What better combination than wine, steam trains, ploughman’s supper and an awards presentation?
All could be found on the Centre’s trip to the Kingscote Vineyard near East Grinstead, right on the doorstep of Kingscote Station on the Bluebell Railway. We’ll be back on the tracks later this year for our Summer Gathering but for now it was a tour of the vineyard to look forward to it.
Our guide gave a short history of the vineyard, talked us through the various types of grapes being grown and taught us how to taste wine properly. That included a few samples, naturally. A short traipse into the vines themselves was followed by a further talk around the old machinery. Old, because this equipment is no longer used as the grapes are taken off to a sister vineyard in Kent to be processed these days.
Returning t the cafe in an old barn we found that John Davies had prepared all the trophies for our 2022 awards to be presented al fresco.
The awards themselves were resented by the Chairman, Tim, who managed to hand out the front page of the awards sheet but somehow missed the second page! Not to worry as everyone had moved over to enjoy their PLoughman’s supper so the remaining awards were handed out in the food area!
The reason for the early awards presentation was thanks to the pandemic which put the club out of kilter. The aim is to present the awards at the end of the year they are won in – so you don’t forget what you might have won! This meant that the 2021 awards were presented at the end of 2022. Now the 2022 awards are presented less than six months later and the 2023 awards will be at the end of this year so getting us back on track!
To see all the winners click on the button below:-
