Walking into our Church Hall at 7.30pm on Saturday evening, we were met by an “International Evening” in full swing: a heaving mass of Parishioners of all ages, with groaning tables of food from around the world, all of which had been prepared and brought along by them. Bailey’s Irish Cream, Country Cider and soft drinks were served at the ‘bar’ all evening.
After a rendering of several verses of ‘Widecombe Fair’ led by Ian, we set about the food and could fill our plates as many times as we liked – there was plenty!
We had hot Moussaka, Irish stew from a cauldron, fried rice, noodles, chicken Korma, Polish sausage, various lovely foods from the Philippines, and finished off with Polish twists and a Welsh cake. There were also pastas, salmon delicacies, roast beef and Yorkshire ‘puddings’, cheeses, salads, pretty cakes and sweetmeats – almost too much to take in fully. It was a riot of colour and something for everyone’s taste, from so many parts of our world.
Once we had eaten our fill, we had some special singing; Margareth sang “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht”, then Ola and Jarek sang “Hey Sokoly”, a Polish song (Hey Falcons), and lastly Jessy, who bravely sang a solo in Malayalam, a language from Kerala in India, “Ehra Tholam Yahova Sahay Yichu” which means “The Lord has helped me till now, I didn’t have anything myself, but the Lord has helped me.”
The tone was lowered slightly by the general singing of songs from around Britain, and ‘Waltzing Matilda’ with ‘Dame Edna’ encouraging us along, ably accompanied by Jamie and his accordion!
The concept was delightful and we thank and congratulate Terry and Jim for arranging it all, and especially to all those who took part in the evening so enthusiastically.
Quotes from the evening:
- “We all had a jolly good time and it was lovely”.
- “If I was 20 years younger, I’d be up there dancing too, but I’d have a heart attack if I did it now!” (Sister Monica re ‘Zorba the Greek’)
- “We liked the singing, and the food, and watching the dancing – everything!”
- “Food fantastic, company brilliant, entertainment excellent”
- “When can we do it again?”