Our Chairman Michael Fisk was pleased to welcome, with a glass of prosseco, over seventy members and guests to our traditional end of year Christmas Lunch at Cuddington Golf Club. After plenty of time to catch up with friends in the lounge we moved into the dining room for an excellent roast turkey and all the trimmings followed by an apple, cinnamon and mulled cider tart with vanilla ice cream.
After lunch Bill Scot introduced our speaker Ian Porter, who stepped in at very short notice to cover for Nick Dobson who had caught Covid. Ian entertained us with the tale of Mr Selfridge and how he invented Shopping. When Selfridge's opened on Oxford Street in 1909 it offered a completely new way of buying goods and services; you not only got your clothes or kitchen wares but you enjoyed the shopping experience as well. Harry Selfridge introduced marketing to Britain and invested large amounts in advertising and the shop windows.
He was the first to have the perfume counters at the entrance of the store, apparently a necessary development as the local inhabitants of the west end of Oxford Street were poor and smelly and given to sheltering at the entrance during inclement weather. Other stores soon followed suit and still keep the tradition today. Harry Selfridge coined the phrase 'The Customer is always right' and he meant it too. Apparently the TV series Mr Selfridge has most things correct about his life style although Ian informed us that his affairs were rather wilder than actually portrayed on the screen! Many thanks Ian for another fun talk, we look forward to seeing you again soon.
Before we all departed to do more Christmas shopping it was the final task of the year for Chairman Michael Fisk to hand over the badge of office and gavel to the incoming Chairman for 2024 John Goodhead.
Congratulations Michael on a very successful 2023 and we look forward to another great year in 2024 with King John!
Best wishes to everyone for Christmas and the New Year.
David Griffiths
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