It was very cold, was the night of Saturday the 1st of December 2012, but things were warming up from early afternoon in the clubhouse at the Chenies Cricket Club. Mick Flinn and his band had arrived and after setting up were practising. Roger Foord - “Le Chef par Excellence” had was there with all the food and pots and pans necessary to create his latest recipe for forty hungry guests, all on his created very ownsome.

Tables were laid, doubtless by Roger, in between forging his Mexican speciality. Fooge was setting up the bar and Jim and Bob arrived early and finished putting out the chairs.

Around 7.30 our first guests were arriving and Mick Flinn (FOPS) and the Band started playing whilst Fooge served the drinks.

By eight things were humming and one or two couples had set the tone by having an early dance. Then Bob acting as MC ran through the evening’s programme and we all sat down, were waited upon by Jim, Bob and Denis, who brought the plates of meat, salad and chapattis which went down a treat and then the piece de resistance Rhonda’s delicious sweet was served and everyone chatted away as the band played.

Then it was “FOPS Cabaret Time.” Jim took the choir away to rehearse final details and Bob then explained that we were in the Somme on 24th Dec 1914. The strains of Silent Night then rang out and at the end of the first verse the words of Shtiller Narkt came out of the shadows. Soon the German and English soldiers were meeting and greeting each other in ‘no mans land’ - a victory for the ‘Racehorses over the furious Donkeys’ or for common sense!….Then united the Germans and the English sang a verse or two of Silent Night together…

FOPS have many talented faces and Julian Shah our Vice President and Senior Consultant teamed up with Jim Spence our Vice Chairman and along with Bob they then gave a creditable rendition of the Beach Boy’s Hit ‘Sloop John B’. After this Vartan Melkonian (FOPS) and Julian performed some lovely romantic Beatles numbers before Vartan, just back from Columbia where he, as the UN Ambassador for Street Children had met the President who was sympathetic to the latest UN recommendations for these precious souls. Vartan gave a wonderful performance of ‘Just the Way you are’ on solo acoustic guitar and was clapped and clapped.

The Mick Flinn Band then returned to play their magic music. With numbers from the the Stones, Beatles and many other stars of the sixties, the old clubhouse was soon packed with dancers all bouncing and jiving the night away to the brilliant Mick Flinn Band’s music.

Soon, all too soon, the hands of the clock were approaching midnight and happy revellers thanked Team FOPS members for such a wonderful evening, an evening to remember….