It was a bright and sunny afternoon, despite the rain. Probably a rainbow somewhere nearby, but I didn't catch sight of it. We gathered for the annual Glastonbury - East Hartford meeting at the Elks Pavilion. Rumor was that there used to be a softball game played between the two clubs, but too many ringers were showing up. Perhaps we could challenge them to bocce next year.

The crowd was markedly smaller than last year, perhaps due to the torrential downpour that occurred earlier in the day. Still a good number of people showed up. We had 14 from the East Hartford club and about twice that from Glastonbury. The meal was steak and/or swordfish, potatoes, salad and cheesecake for dessert.

After we ate, Glastonbury had their introduction of guests and announcements. Our club was recognized, and President Kevin gave a short speech thanking Glastonbury for having us. Glastonbury did their 50-50 raffle drawing and the meeting concluded. 

I could be missing something, but I'm questioning the purpose of this annual get together. The two clubs didn't mingle very much, and I only saw two or three people try (I admit I wasn't one of them). For the most part we stayed in our familiar groups to talk and then we ate with our own club members as well. It would be nice if the meeting was a little more structured, maybe spend some time discussing some common challenges and brainstorming ways our two clubs could work together to address them. Maybe do the meeting on a Saturday after some sort of combined service project. Maybe I am just jealous for missing the softball games.

That's all for this week. - Wes Willett