2009 MG Holiday Party
Saturday, December 12th
In 2008, after many years of absenteeism, the two Chicago based MG Clubs joined forces again for a combined Holiday Party. And because everybody liked the dinner and entertainment we did it again on December 12, 2009. We had about 80 people attending, which was the same number as last year. There were many members of either the Vintage MG Club of Chicago or the Chicagoland MG Club. But more importantly, about 20 guests actually belong to both organizations. The evening has followed a consistent recipe for many years now: gather with a drink from the bar, a great sit-down dinner, entertainment by the Abingdon Players and the Singing Magnettes, and the raffle.
The evening was officially opened by the presidents of the clubs, Jim Evans and Doug Clark. After the 5 course dinner it was time for this year's performance entitled The Rally From Hell. Jim Evans explained a situation that may sound familiar when a rally has poor instructions and vague clues and the participants get lost. Rick and Jan Wesley were the unlucky couple and imp Barney Gaylord and devil Reinout Vogt tried to offer help. Lois Evans' Magnettes with Becky Cooper, Carol Mullis, Jane McCart, and enriched with the new talents of Scotty Cole and Suzanne Boswick, sang a few MG songs.
In previous years we did a door prize raffle, a grab bag raffle for those who brought a little gift, and some drawings for the bigger prices. For this edition of the Chicago MG Holiday Party we more or less combined all of this into one, making it a lot shorter. I think it was better this way, but we're open to your suggestions for 2010.
Just like the last couple of years, a small group headed over to TJ's Halftime, after the formal part of the evening was over. Unfortunately, TJ's had changed name and I hope that nobody searched too long and went home without ever finding Amore, as it is now called (and the letter O in the middle is actually a little red heart) Inside, they had their annual customer appreciation party with music and a live singer. We had a few more drinks and some even danced until the very late hours, or until they fell down.
All of us had designated drivers to bring us home safely after another great MG evening.
See event pictures on page 7 and back cover
-- Reinout Vogt