A great birthday party!

 Yesterday, Dot and I were invited to a 70th birthday party organised on behalf of a family friend whom we have known for several decades. The event was organised by Chris Martin (her maiden name) who lived next door to us for a long time and had two daughters of a similar age to Emily and Rebecca. The guest of honour was her brother, David. He's a train enthusiast and much of the party revolved around train themes. This included the invitation card which kind of invited us to a rail journey, some food on the table, and a train silhouette along one wall. The event took place in a large up-stairs dining room at the local bowling club and attracted about 50 people, many of whom we knew. We had a lovely meal and some great entertainment lasting almost 3 hours. These pictures illustrate the event quite well. Here, for example, is the 'train on the back wall, but one could walk behind the image and peer out of the windows. David, up front, was having a great time driving his pretend train, as the second picture shows. 

I have often thought 'wouldn't it be nice to drive a steam train', and yesterday I could pretend to do precisely that, as shown above! People mingled freely and often had long and vibrant discussions about this, that and the other.

There were ceremonial occasions like the cutting of the cake.

After that, a band of instruments and singers played several songs about life and travel on railways and each guest had some printed pages providing the words and musical guidance so they could participate. That didn't include me as I have a voice like a foghorn.

 

And at one stage guests formed a kind of rail-trail to meander through the room in a long line before coming together to join in the singing.

Once this was over, people started leaving the event, which had gone on quite a while and included a great meal. Just we were about to depart we seized upon our choo choo biscuits - molded to look like a steam engine!

Thanks must go to the organisers for their imaginative rendition of the party's main theme and its social and gastronomic success. Everyone had a great time.

AS