Ending the year on a Chappist tip

It is a long tradition of the club that we meet on the last Friday before Christmas for some general revelry, and to make sure that Lord Mendrick is still alive. During the rest of the year he sweats in Malaya, teaching history to the children of the rich. Some years he doesn't actually come to the moot, leaving us hanging for another twelve-month, but I'm pleased to say he did pitch up this time, and he did seem to be alive (if wearing that jumper can be considered a kind of living).

The moot itself used to be at a pub called the Dover Castle, until it closed down to become a bistro, upon which we moved, at Matthew Howard's suggestion, to the Rising Sun on Cloth Fair by Smithfield Market. Then, when we had to find a new home for our regular monthly meetings we wound up at the Bishop's Finger, also by Smithfield. Our meetings are now on the last Wednesday of the month: but in December this would have been New Year's Eve, while the Wednesday before that would have been Christmas Eve. So we just amalgamated it in with the moot and used the same venue. This seemed to irk Howard, however, and apparently he led a pre-moot to the Rising Sun anyway.

The moot itself was well-attended and much festive cheer was had (despite the fact that earlier the same day some of us had been to the funeral of club stalwart Curé Michael Silver—it's what he would have wanted). You can see a few more photos on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sheridanclub/albums/72177720331091639.