Yet another busy few days, as winter turns reluctantly into spring, rather too late for my liking. Last Tuesday we started with the wild excitement of the Paston annual meeting, for which we had a not-so-grand total of ten people, three of whom were the trustees, two their wives, and another couple of married couples. The re-enactors are falling by the wayside at an alarming rate, with only Diana hanging on grimly.
The meeting this year was at the chilly St Nicholas Room, North Walsham, with only an echo of our usual hotel refreshments (though to be fair, the hotel in question recently got an extremely low hygiene rating, which probably meant they hadn’t filled the right forms in). Not much business, except to report on the über-project.
On Wednesday Dot and I got up ludicrously early to get to Swaffham for a Mothers’ Union meeting, at which I spoke about the Pastons, using a projector I had borrowed from Rob. Despite my misgivings, it went extremely well, and the feedback was really good. Afterwards Julia and Allan stood us lunch at the George nearby, which consisted of a very pleasant fish and chips. Dot got so excited she left her umbrella behind, and Julia retrieved it and brought it into Norwich the next day (she was coming anyway with her friend from Crete, who had been at the talk).
The next day we had another excellent meal, this time at the Ivy, to mark Philip’s 79th birthday. Anne and Philip were also there, of course. I had a minute steak and an excellent strawberry sundae. Meanwhile the Norfolk and Norwich Festival was being launched by a man walking a high wire across the market place. We missed it.
The weather had been pretty cold, and there had been plenty of rain, but we managed to avoid most of it. It was still spotting as we set out for Duck End on Saturday for another Otterspool reunion. Dot drove, and we had a little trouble finding the entrance to Pete and Liz’s house as usual, but it’s a really brilliant spot: a rambling old house and an equally rambling garden which is a lot of fun to explore and must take them all their time to look after. Pete also has a Lagonda, an E-type and another classic car.
We took the cheese, plus some champagne to celebrate our 50th – rather belatedly. But it seemed appreciated, and we had a great afternoon. Unusual to have a group of friends stretching back over 50 years who rarely see each other but get on really well when they do. Present: Liz and Pete, Dot and Tim, Jan and Alan, Jacqui and Brian, Bob and Sue, Ruth, Jeannie, Christine. Ruth and Jeannie left their husbands at home, and Christine’s is dead, as are two of the girls: Jan Kidd and Liz Coxon.
Yesterday, another gathering of family and friends, this time to celebrate David Archer’s birthday. His wife Bridget had booked a tour round the gardens of Oxnead Hall, and we gave a lift there to Howard, Anna and Judy after church, which I led in the absence of Phil. We had to work hard to get there by 2.30pm, but some were later. The tour was led by Beverly Aspinall, the owner, and she did it very well after recognising me and apologising for any Paston historical mistakes in advance! She was pretty good, except for the 15C, when the Pastons didn’t really live at Oxnead very much .
There were well over 30 of us: unsurprisingly, Bridget had been not entirely precise in her booking, and so the tea in the orangery was a bit short on chairs and place settings, but the cake and tea were first class. We only lost one child in the lake, and he was pulled out by his father. Howard, not untypically, brought with him the mammoth catalogue published by the Castle Museum to go with its exhibition, and carted it all round the gardens with him, despite its weight. Anna is keen to book Oxnead Hall for Bethany’s wedding. Not sure what Bethany thinks.
The weather was perfect: sunny and not too hot, as it is today. I have popped over to Blofield to find a memorial stone that I had lost track of (Colonel John), and later we are going to the Cathedral for a concert. Earlier this morning Paul came round with Maryta, who was her normal (ill) ratty self. Holly has returned safely from the Himalayas, where she had a good time (Paul) / bad time (Maryta).