Who says Chelsea Arts Club is full of poor struggling artists? A recent whipround among 3,000 club members raised more than £15,000 for leaving presents for Evelyn, the deputy secretary, and Sebastian, the handyman. And only one in 10 contributed.
“I have finished writing to the 300 of you who have so generously contributed more than £15,000 to Evelyn and Sebastian’s leaving presents,” writes Dudley Winterbottom, who is retiring himself on October 1 after 40 years as club secretary. This will remind members that they will shortly be asked to contribute to Winterbottom’s leaving present. How will they follow that, if the coffers are not already empty?
“We are lighting the fires to face the winter,” says Winterbottom, whose successor Geoffrey Matthews starts shadowing him this week. “So I will have to pretend to work.”
Matthews and club chairman Rick Stroud are holding a surgery in the Billiards Room if any members want to snooker them.
