Posted by Geoff Hudson on Dec 13, 2018

 Sharing  the Joy of Christmas

A wonderful night of celebration for Christmas 2018 and a successful calendar year of the Hyde Park Rotary Club was held at the Handly House with Rob and Erica going all out (see photo) with the help of Rotarians and partners. Rotarians brought along non-perishable foodstuffs to donate to FoodBank who do a wonderful job providing meals for those in need based mainly on food rescued from supermarkets
 
A wonderful meal with starters in the garden (see photo) was followed by a festive feast of baked, glazed ham, chicken, smoked fish, baked potatoes with sour cream and a fantastic array of salads. It really was a long table event with 26 enjoying al fresco dining and lively conversation. The usual 3 for $5 raffle and two "lollies in the jar" competitions were held with winners including Cecile Moss, Barbara Boxer Libby Savis and Mike McAuliffe who won both lolly jars with the same number guessed. He graciously passed one in and Peter Griffiths was also in the mix.
 
The choice of deserts was truly amazing with the centrepiece being a croquembouche (French: "something that crunches in the mouth"), a cone of profiteroles filled with creme anglaise and decorated with toffee and strawberries. There was also a rich chocolate cake, a fruit cake and a large bowl of strawberries and cherries. All delicious.
 
President Gerry thanked all those for their contributions and particularly Rob and Erica for their hard work and making their house available. He noted that membership had been stable over the last 6 months and hoped that it could be increased in the next 6 months
The twelfth of December is a very special day in the RCHP with three of our members/partners celebrating their birthday, and there was a rousing rendition of the birthday song in celebration. The three with birthdays are on the left- Peter Barbara and Sam. My research shows that in any group of 23 people there is a 50% probability that two will have common birthdays, and this rises to 99.9% with just 70 people. Now what is the probability of three people in a group of 23? Anyone like to calculate that.