Cream Teas

This is the last Sunday that cream teas will be held in any village hall near us. For me it marks the end of the summer. I forgot to bring my camera last week. This final week, I remembered. You can see what I have been getting up to on Sunday afternoons from 2 until 4.The floral arrangments on the tables are made by the local women with flowers that grow in local gardens. Isn't that pretty?

When one first walk in to the entry way of the village hall one is greeted by the kindly fellow minding the door and taking admissions, £2.50. As one enters the main room of the hall, the sale tables are off to the left. Home garden produce and baking are on offer. Further down is the second-hand book table. I always buy some things to take home. Last week it was strawberry jam, drop scones and three cucumbers. This week, gingerbread, battenburg cake and more drop scones. Don't feel bad about missing out on something at the sale tables. There is always a dazzling display of cakes and biscuits (cookies to the Yanks) on the table. The cakes are included in the price of admission along with your scone with jam and cream.The scones and cream don't last long.

There is also the raffle table. Nice prizes. The under 18's aren't allowed to have raffle tickets as there are plenty of "bottled prizes" available. I saw a few things that I would have liked, but I forgot to get a ticket before I left the hall. There was also a big box of organically grown vegetables. (Kicking self for forgetting to get a ticket.)

The cream teas are run by local women to raise money for the village hall and church coffers. These women are the backbone of our little community.
The above is a photo of Pauline. One of my favourite people. Not only is she the mother of my friend Tina, but she bakes like a dream, has an immaculate house and plays the piano/organ for the church. You can see by this picture that she is also a lot of fun to hang around. When she saw that I was taking pictures of the cream teas, she insisted that I take a photo of the gals in the kitchen. When none of the other women wanted to be in the photo (shy), she picked up the half empty jar of jam and posed wearing her big pink "hearts" apron.