Recevied from our Twin club of Iserlohne-Waldstadt: the Luton Town straw boater that we presented to our German twin-club, has become part of the club's regalia!

Hallo Julia, Margaret and Steve,
in the beginning of our contacts we got a very special thing as a present from your club. The Luton hat. It is still in use, what you can see on the foto attached. On the left our new president Thomas Kirchhoff decorated with the insignias of the presidency, the chain and the Luton hat. On the right the pastpresident Kai Beutler, who was in Luton last year at this wonderful invitation. He does not look very happy, perhaps he is missing the hat.

Yours Dieter Köhler, RC Iserlohn Waldstadt

9th June saw the evening meeting at which the incoming president sets his theme for the year with a few (or not so few) well chosen (or rather random) words and the committee chairs set out their stall with their goals, proposed events and budgets.

As President Elect, I (Robert John in case you didn't know)  kicked off after a very pleasant dinner with my thoughts and themes. Afterwards I thought that, particularly as we had a few members away in far flung parts of the world, it might be a good idea to record my talk so anyone interested can check it out.  It doesn't have the same atmosphere, I'm afraid but here it is:

 Following this success of last year's concert, the Luton clubs along with Barton & Flitwick present the Luton Youth Orchestra, Luton Youth Jazz Orchestra, Luton Youth Cantores, Stage One Theatre School and Youth Japanese Taika Drummers in a spectacular show of the musical talent of young people in the area.

The show was a huge success last year - and so this year it has moved to a larger venue at The Riverside Suite in Gypsy Lane, Luton. The show is being compered by Richard Sisson - west-end composer and the musician half of Kit and The Widow.

Tickets are available from This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or  01582 597544 at £10 (or £8 concessions)

You can download a booking form here: Celebration of Youth Booking Form

During my Prep days, I formed my thoughts for the coming year, which were to encourage the club to enjoy its activities, to work with others in the zone on various projects and to hold and increase membership.

The year started out with a barbeque at our house, which although was a lot of work for Lynn and I, the reward was to receive many rich comments suggesting that this was like the good old days. It seemed that everybody had enjoyed themselves so the first part of my thoughts were met and this has continued with the Golf Day, a barbeque at Julia's, the visit of Iserlone culminating with Jazz in the Garden, the Xmas Dinner and many other events.

Since the last Council Meeting the International Committee travelled in a party of 9 to Iserlohn to meet with our German friends and we were joined by our friends from Holland. A wonderful weekend was had by all. Flying from Luton  on Friday 7th in the evening we were met by Gerd and Ralf from the German club who took us to our hotel set in beautiful  parkland where we met our friends from Holland and enjoyed a light late supper.

In the morning after an excellent breakfast we went by luxury coach to the Folkwang Museum in Essen described by Paul Sachs as “the most beautiful museum in the world”.

It was too. Gathered for just two months only were some of the most coveted and hidden works by the impressionist/expressionist painters deemed as the degenerates. These had been scattered worldwide and tracked down by the Folkwang to bring together a stunning and rare exhibition of just a few weeks duration.

Due to work commitments, I was unable to attend the opening sessions.  Bronwen and I arrived at the Travelodge around 5 pm giving plenty of time to settle in and meet the rest of the party in the bar prior to a meal out - Janet and Jill went to the ‘posh’ dinner in the company of the lovely Frank Hamel from Luton North whom they had taken down.  Frank is now 92 with a mind like a razor and great company.

Jean and Chris had chosen the Bear for our evening meal and we drove ourselves there which was a BIG mistake as we couldn’t find anywhere to park when we got back to the hotel.  A very pleasant venue to start the weekend.