To celebrate the landmark birthdays of both Otto and Super Mark, the pressure was on to come up with a very special night indeed. With Otto an avid rugby fan and Mark……knowing that a sport called rugby exists, we decided to create the fst Six Nations.

As you may already have guessed, the event involved full rugby kit fancy dress and several of Marlow’s finest hostelries. Our thirty odd players available for selection were separated into two teams, selected playground-style by the two birthday boy team captains. After a quick pre-match warm up at the fst bar, the teams were launched on an unsuspecting Marlow public. The standard of play was extremely high throughout and despite a quite scary competitive spirit, the game ended in an honorable draw.

We wish Otto and Mark many happy returns and we hope that the evening has provided some happy, if hazy, memories. Here’s to another 40 and 50 years respectively….oops! Forget that, it just slipped out. 

Playa de las Americas in Tenerife was the 2011 venue for the now infamous fst Christmas party. I can honestly say I don’t know where to begin with the story of the weekend. Wow. I guess we’ll just try the beginning…

It was an early start for everyone involved with the coach collecting us from the office at a fearsome 4:15am on Friday morning. We ensured our fluid levels were safely topped up during the four and a half hour flight, and landed in Tenerife greeted by bright sunshine and 27 degrees. Result. Within the hour the fst beach party was in full swing, moving into the famous “strip” of bars and clubs in the evening. Needless to say further details of the night are both sketchy and unnecessary. It is worth mentioning though that we blasted past the 24 hour mark with troubling ease.

Day two certainly had a later start, although some of the earlier birds did manage to enjoy the adrenaline rush offered by the local water park.

The second evening was every bit as fun-filled as the first, with team fst partying well into the night once more. Again details are mercifully thin on the ground, but I can honestly say I never thought I’d see Super Mark Howard dancing on a podium at 3 am, or Craig Watson partying on Patrick’s shoulders wearing oversize novelty glasses. It’s fair to say that all three of our esteemed leaders did a great job in leading the way, ensuring the final result was most undeniably fst 1, Tenerife 0.

With most people not getting home to bed on Sunday night until 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning, Monday back at HQ was a difficult day at best. That said, somewhat miraculously we all survived Christmas Do 2011, and we’re already looking forward to seeing what Mark has up his sleeve for 2012.

Friday 28^th October saw the return of Breast Cancer Campaign’s Wear It Pink Day.  Yes, another opportunity for Kelvyn to claim his pink “Gorgeous” dressing gown was bought specifically for this event.

To provide an early spike in the fundraising we headed down to the Premier Inn for a big pink breakfast, all clad in the finest shades of lavender and fuchsia.

Appetites satisfied and hotel guests bemused, we retired back to fst HQ, finally raising the worthy sum of £76.56 for this great charity.