Chelsea Arts Club’s search for a secretary nears its end

It has taken longer than choosing a new Pope and almost as long as finding a new US ambassador to the UK — but the search for a new secretary of the Chelsea Arts Club is almost at an end.

Dudley Winterbottom, the outgoing secretary, who watched over the club for time immemorial, announced that he would be stepping down in January. More than 50 applicants raced to apply for the post and professional headhunters had to be called in to whittle down the list.

Now Rick Stroud, the club’s chairman, has revealed that there is “light at the end of the tunnel”. He has promised members that a new secretary will be anointed by mid-July and “white smoke should curl into the sky” above 143 Old Church Street.

While waiting, the club has had a visit from some unusual guests — a pair of camels were part of a wedding held at the club last weekend. Sadly, Stroud explained, they “obviously could not come into the club itself because they were not members”.