Friday 23 June - Sunday 25 June 2017
As a group of us were already gathering together to see Elbow at Sherwood Pines it seemed sensible to add in some celebrations for Siobhan's hen 'do' and make a weekend of it!
Some people came to some of the 'dos', some came to others, some were there for all of it and some were unable to attend at all so a lot of time was spent in saying 'who is coming to this one?' and a lot of mental capacity was used up with many repetitions of names and reasons for why they were/weren't there.
It would have been so much easier if we had bought the lists but we thought that we'd remember! Our brains knew better..
It was like an extreme version of one of those agility games that have been devised to keep the older generation (not that we're there yet!) mentally fit and active!
Then when we had established who was staying where, who was getting a lift from whom and what time people were gathering wherever - we were ready for the OFF!..
Sue had asked Dawn if she would collect us (me, her and Siobhan) from the Lawns - the b & b we were staying at. 'Of course' she said 'I'll be your Uber service!...' - we were then efficiently Ubered (with correct bag of 'stuff' in hand) to our first destination of the weekend.
So here it is - celebrating Siobhan's impending nuptials RCHS style...
Friday 23 June
Phase 1
Siobhan, Wendy, Sue, Dawn, Joyce, Angela, Carole, Carol, Jeanette, Linda, Trisha
Our covert operation began with a meal - at No5 restaurant in Grove St, Retford.
In we trooped. Up the stairs we went into a lovely little room just the right size for us to gather round the table. Siobhan was very surprised when Angela walked in - and was able to have a good catch up and reminisce with her.
The menu looked very tempting and we all put our glasses on to read it...
The food was delicious and the wine flowed (courtesy of Sue who asked for another bottle every time she saw a waitress lol)...
As the wedding will be abroad we all showed our support for the bride with our badges and we were all bridesmaids for the night in our floral headbands - Siobhan wore the tiara and veil from the cake that Janice had made for her whilst we were on our Argy Bargy trip!
It's good to recycle!
Lots of food pics courtesy of Sue...
Phase 2
Siobhan, Dawn, Sue, Wendy, Linda, Jeanette, Sally, Trisha, Carole, Carol, Joyce
Sue and I (in one room) took Siobhan (in another room) a cup of tea and discussed how to spend our free morning as Siobhan's next Uber was not due until 12.45pm. We decided on a leisurely walk into Retford in the beautiful - but unexpected and unforecast - sunshine and we wandered along going in and out of shops until we reached the market square where we decided to stop for a coffee.
Sue popped her glasses over her sunglasses to keep up to date on her phone with the rest of the group to ensure that preparations were still on track.
Even though Retford market is much depleted it is still a bustling little place and it was nice to just sit and watch the world go by.
With one eye on the time we wandered back and deposited Siobhan in her room with instructions - be outside for your Uber (Carole today) at 12.45.
And off we scurried to gather more boxes, cool bags, bottles and 'stuff' to put into the car.
Luckily we'd done most of it, preparing the fruit and cutting limes and lemons etc, first thing in the morning as just for a change (not!) we were running a bit late. So off Sue and I went - straight into the Retford traffic jam where everyone had decided that it would be good to circle the town looking for a parking place - or just drive in aimless fashion (so it seemed to us in a rush!)
'Let's go up Spittal Hill and avoid this traffic' said Sue pointing to the right. 'Good idea' I said and took the next turn to the right. Mistake! 'Oh, wrong turning' I said. 'Never mind' I said 'I can turn left before the gas house bridge, nip round by the canal and come out on Leverton Road'.. All good planning - except that you can't as there are bollards...
So we turned round and retraced our steps and I could hear Sue saying 'No we're not there yet - take her the long way round'... So we waited at the traffic lights for an inordinately long time - half expecting to see Uber Carole drive past us!!
We got to our destination - the Seth Ellis boat - and loaded our boxes, bottles, food, gear and sailing companions, had a quick count up then we were ready for the off!
Apparently as they had pulled up to the Hop Pole Siobhan had said 'Oh narrow boats go along the canal from here' . 'Do they?' said Uber Carole innocently. 'Yes' said Siobhan 'and look, there's a boat in!..
.... oohhhh'
So we donned our HMS Hitchen hen party sashes, popped the Capn hat (complete with school badge, tiara and veil) on Siobhan and off we went - sailing sedately down the canal with someone else doing the steering. We made up a jug of Hugo cocktails, set out a buffet and watched the world go by...
The sandwiches were lovely (thanks Dawn!) and we had olives, crisps and cheese so we were all happy with that - we are so easily pleased!
It was lovely to see all the haunts along the canal side from our past - the Broken Wheel disco, the path through the park where so many of us walked to school - either from the bus stop or on the Tiln Lane walking bus! And we all got very excited as we passed under the little footbridge we had all walked over so many times.
No school there now of course but we all had our own little memories of past incidents - and it was fun to go through the lock gate that we had escaped over so many times so long ago!!
We moved on to Pimms, ate more picnic - bit of fruit and chocolate - and reminisced.
Our headmistress Miss Townsend who seemed so scary then. And a 'then' and 'now' shot from the canal bank...
But pictures speak louder than words so here they are - all in glorious sunshine...
Think that Capn Hitchen was in danger of being outranked by Queen Willoughby here - demanding refills and probably telling the skipper how to sail the boat properly (well we do know best!!)...
Back on dry land we had a group photo before we all left - easy to get down there onto the grass but harder now to get back up again...
What a lovely way to spend an afternoon - messing about on the canal.
We all wandered off on our separate ways once again and went to have a bit of a rest before starting again later.
Siobhan, Sue and I sat out on the grass back at the Lawns with a jug of Hugo cocktail but soon decided that we would be more comfortable on chairs so we crawled up from the lawn and went back indoors.
Siobhan then toddled off for a nap before her Uber cab at 7.15pm (my sister Julie this time) and Sue and I went for a short walk to plan our next manoeuvre.
Saturday 24 June
Phase 3
Siobhan, Wendy, Sue, Dawn, Trisha, Sally, Carol, Linda, Joyce, Jeanette
Luckily Sue and I, and my sister Julie, had been able to get into the Birches on Friday afternoon to do a bit of decorating in the room we were going to use. We'd popped the flowers into vases, blown up the balloons and hung the bunting - doing all that had saved us a load of time and hassle - and we'd not had to think of excuses to get away from Siobhan!
So we flicked on a few lights, put the music on (thanks for the lead Carol), opened the cupcakes and once again we were ready!
Cue phone call from Julie - 'Is everyone there yet?' No they weren't. 'What do you want me to do ?' she said. 'Go the long way round' - this was beginning to sound very familiar.
So Julie Ubered Siobhan round to the pub and she was able to come in with others who had arrived at the same time.
We got some drinks in and settled down for a chat - anyone would think that we hadn't seen each other for ages!
'Let's play some party games' said Jeanette, showing her teacher side - so we did!
We started with the balloon between the legs game - very amusing - well it was to a group of mature ladies acting like kids!!
I went down to the bar and when I got back I just stood in the doorway looking at them on the dance floor - all leaping around, arms waving wildly, batting balloons to each other in a frenzied, giggling scrum.
Very, very funny but so endearing and childlike - acting like 6 instead of 60 odd!!...
They clutched their demurely hidden balloons with their knees, and swayed dreamily from side to side in time to the music.
Transported back to another time and another place...
We moved on to another of Jeanette's games - all waving our arms in the air with our eyes closed until we held hands with someone else in the group. Once the circle was closed we opened our eyes and tried to untangle ourselves.
After getting very hot and sweaty and nearly dislocating a few bones with all the contortions we gave that up as impossible.
So we tried another game - fluffy bunnies. This involved shoving as many marshmallows into your mouth as possible and saying 'fluffy bunnies' after each one. It's hard once you've got several in there - try it!
Jeanette was the winner with 9
but the funniest thing was seeing the look of sheer horror and incredulity on Dawn's face as she watched us try to position more marshmallows into our already overstuffed cheeks.
We had fun with the silly props and picture frames...
'Let's go up Spittal Hill and avoid this traffic' said Sue pointing to the right. 'Good idea' I said and took the next turn to the right. Mistake! 'Oh, wrong turning' I said. 'Never mind' I said 'I can turn left before the gas house bridge, nip round by the canal and come out on Leverton Road'.. All good planning - except that you can't as there are bollards...
So we turned round and retraced our steps and I could hear Sue saying 'No we're not there yet - take her the long way round'... So we waited at the traffic lights for an inordinately long time - half expecting to see Uber Carole drive past us!!
We got to our destination - the Seth Ellis boat - and loaded our boxes, bottles, food, gear and sailing companions, had a quick count up then we were ready for the off!
Apparently as they had pulled up to the Hop Pole Siobhan had said 'Oh narrow boats go along the canal from here' . 'Do they?' said Uber Carole innocently. 'Yes' said Siobhan 'and look, there's a boat in!..
.... oohhhh'
The sandwiches were lovely (thanks Dawn!) and we had olives, crisps and cheese so we were all happy with that - we are so easily pleased!
It was lovely to see all the haunts along the canal side from our past - the Broken Wheel disco, the path through the park where so many of us walked to school - either from the bus stop or on the Tiln Lane walking bus! And we all got very excited as we passed under the little footbridge we had all walked over so many times.
No school there now of course but we all had our own little memories of past incidents - and it was fun to go through the lock gate that we had escaped over so many times so long ago!!We moved on to Pimms, ate more picnic - bit of fruit and chocolate - and reminisced.
Our headmistress Miss Townsend who seemed so scary then. And a 'then' and 'now' shot from the canal bank...
But pictures speak louder than words so here they are - all in glorious sunshine...
Think that Capn Hitchen was in danger of being outranked by Queen Willoughby here - demanding refills and probably telling the skipper how to sail the boat properly (well we do know best!!)...
Back on dry land we had a group photo before we all left - easy to get down there onto the grass but harder now to get back up again...
We all wandered off on our separate ways once again and went to have a bit of a rest before starting again later.
Siobhan, Sue and I sat out on the grass back at the Lawns with a jug of Hugo cocktail but soon decided that we would be more comfortable on chairs so we crawled up from the lawn and went back indoors.
Siobhan then toddled off for a nap before her Uber cab at 7.15pm (my sister Julie this time) and Sue and I went for a short walk to plan our next manoeuvre.
Saturday 24 June
Phase 3
Siobhan, Wendy, Sue, Dawn, Trisha, Sally, Carol, Linda, Joyce, Jeanette
Luckily Sue and I, and my sister Julie, had been able to get into the Birches on Friday afternoon to do a bit of decorating in the room we were going to use. We'd popped the flowers into vases, blown up the balloons and hung the bunting - doing all that had saved us a load of time and hassle - and we'd not had to think of excuses to get away from Siobhan!
So we flicked on a few lights, put the music on (thanks for the lead Carol), opened the cupcakes and once again we were ready!
So Julie Ubered Siobhan round to the pub and she was able to come in with others who had arrived at the same time.
We got some drinks in and settled down for a chat - anyone would think that we hadn't seen each other for ages!
'Let's play some party games' said Jeanette, showing her teacher side - so we did!
We started with the balloon between the legs game - very amusing - well it was to a group of mature ladies acting like kids!!
I went down to the bar and when I got back I just stood in the doorway looking at them on the dance floor - all leaping around, arms waving wildly, batting balloons to each other in a frenzied, giggling scrum.
Very, very funny but so endearing and childlike - acting like 6 instead of 60 odd!!...
Sally and Dawn totally embraced the balloon between the legs game and stood in the middle of the dance floor totally lost in the moment and oblivious to what was happening around them.
They clutched their demurely hidden balloons with their knees, and swayed dreamily from side to side in time to the music.
Transported back to another time and another place...
We moved on to another of Jeanette's games - all waving our arms in the air with our eyes closed until we held hands with someone else in the group. Once the circle was closed we opened our eyes and tried to untangle ourselves.
Jeanette was the winner with 9
but the funniest thing was seeing the look of sheer horror and incredulity on Dawn's face as she watched us try to position more marshmallows into our already overstuffed cheeks.
We had fun with the silly props and picture frames...
We decided to see how many we could fit into the frame, adding one person at a time...
Sue had been taking the pics but then at the crucial moment the staff arrived carrying the buffet so we were able to ask them to take the final photo while she jumped into it so that we had all 10 of us in the frame...
We then all untangled ourselves, climbed down from the furniture, composed ourselves, straightened frocks and put shoes back on - and ate!
Suitably filled up with more carbs and calories than we needed we then decided to up the ante - how many people could we cram into the SMALL frame? Siobhan first...
1 and 2 went well...
3 and 4 were fine...
5 and 6 were not too bad...
7 and 8 were getting tight...
Then Linda presented her with a gift which she had wanted to get for her - a beautiful memory box.
And I think that we had maxed out at 9 - although there was a tiny bit of space in the top left corner for Sue if we could have worked out how she could take the photo and be in it at the same time...
Then it was present time!
We (well the royal we - Sally was organiser!) gave Siobhan and Graham a voucher for a vineyard experience. This gives them the option of touring the vineyard, having a meal, staying for the night, buying wine - or any combination of those!
Then Linda presented her with a gift which she had wanted to get for her - a beautiful memory box.
And things got a little emotional (for the second time!!)
We had walked into the pub past people sitting out at benches in the sunshine with her clutching a large bag to her front and me shuffling along in her footsteps at her back to preserve her perceived modesty.
But she soon forgot about it all...
Not sure if she was surfin' USA, sand dancing, walking like an Egyptian or doing a bit of Madonna vogueing...
She also had a few little bits for the borrowed and blue but I forgot to take pics.
So it was back to the partying...
Sue twirled and swirled on the dance floor all night - with the occasional flash of knickers. She was happy if others joined her or equally happy with just her glass of wine as company. Very funny as she had nearly refused to wear this dress complaining that it was too 'see through'.
We had walked into the pub past people sitting out at benches in the sunshine with her clutching a large bag to her front and me shuffling along in her footsteps at her back to preserve her perceived modesty.
But she soon forgot about it all...
Not sure if she was surfin' USA, sand dancing, walking like an Egyptian or doing a bit of Madonna vogueing...
But we all joined in anyway and had a little dance round our handbags for old times sake.
We missed some of our regulars - Janice, Rosemary and Chris who were on various exotic holidays around the world but part way through the evening we saw a post from Chris on facebook saying that she had been out all day wearing odd shoes.
We decided to empathise with her...
And I would have popped a picture up at this point of Rosemary swimming in an azure blue sea somewhere in a rubber ring with her broken wrist up in the air. Unfortunately (or fortunately!) we don't seem to have one as for some reason she has rebuffed all requests to see one posted!...
... Janice seems to have escaped unscathed.
Another chilled evening with lots of raucous belly laughs, occasional unplanned renditions of the classics as we (more or less) spontaneously combusted into song - interspersed with bouts of frenzied dancing as we rushed onto the floor when it was something we particularly liked!
Another fun time with more memories made.
Cheers Siobhan and Graham!... xx
Sunday 25 June
Phase 4
We hadn't actually planned anything for during the day on Sunday because we weren't sure if some of her other friends were going to join us for the party of the previous evening. Bearing this in mind Sue and I had said that she might want to spend some time with them before going to Elbow so we had left her with time off from the rest of us.
As we then realised that we would have most of the day free we decided to go to Welbeck Abbey to have a look at a pottery exhibition that Sue had seen advertised (actually I think it was something that Ozzie Chris had seen and that Sue had picked up on!)
We popped in to see Siobhan's dad before we left as she had to drop some stuff off (well not 'stuff' but just stuff). 'Hello' he said 'Nice to see you. Is it too early for a glass of wine?' he asked. It was about 11.30am - practically lunch time I thought hopefully. Siobhan decided that yes it was too early so Sue and I wandered off dejectedly on a tour round his lovely garden while Siobhan did her bits and pieces.
Then off we went to Welbeck to look round the artisan food festival and pottery exhibition.
We sat in the sunshine eating posh sausage rolls and then wandered round the stalls trying the cheeses and gin tastings. The cinnamon rolls looked and smelled so lovely that we had to try them too.
But at least we could hear from one end of the boat to the other this time!
More pottery (and glass)...
After a happy hour of mooching we took coffees back to the car and pulled the chairs out. We set up camp, liberated a few cup cakes (from the previous evening but coming out for a second time for the Elbow picnic) and settled down on the grass in the car park for an impromptu picnic snack.
Then it was time to get ready to drive over to Sherwood Pines for the Elbow gig.
As we were almost the first in the queue we bagged ourselves a prime spot on the front edge of the chair area and, first things first - we unpacked the picnic.
We decided to empathise with her...
... hope it made her feel better.
And I would have popped a picture up at this point of Rosemary swimming in an azure blue sea somewhere in a rubber ring with her broken wrist up in the air. Unfortunately (or fortunately!) we don't seem to have one as for some reason she has rebuffed all requests to see one posted!...
... Janice seems to have escaped unscathed.
Another chilled evening with lots of raucous belly laughs, occasional unplanned renditions of the classics as we (more or less) spontaneously combusted into song - interspersed with bouts of frenzied dancing as we rushed onto the floor when it was something we particularly liked!
Another fun time with more memories made.
Cheers Siobhan and Graham!... xx
Sunday 25 June
Phase 4
We hadn't actually planned anything for during the day on Sunday because we weren't sure if some of her other friends were going to join us for the party of the previous evening. Bearing this in mind Sue and I had said that she might want to spend some time with them before going to Elbow so we had left her with time off from the rest of us.
As we then realised that we would have most of the day free we decided to go to Welbeck Abbey to have a look at a pottery exhibition that Sue had seen advertised (actually I think it was something that Ozzie Chris had seen and that Sue had picked up on!)
We popped in to see Siobhan's dad before we left as she had to drop some stuff off (well not 'stuff' but just stuff). 'Hello' he said 'Nice to see you. Is it too early for a glass of wine?' he asked. It was about 11.30am - practically lunch time I thought hopefully. Siobhan decided that yes it was too early so Sue and I wandered off dejectedly on a tour round his lovely garden while Siobhan did her bits and pieces.
Then off we went to Welbeck to look round the artisan food festival and pottery exhibition.
We sat in the sunshine eating posh sausage rolls and then wandered round the stalls trying the cheeses and gin tastings. The cinnamon rolls looked and smelled so lovely that we had to try them too.
One of the first things we saw in the pottery exhibition was this - who did they remind us of??
But at least we could hear from one end of the boat to the other this time!
More pottery (and glass)...
After a happy hour of mooching we took coffees back to the car and pulled the chairs out. We set up camp, liberated a few cup cakes (from the previous evening but coming out for a second time for the Elbow picnic) and settled down on the grass in the car park for an impromptu picnic snack.
Then it was time to get ready to drive over to Sherwood Pines for the Elbow gig.
As we were almost the first in the queue we bagged ourselves a prime spot on the front edge of the chair area and, first things first - we unpacked the picnic.
The selfies were a bit hit and miss - no glasses on and the sun shining directly on the camera so you couldn't see what you were taking.
The daylight started to fade and there was a glorious sunset behind us...
A great performance from Elbow!
All too soon it was time to pack up and trundle back to the cars.
We all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, already planning when we would see each other again.
I think that everyone would agree that it was a fabulous weekend and so lovely to see a new face in the group!
We all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, already planning when we would see each other again.
I think that everyone would agree that it was a fabulous weekend and so lovely to see a new face in the group!
We've once again had another great opportunity to get together and enjoy the company of each other. We really are lucky!!
I also think that I can speak for us all in wishing Siobhan and Graham much health and happiness both for their wedding and for their future - we look forward to seeing the pictures!
Thank you all for a wonderful weekend - until the next one!... x
Looks a fab weekend - and glad I did something stupid so you all thought of me. Doesn't quite compare with Rosemary's though :-)
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