The Hinges of Friendship Never Rust.

Sixty-five years of Stafford 41 Club. Old friends, new faces, good food, terrible jokes and friendships that refuse to grow old. And somehow, they've now let me become Chairman.

I'm John Nickolls — NIX to plenty of people — and I have a confession. When I was involved in Stafford Round Table 176, I didn't spend much time thinking about what came afterwards. We were too busy getting stuck into things, enjoying ourselves, raising money and making the sort of memories that tend to improve every time they're retold over a pint.

But that's the extraordinary thing about Round Table. The friendships don't necessarily finish when the Table years do. They just find another home.

It all started in 1961

Stafford 41 Club was chartered on 15 March 1961. That makes it 65 years old in 2026, and the years have given it something no organisation can manufacture overnight: history, characters, stories and lasting friendships.

It's the natural continuation of Stafford Round Table 176, the club where I was once Chairman and President. Table itself sadly closed in 2023. But the fellowship didn't disappear with it. Stafford 41 Club remains, and to me that's an important part of its purpose.

The name might sound a little mysterious from the outside. The explanation is simple: 41 Club is where the friendships forged in Round Table can carry on. And these days there's room for new people aged 41 and over who share that spirit, whether or not they've ever been in Table.

More than a meal and a meeting

Yes, we like our dinners. Yes, a decent pub helps. And yes, there are probably occasions when someone tells a joke that should have been pensioned off sometime around 1987. But 41 Club has always been more than a diary full of meetings.

Look through our old reports and you'll find Lake District walking weekends, the Tony Taylor Trophy, cricket challenges, clay pigeon shooting, barbecues and plenty of fellowship. There's an enduring willingness to turn up, join in and make the evening worth leaving the house for.

The old Tony Taylor Trophy report is a particular favourite: a battle against our younger Round Table counterparts, followed by the presentation of slippers, Horlicks and other supposed essentials for the mature gentleman. Happily, a bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape helped restore some dignity.

When friendship makes a difference

In November 2025, the club held a charity-giving evening at the Moat House in Acton Trussell. Local organisations came along to explain what support meant to them, including Oak Tree Farm Project, Katharine House Hospice, A Child of Mine and House of Bread.

National President Jason Thomson also joined us, and the club donated £500 to ANDYSMANCLUB. This is the side of fellowship I never want us to lose: friendship among ourselves, yes, but also a willingness to do some good beyond the dining table.

When Stafford Round Table closed, charitable funds remained to be allocated. Seeing those funds support worthwhile causes is a powerful reminder that the original Table spirit still matters.

Remembering our characters

A club that has been going since 1961 is built as much by the people who quietly do the work as by the men who wear the Chairman's chain.

David Orme — affectionately known as “The Great Orme” — was one of those men. He gave decades to Round Table and 41 Club and served as Secretary and Treasurer for 25 years. The club lost David in December 2024, and his contribution deserves remembering.

Stories of David appearing dressed as Superwoman or emerging from a cake are exactly the sort of gloriously ridiculous memories that make a club feel like a family. Organisations can keep minutes. Only friendships keep stories like those alive.

My turn with the Chairman's chain

In April 2026, I became Chairman of Stafford 41 Club. After my years in Stafford Round Table 176, it feels both familiar and rather special to be back in the chair — albeit with a few more miles on the clock.

I don't think a successful club needs to become complicated. I want people to enjoy turning up. I want us to welcome new members, keep the longstanding friendships alive, choose interesting things to do and remember that humour is as important as the formal agenda.

And I'm certainly not planning to turn every meeting into a three-hour committee hearing. I've driven enough heavy lorries to know when something has gone round the block too many times.

A curry, a pint and a good laugh

Our October curry gathering at Nirvana in Stafford, with the option of a pre-meal meet-up at The Sun, was exactly the sort of straightforward social evening I enjoy. Nothing over-engineered: good company, a proper curry and an opportunity to catch up.

It's the nights like these that matter, because most of the best conversations happen away from an agenda. Someone brings up a memory from Table days, someone else tells it completely differently, and before long you're laughing about something that happened twenty or thirty years ago as though it were yesterday.

Film room and video archive

I want this story to become a living archive rather than a single article. The video links below are searches to help locate genuine footage, not verified recordings of Stafford 41 Club.

What happens next?

I want our club to have a future worthy of its past. We don't need to pretend we're still 25. We simply need to retain the enthusiasm that made Round Table so much fun in the first place.

That means keeping in touch, getting out together, making people feel welcome and putting a little effort into the things that matter. It also means recording more of our story — the faces, the stories, the photos and perhaps some proper video — before those memories fade.

“May the hinges of friendship never rust.”

That's the national 41 Club motto. And the older I get, the more sense it makes. Here's to Stafford 41 Club, its past, its present and the people who will carry it forward.

John Nickolls // NIX
Chairman, Stafford 41 Club · 2026

Historical references: Stafford 41 Club official website and reports; 41 Club national history. Photo archive tiles open original reports. Video links are searches and are not represented as verified club footage.