FOH 2012 'Summer' BBQ 6th

Maybe it was the first bad sign for this year’s Friend’s of Heywood Summer BBQ when they put the Aussie girl in charge of the Pimms.  Honestly, I did check that I had not made some huge social misstep when, instead of buying actual Pimms, I went for the far cheaper Aldi version, Austins.  Perhaps the second bad sign was that it had rained almost daily for the last two weeks and did not look set to clear.

All warnings aside, the FOH committee decided that, despite the lack of ‘summer’, the BBQ would go ahead as planned.  We also changed the Pimms sign to read ‘summer punch’ so all was right in the world.

The committee spent a rainy Friday afternoon attempting to turn the sodden playground into a festive fun park all the time realizing how mad this all was but that it was too late to pull out now.  We stoically tried to ignore the fact that the roofs of the marquees were filling with water and all the bunting did was drip down onto the tables.

 I headed back to the school for 1700 to assist with the final arrangements and cut up the fruit salad for the ‘summer punch’.  Controversially, I was omitting the oranges and apples and streamlining it to only include mint, strawberries and cucumber (I was given a stiff ignoring when I pointed out that this is not a fruit!).  We had decided ahead of time that it would be cruel to make Grannie and Grandad stand around in the pouring rain and at 1800, Nathan made his way with the kids to join in the fun and take up his post on the BBQ.

 I question the OH&S standard of the flying swing but no body else seemed to mind!

 Zac, Darcy & Freddie definitely up to no good

 Despite needing constant toweling down, we did manage to make use of the jumping castle and obstacle course

 Due to the rain the blokes on the BBQ and we ladies on the bar were kept busy as no none was able to set up their own picnic this year. I would also like to point out that no one even questioned my ‘summer punch’, which was still in demand despite the absence of summer!

 She may have almost succumbed to hypothermia by the end of the night, but Abbey still managed to get through 3 hot dogs, countless runs on the obstacle course, get tattooed and have her nails done – all with a smile!

(We decided to give hairspray a miss this year not wishing to see every child with dye running down their faces!)

 Zac takes a swing whilst William, Abbey and William G look on

 The older boys didn’t let a bit of a downpour stop them playing an impromptu game of football

Despite having all the odds stacked against us we had a simply amazing turnout for the evening.  Zac and Abbey ran wild until it was pack up time at 2000.  I will give this to the Brits, they may have simply horrendous weather but it doesn’t stop them constantly organising and turning up to outdoor events!!  Definitely a case of a stiff upper lip – or is it mad dogs and Englishmen?