Oh what a night!

Havering Conservative Futures 8th Presidents Dinner was a resounding success last night. The Coach House Hotel once again proved to be the place to be.

The evening started off with a few drinks in the garden and the bar, followed by a 3 course meal, a raffle (half of the money raised went to Help the Aged, the Mayor of Havering's chosen charity), a small speech by myself, a speech by James Brokenshire MP and finally more drinks and a disco with some good, and some bad dancing.

Quote of the evening (if there are any more, I am sure the Committee will pop them up here...)
"Isn't GK clumsy?" - by the London North East Chairman who had just managed to fall off the ramp into the Garden and twist his ankle!

Personally, I'd like to thank all of the HCF Committee who helped to organise the event and to everyone who attended for making it such a memorable evening! I hope no one is suffering nightmares from some of the bad dancing witnessed on the dance floor!

Girls only!

I am in the process of organising a girls afternoon out. I have found a spa on a bit of a budget.

http://www.aquaterra.org/islington/Turkish/

It is £12.50 to get in for three hours, so £25 from lunchtime onwards until close, and then pay for massages etc as required. Prices are from approx £6 for a Body Scrub and £20 for a half hour massage.

Take a look around the website......

A few of us are looking at going on Sunday 8 July if you wish to join us, but of course, the rules at the spa for this day are for girls only.

Times and meeting points will be confirmed nearer the time.

If you wish to attend, please let me know at chairman@haveringconservativefuture.com and I will ensure you are sent the confirmation as and when.

Save the date - Dagenham & Rainham Dinner

Thursday 27 September, 7.30 for 8 pm
Railway Hotel, Hornchurch
Speaker: Bob Neill MP (former Havering Councillor)
Price: TBA

The event is being run to support James Brokenshire's local campaigning in Hornchurch and Roger Evans' re-election as the GLA Member for Havering and Redbridge.

Details of how to apply and ticket cost will follow imminently.

What did the Mayor of Havering do all year??

Cllr Wendy Brice-Thompson, the current Mayor of Havering for 2006/2007 has kindly agreed to do a talk on her year in office. This is a brilliant opportunity to find out more about what the Mayor does, what type of events they get invited to, and find out what goes on behind the scenes!

You will be able to ask questions about any of the events she attended, her favourites, and of course, those she may wish to forget!

The event is being run by Romford Town Conservatives and is on 26 May, 7:30pm at 85 Western Road. To book youself a place please contact events@romfordtownconservatives.com. It costs £5 and you get either Fish & Chips or Chicken & Chips and a dessert. The bar will be open on the night too - but you must reserve a place so that we can ensure the food is there!

Carribean Night

The Hornchurch & Upminster Conservatives held their Carribean theme night at Western Road last night. Over 40 people enjoyed a variety of different dishes including curried goat, jerk chicken, saltfish and pan-fried plantain. This fantastic assortment of food was washed down with a few glasses of highly-alcholic Jamaican Rum Punch.

Our next social event is a trip to the Hoop Beer Festival in Stock on Saturday 2nd June 2007. If you would like to attend contact GK Adams at events@haveringconservativefuture.com. Please let us know as soon as possible so that we can arranged transport to and from the festival for everyone.

St George's Day Drinks

As yesterday was St George's Day, Havering Conservative Future went to the Moon and Stars Pub in Romford for a few pints of quintessentially English real ale in order to mark this event.

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Our next event is the Caribbean Night on Saturday 5th May. Space is very limited so please contact GK Adams if you wish to attend at events@haveringconservativefuture.com in order to avoid disappointment.

Avenue Q

The Avenue Q event was last night and after enjoying lots of excellent tapas in a nearby restaurant and a few pre-show drinks in the Chandos pub we went to the Noel Coward theatre to watch the show. However, rather than describe this fantastically funny show to those of you who missed out, we found this clip on YouTube for you to see for yourselves.

Our next event is the Caribbean Night on Saturday 5th May. Space is very limited so please contact GK Adams if you wish to attend at events@haveringconservativefuture.com in order to avoid disappointment.

London Drinks @ The Cittie of Yorke

Last night saw a classic Havering Conservative Future drink-up at the Cittie of Yorke pub of High Holborn, London. It was particularly pleasing to see members from other branches across London, such as Islington, Enfield North and Poplar & Limehouse.

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Our next event is the Question & Answer session with the Conservative candidates for the Mayor of London at St Michael's Church Hall, Main Road, Romford on Friday 20th April. This is proving to be a very popular event so please let Sarah Mackintosh know that you are attending at chairman@haveringconservativefuture.com in order to avoid disappointment.

Another Free Bowlarama!

Last night, HCF went for some free Bowling at Number Ten in the Brewery. As there were some 'difficulties' last time which resulted in a one game, 4.5 hour spectacular, this round was on them. However, we were asked to move lanes mid-game and as a result scored another voucher for 10 free games with minimal inconvenience - result!

The evening was great success, after Bowling we headed on down to the Moon and Stars and then into 131 for some 'quality' disco dancing. This morning the Committee met to discuss upcoming Social Events and we'll be publishing the list soon (including the next free Bowlarama!)

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Our next social event is Drinks at the Cittie of Yorke pub, London (next to Chancery Lane tube station) on Thursday, 5th March from 7.00pm. To attend this event or to start receiving our regular social event emails contact us at events@haveringconservativefuture.com.

Romford Town Quiz Night

The Romford Town ward held a quiz night yesterday and Havering CF entered a team. Although we didn’t win, despite our very Gareth Thompson acting as chief scorer, we did well to achieve a respectable third place. This was particular well earned in light of the particularly tricky questions (set by local councillors Wendy and Fred Thompson), which contained rounds on subjects as diverse as ‘Sixties Music’ and ‘Herbs’.

Havering CF Chairman Sarah Mackintosh acted as quizmaster for the evening and her numerous mispronunciations of the questions provided lots of material for heckles and banter directed towards her from the HCF table.

Our next social event is a Bowlarama on Saturday 31st March from 7.00pm at the Number Ten Bowling Alley in the Brewery, Romford. To attend this event or to start receiving our regular social event emails contact us at events@haveringconservativefuture.com

Boris Johnson Dinner

Last night Angela Watkinson's Parliamentary Dining Club hosted a dinner at the Palms hotel, Harold Wood. The room was packed to the rafters with over 150 people in attendance (of which a large number were CF members). The great interest was no doubt inspired by the guest speaker, Boris Johnson MP.

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An excellent meal was followed by Mr Johnson's after dinner speech and to his credit he managed to compete with the sounds from the disco in the adjacent room. As people have come to expect, he was highly entertaining speaker, even if the oratory was not as well-polished as some other politicians. The main thread of his speech was the need for less government interference in day to day lives of ordinary people.

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However, the other highlight of the evening (from a HCF point of view) was when GK delivered grace before the meal and to the amused of the guests showed Mr Johnson that he was not the only conservative who gets muddled up when public speaking!

AvenueQ

Avenue Q is not the most upmarket of New York streets, and is about as far away from Park Avenue as you can get, but it is home to some lively and off the wall characters performed by an unholy comedic alliance of humans and puppets!

Princeton, a bright-eyed college graduate, has just moved to this neighbourhood as he desperately tries to follow his dreams and discover his ever-elusive purpose in life. A tiny bank balance, the distraction of a busty blonde and a variety of weird and wonderful friends and neighbours lead Princeton on a hilarious journey of self-discovery.

HCF are off to see this teriffic muscial in London on the 21st April and we've scored a fantastic deal! £30 for dinner nearby (La Tasca) and balcony seats at the show - what a steal!

The first phase of HCF tickets have all been sold, but if you're interested in coming along, we'll do out best to get some more! Let GK know NOW on events@haveringconservativefuture.com

Comedy Night a Fantastic Success

Last Friday, HCF members went to Lee Hurst's backyard comedy club. The tickets were a steal at half-price and the night was nothing short of hilarious!

The former 'They Think It's All Over' presenter compered between the three acts, all of which, with their own style brought the house down. This was helped of course with the odd plastic jug of Carling served up in the intervals!

Comedy is something we definitely want to do more of, particularly with the brilliant time we had seeing Jimmy Carr and Little Britain Live late last year. If you know of any places we could try, please get in touch!

Our next social event is the Boris Johnson Dinner on Friday 2nd March from 7.30pm at the Palms Hotel, Hornchurch. To attend or to start getting our event emails contact us at events@haveringconservativefuture.com

Bowlarama

Last night's event followed in the long tradition of HCF Bowlaramas and was a great success! This despite the staff of the bowling alley losing our lane reservation so that we did not start playing until 9.30pm. However using the HCF spirit we turn this into a positive and continued to have a good time in the bar (after all alcohol is one of life's great levellers).

It was also good to see a couple of new faces at this event!

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Our next social event is the Comedy Night at the Lee Hurst's Backyard Comedy Club in Bethnal Green on Friday 23rd February from 7.30pm. In order to attend this event or to start receiving our regular social event emails contact us at events@haveringconservativefuture.com

Events in the pipeline

The poll in relation to what events should we run has now closed. To update, the Committee has already started putting dates and plans in place to support what you voted for.

Political events - very soon we will start publicising a Conservative London Mayoral Candidate question and answer session. It is going to be held in Romford, and the date for your diary is 20 April. Further details will be announced shortly, but we have secured the services of Roger Evans AM to be our Chairperson for the evening and we have 6 of the Nominees agreeing to attend so far!

Curry nights - I am sure GK has a date in mind in the near future for this and confirmation will be through soon.

Local drinks - no date for this has yet been set, but there will be plenty of drinking going on at Bowlarama on Saturday...

Speaker events - not much interest for this one, but for those that voted for it, I hope the Mayoral Q&A session that we have arranged will be an event you will attend as it is the perfect opportunity for you to ask the candidates questions and find out why they want you to vote for them!

Dinners - the Annual Presidents dinner is booked for 7 September. We have secured the Coach House again as our venue and we hope it will be a sell out. Further details will be released nearer the time.

Quiz nights - we will continue to support the Wards and Associations that run these. the next that we are aware of is the Romford Town Quiz night, 24 March @ 85 Western Road. Please email events@haveringconservativefuture.com if you wish to join the HCF team that we will be putting in!

Visits - a few suggestions have been thrown in such as Duxford in May for an Airshow.....we will look into further suitable venues like the Secret Nuclear Bunker and post details here.

Comedy Clubs - an evening of fun is already booked in for 23 February - so please book up asap if you wish to attend.

If you have any further ideas or any queries, please let us know!

Drinks In Brentwood

Last Night Havering Conservative Future had a successful event in the O'Neills Bar in Brentwood. Although it was just a simple plan - to have a few drinks and talk - it was an extremely enjoyable evening. It was also great to celebrate the Birthday of one of our members, Graham Simmons.

Many Happy Returns, Graham!

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Our next social event will be a 'Bowlarama' at the Number Ten in the Brewery from 7.30pm. In order to start receiving our regular event emails contact us at events@haveringconservativefuture.com

England v Scotland 6 Nations Rugby

Yesterday's HCF trip to Twickenham to see England's opening game of the 6 Nations Tournament was nothing less than fantastic! The day began with a relatively early start (for a Saturday morning!) and a journey down to Richmond in South West London. There, many a burger and pint were enjoyed as we sat back to watch France v Italy on the big screens. A couple of hours later, we were crammed into a train and on our way to the Stadium!

After some hearty renditions of Swing Lo and God Save the Queen, the game began. England's performance was simply brilliant with a special mention going to England hero, Jonny Wilkinson. With the final score 42-20, England hoisted the Calcutta Cup and off we went, back to Central London. The day concluded with a very tasty Curry and several more lemonades in Brick Lane!

Mayor of Haverings Charity Dinner - Update

I have picked a few of the best photos out. The evening was a great success as we raised over the £1,000 target...the final total was just over £1,100!

The first photo here is of the "Chain Gang", with our Mayor of Havering, Cllr Wendy Brice-Thompson.

Next up is Billy being serenaded by Katie Milton, our singer for the evening from Queens Theatre, Hornchurch.

Most of the HCF Committee with the 3 Havering MP's, from left to right Angela Watkinson MP (Vice President), Cllr GK Adams (Deputy Chairman Membership and Social Secretary), Sarah Mackintosh (Chairman), Amy Phythian (Secretary and Acting Treasurer), Andrew Rosindell MP (Vice President), James Brokenshire MP (President) and Gareth Thompson (Website Officer).

Wendy with the Mayor of Waltham Forest (and yes, Wendy did go for the furry handcufts when they were offered to her!), Michael and his lovely assistant Linda.

HCF member Chris "Get involved" Ryan collecting his bottle of Bubbly that he won in the raffle.

Again, most of the HCF Committee with the 3 Romford Town Councillors, from left to right, Cllr Andrew Curtin, Cllr GK Adams, Sarah Mackintosh, Cllr Frederick Thompson (Consort to the Mayor of Havering), Cllr Wendy Brice-Thompson (Mayor of Havering), Gareth Thompson and Amy Phythian.

Gareth chatting to Angela Watkinson MP.

From left to right Angela Watkinson MP, Lurline Champagnie (Nominee for the Conservative Mayor of London Candidate), David Ramsey (a HCF Vice President), Cllr Roger Evans AM (HCF Vice President) and Sarah Mackintosh.

Many of the HCF members who attended and a couple of friends thrown in!

Left to right, back row Connie Bennett, Sean Graham, Andrew Mackintosh, Sarah Mackintosh, Amy Phythian, front row Karen Jensen, Chris Ryan, Beth Huggins, Billy Taylor and Gabrielle Burne.

A very happy James Brokenshire MP collecting his prize from the raffle with the Mayor of Havering.

A special "Thank you" is to go to the photographer, Mario Yanez (www.instantimaging.net) during the evening as he was fantastic!

Mayor of Havering's Charity Dinner

The event was held last night at Romford Golf club, with approx 80 guests attending. The event was well supported by HCF, the 3 Havering MP's, numerous Mayors and Consorts from the surrounding areas and many Havering Councillors.

Some more photos and an update as to how much was raised will be posted here shortly, but current money raised is in the region of £1,000. The proceeds of this event will be going to Habit Shed, a local charity which provides theatre opportunities to children from both 'mainstream' and 'special' areas of the community.

New Year, New ideas!

We are always trying to think of new ideas of things to do. If there are any events in particular that you are interested in attending, or that you think we should run more of, please vote below, or let us know by contacting events@haveringconservativefuture.com.

What events would you like to see run over the next year?
	Political events
	Curry nights
	Local drinks
	Speaker events
	Dinners
	Quiz nights
	Visits to interesting places such as museums, air shows
	Comedy clubs
	Other. If so, please email events@haveringconservativefuture.com with your ideas!
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