The last Club Night of the year got off to a good start with extra invited guests, including those husbands brave enough to come and join in with a hall full of ladies. There were ten raffles drawn, but sadly none of the numbers called out were a match for any of my tickets. Never mind – I’ll try again next year.
Show and Tell got away with a very Christmassy item shown to start the ball rolling. Poor old Dougal had lost his head and was feeling a rather “stuffed”. Made by Lynne - isn’t he wonderful!
Dougal the reindeer
Debi had brought along two New Zealand themed quilts started at Retreat a while ago. They are not quite finished yet, but they are looking great.
Debi’s NZ themed quilts
Marjorie had just completed a striking tessellated quilt in shades of black, white, grey and a touch of lime green. The lime green in the border sets it off nicely.
Marjorie’s lovely quilt
Paula had brought along a very sophisticated curvy black Christmas Tree quilt. Also curvy was her wonderful freehand quilting, and the black edging. Very nice indeed!
Paula’s Christmas tree
The highlight of our evening was our speaker, former Beef Eater Patrick Nolan. He has the honour of being the only non British ex soldier ever to become part of this historic group of men who serve at the Tower of London. He related the story of taking a trip through the Tower, listening to the guides, and thinking “this is for me!”. Some years later his dream came true, and Patrick and wife Dawn sold up everything, packed a few cases, and travelled half way around the world to live and work in the Tower.
Patrick kept us entertained with stories of his training, the many daft questions which must be answered with a straight face, the difficulties of working around those often nasty ravens, and what it was like to actually live in the Tower. I had heard him speak before, and he is very entertaining indeed.
Patrick in his working uniform
He went on to show us the extras needed to dress up in the ceremonial uniform, such as the red stockings, rosettes, the finely pleated white neck ruff and his very special black hat. The red uniform had been hand embroidered using gold thread, and cost a very pricey 13,000 pounds! After 16 years on duty, Patrick and Dawn retired and came back home, taking his uniforms with him.
The ceremonial dress uniform embroidered with gold thread
Members were asked to bring a plate for supper,and the tables were groaning with all sorts of home made delights. Such as the wonderful meringues, and I did rather like those tasty cheese straws. It wasn’t all about ourselves, we also brought along a food item each for the Food Bank. The basket was full to the brim, so it will go to help those less fortunate than ourselves.
1 comment:
A lovely get-together for you all, and what a ceremonial outfit. He would be so good to have as a guest.
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