Club News

Club News Club steps into 2022 positively

It was all set to be a pretty stellar last quarter of the year for the Club, with very strong occupancy rates and vibrant figures for food and beverage in the Restaurant and Conference & Banqueting writes

Club Secretary & Chief Executive

Andrei Spence.

There was a strong return of those businesses who hold their meetings at the Club, and a surge in personal/family/social gatherings in our function rooms. With increasing numbers fully vaccinated and ‘boosted’, many members said they felt safe and needed to get back to living a normal life.

It was particularly gratifying to learn that despite the pressures around manpower shortages, there had been no slipping of standards in rooms, service and food throughout the Club, even though some services did have to be curtailed at some times in the week.

Sadly, omicron, plus a burst hot water pipe, rather took the shine off the final few weeks of the year. But, importantly, the Club continues to provide a level of service every day and we have not yet resorted to the mantra of many clubs by closing down for a couple of days a week. As a members club, Virginia and I have been totally against this approach, and we have done all we can to avoid it. But this has only been possible as a result of the tremendous work and flexibility of the whole team.

We are now working closely with Club Chairman John Lee to provide a full, diverse and interesting education and events programme in 2022, with a focus on our Sovereign Queen and Patron’s Platinum Anniversary of Accession as our focal point.

As ever, I look forward to welcoming many more of you back to the Club in 2022. We will continue to provide service and food of the highest quality as well as a safe haven from the bustle of the city. I hope, for all of us, that 2022 provides the backdrop to be able to carry out the most basic of human freedoms within a sensible framework.

UNDER 30s

Late October saw the Under 30s hold their Autumn Dinner at the Club which was well attended and enjoyed by all. A further event in November attracted even greater numbers, ending in a trip to the hot spots of London afterwards! The Under 30s went on to conduct their AGM the following day, which voted in Alice Hind and Emily Pile as Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively. There was also debate and agreement regarding the trial for six months of the amalgamation of the Under 30s/Under 35s sections.

Club Matters

The last quarter was busy for the Club with very important meetings of the F&GP Committee in mid-October to consider budget proposals, which were passed to the General Committee for ratification in November. Whilst acknowledging the likely uncertainty in 2022 the General Committee was content with the partially cautious approach and accepted the budget.

The General Committee also bade farewell to Andrew Brown who completed his time on Committee and also to Honorary Treasurer Richard Maunder after five years in the role. We thank both for their service to the Club over many years and wish them well for the future.

The Trustees and directors of The Farmers Club Lease Company conducted a financial review with our investment managers and conducted an entity risk review to ensure the spread of investments and returns being achieved were still relevant, and matching the expectations of the Trustees. Gratifyingly, they were, on all counts, and the portfolio continues to do well across a number of indices and share and trust holdings.

Finances improving Club Calendar

The financial position of the Club improved significantly during 2021 and I genuinely feel we have now stabilised and are firmly on the path to recovery, with the hope that we can kick on and get back to the position we were in during November 2019, before the spectre of Covid became apparent.

Last year was in many ways an unbelievable year at the Club – closed for much of the first half and then a challenge to stabilise and provide a platform for regrowth and rebuilding our financial position. I’m glad to report that this was largely achieved. But the current state of balance is precarious, and the messaging and action plans of those in authority reacting to the Covid situation have, and continue to be, very influential on the wider economy, including ourselves.

The only continuing blot on the horizon is the seemingly disjointed and at times incoherent actions and messaging of our politicians and the reactive nature of decision-making around every new and emerging element of the Covid pandemic.

Members visited The Beauty of the Ballet and Champions Tennis, both at the Royal Albert Hall, during November, with excellent food at the Club beforehand. December got off to a cracking start with the Van Gogh – immersive experience exhibition. We also visited the Kew Gardens light show and Kings College Cambridge Choir carol concert. Although numbers for those events were hit by the omicron announcements good evenings were had by all who attended.

Diary Dates

See Club website for information about Club events

I hope that as time passes, more considered, analytical responses are directed towards necessary actions and especially as vaccines and boosters do their thing for the population.

The continual stop/start nature of opening up, scaling back, shutting down, re-opening is hugely expensive in resource terms, is having increasingly significant effects on the wellbeing of employees and managers, and has huge consequences for the economy.

One feels that the financial well-being of the Club, as with many other businesses, is increasingly tied to whatever political statements and decisions are made and the seemingly shrill nature of large sections of the media towards it, in influencing people’s attitudes to this situation, be that panic-inducing or indifference. The omicron developments took a toll on our Club, and the sector, almost overnight. The Queen’s Green Canopy is a unique tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Get involved at www.queensgreencanopy.org

Winter Events

General committee hosts team buffet

The General Committee held a Christmas buffet to thank the staff team for their efforts during the year and to catch up personally with the various team members across the departments, which was greatly appreciated by all. Chairman Keith Redpath took the opportunity to present the previous year’s Chairman, Allan Stevenson, with a picture of the entrance of the Club and a bound copy of all the Journals during his year, which had proven to be most difficult and trying given the circumstances of 2020.

Refurbishments

As members started returning to the Club after the Christmas/ New Year break all the planned redecoration work had been completed by our maintenance team, and help from the chefs, and a similar process for the eighth floor rooms is now complete. Preparatory work will also have started for the integration and replacement of the old analogue telephone system, which we hope to have operational in early February. The new system will be digital with new phones installed in the offices and rooms.