Caff de Dorchester

The Busy Bee, the Ace, Johnson’s… 59 Club members certainly get around the local coffee bars. On Tuesday night last week they added yet another to their list. It’s in London’s swanky Park Lane – any avid Monopoly player knows that well enough. They call the place the Dorchester.

From sausage, egg and chips at the Ace to La Timbale de Sole, Dorchester. An improbable switch? Not very, really – and quite definitely not if Father Bill Shergold has a finger in the Pample mousse Frappe.

He led 10 lads and lasses of the 50 Club down Park Lane on their bikes. They pulled up at the main entrance and parked. Soon they were mingling with the guests at the Old Etonian charity Fleur de Lys ball.

Why? Well to shorten a long story, Eton College supports Father Shergold’s Mission at Hackney Wick. Why not invite some of the riders who go to the Mission? The lucky ones were picked by ballot – that was why they were at the Dorchester.

They were ‘in’ immediately. Leather jackets and best jeans mixed freely with dinner jackets and elegant gowns. The whole evening was a lesson in the art of mixing.

Everyone concerned with the ball was convinced of one thing; it was a raging success, especially when the Sunsets – a group that has come a long way since its early 59 Club days – had Etonians, debs and motorcyclists twisting to the latest hits.