Party time

The Blewbury Croquet Club social, held at the Red Lion on March 12, put an end to winter blues as members, old and new, chatted about bisques and breaks and other obsessions. Some 40 people enjoyed John’s beef stroganoff or its mushroom plant based alternative. Most of them splintered into tables of six for the quiz, the questions cunningly devised by David Long and Bruce Gibson., to cover croquet, Thames Valley history and general knowledge. The maverick joke round assigning such sports as coal heaving and black pudding throwing to English counties proved an effective tie breaker, with luck in random guessing the key factor. The exception was tiddlywinks , widely recognised as Norfolk’s finest. The winners were the team who can no longer remember its name comprising Peter Allan, Andrew Petit, Paul Wolf and his very knowledgable .daughter, Stephanie. Also present,Sarah, David’s partner, and Jane, Bruce’s wife, but they took no part, having heard it all before. Many thanks to organisers, David, Bruce and Paul, and mine hosts, John and Annabel, for a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Let’s do it again.,