6th Dec 2020
It would perhaps be all too easy to write off 2020 as a year best forgotten and, in some ways, that may well be true. Certainly there have been no prize bingo tea evenings since February, the Best Dressed Shop Window Competition was cancelled and the 164th Famous Alva Games were postponed until 10th July 2021. Sadly, we lost some Games-related friends including the 1956 Powderhall Sprint Winner, Jimmy Bryce and, locally, former Community Council Treasurer, Doreen Harvey who, along with her good friend Margaret Malcolm had been instrumental in the organisation and judging of the Shop Window contest since its inception in 2006.
All was not lost though, as the Annual Quiz Night, now in its third year and hosted by our own Quiz Inquisitor, Games Chairman Jamie Sharp, did go ahead on the Zoom platform and was won by the Food Bank Gang, based at the Cochrane Hall and whose knowledge of all things Eurovision was almost frightening!!
We held a short ceremony on the finishing line on the field on Games Day to mark what should have been the opening of the Games and were delighted that young piper Kyle Rees joined us to play a suitable musical accompaniment to the formal programme. We were encouraged by the positive comments from Lord-Lieutenant Johnny Stewart whose words of hope were matched by the efforts of some local hill runners who took a banner to the top of Torry to promote the 2021 renewal.
The announcement of the approval of a vaccine gives the whole country, if not the wider world, hope that a degree of normality will return although going back to where we were in 2019 may yet be some way off. We will start the planning in the Spring for the 2021 Games and hope that, by then, we may have seen the return of the prize bingo evenings. We have to await further Government pronouncements and are continuing to monitor developments on a daily basis. As soon as we are able to do so safely, these hugely popular nights will be back.
In the meantime, the Chairman and entire Committee wish to extend to all of our supporters at home and abroad the very best for a very enjoyable Christmas and a very Happy and Healthy New Year.