As my older sister was 70 she decided to have a family lunch to celebrate. She chose a pub near Swindon which had a play area for children – Swindon being about the mid-point for everyone except my brother and his family. It is also near where my niece lives.
So who came? Everyone! My sister, Hilary, and her husband, Brian; their daughter, Catherine, her husband Simon and their children Christopher and Isla; their son Andrew, his partner Espe and their children, Sofia and Oscar. Then my brother Malcolm and his wife Brigitte, their daughter Emma with boyfriend Tom; their other children Chantal and Philippe. And me!
Due to traffic on the M4 – it was a Saturday in the school holidays – the Cambridge contingents were a bit late so it was a while before we all arrived and sat down for the meal – as shown above.
The banner was provided by Catherine and family.
As were the flowers.
Did the vegan sit down happily with the meat eaters?
Not sure – I wasn’t at that end of the table! Andy is not usually as serious as these pictures suggest…..
After we had eaten, everyone moved round to talk to other people.
The children also went outside to a play area, I think.
But they came back in at various times. I had brought the family photo album – starting with Hilary as a baby and ending with Chris as a baby. Chris stated looking at that and I was trying to explain who the people were. Others all had a look later, with the photo of Malcolm with long hair proving the most popular with his children!
The cake had the candles lit, happy birthday was sung and the candles blown out.
The cake was also provided by Catherine’s family and was enjoyed by all (I think).
After a while people started to pack up and leave, with the Cambridge car making the first move.
So was it a good day? I think everyone had a good time and my sister said she enjoyed it, which was the main point.