Out on the rush hour train from Liverpool Street to Bruce Grove for the Edmanson's Almshouse Christmas Dinner with Alastair Ross and his wife Judy - Rosemary could not make it as Grace was coming back from school that afternoon.
As always thie evening was expertly run by Dot and her team with support from Lesley Flynn. More than half the residents could make the party and we had a great three course menu.
This was followed by some great dancing to a versatile singer who knew many of the great songs of the fifties and sixties in all their tuneful banality. This gave us all an opportunity for a quick dance or two and Alastair showed a really nifty pair of heels.
My Christmas greetings was in the form of a slightly amended white fiver. This of course brought back many memories. It was always a most romantic note. It had black copperplate writing on one side only and a very complex wattermark. It was printed on thin paper that made a distinctive metallic sound when handled. However it was extensively forged, most effectively by the Germans in the Second World war, so was much distrusted by retailers. My parents always used to take any they got straight to the bank.
Eileen, wife of Eric Standen who was the beadle before John Freestone, remembered their wedding where three carefully folded white fivers kept by her father for any exceptional expenditure were inadvertently mistaken for waste paper and thrown away.
A great evening and it was good to see so many of the residents in good heart.
As always thie evening was expertly run by Dot and her team with support from Lesley Flynn. More than half the residents could make the party and we had a great three course menu.
This was followed by some great dancing to a versatile singer who knew many of the great songs of the fifties and sixties in all their tuneful banality. This gave us all an opportunity for a quick dance or two and Alastair showed a really nifty pair of heels.
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| A modified white fiver, reused some sixty-one years after issue. Amongst other improvements I have included my name as Chief Cashier. Thanks to Jen Dennell for the artwork. |
Eileen, wife of Eric Standen who was the beadle before John Freestone, remembered their wedding where three carefully folded white fivers kept by her father for any exceptional expenditure were inadvertently mistaken for waste paper and thrown away.
A great evening and it was good to see so many of the residents in good heart.
What an absolutely perfect Christmas card for those over a certain age!
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