Captain Haddock , who smokes a pipe. With the General Election looming that nice Mr. Darling tried to entice the votes of the pipe smoking population by only putting 22p on a tin of pipe tobacco. Very generous. So Nanny's latest idea is to stop people smoking in their cars. If this is policed as well as the mobile phone law, then smokers have little to worry about. |
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Pipeline magazine ran from 1969 to 1978. It was published by the Pipe Club of Great Britain, 17-19 John Adam Street, London.
Here are a few pieces scanned from it. Image intensive! |
| February : Annual Briar 3 grams |
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A freezing evening saw Tony Larner win the annual 3 grams briar competition, which is the most prestigious PCN competition on the calendar, for the second year running. Well done, Tony! Chairman Len was runner-up. Newsletter report Winter draws on, another freezing cold night for us hardy (or mad) pipe club members. For the annual Briar smoking competition 3grs. of Peterson's Connoisseur's Choice was smoked in pipes of the contestants' choice. John Elvin was in fine form again going out after 2:50; the legendary Len Ellis finished second in 56:30 and for the second year running Tony Larner was the victor with a time of 57:30. Tony was presented with a pipe and Len received a tin of pipe tobacco. A raffle was run in which John Eason bagged the mystery prize and for a change the Secretary won a prize. |
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Today is the last day of Churchills tobacconist bricks and mortar shop.
But do not despair! Keith is still operating and has a new website at churchillsofnorwich.com All the pipe club members wish Keith well for the future. |
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The club continues to thrive in spite of difficulties caused by the smoking ban and is on a sound financial footing.
We are pleased to welcome David Woollard-Kingston as a new member. The following officials were elected: Chairman: Len Ellis Vice Chairman: Reg Walker Secretary / Treasurer: Keith Garrard Auditor: Keith Coleman Newsletter report The Annual General Meeting was opened by the chairman at 8pm. There were no apologies for absence. In his brief speech, the Chairman mentioned the sad passing of our President, Shaun Struthers. He also thanked the management and staff of The Nelson for making us so welcome. The Secretary/Treasurer produced a balance sheet for the year which was accepted. The following officers were elected: Chairman Len Ellis, Secretary/Treasurer Keith Garrard, Vice Chairman Reg Walker and Auditor Keith Coleman. The AGM was closed at 8.23pm. Is this a new record? It was nice to welcome a new member, David Woollard-Kingston. A general natter ensued, and sandwiches were enjoyed. The Ramblings of Old Smokey I see that Twiggy is now the same age as me, just in time for her winter fuel allowance. Oh how I remember the Sixties, with those shapely legs and a mini skirt, and Twiggy didn't look too bad either. So they have all finished for another year: 'The X Factor' (well done, Joe, you could be the next Elvis, but probably not). 'Strictly Dance A Bit' and 'I'm A Celebrity Nobody's Ever Heard Of.' Ant and Dec have made it into Who's Who: shouldn't that be Which is Which? Another Christmas has come and gone but not without Santa getting a bashing from Elf and safety. Apparently Santa promotes obesity, drink driving (that tot of Sherry before guiding his Reindeer) and road safety problems, as he appears to wear no seatbelt on his sleigh. I quote: 'Given Santa's universal appeal, he needs only to affect health by 0.1% to damage millions of lives.' Whilst on the subject of seatbelts, children's cartoon Peppa Pig is the latest to face trouble as the pigs appear not to be wearing any. These will now be drawn into the cartoon. So next time you see a family of pigs driving down the road have a look to see if they are wearing their seatbelts. The Tale of a Ton It's a slow day in a little east Norfolk town; the sun is beating down and the streets are deserted. Times are rough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit. On this particular day a rich tourist from down south is driving through town. He stops at the hotel and lays £100 on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one in which to spend the night. As soon as the man walks upstairs, the hotelier grabs the £100 and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the £100 and runs down the road to pay his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer takes the £100 and heads to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel. The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the £100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her "services" on credit. The hooker rushes off to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner. The hotel proprietor then places the £100 back on the counter so the rich traveller will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveller comes down the stairs, picks up the £100 states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town. No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However the whole town is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot more optimism. And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how the British Government is conducting business today. |
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Interesting Pathé newsreel of Pangbourne Pipe Club in 1940.
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| commercial adverts |
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Churchills of Norwich Specialist tobacconist. Mail order service. Tony Larner Chartered Certified Accountants. For all your accountancy needs. Contact Keith To advertise here. |
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