The Old Priory, Bicester, was the venue for the branch BBQ on 6th September. Our hosts, Helen and Rob Parkinson, very kindly ensured the weather was warm and dry for the evening. Sadly, we had to cancel/postpone the planned striking competition, because so many people were either away or otherwise engaged and we couldn’t raise enough teams. However, around ten of us made our way to the church and rang for about an hour, while the BBQ coals were warming up.
We returned to indulge ourselves with burgers, hot dogs and a truly delicious selection of salads and puddings prepared by the Bicester and Islip catering crew.
Had I known that Rob’s mini-olympics would swiftly follow, I probably wouldn’t have had seconds of anything at all. He’d organised three relay races for two teams of mixed young and not-so-young participants. The 20ft sprint seemed like a mile and we were so busy looking for an oxygen tank afterwards, I don’t actually remember who won, but I’m pretty sure it was my team (combined age of 193 for the 5 of us). It was all good fun.
Although there were only 20 of us at the BBQ, it was particularly pleasing to note that 6 of the 20 were aged between 14 and 18. It was great to see the youngsters all getting on so well together and enjoying the evening…including seeing how many could fit into the tree house at the same time and playing hide and seek in the dark. Just before we all made our way home, Jeremy thanked Helen and Rob for a lovely evening and also presented Amy and August with book tokens. August is going to the University of Cambridge and Amy is heading off to College too. They will be very much missed, but we all look forward to seeing them very soon.
Teresa Carter
