CWA metro meets Rural #3 and Music Night at Kingower

I'm gradually catching up....

Sheryl and John picked me up around 2pm, and gave me a lift to Inglewood

I had my overnight bag, the brisket for dinner tonight (which I'd cooked yesterday), and the plants / bulbs that I'd bought at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show 

They have a twin cab ute, and it was pretty full

Arrived in Inglewood after 4pm, and Shona and Damien arrived about 1/2 hour after that

I immediately saw that Shane had cut back the plants on the right side of the path - and the cumquat on that side looked dead 

Given that we wanted to get ahead of things - John and I went across the road to the Town  Hall, to get the chairs - we wanted 70

I told him that for the Loddon Valley Arts trail that we had got them across in one lot!

Challenge accepted 

Unfortunately the orange chairs were stacked up in the little room up the stairs - so I brought them down in stacks of three or four - and John put them in the ute

And yes, we made it - all in one go

Just left them in the ute overnight - thought we'd unpack on Saturday morning

I put then brisket back on, and also made up some mashed potato, and red cabbage etc slaw

The 5 of us had drinks and some chips etc up on the veranda - which was very pleasant

And then down to dinner afterwards

I assumed the head of the table as Justin wasn't there (he's coming up Saturday morning)

Very pleasant evening, and not too late, as we had a big day coming up

Saturday, and we'd agreed to meet up at 8.30am

That said, I got up a bit earlier, and met John unexpectedly in the kitchen

I suggested that he take Sheryl up some tea and toast on a breakfast tray - which he did 

 Deborah came and dropped off the 2 dozen quail eggs (for the raffle) - and we took a photo of them a bit later outside

I also showed Shona the orchard, and invited her to try a peach

Damien was interested in getting some good shots of the house - before everyone came - so I took him across to the Town Hall to see if we could get some from the veranda

On the way there - we saw a guy who invited us to look at his very cute puppies which were in a picnic basket on the back of his ute. "mum" was in the cab keeping an eye on us

The palm trees must have grown so Damien couldn't really get a good shot - but tried nonetheless

He did take some nice photos of the hall though

I also picked up the meat tray from Deb at the Butcher's (for the raffle also)

So all up, we have the 2 dozen quail eggs, a meat tray, 2 bottles of wine from Water Wheel, 2 bottles of wine from Black Wallaby (actually I picked those up when I was here last week), a 1.5 hour tennis game for 4 people at Rippon Lea, and one night's accommodation for 2 at the Wine Bank with a welcome glass of wine - for our raffle.   

Sheryl and Shona started organising the raffle prizes in the dining room

 In the mean time, I had my run sheet - so people were looking at that - as to what to do - ie putting up bunting, putting up the CWA Gazebo, arranging the chairs, sweeping the paths, etc

Justin arrived around 11am, and David (the opera singer) not long afterwards, so that he could practice.  Damien's discman did the job for David's cd of music - and Justin plugged it into his speaker

We moved the cars so that Damien could get some good ground level shots without the cars in them

Shona coming back from some errand - and also the tip of my ticket table

I made the filo pastry shells for my caramelised onion and fetta tartlets, crisped them up in the oven, and then filled them - we put them back in the oven to melt the cheese a bit later

Shona got started on scones - in the photo below she's chopping up some fresh dates - she made plain scones - with jam and cream and date scones with butter

I also planted some of the plants that I'd got from the Garden show

John went and bought some sandwiches from the Bakery, and we had them in the rotunda

Justin was practising in the Music room upstairs for tonight, and David was practising in the garden

Jenny, Trish, Kaye and Sherril arrived around 1pm and started sorting things out

I had a shower, to be nice and fresh, ( I knew I would be running around all morning) and went and sat at the entrance at 1.20pm with my guest list and green for CWA wristbands 

Worked like a charm

People started arriving when I got there - so I let them in

We ended up with 62 tickets sold - a couple of people didn't end up coming from Melbourne - because of the War in Iran and the subsequent expensive petrol

It was a great day, members enjoyed the concert, the food, and the sneak peek at the main downstairs rooms of the house

I introduced David up to sing - after first getting everyone's attention with the dinner gong

 

David sang for about 40 minutes, and then had a well deserved break

And the members lined up to have a look at the house.

John showed them around, but I had also made up some information sheets for each of the rooms - and Sheryl had laminated them

And John/Damien had also taken some nice photos around the house

Below are some random shots around the garden

It had got sunny during the afternoon, so when David came back to sing he'd taken his jacket off - and he started to look a bit hot with the late afternoon sun in his face

The raffle was drawn around 3pm, and 2 Melbourne members won - Anne from Ashburton, and Annette from Port Phillip - we had decided to make 2 prize draws  - as Sheryl had brought some further donations  

Sheryl got up at the end of David's last set and presented him with a pack of our delicious jams

The event finished at 4.30, but people were leaving throughout the afternoon - especially those that had far distances to travel

We relaxed after this, and took various group photos of us and David around the garden and house

And then we sat down and had some bubbles in the dining room - which were very welcomed.  Justin came and joined us - as he'd practiced enough

Then up to Kingower around 6pm for dinner and Music night. 

By this stage it was myself and Justin, Sheryl and John, Shona and Damien, Anne, Wendy and David.  We went up in three cars - Wendy, Shona and David driving

Another good night - obviously I couldn't help with the cooking today - as I was otherwise engaged, but I did help with the waitressing

Justin initially sang with Mark G and co

Then there was Neil and I can't remember her name - but she has a lovely sweet voice

 

then Dermott

Then Mark's sister Narelle and family

And then Justin had his solo set 

Some of our guests were getting tired - it had been a big day, so we left around 11pm or so

And straight to bed - no one really stayed up

A staggered start in the morning again - I got Justin breakfast in bed  

It was a lovely blue sky day, so I WhatsApped Shona to tell Damien that the Town Hall looked beautiful in this early morning light - so he came down and took a photo of it 

And we had some afternoon tea for breakfast outside - as Wendy had come over by this stage (she had stayed at the motel)

We took down the gazebo, and tidied up some more - I was very lucky that a team of helpers had been doing the dishes yesterday - as we certainly went through a lot of cups. saucers and side plates 

Shona and Damien left soon after breakfast, as they were going to the Lost Trades Fair in Hanging Rock on the way home, and Anne and Wendy went around the same time

I think that Sheryl and John stayed til after lunch 

And we left mid afternoon - big weekend!