10 years ago when we were raising money to restore the handbells we held a fund raising ceildh to celebrate the combined 150th birthdays of 3 of our members.

How time passes – this year will see the 3 of them reach a combined darts score of 180!

The first of these birthdays was the 60th celebration of Jane, our chair. As a group we purchased a rose bush aptly titled “Birthday Wishes” for her garden – which was the site of many of our outdoor lockdown practices.

The ladies amongst us celebrated on Saturday afternoon when Jane, very generously, treated us together with the tower bell ringers and her other friends to afternoon tea at Cafe in the Opera at Salts Mill. A lovely time was had by all and there was the usual competitive moment when each table formed a team for a quiz. Although we did not win we discovered our musical director, Clair, has a secret knowledge of TV shows and films!

Roll on the next big birthday!

Solna Burnham