85th Anniversary AGM and Annual Dinner

Greenwich Yacht Club, London, England

Saturday, September 30th 2023

The Occasion. 

The First Class CW Operators' Club is celebrating its 85th Anniversary in 2023, and to mark the occasion requests the company of all Members and their guests for the AGM, Annual Dinner and other social events in and around London.

When: Saturday, September 30th 2023.

Where: Greenwich Yacht Club, 1 Peartree Way, London, SE10 0BW.

Venue.

For our 85th year, we are making a triumphant return to London and the much enjoyed Greenwich Yacht Club after an absence of more than 10 years. Check out our old FOCUS editions to see what happened here in the past. A good place to start looking would be our FOCUS #85 from 2010! 

The Greenwich Yacht Club is located next to the O2 Arena and the incredible Thames barrier. It’s on the wide stretch of the river at the Greenwich Peninsula with breathtaking views. You might want to read about the whole Greenwich Peninsular Area Here

Additionally, central London is very close just 10 minutes by London Underground with a tube station (North Greenwich) very near our venue.

Attractions such as Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast HMS Belfast are just down the river. 

There are two stunning event spaces on the Greenwich Yacht Club campus. The River Rooms and the Club House both of which we’ll be using for our event. You can discover more about The Greenwich Yacht Club and their facilities by visiting their website: Here

Suggested Program.

Friday 29th September:

Arrive in London and check-in at your hotel of choice. An informal FOC dinner will be arranged in a local restaurant for the evening TBD.

Saturday 30th September:

Daytime:

All daytime activities will be in the  River Rooms and these will be available to us from about 11,00 am.

There is a lounge bar providing an ideal place for chatting and catching up with friends.

Our Club Station will be set up as GB85FOC and available to operate throughout the day.

More structured activities will start in the afternoon so you may want to take lunch beforehand. In previous years members have visited a nice traditional Pub called “The Pilot” which is a very short walk from the venue. https://www.pilotgreenwich.co.uk

Back in the River Rooms presentations and speakers are planned from 2,00 pm. 

The AGM will be held at 4.00 pm. It is anticipated it will be complete by 5.30 pm.

**There will be  “Zoom live stream” of the AGM so all members can join**

Please register you interest for Zoom participation HERE

A drinks reception will be held after the AGM until about 6,30 pm and weather permitting should extend to an outside deck.

Evening:

For the evening, we'll reconvene at the spectacular Club House for our 3 course dinner at 7,45pm for 8,00pm.

After dinner, we'll conduct our award presentations.  A bar service will be available until approximately midnight.

Dinner Menu.

A choice of starter, main and dessert is offered in the booking system, with options to suit all tastes. A vegetarian option is available for each course. You can preview the whole menu Here

Tea and coffee will be served after dinner.

You can select your choice when you register for the event on this website, however, if you have any special dietary requirements then please contact secretary@g4foc.org after registering.

Booking and Price.

The cost of the event is £60.00 per head. This includes our 3 course dinner but also access to the event spaces and a complementary drink during our post AGM reception.

The dress code for the dinner is smart casual. There are no formal requirements for this event.

The easiest way to register and pay and select your menu choices for the dinner is to click the button below. Don't worry, it's really quick and easy!

 

 CLICK HERE TO REGISTER AND PAY ON THIS WEB SITE

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER YOUR INTEREST IN ATTENDING VIA ZOOM

We hope to see you in London. Let’s make our 85th year an event to remember !

Transport and Hotels

First of all, here is a Google Map focused in on the Greenwich Peninsular and the Greenwich Yacht Club. You can zoom around to explore as well as setting up specific directions.

General

The Greenwich Peninsular is a unique part of London for good public transport links that were essentially set up for the nearby O2 Area and the turn of the millennium celebrations back in 2000. You can quickly arrive by train, boat, car and even a  cable car that spans this wide stretch of the river through London.

London Underground.  

Like everywhere else in the London the Underground is by far the best and quickest way of getting around. This is especially true of of this location. 

We are fortunate to have a major Underground station within walking distance of all our activities. This is the station North Greenwich  and served by the Jubilee line which is one of the most modern and fastest lines through London. From North Greenwich you can be right in the centre of London within 10 to 15 minutes.

UK Mainline Train Stations.

Most importantly, the Underground system will take you to all UK mainline Train stations albeit with maybe a change of lines to the Jubilee line. These include Kings Cross , Waterloo and Paddington. 

Hotels

Given the multiple transport links to the area members may choose to stay almost anywhere in London.

The immediate Greenwich Peninsular area is not overrun with hotels but there are a couple of large hotels nearby to the Greenwich Yacht Club. 

A popular choice in previous years was the Holiday In North Greenwich which is only a short distance away. See this map.

FOC is not involved in the hotels and you need to book your own rooms at the best rate and be satisfied with any cancellation policy. We are not organising any kind of event in a hotel because we have the Greenwich Yacht Club all day.

Airports.

We hope our event will encourage attendance by our international members. London is very well served by airports so there is probably no better occasion to decide to make the trip.

The major airports into London include, Heathrow [LHR] , Gatwick [LGW] and Stansted [STN]. Generally speaking Heathrow and Gatwick handle the more long haul flights while Stansted tends to cater for Europe. However in recent years and the rise of budget airlines this distinction has become less clear. 

But suffice to say there is a very wide choice and you should shop around for the best deals on sites such as https://www.skyscanner.net/.

Don’t worry too much about which airport you are flying into as they are all served by their own express train service into Central London and of course the London Underground. They are all more or less equally viable. 

The corresponding express trains out of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted are the Heathrow Express, Gatwick Express and Stansted Express.