Excerpts from Newsletter No. 21, dated February 2012

Date for your diaries
Start of Our Year Dinner, Saturday 17th March at 7.30pm
This popular annual event will be held once again at Café Bliss, 142 London Road, Southborough.

Excerpts from Newsletter No. 21, dated February 2012
S.A.K.A. Quiz Nite – Saturday 12th November 2011
Our third annual Quiz, held at The Day Centre Hall, Christchurch, Southborough, was a very pleasant occasion with five teams contesting a very close competition to become Champions. Five testing rounds of questions finally resulted in a win for the team consisting of Bob & Colette Marsh and Alain Lewis. Well done, also to both Lynda Emberson and Marian Attwood and her husband Chris, who provided everyone participating with a delicious Ploughman’s Supper, plus extras. A splendid team-effort, which also involved them in shopping for the food beforehand and clearing everything away carefully afterwards to ensure that our deposit cheque was returned to us uncashed. We were also grateful to Peter Jervis of Downinghbury Farm, Pembury, who kindly donated a generous number of his tasty desert apples once again. Altogether, it was a pleasant occasion and good value for the £6.50 it cost each person attending. Our thanks go to the Church authority for allowing us once more to use the venue.

Christmas Lunch Saturday 3rd December 2011
Rather disappointingly only eight people attended the lunch held at The Abergavenny Arms at Frant. As we tried to organise it we became aware that a Saturday just before Christmas when shopping and other festive commitments are on peoples minds is probably not the best time to try and organise such an event. In 2010 it was held on the first Sunday of the month and was much better attended, but the Abergavenny Arms had decided this time not to make the Sunday available. However, those who did attend had a very nice meal in good company so it was enjoyable and a pleasant start to the Festive Season.

Visiting Kaniv in 2012
In our last Newsletter (No. 20), which is still included below, we reported that it is hoped to gain sufficient support amongst our members to arrange a group visit to Kaniv in 2012. September would appear to be an ideal month for such a trip, when both “The Day of Knowledge” and “The Day of Kaniv” are celebrated against a colourful backdrop provided by Mother Nature as she provides her traditional Autumn splendour. Read again the letter from Alina Kharchenko entitled “The Day of Kaniv is our Local Holiday” and the detailed article on how to enjoy “A visit to Kaniv in 2012”. Under the “Kaniv” section of this website you will find details of all the many interesting attractions to be seen in and around Kaniv. We are invited to stay with our Kanivian friends in their homes. It offers a unique opportunity to sample the Ukranian way of life and enjoy the warmth of affectionate Ukrainian hospitality. To express your possible interest in visiting Kaniv in September, please contact our Chairman, Mike Handcock.

SAKA Lotto Club 2011
Final draw on Saturday 3rd December
After the Christmas Lunch the Draw was made to discover who the winners were for the last five months of the year:-
August Vanessa Andrew
September Shirin Hague
October Jacqui Jedrzejewski
November Peter Hayward
Each won £15.50
December Tom Rusbridge
The Top prize of £45.50
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OUR WINNERS IN THIS THE FIRST YEAR OF THE LOTTO CLUB!

Thirty-six people joined the Club which means that £180 was paid out in prize money whilst the other £180 went to S.A.K.A. funds to help towards our small projects in Kaniv as agreed at last year’s A.G.M. Certainly we didn’t raise as much money as we have done in past years, when we held a Grand Draw, but circumstances have changed and it was the right decision – again agreed at the 2011 A.G.M., to set-up the Lotto Club. The Licensing Authority is happy for us to have a Lotto Club 2012 and as the Committee supported the idea for the final decision to be taken at this year’s Annual General Meeting. Thanks to everyone who took out membership of the Club in its first year.

Secretary’s Report
Another year has passed and we have once more achieved what has seemed at times like the impossible. Thankfully I have had some additional help from Marian Attwood to become Assistant Secretary. Her help has been much appreciated these last few months. Again it has been an eventful year with Our Annual Dinner, a very successful River Cruise, Afternoon Tea, Cabaret, QuizNite and a Christmas Lunch to mention a few. Some have been more successful than others but they all take valuable time to organise and much of this has been done by your Chairman – Mike Handcock. In addition Mike has introduced the Lotto Club which has been a great success in raising additional funds for SAKA, but has also produced additional work. We hope he will be able to continue with this in the future. I would like personally to thank other members of the Committee for their contributions, their time in particular and their patience when I have not produced something that has been requested on time. Bob Constable died suddenly last March. He had attended the Dinner a week earlier, so it was a great shock to us all. I didn’t know Pat Heywood-Young personally, but I did get to know Peter Crawford – our late President, a very generous man, who came to my house for our Coffee Morning event last Summer. My thanks to Jacqui Jedrzejewski, who stepped in to act as President. We said farewell to Mike Bailey who moved to Ireland earlier this year and had done a grand job as Membership Secretary, we wish him well in the future, and hope he keeps in contact with us all. I stood in as acting Membership Secretary until someone could be found to replace him. I have told the Committee that I am willing to stand as Secretary for the coming year while Mike Handcock is our Chairman if no one else comes forward. However this might be a good time to think about the organisation’s future as my work and family commitments are increasing and I will not be able to continue in my present role indefinitely. We need fresh ideas and more Committee members so please consider joining the Committee.
Lynda Emberson

Cabaret Evening – Saturday 1st October
This turned out to be a successful evening although attendance was low. The young String Quartet did amazingly well and has been asked to entertain other local organisations since. Colette Marsh managed to put together some songs and sketches which were well received and included not only an amusing sketch from Colette but also contributions from Mike Handcock, David Ward and Val Davis. Mary Cottle sang beautifully (as always) and it was good to have her as a guest for the second year running. We changed the venue for this event this year to St. Thomas’s Church Hall in Pennington Road and I think I can speak for all those that attended that the venue was ideal for our needs. I am sure we will be planning a similar event for this year. Do make sure you come along and see the talent that we have in our community. Well done to all of you who took part.

Newsletter Support
If you know of anyone who would be willing to support us by advertising in our Newsletter we would like to hear from them. A new printer is required in the future to support the volume of work created by our success.

Tee-Shirt Orders
Summer is coming and white shirts can be ordered with our SAKA logo in a range of sizes priced at approximately £15.00 depending on the volume of orders. Please contact Lynda Emberson for further details.

Membership Report
Welcome to our newest members for the year 2011/2012:-
Mrs Anne Newman
Mr Christopher Attwood
Mrs Chris Day
Cllr. Alain & Mrs Katherine Lewis
Steve & Beverly Henderson

Obituaries
Pat Heywood-Young
It was with sadness that we learnt of the death of Miss Pat Heywood-Young who had been a member of our Association since its early days. Although Pat was not able to be an active member she regularly renewed her membership because she supported the aims of the Association and liked to be kept informed of our activities. She was also a member of SHDOFA and served on their Committee for many years being largely responsible for organising their very successful raffles.Pat was one of a small group who met on a regular basis to improve their French conversation ability and it was always a pleasure to go to her home in Pembury for the lessons as she provided excellent, home-made refreshments. She was a member of the Women in Harmony Choir and a kindly neighbour for ever attending to the needs of those who lived nearby. When we learnt she was terminally ill we took flowers and a card to her home and though not in she was soon on the phone to the Chairman to thank us for the offer of help and, “The beautiful bouquet of flowers very much appreciated”. She is much missed, a lovely lady and a true friend

Our President – Peter Crawford
Peter became our President in 2010 and it was with great sorrow that we learnt of his death as January drew towards its close. He made a good recovery from the illness he experienced last Autumn, was back working hard for the people of Broadwater Ward which he had served for 10 years as a Borough Councillor. An ex-Serviceman, come rain or shine, he travelled into Tunbridge Wells to collect for the Poppy Appeal at Central Station. He must have raised thousands of pounds over his years of endeavour. For an active person it must have been particularly frustrating when he became an amputee but he coped magnificently and didn’t grumble! For SAKA he was a good President and loyal supporter helping out in anyway he could. He will be sorely missed but not forgotten. We have sent our condolences to his family.

Committee Members 2011
Chairman and Events Organiser Mike Handcock
Vice Chair Bob Marsh
Treasurer Bert Alldis
Secretary and Newsletter Editor Lynda Emberson
Membership Secretary on retirement of Mike Bailey Lynda Emberson
Assistant Secretary Marian Attwood
Publicity/ Website Editor Brian Dobson
Committee Members Patrick Moran and Trevor Poile
We would also like to acknowledge the work taken on by James Muir who is the webmaster of the website