DF Central Christmas Lunch - an enjoyable occasion

The DF Central Christmas lunch was held at the George and Vulture, a restaurant in the city of London, off Lombard Street. There has been a pub on the site since 1142. Charles Dickens frequently drank there himself. It is mentioned in The Pickwick Papers. 

Mr. Pickwick and Sam took up their present abode in very good, old-fashioned, and comfortable quarters, to wit, the George and Vulture Tavern and Hotel, George Yard, Lombard Street. Mr. Pickwick had dined, finished his second pint of particular port, pulled his silk handkerchief over his head, put his feet on the fender, and thrown himself back in an easy-chair, when the entrance of Mr. Weller with his carpet-bag, aroused him from his tranquil meditation.
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…..Mr. Bob Sawyer, thrusting his forefinger between two of Mr. Pickwick’s ribs, and thereby displaying his native drollery, and his knowledge of the anatomy of the human frame, at one and the same time, inquired — ‘I say, old boy, where do you hang out?’ Mr. Pickwick replied that he was at present suspended at the George and Vulture.

Thirty Fellowship members braved the storm, rain and cold to attend the event. Some intrepid souls even came from distant Sussex, Nottinghamshire and Scotland. As they gradually thawed out with a drink by the blazing log fire, they were presented with a raffle ticket and a quiz (based on A Christmas Carol). The convivial lunch was followed by the prize draw and the answers to the quiz questions were revealed. Then came the readings from Dickens. Penny Jackson gave us a passage from A Christmas Carol (where Scrooge sees Marley’s face on the doorknob). Scott McCarthy followed with another reading from the same novel, recounting how the reformed Scrooge spent Christmas with his family and astonished Bob Cratchit the next morning. A reading from The Chimes (Trotty Veck’s awakening from his nightmare) by Simon Brett concluded a most enjoyable afternoon.