A Village Brainstorming Session: Part 2
At 7.15 the night before last, the Chairman of the Village Hall was to be found once again chairing a meeting of the Castle Coop fund-raising team. “We’ve been mulling over our proposed money-making ideas for a week now’, he told us, ‘ and need to reach a consensus of opinion asap as to which ones to run with, so that we can get cracking.’
It was pretty clear that ‘asap’ actually meant 8.00pm because he’d put out a little clock next to his pen on the table top in front of him, with the alarm set to signal the end of the meeting in 45 minutes.
What do a scaffold and an alarm clock have in common?
Back in the 1770s Samuel Johnson said,
“When a man knows he is to be hanged…it concentrates his mind wonderfully”. Luckily, our minds were focused by the ticking clock and no scaffold was needed. We put on an impressive display of concentration and simply zipped through the agenda.
In a jiffy we had our outline plan.
Six months’ worth of proposed fund-raising Entertainments:
July: Race Night at the Ox and Moose – to be organised by Colonel Pyncheon
August: Fete weekend featuring Open Gardens, Tennis Tournament/Duck and Boat Races/ Chauffeured Golf Cart Rides/ Dog, Flower and Cake Show – to be organised by Lady Lohmann-Brown, Brown Owl, and the Misses Pepperpot
September: Safari Supper to be organised by Lady Egality.
October: Halloween Barbecue to be organised by the Chairman of the Village Hall and the Agent
November: Quiz- to be organised by the 2013 winners -Hurrah! Sir Plym, Lady E, the Agent and I only came 4th last year (see report here) & so don’t have to lift a finger for this event.
December: Church Bell Ringing Marathon and Concert in the Church for the lead up to Christmas – to be organised by the Reverend Rosecombe and Lady Sebright
New Year’s Eve: 70’s Dance in the Village Hall – to be organised by Sir Plym, Lady Egality and me (which is brilliant as Lady E and I have already designed Sir Plym’s costume and the prototype invitation as we were hoping to hold a fancy dress party for the village in August (see report here). We just have to change it from being a summer extravaganza to a winter one!)
Time is called:
At this point the alarm clock went off. As the Chairman of the Village Hall doesn’t believe in mucking about, the meeting was swiftly terminated and the Village Hall fund-raising team promptly and happily adjourned to the Ox and Moose.
The Safari Supper:
Lady E doesn’t muck about either. By this morning she had a flyer for her Safari Supper ready to go: CASTLE COOP SAFARI SUPPER! Saturday, 13/09/14
The Village Hall Committee is planning a Safari Supper for Castle Coopians! It will be an absolutely fab event; we will be travelling all around the village eating each of the three courses of our suppers in different homes and with different sets of fellow guests. You eat your starter at House A, main course at House B and pudding at House C. At each different house, you will sit with different dining companions! Offer to Host a course and get your tickets for only £10 Go to all three courses as a guest and buy a ticket for £25!
Beverly from America commented last week that she hadn’t come across a Safari Supper before. Lady E has asked me to say she hopes her flyer explains the concept properly. We are also very grateful to both ‘thinkingofyouandme’ and Billy for their great fundraising ideas.
Yours, looking forward to Race Night at the Ox and Moose!
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Want to join us but don’t live in Perch Fell? You’re in luck ! Yay!
Our crack Editorial Team at The Awesome Hen:
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Lady Egality Maran Sporting Correspondent
Sir Plymouth Rock Author of '101 Ways to Organise Everything & Everyone'
Brown Owl Castle Coop Local Celebrity
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All the characters you meet in The Awesome Hen live in the virtual hamlet of Perch Fell and nowhere else. They are entirely their own selves and have no alter egos in either the actual or the virtual world.
Mrs Hilda-Jay Nige has quite a ring to it. Thank you. 🙂
It’s official then!
Please, do call me Mrsnige, much less of a mouthful! Happy to join virtually, no responsibility that way!!
Very glad to meet you Mrsnige and I’m absolutely delighted you are now a virtual Village Hall Committee member as will be the Chairman. Please have a large virtual glass of delicious Bubbly tonight on me!
Have now recovered from my over indulgence in the large glass of Bubbly you kindly provided. It was very fizzy……. hic.
When is the next committee meeting and can you please forward minutes and agenda…. Will ensure I have my own stopwatch. grin. Does this mean that I get my own nom de plume ????
Oh dear, I’m sorry about the hiccups but I’m sure you wouldn’t have over-indulged on only one large glass – the Chairman of the V.H. thinks I should have sent you a virtual bottle. Unfortunately, re the agenda and minutes, our preparatory paperwork for V.H. meetings tends to be a few jottings on the back of an envelope.
Re a nom de plume – What a great idea- I’d absolutely love to sit on a committee with a virtual incognito! Any preferences? Do choose something deeply mysterious!
Well, it was a very Iarge glass!
I rather imagine myself as the mysterious Hilda Pierce, what do you think? Dipping in and out……
If feathered plumage is required, then I think perhaps something to do with either a Jay or a Magpie, both intelligent (cough) and colourful in their own way.
I will rustle out all my old backs of envelopes in preparation…
Dear Mrsnige, Mrs Hilda-Jay Nige? & I’m so glad it was a very large glass!
So pleased to have been of some assistance, I have plenty more ideas, should they be required…. Good luck with all these events and I look forward to reading all about them as they happen.
I love your drawings too…
Dear Thinking of You and Me, thank you very much – will you please join our committee immediately? Actually or Virtually? Please?
Thank you also for yr. kind words re. the pictures – v. much appreciated!
Where I live, they refer to them as “progressive dinners”. I think “safari suppers” is a more evocative term. I am a little surprised at the absence of dress instructions on Lady E’s invitation – I assume pith helmets are de rigeur for this with matching attire. Perhaps illustrations will be forthcoming.
I confess to being a little disappointed that the sponsored cricket match didn’t make the cut, but perhaps Sir Plym vetoed it out of trepidation at having to face the Agent’s fiercesome googlies?
The sponsored cricket match didn’t exactly ‘not make the cut but it is to be a private one rather than a village affair. Sir Plym was actually a step ahead of us and had already organised a match for a Sunday in August! He’s to captain a side of his sporting cronies who will be challenging his son’s team for the ‘Rock’ cup. Sir Plym is an awesome wicket keeper; when young, he was pictured in the Times playing in the Eton v. Harrow match stumping an opponent. Although cricket is not the Agent’s forte, he is going to be allowed to bat and Lady E and I are i/c the cricket tea.