August
Roger’s
and Helen’s birthdays
fall in August, and Helen came home on the weekend of 19-20 to celebrate (a
little after the event).
At Roger’s
birthday lunch, we had the last of our home-grown potatoes and a small bottle
of pink champagne.
On
Saturday 19 we had obtained tickets for the Malvern Theatre’s Junior Drama
Group production of Arthur Miller’s The
Crucible. Tickets were free, with a
retiring collection. A strong and
emotional drama about the
The
late August Bank Holiday brings the Winchcombe
Country Show, and for three days beforehand the house was transformed into a
miniature bakery. Although Teresa scaled
down her efforts after her successes in the last few years, Jay decided to make her debut in the
baking classes, as well as in various craft sections. On Bank Holiday Monday, Teresa was up before
dawn making final preparations and Roger drove (very delicately) the laden car
down to the marquee at 7.30 am.
Although
hopeful – as ever! – our expectations were limited this year, so when Teresa
and Jay returned in the afternoon they were surprised, but delighted, to find
their efforts richly rewarded across the board.
Teresa again won the overall cup for the baking events, and Jay won two
individual firsts for her carrot cake and her home-made greeting card. The most surprising success was a first prize
in the photography section for ‘Having Fun’, featuring Roger grinning gamely on
a roundabout at
Jay’ greeting card and cup Roger having fun! Teresa’s carrot cake
(left, in third place) and Jay’s winning cake on the right
The joint haul of cups
We
were back in Malvern on Wednesday 30 for a production of HMS Pinafore, staged by the national Gilbert and Sullivan company. A
first-class production, comparing most favourably with many of the clips we had
sampled on YouTube in preparation, and, of course, featuring some of Gilbert
and Sullivan’s best loved numbers. We
singled out the male chorus of sailors as outstanding for their energy and
precision.
During
the interval, we posed in the empty bandstand:
