Placemats
The placemat has been an important part of every meeting since the 90s. The Napier organising committee designed the first one and these were used at the dinner on the Saturday night. All in attendance signed one of them and this in turn was put into a frame and auctioned. From then on, a placemat was designed for each meeting and the auction of the signed, framed mat became a much awaited part of the Saturday night proceedings.
Bidding was fierce with quite large sums paid for the privilege of owning one of these highly prized placemats.
A few years ago, it was decided, during the six monthly meeting, rather than auctioning the placemat, we should raffle it. It was thought that this would allow everyone attending the Saturday night dinner, a chance to win one rather than leaving it to the few who usually bid for it.