West of England Supper held on 28 September 2025

Those present, pictured left to right, were : Simon Dougherty (G60-67), Ian Vicary (K58-62), Carol Curties (guest), Chris Essex (K69-75), David Lowe (S66-68), Kim Dickel (M97-98), Alan (Fred) Limer (S56-65) and Maggie Dougherty (guest). Sadly Simon Chaplin-Rogers (S68-73) was unable to make it on the night.

The West of England Supper was once again held on a Sunday evening at the Lamb Inn at Hindon, Wiltshire.  The Lamb Inn has been a public house since the 12th century and the dining room was again a lovely setting for our meal and much conversation.

We were delighted that SOF President, Kim Dickel (M97-98) was able to join us before returning to Germany the following day.  All those attending, apart from Kim, had also attended last year so great loyalty.

We came from a wide geographical area covering Bath & North East Somerset, Dorset, Hampshire, Monmouthshire and Wiltshire plus Essex in the form of former SOF President and now Honorary General Secretary Simon Dougherty (G60-67) and his wife Maggie and of course Kim from Germany.

Prior to the meal, we acknowledging the sad loss of Barry Prewett (R70-78) just 6 weeks after attending the supper last year. Such a shock.to us all.

After the meal organiser Chris Essex (K69-75) explained that over 40 had sent their apologies and hoped to attend in the future.  He read out a number of the messages received.  He then talked about the website and its rich content and was delighted that all attendees had registered already. He also mentioned the important area of our communications with members and waived a copy of the OF Newspaper that was currently being finalised for this year.

After Chris proposed a toast to the College & Brandeston, Kim spoke about how much she had enjoyed her time in the UK during September. She also talked about bonds of friendship between friends with a common experience of attending the College. She finished by raising a toast to the Society.

Next year’s event will be on Sunday 18 October 2026, once again at the Lamb Inn.  Hopefully a move back to October will result in the repeat of 2023 when the event was sold out at 24 attendees.