The Dinner Club

Tonight we held our final ‘official’ dinner club meal. I say official because I think we will all still keep in touch. We are-as one of the regulars says-a beautiful flood family.

I’ll admit, I had no idea what would happen when TDC first kicked off. But one thing I do know is how awesome it’s been.

Both for my friends “the crew”, and myself .. to be able to do a little something to help at such a devastating time. And for the guests to come along each Friday for a nourishing meal and some time out from the hell of their daily lives, post cyclone Gabrielle.

Over the last two and a bit years, as well as dinners each Friday, we have shared birthdays, wedding anniversaries, house warmings (as guests “went home”) A citizenship. You name it, I think we did it!

We held a book fair, a “thank you” sponsor evening, a tool drive in conjunction with the CAB Napier. We had a pizza night, a mid-winter Christmas soirée of epic proportions. We did a pie and (s)pud lunch.. So many memories: including gathering to mourn the loss of one of our mainstay guests, dear Ross Duncan, earlier this year 🧡

Tonight we feasted on roast lamb, a ham from Waipawa butchery, as well as beautiful salads, veges, garlic bread and of course - desserts.

I’m sure there’s an app to use that will say it all far more eloquently than I can .. All I can think to say before I head off to bed is DINNER CLUB ROCKS!

And as always, a huge thank you to all who supported us and helped make it happen 🙏

Let us hope they’ve now got plans in place for future weather “events”.

Hawke’s Bay had no emergency plan for a big flood And it didn’t need to. No regional council is required to make detailed emergency plans for natural disasters. The vast majority of Hawke’s Bay residents, however, live in on a flood plain and what happened on the night of February 13-14, 2023, was a test case in unpreparedness.

Your music, as dear Ross was bought into the War Memorial Hall yesterday by his beautiful granddaughters, was just magic, Kieran!

And it was awesome that you played as you walked away, so those of us inside were able to enjoy your hauntingly beautiful pipes until the service commenced.

For me, it felt particularly special—given you played for the Dinner Club on the 2nd anniversary of cyclone Gabrielle—at Adelong, the home of Ross and Ngaire in February this year.

Thank you 🧡