What's in this week's newsletter

• Message from the secretary
• AGM
• Polo
• Rowing
• Shooting
• Golf
• Jazz
• Cricket at Lords
• Upcoming events
• East India Express
• Wine for home delivery

God Save the King! The club will be celebrating in advance of the coronation with a champagne reception and dinner, and will have screens showing the events of the day on Saturday 6 May

Message from the secretary

The latest edition of East & West is now available online. Please click here to view. For those choosing hard copy, it is on its way to you.

This year we are administering our AGM through Civica Election Services (CES), a company which facilitates voting for a number of organisations. It is expected that this will make it particularly easy for members to engage in formal decisions for the club. Please see below for more AGM details.

To ensure that the daily pleasures of club life are enjoyed by all members, from time to time I offer gentle reminders about the more sensitive social rules. Typically these relate to dress code, use of electronic devices, coats and bags. I regret that I need to add that inappropriate language and certain topics are unacceptable within our four walls. We are regarded as a very friendly club and loved by many for upholding social standards. As we are far more than just any old venue, please guard against the use of bad language or discussing inappropriate topics in earshot of others. If you are concerned, please take a moment to alert the manager on duty or myself. In addition, you are responsible for your guests at all times. You are required to sign your guests in, and not to leave the clubhouse before them.

In brighter news the Dining Room is re-opening for Saturday dinner from 13 May. We are not as yet fully staffed but have engineered the roster to allow us to staff for the cooking and service of a modest choice of menu. Interestingly/frustratingly, falling short of full staffing is not for the want of trying. In addition to the job tasters we have organised, we have appointed and had lost double the normal number of recruits in the last twelve months, none of whom have lasted the settling in period of three months. This comes at the cost of advertising, interviewing, rostering, induction and training including the incumbent administration.

The club is very much looking forward to celebrating the coronation of King Charles III. On Thursday 4 May, the club holds a black-tie dinner with a champagne reception, in the garden (weather permitting), followed by a three-course dinner and then music and dancing to the seven-piece band, Down for the Count. Please click here to be added to the waitlist for any last-minute availability. On Saturday 6 May, the club will show the events of the day on screens in the Clive Room, Smoking Room and East India Room. There will be a light menu including tapas and a hot dish of the day available. On the Sunday and Monday, being a bank holiday weekend, the club’s experience is of low numbers and so facilities are curtailed to bed and breakfast only.

Finally, I highlight that our reciprocal club in the square mile, the City of London Club, has overnight accommodation and although being a tube ride away with one change, if you are stuck they may well have availability whilst the City finds its feet again.

Annual general meeting

For this year’s AGM, papers were dispatched yesterday for those who are eligible to vote.

Within the pack are a ballot form, to elect members to the committee, and a proxy form for use if you cannot attend the AGM in person.

If you have opted to receive formal club papers electronically, you will have received an email from Civica Election Services (CES) with a link that takes you to the voting platform. The link will open a webpage with your pre-populated security codes from where you log in to follow the voting instructions and to view the management report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2022.

If you have elected to receive formal club papers in hard copy, they have been despatched by post. You also have the option to complete the ballot form and if necessary the proxy form online by either scanning the QR code or entering the webpage details in your browser and using your unique two-part security code supplied on your voting papers.

You may only vote once, so if you complete your forms electronically, do not submit the paper versions as these will not be counted.

If you are experiencing difficulties voting, please contact CES by emailing support-cesvotes@civica.co.uk.

Brushing down the ponies, brushing down the dinner jackets, the polo section is marking the start of the season with a celebratory dinner in May

Polo - getting grass-ready over dinner
Arsenio Solovyev

To mark the beginning of the British polo season, we are delighted to invite members to the polo section’s annual start of season dinner on Friday 12 May in the East India Room.

Whether passionate polo enthusiasts, beverage connoisseurs or simply East India Club aficionados, it would be our great pleasure to have you with us to celebrate the occasion over a three-course meal, including wine and port, for an exquisite evening. As we embark on a new year of grass polo, we are excited to give you a sneak peak of our plans for the season and to share some exciting news about upcoming fixtures, socials and spectating events as the club’s section goes from strength to strength.

Please join if you are a returning member or interested in getting involved with the section this year. The dress code will be black tie and members may bring up to two (prospective member) guests. Tickets are priced at £65 per person. To book tickets please click here

The East India polo team, and that pitch-perfect, green grass

As the grass season finally returns, the section will be holding an 'intro to polo' session at our base at Conroy's at 1pm on Sunday 14 May. This is perfect for any of you who want to try polo for the first time, with the option of joining us in our usual weekend training slots that will be held throughout the summer. Members may bring a guest to the session and the polo will also be followed by an optional trip to a nearby pub for some lunch and drinks, providing a great opportunity to meet some of the regulars and find out more about the playing side of the section.

For more information on the session and to sign up, please follow the link here.

World-champion and Olympic gold medal-winning rower Mark Hunter will speak at the section's 15th anniversary dinner

Rowing - gold-medallist to speak at anniversary dinner

Benjamin Sherry

We are delighted to announce that Mark Hunter MBE will be our guest speaker at the 15th anniversary dinner on Saturday 13 May. Mark Hunter won a gold in 2008 and silver in 2012 in the lightweight men's double sculls with Zac Purchase at the Olympics. He's also a two-time world champion in the same category.

There are still a few places left for this dinner, and if you would like to attend please fill in this form: Rowng Anniversary Dinner or send me an email (eicrowingcaptain@gmail.com) with your number of guests, dietary requirements etc.

The price is £80 and includes a champagne reception, canapés, a three-course-meal, wine, port, coffee, guest speaker, and AllMarkOne as the photographers. The reception will start at 6pm and dinner from 7pm. There will also be a cash bar before and after. Dress is black tie with rowing blazers. Guests are very much welcome and there will be a raffle at the dinner, so any donated prizes would be appreciated.

If you would like to join the section please email the office here to be put in touch with the organisers .

Shooting - Quidenham and Stratfield Saye days

Will Oakes

The shooting section is pleased to announce two upcoming events for this season. The first, on Saturday 26 August, is a simulated game shoot on the Quidenham Estate, south Norfolk. The estate offers first-class simulated game shooting and an award-winning hospitality experience in beautiful countryside surroundings. Covering 3,600 acres, Quidenham Estate has been renowned as a perfect shooting location for centuries and was frequently visited by King Edward VII who rated Quidenham as one of his favourites. You can be expected to fire between 200-400 shots throughout the day, so please use no more than 28gram 7.5 cartridges. This is open to novice and experienced shots, and shooting and non-shooting guests are welcome. Insurance is essential and cartridges are available on site. Cost of the day is £336 per gun and non-shooting guests can attend, £60 pp.

The second day is Wednesday 1 November, and will be a game shoot at the renowned Stratfield Saye Estate, Hampshire. Gifted to the first Duke of Wellington by a grateful populous in 1817, the estate has significant ties with the club. The day includes full hospitality including tea/coffee and bacon roll on arrival, elevenses and lunch. You will be shooting a mixture of pheasant and partridge and the estate asks for fibre-wadded cartridges only. The Wellington Arms is five minutes' drive away and can be booked for an overnight stay if you so wish. This will be a 200-bird-day for nine guns; cost per gun is £1,586.67.

If you would like to book on to either of these days please contact Claire in the office via email.

EPICS enjoying a reviving lunch at Denham GC having spent the morning being strafed by strong winds and soaked by the rain out on the course

Golf - battling the elements at Denham GC
Alan Botterill

We enjoyed a fine close season dining with our golf friends at Royal Blackheath, the Bar Golf Society, the Caledonian Club and the Reform Club, culminating in our annual dinner at the club on Wednesday 29 March. Despite uncertainty over trains and travel, we had a good turn-out for an excellent evening with our own golfing barrister, Alastair Hodge, entertaining us royally with a very amusing speech.

We opened the golf season with our spring meeting at Denham GC on Tuesday 28 March. Some serious traffic delays on the M25 left us with a restricted group who battled through a morning of heavy wind and rain.

Nik Haukohl won the morning stableford competition with 34 points, a commendable score in the conditions; Sachin Gupta came second with 31 points. Alan Hamilton won the longest drive with Alan Botterill winning nearest the pin.

Restored by an excellent lunch, a small band played a nine-hole greensome competition in the afternoon and were rewarded with dry weather. Nik Haukohl continued his fine form to win the prize tankards, ably supported by his guest Nick Hirsch.

Our busy season of matches starts at the end of April against the Farmers Club at New Zealand. It is encouraging to see a growing number of young members, co-ordinated by Jack Haydon, getting involved and we are looking to add some weekend opportunities for those who cannot easily make mid-week events.

If you would like to join the section please email the office here to be put in touch with the section leads.

Luis Morais returns to the clubhouse with the London Bossa Quartet

Jazz - to bossa nova and beyond
Howard Lambert

The London Bossa Quartet are delighted to bring their repertoire of Brazilian bossa nova and beyond to the East India Club, on Friday 16 June starting at 7pm. Led by acclaimed Brazilian seven-string guitarist Luiz Morais and specialising in bossa nova and samba jazz, the London Bossa Quartet is comprised of the very best Brazilian musicians in the UK (Luiz Morais on seven-string guitar, Sam Watts on piano, Mateus Nova on bass and Marius Rodrigues on drums). When it comes to Brazilian music, they truly are the ‘real deal’ and delight audiences with their freshness, sophistication and virtuoso musicality. They have had many sold-out concerts in top London venues and beyond.

Tickets are priced at £70pp to include pre-concert supper, dessert and wine. Dress code is lounge suits and members can book tickets here.

Here is a straight-ahead jazz track for you to enjoy as we step into spring, Wynton Kelly Trio and Wes Montgomery performing Unit 7.

If you would like to join the section, please email the office here to be put in touch with the organisers .

The sound of leather on willow at Lords... if you'd like to be in the running for the club's debenture seats, the ballot is now open 

Cricket ballot - it's a six!

The ballot for tickets for the club's debenture seats at Lords is now open. Members can enter for the following England test series and one day matches by clicking the dates below. The club's debenture seats are located in the upper mound stand, and we would like to make members aware that there are only six seats available for each day.

England v Ireland Test: Thursday 1 June - Saturday 3 June
Day 1 - Thursday 1 June
Day 2 - Friday 2 June
Day 3 - Saturday 3 June

England v Australia test: Wednesday 28 June - Saturday 1 July
Day 1 - Wednesday 28 June
Day 2 - Thursday 29 June
Day 3 - Friday 30 June
Day 4 - Saturday 1 July

England v New Zealand - one day international
Friday 15 September

Upcoming events

Even though an event may be fully booked, please add your name to the waitlist or contact the office directly as spaces do become available.

Further events are listed in the club diary on the website; please check here for what's coming up.

The Jazz Scurriers, Simon Spillett and Pete Long, will perform a tribute at no 16 to the late-great Scott and Hayes' Jazz Couriers

Jazz at no 16 - The Jazz Scurriers
Clubhouse, to book please click on the date below
Friday 28 April - 7pm to 10.30pm
Members and up to five guests; tickets are priced at £70
Lounge suit

Waitlist only available for the club's coronation dinner

Coronation dinner
Clubhouse, this is now fully booked, to be added to the waitlist please click the date below
Thursday 4 May - 7pm for 7.30pm
Members and up to three guests; tickets are priced at £90.
Black-tie.
In honour of the upcoming coronation of King Charles III, the club will be holding a black-tie dinner.

The biographer of many former prime ministers now scrutinises Boris Johnson

Library lecture & dinner with Sir Anthony Seldon
Clubhouse, to book please click on the date below
Thursday 11 May - 6.45pm for 7pm
Members and up to three guests; tickets are priced at £80 and include a signed copy of Johnson at 10. Lounge suits.
Sir Anthony will be discussing his latest book about Boris Johnson's time at 10 Downing Street

Coloratura soprano Miriam Blackburn is to sing at the club in May

Arts section - spring opera gala 'power and passion'
Clubhouse, to book please click on the date below
Friday 12 May - 7pm to 10.30pm
Members and up to three guests; tickets are priced at £70 and include pre-concert supper, dessert and wine. Lounge suits.
With baritone Patrick Keefe (graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and Merton College, Oxford) and coloratura soprano Miriam Blackburn (graduate of Royal Northern College of Music) singing duets and solos exploring the theme 'power and passion' in opera. Works from Verdi, Puccini and Mozart. Tickets £70pp to include pre-concert supper, dessert and wine

Young members drinks

Young members drinks
Clubhouse, this is now fully booked to be added to the waitlist please click the date below
Monday 22 May - 7pm to 8pm
Clubhouse, members only
Lounge suits

The company's crest

History & military history - company dinner
Clubhouse, to book please click on the date below
Thursday 25 May - 6.30pm - 10.30pm
Members only event; tickets are priced at £87
Black tie
The company dinner was founded for club members to come together over a shared interest in the history of the East India Company, against the backdrop of an Indian-themed dinner. It now has a wider social and historical focus, but the Indian dinner remains. The guest speaker will be British journalist and author, Con Coughlin, currently the Daily Telegraph defence editor.

Horse racing dinner
Clubhouse, to book please click on the date below
Tuesday 13 June - 7pm to 10.30pm
Members and up to three guests; tickets are priced at £85
Lounge suits
Jamie Osborne will be in conversation with Oisin Murphy. Oisin is a leading flat jockey, and at only 27 is already a three-times winner of the champion jockey title. (Please note that Oisin Murphy's attendance is subject to riding commitments. In the unlikely event that he is not able to make it to the club in time, a suitable replacement will attend.)

Acclaimed guitarist Luis Morais returns to the club in his quartet setting

Jazz at no 16 - The London Bossa Quartet
Clubhouse, to book please click on the date below
Friday 16 June - 7pm to 10.30pm
Members and up to five guests; tickets are priced at £70
Lounge suit

Professor Nigel Biggar is to give a Library lecture about his book on colonialism

Library lecture & dinner with Nigel Biggar
Clubhouse, to book please click on the date below
Tuesday 27 June - 6.45pm for 7pm
Members and up to three guests; tickets are priced at £80 and include a signed copy of Colonialism.
Lounge suits
Nigel Biggar, Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford, discusses his book Colonialism: A moral reckoning. He will address crucial questions including: 'was the British Empire driven primarily by greed and the lust to dominate?' and 'should we speak of colonialism and slavery in the same breath, as if they were identical?'

History & military history - Royal Hospital Chelsea & the National Army Museum tour
Clubhouse, Royal Hospital Chelsea and the National Army Museum, to book please click on the date below
Friday 21 July - 12.30pm - 5.30pm
Members and up to one guest; tickets are priced at £60 for lunch at the clubhouse ahead of the tours, or £15 for tours only; please note there will be an additional cost for transport from the clubhouse to the Royal Hospital Chelsea
Lounge suit with school tie
A guided tour of the historic Royal Hospital Chelsea, led by a resident Chelsea pensioner, to see Sir Christopher Wren’s stunning buildings, hear the captivating stories of inhabitants – both past and present – and learn about what life is like for today’s veterans at the Royal Hospital. Following this we will then head next door to the National Army Museum where we will be greeted, told about the museum, and then able to wander the galleries and collections until closing at 5.30pm.

Roasted aubergine is the main ingredient of our latest curry—Baingan Bhartha

East India Express - vegan dish on the menu

Dairy-free, gluten-free and full of flavour. Baingan Bhartha is a traditional Indian dish that combines roasted aubergine blended with sautéed onions, garlic, and ginger, tomatoes and spices. The result is a rich, indulgent curry that is both comforting and delicious. This dish may be enjoyed as a main course or side dish - why not add it to your next order?

You could include a bottle of your favourite club wine or champagne, or even some club chocolates to end the meal in style. When ordering, you can now select the date you would like to receive your Express menu, so be it a weekend treat, a special occasion or just because you don't want to cook, orders can be placed via shopify here or by scanning the QR code below. If you encounter any difficulties or would like to order for a large party please contact clubsales@orientalclub.org.uk.

All the menus on the East India Express are designed for two people (or two meals for one person). The menus are all carefully prepared by the chefs at the Oriental Club, and each is made to order before being flash-frozen. The orders are then packaged in special temperature-controlled boxes, which means they are guaranteed to arrive at a safe temperature, below 4ºC, ready for refrigeration. The meals can be reheated either on the stove or in the microwave and cooking instructions, use-by dates and all ingredients are detailed on the packaging. For those yet to try the service, we deliver to the UK mainland and the Isle of Wight.

Stock up the wine cellar

Members can order club wines, gins and ports for home delivery from the club's nominated wine supplier, Davy's. Members may also like to try the guest wines Davy's has selected, which complement our own club wines. To see the full collection please click here.

Sports & activities at the club

Along with opportunities to attend Twickenham and Lords using our debentures, and our box at Ascot, the club offers a variety of sporting and interest groups for members. Click links to be taken to their web pages to find out about upcoming events and to be added to their mailing lists.

antiques & collectors, arts, backgammon, book group, chess, cigars, cricket, fly-fishing, football, EPICS (golf), hill-walking & mountaineering, history & military history, horse racing, jazz at no 16, motoring, polo, rowing, rugby, shooting, snooker, yachting, wine-tasting & tours

If you are interested in setting up a section, please contact the secretary's office to discuss the matter further.