 The speaker was Rob Caskie of the Fugitives Drift Lodge. He took over the speaking role last year from the world-famous David Rattray, who was sadly murdered by Zulus earlier this year. To give you an idea of his eminence, Prince Charles and Nelson Mandela were among many world leaders at his funeral.
Rob was first commissioned to speak to Spooners by Roy Campbell, of the Hertfordshire region of Spoon, last year, and we picked the contact up from there. However, it turned out that Rob Caskie’s brother ran a safari back-packing operation with Barrie Mair's ( of the Chilterns region) South African son-in-law a few years back – so there weree family connections as well.
 With wonderful sponsorship from Trevor Mayor (a Spoon member) we received free promotional wines from Rickety Bridge winery in Franschoek – selected as being in the top 5 by a recent international food and wine panel of experts – and catering in South African brai-style, we had packed houses at both venues. We heard enthralling tales of gallantry and foolhardy leadership, which eventually produced the most VC’s for any battle – most of them posthumous.
Between the 2 venues Chilterns Spoon raised approximately £4000, and many new friends. Jeff Choules of A&C presented them with a cheque for £1K for a jazz evening that he had run 2 weeks before, and their Committee pledged themselves to raising £5k per year for Spoon in future.
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