ARTSA 2018 FEEDBACK – FROM A UPINGTON 79 LOCAL

 

Firstly, thanks to all who travelled from far and wide to attend ARTSA 2018 in Upington, Northern Cape. A huge shout out from my side to Hilton Quack Quack Megaw for convening and absolute fantastic ARTSA with the help of his committee. For many a fresh tabler in clubs all around our country there is a saying that you have not tabled if you have not attended an ARTSA. For myself, this rung absolutely true when I attended my first ARTSA 4 years ago, since then, I have not missed one – and hopefully, I’ll be privileged enough to never miss any.

What I did not know, is how much planning and time goes into the organizing of such an event. To all previous ARTSA conveners and committee members, well done, a tip of the hat to each and every one of you. It is indeed a selfless job, and you will never receive enough thank you’s in return.

As a Upington 79 tabler I would like to thank all who attended ARTSA. It is truly an honour to be associated with Round Table, but even more so after our town was bombarded with tablers from around the world. We have received nothing but thanks, praise and well wishes from local business owners, guest houses, and as a whole, the liquor industry.

The feedback from the Protea Hotel as follows: “We have never had so many people in our conference venue at once, but we have never had such a friendly, well-mannered bunch of guests either. Everyone’s support was fantastic and we would welcome your organization back with open arms.”

Another local charity, with whom Upington 79 Round Table has a great relationship, the Vryburgers, ran the Hard Core Hut bar. For those who do not know, although we have a profit split agreement in place, with money going back to ARTSA’S budget, the profit made by the Vryburgers will be well spent on charitable causes in the local Upington community. So thank you for spending all those tokens and yet again making a difference. We met up with the Vryburgers after ARTSA and had a few cold ones, the feedback from their side is unbelievable. Firstly, they are ecstatic with the amount of profit they made, even with very, very reasonable prices on all drinks. Some might say that it was to reasonable! They ran out of Jaggermeister on Thursday night, Friday morning around 03:00. They tried sourcing from other bars in town but it seems that Tablers did sample Jagermeister at every watering hole in town. In the end, Jagermeister was obtained in Kimberley, and then travelled to Upington where it arrived in time for Friday night’s activities. They were most impressed with the friendliness of all tablers, the great manners, and the way to people with rondel’s meet for the first time at the bar, and fight over whose tokens will be used to buy the next round. The one and only complaint from their side is that they are sorry to everyone they had to say no to who wanted to buy them another shooter, and which they had to decline after the previous twenty customers had exactly the same idea.

The owner of the Irish pub came to see me personally, he has given his sincere thanks, and has said that he had the best weekend turnover wise that he has had in at least the last 5 years. He too, was impressed by the way all tablers carried themselves, even at four in the morning. And said he did not have one incident where anyone was out of line of out of order. On a side note, on Saturday morning, a certain Ex Area Chairman of the Northern Cape, who is now a 41er, who loves his potency, who shall remain anonymous, although you should by now know this Ex Area Chairman of the Northern Cape, who is now a 41er, who loves his Potency, who hails from Vryburg 72, is Hennie Hen10cy Stols – ordered what the owner of the Irish Pub has described as the “best breakfast he has ever witnessed”. Mr Stols and a few fellow Rocky movie lovers had the following order, 9 tumbler glasses, each with a double shot Potency & one raw egg thrown in. As they say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Hennie, next time you visit Upington, please remember that you have a complimentary breakfast waiting at the Irish pub.

Gentleman, Upington Round Table 79 has always had a great reputation in our local community. With the way you all handled yourself in our town as visitors and guests to ARTSA 2018 while wearing your Rondels with pride everywhere you went, we now have more than a great reputation. We now have a legacy.

Thank you for visiting our town, thank you for attending ARTSA 2018, and thank you for wearing your Rondels with pride. Thanks mostly though, for being Tablers.

 

Yours in Table

Willie Gresse

Upington 79 IRO/PRO

Round Table Northern Cape Area Chairman 2018/2019