TWO social event dinners held at Castle Cove Sailing Club have kept members in fine fettle ahead of the new season.

One was held for the cruising group and the other was a dinghy dinner with up to 50 people attending each.

The dinghy dinner had a 70s theme with a fancy dress competition and a 70s-based quiz.

Appropriately, the fancy dress winner was awarded a bottle of Blue Nun and the team that won the quiz each had a bottle of Cherry B as a prize.

The cruiser supper was organised by Genia and Mike Conroy and diners were greeted at the door with a glass of prosecco.

Smoked salmon parcels with dill, beetroot, watercress and a lemon wedge were starters, followed by chicken breasts in Indian spices with fresh mango and coconut milk, basmati rice, fine beans and poppadoms.

A collection of eight delicious puddings were kindly made by ladies and gents in the cruising section.

Over dinner, Conroy and club Commodore, Neil Stroud, spoke about the success of last year’s cruising trips and illustrated it with photos taken during the outings.

The 2018 programme included the popular boat handling weekend involving a meal at The Boat That Rocks on Portland, a fun Safari Supper in Weymouth harbour, a weekend in Yarmouth, a trip to Cherbourg, the Lulworth Race and BBQ, Channel Islands for a week and, lastly, Lymington.

Stroud talked members through this year’s programme which will include 14 days along the Normandy coast, while the cruising committee are already making plans for 2020.