Our President Denise Houghton welcomed forty-eight members and three guests to the Garden Rooms at Tennants for our meeting on February 20th. Members were asked to consider joining the Committee for the new season and Carron Kennedy introduced future online payments.
Following lunch, Angela Metcalfe spoke about the history and making of gin which originated in the 1600s. Masons Gin was founded 2013 in Aiskew with two stills, Steve and Lefty. The main still Steve exploded in May 2019 but following local support, temporary offices were set up to keep the business going. New premises were leased just outside Bedale with a distillery, laboratory, events space, bar, offices and dispatch area. Masons also invested in new stills, Tony and Anthea, although Lefty is still used as a backup. Another crisis was faced with the Covid-19 pandemic, but a skeleton crew continued through lockdown and hand sanitiser was produced which was donated free for non-commercial use as a way of giving back to the community. Masons currently export to USA, Europe, Australia and India but their main market is domestic. Denise Houghton gave the vote of thanks for Angela’s interesting presentation.
The next meeting is on March 20th when our speaker will be Kathryn Cuthbertson MVO, Pastry chef to Queen Elizabeth II. Kathryn has worked within some of the world’s finest hotels and Michelin star restaurants. She now has her own business in the Yorkshire Dales, and creates handcrafted luxurious chocolates, bespoke occasion cakes using world class craftsmanship and high-quality sustainably sourced ingredients.
New members and guests are always very welcome, more information can be found on our website www.leyburnlunchclub.co.uk.
