President Presents...
Robert welcomed all and thanked everyone again who had been helping out in the community, whether it was selling trees, helping at dog park or selling raffle tickets.
On this day in history...
December 14
Today is National Monkey day.
1799 George Washington died at his Mt. Vernon home after five decades of service to his country.
1861 Prince Albert was consort to Queen Victoria from age 21 to his death. Albert died this day at the relatively young age of 42. Victoria was so devastated at the loss of her husband that she entered into a deep state of mourning and wore black for the rest of her life.
1896 Glasgow underground subway was opened officially entering the history books as the world’s third municipal underground railway system after the Budapest Metro and London Underground. .Unfortunately on opening day it had two separate incidents happen with a total of 19 people being seriously injured. The main complaint that the number of cars available on day one had been “hopelessly inadequate” was countered by the subway directors, stating that the extreme “rush of traffic” had exceeded all expectations. Over 9 million passengers travelled on the Glasgow Subway in its first full year of operation.
1903 Three months after arriving at Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers were finally ready to give their creation a try. They tossed a coin to see which brother would make the first attempt. Wilbur won and climbed into the pilot’s position. Forty feet down the rail, the Flyer lurched up, stalled, and smashed into the sand, slightly damaging the forward elevator. Only airborne for 3 1/2 seconds but Wilbur was confident that there was now no question of final success. Humans would fly!
1918 On this day British women walked shoulder to shoulder with their husbands, brothers, sons and lovers to vote for the first time in a general election. Unfortunately the celebration of this momentous occasion was overshadowed by the end of WW1 with the loss of so many young men.
1972 During the Apollo 17 mission, Eugene Cernan became the eleventh man to walk on the Moon. As he re-entered the Apollo Lunar Module after Harrison Schmitt on their third and final lunar excursion, he is the last man to walk on the Moon as of 2021. (As President Robert pointed out, we always know who was the first person to walk on the Moon... but not the last!)
Our first meeting in 2022 will be January 18th. Robert and Pauline will be hosting us for a BBQ at their place. Remember to bring drinks, picnic set etc
A reminder that the Matamata Club requires all patrons to be fully vaccinated and must show a Vaccine Pass to be allowed on the premises.
Members update:
A big shout out to Peter and Ineke Thissen on their 50 years of marriage, congratulations to you both.
Service Projects Christmas dinner... photo by Peter V
