TRBL Chiang Mai Thailand

Archive for the ‘Newsletter 2011’ Category

The Olde Bell

British Pub

Newsletter Xtra

November 2011

Dear Gold Card Member and British Legion Member,

Forgive us for intruding in your in-box twice in a month, but there are a couple of events to remind you about. First a big thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make November 11th such a fitting Remembrance Day. There were around 120-130 people at the Remembrance service at the Foreigners Cemetery. Thanks to Tom Bell, who, was the oldest man attending. Aged…well somewhere approaching 90! He beat Dr. Bob Duncan by around 2 years! Thanks too to the Children of Lanna International School, who were the youngest there. And thanks the Legions chairman Trevor Dobson and his wife Gill, who managed to attend before dashing off to the airport to fly to Hong Kong! and to all of you who came along to remember The Fallen. On the same day at 11 seconds past 11am on the 11th November 2011, Kari Serelius, the Legion’s vice chairman, organised the shotgun start of the Legions golf day at the Gold Canyon course in Lamphun. The day was a great success and money was raised for the Poppy Appeal. I gather thanks are due to the scorers, – who got it right in the end!! We don’t have a final figure for Chiang Mai’s contribution to Poppy Day yet, so we’ll report on that in December’s newsletter.

The following dates are worthy of your support:

Royal British Legion Tomorrow night (Wednesday 23rd November) there is no formal British Legion Social, but anyone who’d like to come along and enjoy a meal and a pint we’d like to offer you Bangers and Mash for 110 baht (90 baht if you’re a Legion member, or Chicken Piri Piri. a fairly spicy (by European Standards) Portuguese/Mozambiquan dish served with rice also for 110 baht or 90 for Legion Members. Gold Cards CAN be used to bring these prices down even further! Tickets for the Legions Christmas Dinner on Friday 16th December are on sale behind the bar at the subsidised price of 250 baht.

City Life Garden Party

Sunday 27th November from 10am till 4pm then extending into the evening with more fun and entertainment. There are 100 stalls booked, selling lots of different things, plus 30 food and wine stalls and entertainment. There will be a raffle, Silent auction and a live auction at 3pm

We will offer Valet parking at a nominal fee of 40 baht. This money will go towards the flood relief . We will also have 2 collection boxes and hope every person coming to the garden party will donate 20 baht or more. Many Legion members and Olde Bell Gold Card Members have stalls. All proceeds go to charity including the Thai Flood Relief and The Red Cross

Wednesday 7th December details.

The LAST lottery Draw will be held at Dukes (river location) on Wed 7th December.

3 course dinner at 350 baht. Tickets available from Olde Bell and from Sally Ward only a few left.

Starts at 6.30pm Draw at 7.15 and dinner at 7.30pm ITS A ROLL OVER the prize money is now 20,000 baht. Numbers for the draw are on sale at 100 baht a number, see Sally. They will be available at the Garden Party. All money raised goes to the poppy appeal.

Darts at Zoom Bar Friday 25th November. If you’re a Darts fan, come along to Zoom bar (in the Entertainment Centre, Loi Kroh Rd) this Friday, from 7.30pm when The Olde Bell will take on Zoom bar.

Christmas Dinner a quick reminder that if you want to take advantage of our ‘early bird’ discount you need to purchase your tickets by 30th November. Please ask behind the bar

Thanks and Best Wishes

PEDR, BEER, BILLY and the STAFF

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The Olde Bell: Cold Beer, Warm Atmosphere

Dear RBL Member,
At Wednesday night’s branch social (16th November) at The Olde Bell you can enjoy Spaghetti Bolognese for just 60 baht or Gammon Steak with Pineapple Rings, Fried Egg, Onion rings, Chips and Green Beans for 160Baht.

Tomorrow is a good chance to discuss, informally, how you think Remembrance Day and the Golf Day went, and to hear how the Poppy Appeal amounts turned out.

A reminder that tickets are now on sale for the branch Christmas Dinner.

This will take place on Friday 16th December at 7.30pm

A Glass of sherry

House Vodka or Gin and Mixer to start

Prawn Cocktail in a Marie Rose Sauce

Or

Tomato Soup with Homemade Bread

- – - – - – -

Roast Breast and Leg of Turkey with Sausages

Roast Potatoes, Onion Mash, Brussels Sprouts,

Green Beans and Carrots

accompanied by Sage and Onion Stuffing, Bread Sauce,

Cranberry Sauce and Gravy

- – - – - – - – -

Traditional Christmas Pudding with Rum Sauce

A Vegetarian option is available and if you have any other dietary requirements please let us

know and we will try to accommodate you.

The Branch Social fund is subsidising this event so that the cost to members is just

250 baht. (Non-members cost 450 baht)

Best Wishes

PEDR. Social Sec

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The Olde Bell: Cold Beer, Warm Atmosphere

RBL Social 9th November

–
The Olde Bell: Cold Beer, Warm Atmosphere

The Olde Bell
British Pub
Newsletter
November 2011

Dear Gold Card Member,

As this newsletter goes to press Thailand is in the midst of yet another disaster, part natural part man-made. The flooding in the centre of the country is the result of months of heavier than usual rainfall, that no flood defences in the world could prevent. The situation is exacerbated though, by dithering and bickering cause by Thailand’s seemingly unbridgeable political divide. Ms Yingluck is of course very new to the job and constant phone calls to Dubai must be taxing for her! She is not being helped by the city government in Bangkok which is Democrat run, or by the army which would love to see her trip up. Or by the Bangkok elite that want her to call a state of emergency in which would place her in sole charge –and of course leave her as a convenient scapegoat when the mopping up has been done!

The rather selfish good news is that after our three day inundation, we are now free of excess water, the clouds have gone away and the sun is shining. It’s still rather too hot for most peoples liking, but hopefully things will start to cool down in the next couple of weeks. The only worry is that supplies of many foodstuffs are getting very short as nothing is getting through from Bangkok – the shelves in the supermarkets are emptying fast – no-one is going to starve, but lots of products are going to be in short supply for some time to come. We at The Bell have done our best to lay in extra stocks, but imported products in particular are running out. At the moment we still have everything on our menu but please bear with us if your favourite meal becomes unavailable. Hopefully the re-supply trucks will start rolling again soon!

In order to help out (?) The local constabulary, miffed at having Spicy’s night club, (which, of course they own!) closed at midnight after residents at their new location on Chiang Moi Rd, successfully complained about the late night noise there and having lost huge amounts of face, Plod decided that every bar should close at midnight, so dozens of them desceneed on Loi Kroh Rd last night lights flashing, paddy-wagons in attendance and closed down all the girlie-bars. Still not satisfied, they then raided Chez Marco and spent a good half hour searching for ‘Mae Sai Whisky’ (ie duty free alcohol) and checking staff papers etc. Apparently Marco doesn’t make the appropriate contribution to the Police Benevolent Fund. T.I.T: This is Thailand!!

On the publications front, we are now a stockist for the excellent glossy magazine called ‘The Elephant’s Voice’ If you are a Pachyderm fan, do support them by buying a copy. They’re available in our little bookshop. Several of our Gold Card Members are involved in the Elephant Nature Park which was of course started and still inspired by Sangduen Chailert better known to all of us as Lek. If you haven’t yet visited the park, take a look at www.elephantnaturepark.org for more details.

One of the biggest events in November is of course Remembrance Day and Gold Card Member Richard Prouse has done sterling work since picking up the organisers baton and with help from Peter Dawson who has been pulled kicking and screaming out of retirement, the whole thing is coming together well to provide us with a fitting tribute to The Fallen. Everyone is welcome to come along and pay their respects.

The service is held at the Foreigners Cemetery on the Chiang Mai Lamphun Rd (almost opposite EGAT – the Electricity company offices). The service starts at 10.45am on Friday 11th November. If you don’t know where it is, or you live in town, a fleet of Songthaews will depart from The Olde Bell at 10.15am. You would need to make your own return transport arrangements as we will be repairing to the Gymkhana Club after the service for refreshments including a (we hope) sumptuous buffet courtesy of the British Embassy.

One final point in this section. If you are a golfer and you are not going to the Remembrance Day service, please consider taking part in the Royal British Legion Golf Tournament, which is teeing off to shotgun start at 11 minutes past 11am on the 11th November 2011. The event is being held at a new course: Gold Canyon in Lamphun, The cost is 1,800 baht which includes all green fees, caddy fee, cart, a limited edition shirt, (which those who have seen them say is of excellent quality) dinner in the evening and a goody bag which I am assured by Kari the organiser is worth 1,600 baht! Anyway the goody bag includes a 100 baht Olde Bell voucher so its value can’t be overestimated!! Additionally 15% of players will get a prize. So this represents a great value day out!

There is a sheet pinned to the wall in The Olde Bell for you to sign up if you haven’t yet done so or you can email the RBL secretary Charles Gross on patchas@hotmail.co.uk We really do need a few more chaps to sign up, there are still around 20 tee slots available, all the proceeds go to the Poppy Appeal so do help out this worthy cause by playing if you are free.

Time now to tell you about our goings-on this month

Beer Stocks At the moment we’ve got plenty of beer – our suppliers cannot deliver draught Chang or large Singha, but we’ve got everything else. We can probably last about 3 weeks. Lets hop ethe supply problems are sorted out soon.

Guy Fawkes Night Tonight: There will be a BBQ from 7pm, Fireworks at 9.30pm (between the Newcastle/Everton match which finishes at 9.15pm and the Man Utd/Sunderland and Liverpool/Swansea games which kick off at 10pm) and a FREE glass of Punch when you buy your first drink. All Welcome!

Darts Night Don’t forget that next Wednesday 9th November, we will be holding our second Olde Bell v British Legion Darts Night. There’ll be free beer and sandwiches. Anyway it’s all a bit of fun so if you’d like to take part, just come along. If anyone would like to co-ordinate the evening there’s a remunerative package available, do let us know if you’re interested!

St. Andrews Day Wednesday 30th November: Scotland’s National Day will soon be upon us and we always make a fuss about it. St. Andrews Day is now a Bank holiday in Scotland and Andrew is also the patron saint of Greece, Romania and Russia as well as being the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (whatever that might be!) Anyway, it’s a good excuse for a Scottish Evening. There’ll be Scottish food, promotions on whisky and a dram or two of fine single malt will be given away from our private cellar (which a few of you know about!)

City Life Charity Garden Party This is a bit of advanced information: on Sunday 27th November there is another of the near-legendary City Life Garden Party’s, 50% of the proceeds this year go to the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal. The legion will be manning a second hand clothing and bric a brac stall and they are appealing for good quality second hand clothes and bric a brac. You can drop these off at The Olde Bell (please bag them up and mark them ‘City Life Garden Party’; or you can take them direct to City Life which is located on the Canal Rd. (From Huay Kaew Rd turn left onto the canal rd and City Life is about ½ KM on the left. There’s a big red sign in the grounds) If you take them to City Life please mark them ‘Garden Party’ and ‘Attn of Darin’ Anyway, do put this event in oyur diary as its always an enjoyable day out!

Books those of you who brought books in to sell in the shop are now reaping the rewards – your discounts will be applied the next time you are in. Just as a reminder, if you have any books sitting on your shelves that you no longer require, just drop them off, we’ll allocate you a code and when they sell you’ll get 50% of the selling price off your next bill! A simple way to save.

New Gold Cards These are now under production, Please bear with us if yours isn’t ready for a while – there are a lot to make up! Don’t worry that your current card is now out of date – you’ll still get your discount. Remember that the amount you need to spend to qualify for your discount is now 180 baht (about £3.50 or AU$5.50)

British/Australian Goodies A big thank you to those of you who have kindly brought British and Australian goodies back from Australia or the UK (or in one case from a Western supermarket in Singapore. We still need Taylor’s of Harrogate Yorkshire Tea, HP Sauce squeezy bottle 850g. Crosse and Blackwell Branston Pickle 720g and Tesco’s finest or Sainsbury’s ‘taste the difference’ Earl Grey tea bags. A reminder to bring the receipt along and we’ll pay you the full baht equivalent and give you a voucher for 50baht per item.

Christmas

Christmas dinner is filling up already and we’d like to remind Gold Card Members that you need to buy your tickets by 30th November to take advantage of our discount. This is what you get for your money:

A welcome glass of sherry or Gin & tonic or Vodka and mixer
Tomato soup with homemade bread or Prawn Cocktail
Roast Breast and Leg of Turkey with Roast Potatoes, Mashed Potato, Brussels Sprouts, Carrots and Broccoli, served with Sage and Onion Stuffing, Chestnut stuffing, Gravy, bread sauce and cranberry sauce
Traditional Christmas Pudding with Rum Sauce
Plus a free drink: Pint of Draught Lager, Large Bottle of Local Beer, Large Glass of Red or White Wine, or a glass of Orange juice or a Coke.

There will be three sittings as usual, Christmas Eve at 7pm, Christmas Day at midday and Christmas Day 7pm. All this costs 695 Baht, but as a Gold Card member we’ll only charge you 625 Baht. If you buy your tickets before 30th November, we’ll knock another 50 baht off that making 575Baht.

We will also be holding our ever popular Boxing Day Cold Cuts buffet on 26th December with Cold turkey, Cold Ham, assorted continental meats, cheeses, pickles and chutneys salads and breads. Tickets for this will cost a mere 390 baht (350 baht to Gold Card Members) and will be available from 1st December.

Thanks for reading this newsletter and we hope to see you in The Olde Bell soon.

Best Wishes from

Pedr, Beer, Billy and the Staff

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The Olde Bell: Cold Beer, Warm Atmosphere

Social Night at The Olde Bell 02/11/2011

Today it is the first Wednesday of the month again and it is our RBL social at the Old Bell from 7pm come along if you can and enjoy a good beer and a couple of specials put on for you by our host and social secretary Pedr.

Pork steak onion gravy mashed potatoes and vegetables for only 90 Baht.

Corned beef hash again for only 90 Baht .This one is with Rex in mind.

The committee look forward to seeing as many of you that can make it tomorrow night

Charles Gross (Secretary)

Remembrance Sunday

Dear All,

Regretfully I have to inform you that the Remembrance Service on November 13th at the British Embassy has been cancelled due to the present flooding situation in Bangkok. Floods permitting there will be a low key service for those who can make it, however there will be no bands, tents or reception, just a short service. I would suggest those wishing to attend should keep updated via the Embassy website at http://ukinthailand.fco.gov.uk/en/

The Church Service in Pattaya on 11 November is still going ahead, floods permitting the British Ambassador will be in attendance along with a number of other VIPs

Best regards

Bert Elson
Secretary/Welfare Chairman
The Royal British Legion, Chonburi Thailand Branch (BR 3588)
382/3 – 5, Moo 9, Pattaya
2nd Road, opposite Bangkok Bank
Banglamung
Chonburi 20260
Thailand.

Tel +66 (0) 89 8072335

Fax +66 (0) 38 361887

Email bert@tropicalberts.com

Web: www.tropicalberts.com

http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/branches/chonburi-thailand