anniversary – The Cellar Club

5 December, 20205 March, 2021

The Cellar Club 40th Anniversary special – Trip to Martinborough

This is the 2020 timetable and is indicative only. Some minor changes are expected for 2021

Timetable

45 am, Saturday, 21 March, Wellington Railway Station – meet the rest of the group on the platform that the train leaves from (see the departures board at the station). Train departs Wellington Station at 9.55 am so please be on the platform by 9.45 am so that we can form into a group and hopefully commandeer our own carriage! Tickets (one way or return) can be purchased at the station ticket office or on the train. The cost is $25 same-day return or $19 one way. Tickets bought on the train require payment in cash only. Gold Cardholders can use those.
Train arrives at Featherston at 10.55 am. This is where we meet the bus.
On arrival in Martinborough, there will be wine tastings at Palliser Estate and Grava/Alana winery from 11.15 am. Palliser Estate will provide a flight of five wines at a cost of $10, refundable with a purchase. Grava/Alana will provide five wines and a sticky also for $10, refundable with a purchase. Group A will go to Palliser first and Group B to Grava and we’ll swap over halfway through.
55 pm – the bus will commence pick-ups at Palliser with Alana/Grava pick-up shortly after that time. Please be ready!
It’ll then take us to Coneys for a leisurely lunch from 1.15 pm. We will start with a wine tasting (charge included with lunch cost) which will be accompanied by small taste plates. This will be followed by a lunch that includes two mains plus sides together with petit fours for dessert. A limited amount of wine will be provided with the meal. Please note that if you order any wine over and above that supplied, or tea or coffee this will be at your own expense.
The bus will leave Coneys in time to connect with the train at Featherston where it is due to depart at 5.25 pm.
25 pm– scheduled arrival time at Wellington Station.

Some additional points to note:

To ensure we keep on schedule and as a courtesy to others please make sure you are ready for the bus on time. It does take a few minutes to get everyone on board and settled before it can move on.
Please also see the “Important things to know” sheet for further details.

15 November, 202015 November, 2020

40th Anniversary dinner update – Nov 2020

Our 40th Anniversary dinner at Bellamy’s by Logan Brown at the Beehive Wednesday 18th November, 6:30 to 6.45 pm arrival for a 7:30 pm seating.

The first Club meeting was held in the month of November 1980. To recognise that historic milestone, our celebratory dinner will be held at Bellamy’s by Logan Brown at their restaurant in the Beehive.

The Beehive, Parliament Buildings, Wellington

Please arrive early as everyone attending has to clear Parliamentary security.

Access is through the ground floor of the Beehive, the door being on the side near the steps to Parliament Buildings.
On arrival, you will need to go through a security check. You will have to go through a gate – the same as at an airport – so be prepared to empty your pockets into a tray (men) and place your handbag etc in a tray (ladies). Your BYO will need to go through the scanner too!
After passing through security proceed to the Reception desk which is on the right at about two o’clock as you come through the electronic gate. Here the receptionists will have been supplied with a list of those attending so will be able to mark you off (if that hasn’t already been done by the security guards at the gate). You will be provided with a lift key that will allow you access to Level 3.
On exiting the lift go straight ahead to the large reception area in the restaurant where there will be the customary glass of bubbles, supplied by the Club.
You will also find lists shows your seat number and at your table, there will be cards detailing your menu choices, should you need reminding.
The dress code is smart casual [think summer wedding]. For women, that’s classy casual and for men, jacket with tie optional.
Note, the previously advised seating maximum of eight diners per table has been relaxed for our dinner and we are now confident we can accommodate our more tradition groupings.

So, bring along a favourite bottle of wine and be prepared for a very special occasion.

13 November, 20202 May, 2024

40th Anniversary Dinner – Bellamys Wednesday 18th November

Sadly the delayed Wellington/Burger on a Plate has meant that the restaurant is unable to finalise our menu until after that event finishes. That means we won’t receive it until the first week of November. We have reluctantly accepted this, as it does ensure that we end up with a menu that should make the best of what is seasonally available.

But rather than leave everything to the last minute, we have decided to ask you to reply to this email by completing, as appropriate, the boxes below and at the same time crediting our bank account 06 0541 0056031 00 with $70 per person wishing to attend.

If your email software doesn’t allow you to input directly to these boxes when you go reply, we suggest you use your mouse to select the boxes and then copy and paste them into the reply section of your email.

If you don’t currently use internet banking, we can accept your cheque although this dinner is likely to be the last occasion that we can do this, as the ANZ is no longer accepting cheques for clearance after 1 June 2021

Important points

We will require the full name of each person attending [not just first and last names] as I believe this needs to be provided to Parliamentary security early in November we will provide the final menu and seek your menu choices. If the final menu is not to your liking, let us know and we will refund you immediately.

In addition to your meal choice, the table will also be served with a plate of each of the sides. These and corkage are all included in the dinner price.
Also included will be your customary glass of bubbles on arrival.
The dress code is smart casual [think summer wedding]. For women, that’s classy casual and for men, jacket with tie optional.
Table seating is either 6 or 8 places. Sorry, there can be no large groups.

Please reply before the end of October. Bellamys have limited seating and for this reason, we will be operating on a first-come basis and if the number is exceeded, we may need to add you to a waiting list. Whilst Bellamys’ limit does exceed the attendance levels of our past 10 dinners, we do think that the special nature of this dinner could prove to be a challenge so please reply as soon as possible.

We did contemplate limiting the dinner to just members but decided that this was unfair to those non-member partners who have been regular attendees at our past dinners. Nor has this ever been an approach that has been applied in the past.

Upcoming events, An invitation

Upcoming events

Wednesday 12 August – Victor Kattenbelt of Confidant Wines
Wednesday 16 September – Alan Evans and Ageing of quality wines
Wednesday 21 October – St Clair Family Estate, Marlborough
Wednesday 18 November – Club Anniversary dinner at Bellamy’s (run by Logan Brown)
December tbc

An invitation

Now that we’re past the shortest day/longest night of the year for this Equinox, if anyone would like supply a short article about their ‘Drop of the Day’, i.e. their go-to wine for this season, to share with the rest of the Club, please feel free to submit it.

6 April, 20205 December, 2020

March & future events

Clearly, as we had no Club activity during March looking back has little value. As it happens it is equally difficult to look forward in our current environment. Suffice it to say that your committee will keep abreast of developments and will make appropriate plans when things become clearer. The Wairarapa trip and The Crater Rim will be foremost in our future arrangements.

Alana Wines

Coney Wines

Clearly COVID-19 has forgotten to consider our club’s 40th-anniversary celebrations. Your committee is still focused on holding these events as we can and planning is well underway for a dinner at a pretty special venue in November. So let’s hope the lockdown is a distant memory by then and we can all make up for lost time with a great night out. In the meantime, we trust all of us are doing our bit to help wineries stay financially afloat.

14 February, 202025 November, 2020

Forty years enjoyment of fine wines

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11 November, 20195 December, 2020

Newsletter, Save the Date, Dinner

Rest easy team, I am back. I would like to follow up on Wayne‘s message re the bit of disorganisation over the newsletter. Much has been happening in the last couple of months and Pat and I have spent six weeks in Sydney and are still getting back into a groove. Overseas visitors and other activities have further impacted. Please bear with us, things will come right in time. Some really excellent events coming up over the next year so there is much to look forward to.

Save the Date

This feature will continue over the next few months with the March event being the first of 3 special themed events your committee is planning in 2020 to celebrate our 40th anniversary. A full calendar of events will be sent out separately so you can update your diaries.

Dinner

Please find attached the menu for the December Dinner. The second attachment is the payment advice for the November tasting. This includes a section allowing you to indicate preferences for the Dinner. The ability to let the restaurant know our requirements in advance is of benefit in keeping costs down.

See you there Wednesday,

Cheers
Robin Semmens
Editor

3 October, 20193 July, 2020

Your news fix, Save the date

From the Acting Editor,

Let me begin by again apologising for no newsletter last month. As I think I said in an email, Robin and Pat had to fly to Sydney suddenly and there simply wasn’t enough time to get it out. There is still no word as to when they may return, so please direct any communications to myself of another of the committee in the meantime.

Your news fix

Hopefully, this month’s newsletter will provide you with your news fix. That said, the objective of this newsletter is to dissimilate information, often with a generous sprinkling of humour. Given there is much information for you to read in this issue, please don’t just put it to one side after a quick scan. You may miss something.

Save the date

I would especially draw your attention to the section on Save the Date – Saturday 21st March 2020. This is the first of 3 special themed events your committee is planning in 2020 to celebrate our 40th anniversary. A full calendar of events will be sent out separately so you can update your diaries. These last 2 months has been a funny old one for your committee with much drama going on in our lives, interspersed with overseas travel for 3 or us and a couple of major knee ops for another. Sadly included in all this, was the passing of Anne’s mum very recently. The club did deliver some flowers and card to Anne expressing our condolences on behalf of you all.

See you there next week,

Cheers Wayne Kennedy, Acting Editor

Tag: anniversary

The Cellar Club 40th Anniversary special – Trip to Martinborough

40th Anniversary dinner update – Nov 2020