Wendy, Sue, Janice, Chris J, Chris S, Trisha, Jeanette, Siobhan, Bridget, Rosemary, Sally, Pam, Alison, Carol
Saturday 25 September
As we had all (finally!) received our state pensions over the year we decided to have a party to celebrate. Any excuse really! So off we went to Edwinstowe.
Near enough to Retford so that the local schoolies were able to visit or stay.
The pics of the cottage looked lovely on the Airbnb site but once inside it was a little more complicated as the two cottages (well 3 originally) had been merged into one with the stairs in different places - it caused lot of hilarity and confusion 😂
There were two lounges, two dining rooms, two kitchens, two sets of three bedrooms at each end, two bathrooms - and a further two bedrooms with a jack and jill bathroom just four steps across from the back door.
The pick n mix were a homage to Woolworths and a reminder to all who worked there of their happy Saturday job days on the sweet counter - when every so often someone would announce 'I'm just going to fill up the chocolates' and disappear under the counter. After a few seconds they would innocently reappear having meanwhile managed to quickly scoff a couple of raspberry ruffles, strawberry cremes or whatever their favourites were!
As they went back to the car to drive home we said that we should have invited them in so we shot outside to see if we could catch them before they drove off.
We got to them just as they were coming out from the car park so they came back in and had a drink and a chat. Muriel was quite ready to stay with us for the weekend 🤣
Sunday 26 September
Sue popped into the local church - possible venue for the marriage of Robin Hood and Maid Marion and the site of several war graves.
There were varying degrees of success with this!
Siobhan, Bridget, Rosemary and Sally arrived for an overnight stay and Carol, Pam and Alison came for the meal.
A logistics nightmare but we managed to fit all 14 of us round it.
Further down the village we found the man himself and his girlfriend so we joined in with his special moment 😁
He helped us to find the hidden face in the stained glass - we would never have spotted it ourselves.
It was soon time to return to the accommodation to don the high heels, party frocks and lippy ready to party. Those who dawdled were told that they couldn't have a cocktail until they were changed - that soon chivvied them up 😁
Siobhan had sourced amazing canapés complete with gluten free options for Bridget.
Pam, Alison and Carol arrived so we started to sip cocktails, nibble the delicious hors d'oeuvres and mingle and chat - we never run out of things to talk about!
The caterer (my sister Cathryn) managed to park her van directly over the road. Our front door opened directly onto the street so we were able to nip out of there and dodge between the traffic lights to ferry her trays, bags and dishes into the house - much to the bemusement of those drivers waiting at the lights as a steady stream of women in various states of smart and casual, in tottering heels and slippers paraded in front of them carefully carrying huge foil covered trays 😂
Cathryn set to work and we carried on nibbling the hors d'oeuvres, sipping cocktails and doing what we always do best - chatting 😁
A double decker bus paused at the traffic lights just as we were mid photo shoot and the students on the top deck waved to us - so we all waved back 😁 It must have been a bit of a random sight really on your way home from school - 14 women in a garden posing sedately in two rows - I'm sure they must have been wondering what we were up to!
We tried to get our bearings and allocated rooms. Luckily Janice hadn't bought her costume with her 😁
The pick n mix were a homage to Woolworths and a reminder to all who worked there of their happy Saturday job days on the sweet counter - when every so often someone would announce 'I'm just going to fill up the chocolates' and disappear under the counter. After a few seconds they would innocently reappear having meanwhile managed to quickly scoff a couple of raspberry ruffles, strawberry cremes or whatever their favourites were!
The same thing happened on the cheese counter but that was a bit trickier 🤣 Small perks of the job 😁
As we looked round we realised that there wasn't a full complement of crockery and cutlery - not much good when there were going to be 14 of us!
I counted the forks. There were 9. It was like groundhog day after 'Fork Gate' at our last craft weekend.
Time for a phone call. An hour later a dozen champagne flutes, boxes wine glasses and packs of cutlery were hand delivered. We were happy.
The owner also apologised profusely and told us to stay as long as we wished on the Tuesday instead of having to be out for the 10am deadline so that was a happy bonus.
Oz Chris was dropped off by her sister Sally, her son Sam (over with her) and her mum Muriel. So lovely to see her.
As they went back to the car to drive home we said that we should have invited them in so we shot outside to see if we could catch them before they drove off.
We got to them just as they were coming out from the car park so they came back in and had a drink and a chat. Muriel was quite ready to stay with us for the weekend 🤣
A quiet evening with the usual eating, drinking and reminiscing. We never plan much for when we first arrive as there is so much catching up to be done.
We ate Chris's shepherd's pie and Janice's delicious raspberry and white chocolate bread and butter pudding. Great meals as usual - all those Domestic Science lessons certainly paid off.
Then an evening of quizzes and laughter with prizes appropriate for those of pensionable age 😁
Joined by Carol for the day.
Breakfast was cooked by Trisha with help from Janice - who put the bacon in the oven to keep warm.
The oven turned out to be hotter than anticipated so the bacon was 'well done'.. 🤣
But it was still delicious!
Chris wrote out some menus for the meal which had finally been decided.
Then it was time for a walk so we wandered off to the Sherwood forest visitor centre which was literally down the road from the cottage.
Sue and Jeanette had fun with the stocks and the dressing up box whilst they waited for the others.
Some of the schoolies sampled the ice creams..🍦
We walked to the Major Oak which is now fenced off and supported by poles and cables - we could all remember when there were no restrictions and you could climb the huge branches and hide inside it!
Most of us went back to the cottage whilst Sue walked further. We all settled for prosecco and cake on the terrace.
We were told that the name Edwinstowe originated from the word 'stowe' meaning holy shrine or resting place. So Edwin's final resting place.
King Edwin was the Saxon king of Northumbria who was slain in 633AD. He was buried in Sherwood Forest so that his enemies could not lay hands on his body and a small wooden chapel was later erected there.
So now we know. Interesting.
Charcuterie, quiche and cheese platters for our evening meal courtesy of the Chrises and Jeanette.
Dessert was Janice's delicious fruit pavlova.
Then it was time for more quizzes.
Janice seemed to be playing completely separately to the rest of her team. It was a multiple choice quiz. 'What was D again?' she asked. I looked at her - quite nonplussed by her question. 'What was D?' she asked again
'Janice' I replied 'There is no D - the whole round has been A, B or C.' At this point we had played half of the round - with no D's to be seen!
Another round - and the question was 'Who used the catchphrase "Ahaaa"?' Trisha was in the middle with Chris S on one side and Janice on the other. Chris leaned in and whispered 'Alan Partridge' just as Janice leaned in on the other side to say 'Sherlock Holmes'. Trisha and Chris both just looked at her and burst out laughing.
We could follow her logic but I don't know if that made things better or worse!! It wasn't a 'pick on Janice' night but it just seemed to be her turn to say daft things 😁
We persevered with the quizzes with lots of excited squeaks, exclamations and loud whispers when people knew the answers.
In an effort to get the teams to talk quietly as they mulled over the answers Chris S called out 'Use your cushions!' trying to make team members whisper behind them to each other.
Then Chris forgot herself and talked loudly - and Sue and Jeanette shouted in unison 'Use your cushion'. Very funny.
So much laughter! 'Stop it' said Trisha - 'or I'm going to have to run upstairs to get padded up'!
Think that summed up the evening quite neatly 🤣🤣🤣
Monday 27 September
Sally cooked another of her delicious smoked salmon breakfasts - it has become quite a tradition now on our schoolie weekends even though she doesn't like it herself 😁
Then. Sue, Jeanette and Rosemary went out for a walk and the rest of us sorted out the table ready for our meal in the afternoon.
Space was very tight but we worked out that if we put the table sideways and wedged people in then we could just about manage.
A logistics nightmare but we managed to fit all 14 of us round it.
Once this had been organised the rest of us went for a walk round the village.
First stop was the charity shop to replace the two champagne 🥂 flutes that Chris and I had broken - we thought it best after we had already received more glasses in place of the ones broken before we got there. We found three.
Further down the village we found the man himself and his girlfriend so we joined in with his special moment 😁
Sue, Jeanette and Rosemary had a nice walk - lots of interesting trees!
The rest of us finished up at the church where the steward was more than happy to give us a tour.
He helped us to find the hidden face in the stained glass - we would never have spotted it ourselves.
It's a thin slit-like profile of an eye, nose and lips - easy to see once you know where it is!
Apparently the face in the panel is the mistress of the man who made the window.
There was a huge tapestry depicting scenes from the village - with our cottage embroidered on it.
Siobhan had sourced amazing canapés complete with gluten free options for Bridget.
Pam, Alison and Carol arrived so we started to sip cocktails, nibble the delicious hors d'oeuvres and mingle and chat - we never run out of things to talk about!
Parking for the cottage was a couple of minutes just up the road in a public car park where we had to display parking permits to say we were at the cottage.
Then Bridget gathered everyone together to assemble in the garden for an official team photo.
A double decker bus paused at the traffic lights just as we were mid photo shoot and the students on the top deck waved to us - so we all waved back 😁 It must have been a bit of a random sight really on your way home from school - 14 women in a garden posing sedately in two rows - I'm sure they must have been wondering what we were up to!
Then it was time to eat.
We had little presents on the table - small jars of retro sweets and travel pass holders (in RCHS red) suitable for our newly acquired bus passes!
The food was delicious - a choice of fish pie (for veggie Sue), steak and ale pie, beef bourguignon or tarragon chicken - with most of it gluten free for Bridget.
The only way out from the table for a trip to the loo was by climbing. We had considered leaving two of the cottage doors open so people could go out of one and then back in through the other but they opened inwards so that wasn't possible.
Dessert was a choice of lemon cheesecake, rhubarb crumble or chocolate brownie - again all gluten free. This was the first time Cathryn had made a gluten free crumble but the empty dishes showed that it had been well received 😋
Everyone agreed that Cathryn had done a sterling job in feeding us and when she popped in before leaving we all gave her a round of applause. It just reminded me of cooking for the chefs and judges on MasterChef when the cooks come out at the end to take a bow and everyone claps 🤣
After the meal we all adjourned to the lounge and flopped..
.. but we still managed to nibble weakly on more brownie and boxes of chocolates..😂
More quizzes with Alison soon mastering the quiet cushion technique for her team.
Tuesday 27 September
As we didn't have to be out for 10 this gave us chance for a leisurely breakfast and a slow clean up and sort out. As usual we had over catered - even more so this time with all the leftovers from the meal Cathryn had cooked (my sister is a feeder!) - so it was the usual 'who wants this?' and 'who brought that?' 😁 but it was soon sorted.
Bridget had had an accident in the night when her hot water bottle (used to alleviate hip pain) had burst and soaked her bed - I think she ended up sleeping on the sofa.
Sally announced to everyone at breakfast that Bridget had wet the bed - just in case anyone hadn't heard 😂 Think this is another event which will go down in the annals of schoolie history - and will be brought up every time we have a get together - much like Janice and her roll top bath incident or Rosemary and her barge steering debacle 🤣
But in time honoured tradition - what happens in schoolie events stay in schoolie events 🤫
So everyone started their journeys home with the last few of us having a final wander round the village.
Once again a marvellous weekend with great company and fabulous food. Thank you everyone..x
We are already planning our next events with get-togethers at Christmas, a craft weekend in early spring and then another barge trip in May.
We are also looking towards 2026 when our next large gathering will celebrate our 70th birthdays - it will be a SASSY event - Schoolies At Seventy Still Young 😁
See you all there!.. 😘
