Minutes Of The th Meeting Of The Pembroke College Winnie The Pooh Society Held In W2 On Saturday February 25th 1995 AD.

Present : Sarah Jonas (Hostess), Alan Donovan (briefly), Stephen, Helen (aka 'The Weird One'!), Angela, Tor (eventually!), Dinan (even later!), Huw BA (author).

Apologies : Alex & the James.

1. The Undersecretary sat on the Hostess' bed and not on her 'towel'. (Private joke!)
   


2. The Hostess, clearly neurotic that she or her room didn't seem to be very popular, complained that attendance was poor (only 4 personages initially!) She then asked for advice on brewing her first ever pot of tea, using some Twinings Earl Grey Tea Bags that came free with her kettle! (Actually the tea pot wasn't hers either, Stephen having been sent back to get his!)
   


3. Helen spent the meeting sewing up her toga in preparation for her 21st birthday party that evening. The society salivated in anticipation...
   


4. Just as the Society was considering changing its name and reading a non-WTP story (because the Hostess did not own a single A. A. Milne masterpiece) the president FINALLY turned up. Unfortunately she seemed quite discombobulated (if the subsequent stream of expletives {p**, B*******, many F***s} could be considered to be a reliable paradigm for her state of mind!) & had forgotten to bring the books or, more importantly, the supplementary biscuits she promised to bring to each meeting in her manifesto, so Stephen was despatched to rifle through her room and deliver the goods.

   (I agree : that's an aw(e)ful sentence!)

5. During the intermission a discussion of the books displayed upon the Hostess' shelves took place and Medics were denigrated with glee! (No comment!) The arrangements for the forthcoming pancake party were also discussed.
   


6. Stephen returned valiantly. A vote of thanks was proposed for his endeavours (4-0-1, the Deputy James ALMOST forgetting to abstain!) by some anonymous personage whom the Secretary did not deem worthy of recording for posterity!
   


7. The Society finally tired of counting the President's expletives and TRIED to ignore them...
   


8. The Hostess read "Lines & Squares" from "When We Were Very Young" magnificently.

   (Grovel, grovel!)

9. While Sarah Simons started to practice her,.flute the President read "In Which Pooh Invents A New Game And Eeyore Joins In" from "The House At Pooh Corner" at phenomenal speed until an interjection from the Undersecretary slowed her down slightly. Dinan commented that it was fortunate that the James was not present, referring to the latter's ability to invest the timeless writings of the Master (Milne, not Sir Roger!) with alternative meaning. This prompted the President to deem such phrases as "Eeyore had his legs in the air as he came under the bridge" & "Piglet waved his stick infront of Rabbit" worthy of uncontrollable jocularity to the mystification of most of the rest of the Society.
   


10. The Under-secretary asked the President how many 'R's she had in her name, not realizing it was an abbreviation and not a trendy affectation.
    


11. Helen finished sewing up her toga. The Society continued salivating...
    


12. Something else happened but the Undersecretary (who had been given the onerous burden of writing up these minutes when the Secretary was collected by her little sister) can't read his rough writing so is unable to record it for posterity.
    


13. The meeting was closed (6-0-0) and the venue for the following week's extravaganza (when attendance is to be decimated due to an, overnight Choir trip to Kent) was expected to be held in Vicky the Classicist's room on H staircase.
    


14. The Undersecretary wrote up the minutes while watching the X-files on March 2nd and typed them out in the lab the following day while joining up his contigs and waitin for his bacteria to reproduce.
    

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