Penny & Philip celebrated 40 years of marriage yesterday with a party at Hykeham Memorial Hall. The three kids and their partners all had a hand in organising the event and I think everyone enjoyed themselves so it must have been a success.K & I got to the memorial hall at about 5:00pm. All the main setting up had been done already so it was only a matter of fiddling around the edges and being there to direct the mobile bar people. Martin, Charlotte, Peter and Ginny arrived soon after 6pm with Penny & Philip not far behind.
The party started at 7:30pm and P&P were greeting their guests outside the hall. It was a ferociously hot day so being outside was a wise move. There were about 65 guests in total and by soon after eight they were just about all there so we opened the buffet. The food was great and lots of people thought that we'd hired professional caterers - but it was all the work of Penny, Keren, Ginny, Charlotte and Martin.
At 9pm K announced that we would be starting the entertainment. This part of the evening was a surprise to most of the guests. P&P knew that we'd be putting something on but I think they were surprised by the extent of the 'show'. Keren led the proceedings by telling the story of how P&P met, courted, got engaged, married and had a family. This story was interspersed by songs performed by 'Hickertons at Heart' - a band formed specially for the occasion. It featured Martin on lead guitar, Pete on bass guitar, Charlotte and me on lead vocals and Keren and Ginny on backing vocals. We did Bachelor Boy, Heartbeat, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, The Young Ones, Walking Back To Happiness, Congratulations and Lady In Red. All in all in went down pretty well, there were no serious cock-ups, no falling out and we were nearly in tune for most of the time. We'd had about 8 or 10 practise sessions so it had been a lot of work but it was fun in the end. My mum and dad didn't even know I could sing!
Once the performance was out of the way we felt able to join in with the fun so quite a few beers were sunk before we had to tidy up. Lots of people pitched in to help with the clean up (thanks mum & dad and Alwyne and Pauline) so it got done quickly. The guy that runs the bar said he'd never seen so many people helping to tidy up and nobody had ever helped him. He needs to do more Christian parties!
After the party, P&G and K&I went back to M&C's for an after show party. More beer was consumed and left overs were eaten. It was a great way to wind down after the (sometimes stressful) organising and practise that we'd all worked hard at.
I think Penny and Philip enjoyed their party and we all look forward to another one in 10 years time!
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