How was it for you?

Observations from a Village Fête. 21st July 2013
by Carol Fenton (AKA J K Rowling)

The day of the fête dawned sunny and bright. (The pony books I used to read as a child always began like that)

The dogs gathered nervously in the grand Dog Show arena. Lola her usual eager, composed self, waiting for an errant fox to appear, Sophie enthusiastic and hot and Dylan checking that everyone was gathered together in a nice tidy group. Percy arrived, practising his tail wagging and George (henceforth to be known as Prince George of Lydlinch) scanned the crowd to see if there were any dodgy looking strangers to intercept.

First up was Percy in the Waggiest Tail competition and, as predicted by the bookies, won easily. 'Piece of cake' muttered Percy, 'just look them in the eye and smile – they love that'. That set the tone of the classes, as dog after dog from Lydlinch or Bagber was covered in glory, winning rosettes in Prettiest Bitch, (I want to travel and meet people) Most Handsome Dog, (you are photographing my best side?) Veteran, (you young whipper-snappers of today....) Fancy Dress (Tally Ho!) and Junior Handler (great, can pull them over so easily). What a start to the day!

Now to the Great British Bake Off. For the previous 2 weeks the smell of baking cakes had wafted through Lydlinch and Bagber. Sponges had risen and fallen, apples had been soggy or dry, chocolate had melted and slid off the cakes. But on the day they were superb and as our very own Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood munched their way manfully through the dozens of entries, it was agreed that there were cakes to match any that Britain's finest could bake. The judges finally rolled out of the village hall and tried to walk off the excess 13,000 calories consumed.

As the Lydlinch Lushes took on the Bagber Beauties at the ladies' Tug of War, behind them, wellies were being hurled down the hill to much encouragement. Skittles were falling in the alley and Bric was being Bracced. Ducklings were being hooked, raffle tickets bought and jam jars full of who knew what were sold.

Is it a sign of the times that the Lucky Dip didn't prove to be as popular as predicted? 'Yuk, I don't want to put my hand in all that nasty sawdust' said the kids. 'Where's the hand sanitizer?' The Scavenger Hunt suffered the same fate: 'what do we pick the things up with? Not our hands, surely? Eugh!' Just William would never have said that.

The bar was busy, Pimms by the bucketful being consumed. Burgers were flying off the grill and the ploughmens lunches were being, yes, ploughed out by the catering team in the beautiful new village hall kitchen. Craft stalls were popular, wine or water produced the right result for the lucky ones and the bottle on a string competition was soon sold out. And who would ever have guessed that a cake could be so heavy?

It was hot, it was sunny and everyone had a wonderful time. Well done to the dozens of volunteers from both villages who made the event happen so successfully.

As the last villagers finally left the cool and shady Hooper Hall, the Animals Made From Vegetables stretched and lay down to sleep.




Viva Las Lydlinch!  Saturday, 18th May
A fantastic nights entertainment was experienced by over 50 guests at the first of such events to be held at the Hooper Hall.
Starting at 7.00 we took an immediate trip down memory lane and loosened everybody up with several games of Bingo! 
I know! I know what you are thinking. You'd probably like to give the whole thing a miss! But for those who had never played before, or only with granny and auntie Flo, the tension was electric. Some people stopped breathing and panic rose as numbers came thick and fast criss crossing the cards, all eager to be the first to shout HOUSE!,
As tension and expectation subsided and drinks and conversation flowed we were soon to enjoy Sue's Pop Quiz, it was Eurovision night after all. Did Bonny win? It wasn't quite Radio 2's Ken Bruce with Pop Master but it created some headaches delving into our musical past. The winning team were a mixed bunch who managed to acquire those extra points with the help of a couple of ladies young enough not to have never heard of Elvis Presley! That's life.
While all this was going on Nick and Andy were busy at the BBQ cooking the delicious burgers supplied by local butcher Dave Keen of Blackmore Vale Butchers www.bmv-butchery.co.ukThe lovely ladies of the village went the extra mile and rallied to provide some excellent salads and condiments to complete the American themed supper.
Elvis himself would have tucked in with relish, oh yes there was plenty of that too! Added to this we all bought copious amounts of liquid refreshment which helped everyone get "in the mood". (there's an idea for another themed evening, better start searching out my wartime clobber).
Fanfare. Elvis entered the building! AKA Clive Smith, a master at his art of recreating a wonderful era and bringing to life a host of artists of that time such as Buddy Holly, Ricky Nelson. Two splendid hours later we were still rocking and rolling, the improvised dance floor was alive with be bopping, foot stomping, twisting, swirling and twirling bodies that thought they had forgotten how. Thank you Clive.
I hope that the queue in Boots in Stur wasn't too long on Monday, all those extra souls requesting ibruprofen gel for aching limbs and relief for sore throats due to excess singing!
Who could have thought that our little village hall could have staged such an enjoyable event, hopefully the first of many. The community was brought together in laughter, song and dance.
Why don't you join us for the next time. Watch this space.

PS Elvis has left the building



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1 comment:

  1. Great evening we had such a good time and nice to see so many people dancing to the music, can we do it again please!
    Mike+Sue

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