I’m pretty sure it was a family only affair that year and not all that many people. Phillie really wasn’t at all well by then. I’m pretty sure Pauline didn’t come that year and I don’t think all the youngsters came, although I think Charlie and Chris were there.
Th gathering was on the Saturday evening, but Janie and I took the Monday off; possibly just to enjoy a bit of the summer; I don’t think we did anything in particular.
I remembered that we had done the Lord’s T20 thing with John and family a couple of times, but it wasn’t until I found diary/e-mail references to this Sunday afternoon gig that I realised that there were several years between visits.
I recall that, in many ways, the 2010 outing was more successful. None of the Friday afternoon/evening stress – this was a Sunday afternoon outing in good weather.
I think the girls had genuinely enjoyed the Lord’s visit in 2007 so had been really looking forward to this afternoon visit and they weren’t disappointed.
John was possibly a little disappointed by the result – another “close but no cigar” match for Essex. Here is a link to the scorecard.
Janie and I don’t much do weddings, but we’re very fond of Mat and wanted to be there on his big day. After all, he’d turn up and keep wicket for Z/Yen and/or The Children’s Society whenever we asked. Good batsman too.
I knew Mat from Lambton Place (now known as BodyWorksWest), where he worked; I had known him for a good few years before the wedding. Mostly cricket was the thing we had in common, but we’d chat about all sorts. He was a talented musician and wrote poetry too.
The young woman he was marrying, Catherine, seemed absolutely delightful, as did her Canadian family. She was an expert in 18th century fine art (professionally) and seemed steeped in the 18th century generally.
So I suppose no surprise, as they had settled in Battersea, that they married in the beautiful Georgian church of St Mary’s. Here’s a charming vid about the church:
The weather smiled on us that day, as it had smiled on the cricket I attended on both preceding days.
Janie and I fondly remember sitting chatting outside the church after the wedding with several people; mostly friends and staff from Lambtons; Laurence, Tina and John especially come to mind.
We’re not 100% sure which Battersea hostelry was blessed with our company for the wedding breakfast and dance. I think perhaps The Woodman.
Anyway it was a very enjoyable evening, with a chance to meet the bride’s family properly and indeed Mat’s, plus some more time with other friends.
Could it really have been 20 years? Yes of course it could, but still it sounds ridiculous when I say it.
Anyway, all of the usual suspects were there – DJ’s friends, Kim & Micky’s friends…which of course meant lots of our (Janie’s and my) friends.
There was a special guest appearance by neighbour Ken Livingstone, with whom I chatted idly for a while. Also the local mayor was there.
Never ones to miss out on a promotional opportunity., I discover that Theme Traders made a promotional video of that party, in which, if you look carefully, you can spot both me and Janie, more than once…
…which provided evidence that we were really there…
…and for a while aided our memories of the event, which was one of those hard to forget (because it was so spectacular) yet hard to remember (because we were enjoying ourselves so much) evenings…
…but the video has gone now.
The Bikini Beach Band were the headline act and jolly good they were too, as always.
I recall cunningly arranging a slightly later than usual meet time with Ashley so I could see the denouement of the World T20 Semi-Final between Sri Lanka and England.
I recall a very convivial evening with Ashley after the match. The restaurant seemed quite good, but I seem to remember that Ashley had a fist full of vouchers, which enabled us to try the place at modest prices. We concluded that the meal had been good value for us, but that the place would not pass the Manchester “value/how much?” test once at menu prices.
Ashley might recall more about that evening; if he does, no doubt he’ll chime in Ogblog-like.
No idea where Michael and I had a drink on 10 March, but my diary simply says:
MRM fm 17:00
I’m guessing we wanted to get all the business chat out of the way ahead of the social gathering a few days later – probably on pain of nagging from both Elisabeth and Janie.
MRM to me later that evening (10 March):
Good to chat tonight over a bottle of wine. Should do it more often.
Asked about our China travel guides, apparently given away…
…Behind the scenes for Saturday – Elisabeth has NOT booked a sitter and thinks Xenia and Maxine are coming. You might want to chat with Janie. (1) If that’s fine, then we might as well meet at Hawksmoor. (2) If that’s not fine, i.e. the girls are in total female communication mode, then I’m happy to put the paternal foot down for a sitter.
Me to Michael fewer than 15 minutes later. I sound a bit stressy. Perhaps just tired and emotional:
Thanks.
Re Saturday, I strongly suggest you get Elisabeth to speak with Janie on this. The whole point of meeting at yours, as far as Janie is concerned, is that otherwise we won’t see the children. If I raise this matter, Janie might well go off on one!! We should either meet at the restaurant at 19:30 six strong or at your house 18:00 with sitter on the way. Leave it to the girls to decide. I’m easy either way.
Another boat worth not rocking is the itinerary for the holiday. There won’t be any holiday unless we simply close on this very soon (5th or is it 6th iteration); and believe me on this occasion I am totally cool about it, other than imploring not to pack the itinerary with so much that we don’t get any rest!! Stone Forest was inked in on first iteration and won’t budge, I’m sure.
Janie and I recall that the Saturday event ended up being deferred to 19:30 at Hawksmoor Spitalfields with the Mainelli family complete.
Hawksmoor Spitalfields was (quite probably still is) a cracking good restaurant – absolutely top notch. Janie reckoned it even topped Smith and Wollensky in New York for quality – praise indeed. The Mainelli girls were (quite possibly still are) very well behaved to the point of being good company on a grown up meal out – at that time they were 12 and 10 ish.
The Hawksmoor thing was great for family eating, as you can choose your size of steak/chunk of beef and then share.
Anyway, Saturday 13 March was an excellent evening out.
Probably the last thing Janie and I needed was a big lunch the next day but…
…14 March 2010 was mothering Sunday.
Mum was really into Perfect Blend at that time – a local eatery run by a really nice and friendly family – the son ran the restaurant/cafe, which was across the road from his father’s greengrocer shop, which had been there since the very dawn of time.
We liked the place because the staff were all very nice with mum and she felt she was supporting nice local people whom she had sort-of known for a very long time. I vaguely recall the service being a bit below the normal superb standards that day, as most places are on mothering Sunday, as the plethora of demanding mothers needing above average levels of attention spread the service capability a bit thin in even the best places.
Between all these eating and drinking activities, I would have been following the test match from Chittagong – click here. I’ll guess that we timed lunch and our arrival at the house to ensure that the cricket was over and mum therefore will have noticed no distraction on my part. Mum might have noticed a slightly hungover version of me, though, from the Hawksmoor evening – great wines.
> I believe you placed John S White on the guest list as well. Sadly, he is unable to chaperone me that evening, so his name need no longer appear on the list.
> However, I ran into Bobbie Scully unexpectedly last night (what a small place London is) and she has volunteered to take John’s place, as long as it isn’t too late to add her name to this list. She is also 1984 and might be on your lists as Barbara Scully.
Best wishes and see you Thursday
Why I thought I needed chaperoning for anything I have no idea, but Bobbie certainly did join me that evening at Tiger Tiger I recall.
I remember chatting with quite a few people, not least Mark Thomas, sharing reminiscence of my headline piece when he was elected President of the Union (to be Ogblogged in the fullness of time).
I also met John Easom for the first time that evening, I am pretty sure.
It was quite noisy, though, so I seem to recall Bobbie and I not hanging around too long and heading off in search of a quieter place to eat and have a chin-wag. I think we might have ventured to a Chinese Restaurant for that purpose. We were in that part of town.
With thanks to Paul Deacon for this and the following photos.
In truth, until this event, I had been pretty rubbish at keeping in touch with people from school.
I’d certainly avoided formal gatherings over the years, relenting just once for a Saddlers’ Hall do a few moons/years before this event, which I shall write up for Ogblog in the fullness of time.
But this one grabbed my attention, not least because one of the ringleaders was John Eltham (with whom I had already re-established contact through quasi-business stuff).
Also because it was billed as an informal gathering of the “Class of 1980”; a rehearsal for some formal thing that was coming up that summer (which I resolved not to attend).
Also because Paul Deacon (one of the few people with whom I had kept in touch over the years) pipped me an e-mail letting me know that he’d be there and hoping that I’d be there too.
So, if all the photos have disappeared from this Ogblog piece before you read it, that means that Paul has said no to my request and I have zapped his photos. But if the photos are still here, thanks Paul, for the photos.
I remember taking along a couple of pieces of memorabilia which caused some mirth; namely my slide rule and a pair of sports socks into which my mum had sewn little patches with my name on them. The slide rule is no longer much use to man or beast (apart from explaining to youngsters how lucky they are to have computers doing all that stuff for them). The socks might come in handy as I approach the other end of my life – e.g. if I start to forget my own name.
I remember meeting Susie Schofield, who was then the new alumni person, chatting with her for some time. I’m not sure I let on that I wasn’t really the most alumni-amiable person at the event…in fact I think I got away with it.
Milk, Peanut, the nicknames all came flooding back…
It was a very convivial gathering and I got to chat with lots of people. Lots of people got to chat with lots of people. Convivial gatherings tend to be a bit like that.
Why I cultivated the most pompous face on earth for this photo is anyone’s guess…perhaps because I appear to be balancing a speaker precariously on my head, to the amusement of Paul Deacon, David Wellbrook and Facebook commentators at the time
I know this next bit sounds almost unbelievable to the uninitiated, but after the drinks, many of us ended up a few doors away in The Rajasthan for a curry. Yes, really.
You want evidence?
The Rajasthan…evidently.
I tried to settle my account with a fifty-billion dollar financial instrument. Yes, really.
You want evidence?
50 Billion here and 50 Billion there soon adds up to real money.
I look a bit tired and emotional in that last photo; parting company with money sometimes has that effect on me. But in truth I had very much enjoyed that evening, which in many ways kicked off my rejoining of the fold and joining in many subsequent convivial evenings with the old school clan.
I remember being astonished by Phillie’s energy, although she was very poorly by then, as she wanted to explore some other bits of the V&A before we left.
With thanks to “Hackney Shire” for the photo, which I have lifted from MTWD
Janie and I went to Barmy Kev & Olivia’s wedding. We had a really good time.
The event was written up by Ged (that’s me) with pictures by Hackney Shire (many thanks also to her) and published on MTWD that Christmas – click here.
