31st December - Second day of New Year weekend away at Pentrenant Hall

Despite going to bed so late last night I managed to be up before 9am. After breakfast we had our morning worship. This was led by Norman and Colin who challenged us to have a positive vision for 2007 . Rachel gave a moving testimony about the struggles she's been having lately with regard to her job - she is hoping to change her career in 2007 and I hope next year will be better for her.
After the service, Kay and a few others went off to prepare lunch whilst the rest of us sat around and chatted. The original plan was to have lunch at about 1.30pm, but it soon became apparent that this would not be the case when Sarah came in to say that the main oven had gone out and they were having problems re-lighting it. Eventually the staff of the hall came to our aid and let us use theirs. The meal was finally ready at about 3 and it was certainly worth the wait. We had chicken wrapped in bacon with roast potatoes,carrots and stuffing followed by a lovely forest fruits pavlova.
After lunch we split into three groups. About half of us joined Colin to solve his murder mystery puzzle, another group made decorations for tonight's party and the rest of us (including me) scrapbooked the childhood photos that people had brought along ready for one of tonight's activities. We then decorated the two main rooms ready for the party.
After putting on our party gear we gathered at 8 in the dining room for the buffet, wine tasting and "Guess who" quiz using the childhood photos. We had great fun trying to match the descriptions and prices we had with the wines. When the answers were handed in we found that no-one had done all that well in identifying them - the highest score was 9 out of 24 and the prizes were awarded to Phil (who seemed to take the whole thing very seriously), Chandresh (who didn't taste any of them!) and Karen. We then moved into the lounge to dance. Anya brought in a delicious looking chocolate birthday cake for Simon and we sang "Happy Birthday" to him.
At the stroke of midnight after lots of hugs we all joined together to sing "Auld lang Syne". Tim handed out sparklers to Kay, Susannah and I and the four of us went out to light them.

We went back in to find Colin had connected his camera to the TV to show us the photos he had taken. We gathered for some more group photos and then went back in the lounge for some jiving. Simon then suggested we should have a game of Taboo and as we were still in high spirits we thought it was a great idea! I eventually went to bed at about 2am.

30th December - First day of New Year Weekend away at Pentrenant Hall

I met Charlie at Piccadilly Station this morning and we started off on our journey by catching the train to Shrewsbury. During the journey, he showed me the Christmas "present" he had treated himself to - a small remote-controlled Dalek. When we arrived at Shrewsbury, Phil was waiting to meet us. Despite the weather, we had a good journey to Pentrenant Hall. I found out on arrival that I'm in a room with 5 others, three of whom I know well (Julie, Jenny and Rachel).
Also found out that Phil and I are responsible for cooking tonight's meal along with a new girl called Debbie who is from Coventry. Therefore, when Anya returned from shopping we started to prepare the meal. Dinner tonight was salmon with a pesto and parmesan crust followed by apple crumble and custard - all absolutely delicious. I was pleased to see the crumble was well received as I had a major hand in making it.
By dinner time most people had arrived. There's quite a few new people on this weekend - I think they're very brave spending New Year with a group of strangers.
In the evening we split into teams for a series of quizzes and memory games. I was responsible for the general knowledge quiz and I was pleased to find I hadn't made it too easy or too hard.
Unfortunately our team came last again. I would say that this was partly due to the fact that Ian dropped out after the second quiz due to some misunderstanding with Marie - it's a shame he's so sensitive.
After a short coffee or wine break (!), a few of us stayed up to play "Articulate" - a fun describing game similar to Taboo. Even though we used every opportunity we could get to move our opponent's piece backwards our team narrowly lost, but we still had great fun. I was the last person to go to bed tonight in our room ( at about 1 am), but managed to do so without disturbing anyone.

25th December - Christmas Day

Woke up early enough to open my wrapped presents before going to church. My main present was a standard lamp which Mum and I put together over the weekend. Other presents were a bracelet, fluffy socks(!) , bath scrub and chocolates. I bought Mum a new cafetiere and Dad an electric razor.
Even though I went to church a bit later than I normally do I was still first there. People were slow to arrive, but by the time the service started the church was half full. One of the best things about this morning was saying "Merry Christmas" to everyone at the start of the service and hearing them say the same to me. The service was led by a retired minister called Ian Mutton as Margaret was preaching at Moston. It was more formal and less child friendly than our usual Christmas day services, but we still had the opportunity to sing some good carols including our church's favourite - "Come and join the celebration".
The rest of the day was fairly quiet. Mum made a lovely Christmas meal - Chicken with all the trimmings folowed by apple strudel and ice cream. Watched the special edition of Strictly Come dancing - it was good to see Colin Jackson and Erin won. I will miss the competition now it's ended. Also watched "Vicar of Dibley" - very funny.

23rd December - Blitz Jive Christmas Party at Stockport Town Hall

I was pleased to see that Tony and Sean were already there when I arrived tonight. There was a good supply of mince pies on the tables. Eddy came over and sat with us for a change.
The lesson tonight was fun - the instructor wore a Santa suit. Tim arrived halfway through the lesson. I managed to catch his attention and showed him where we were sitting. I had a dance with him. I noticed Pria- my friend from salsa class and went over to have a chat with her. I then had a dance with a couple of the guys I know from classes at Prestwich. Sue from 25 plus arrived quite late - she said she had a friend visiting from London so she had been out for a drink with her before coming to the dance. I had another dance with Tim and a dance with Tony. I decided to leave just after 11pm. Tim seemed concerned that I was leaving early, but I explained that it would take me a while to get home.
Perhaps next time I go to Stockport I will stay a bit later. I was surprised to see the roads were quiet tonight - I expected it to be busier with it being Christmas.

22nd December - Happy Feet

I know "Happy Feet" is supposed to be a kids film, but I was still quite keen to see it. After all, it combined two of my favourite things - penguins and dancing!
The cinema wasn't packed, but there were quite a few kids there. The film was good - the animation was very clever. The singing and dancing was amusing. I'm cetainly glad I went to see this film.

20th December -Works Christmas party at La Tasca

There were quite a few people there already when I arrived at La Tasca tonight. I met Jonathan and his girlfriend Liz and had a drink with them. Zoe then called us to our tables for the meal. We had the raffle - the prizes were more valuable this year, but there were less of them. I was therefore very surpised to win a bottle of Jameson's whisky. The meal was lovely - they served us a wide selection of tapas dishes. I sat with John, Guy and Phil from our department and Christine and Charlie from our Careers services Unit.
After the meal we chatted whilst the staff cleared away the tables so there was some room for dancing. The disco was good - the DJ played a good selection of records. I joined a few of the girls from the sales and marketing department on the dance floor. I left at about 11.30pm. In all it was a good night.

19th December - Final salsa lesson of the year

I arrived at La Tasca tonight to find that there weren't many people there. However we had a good evening. I finally got the chance to learn bachata as we did it as the warm up for the intermediate lesson. We did rueda for the intermediate lesson. Lorraine taught us some fun moves like ping-pong where you have to bump hips with the person next to you. Afterwards I had a dance with Rob. I'm going to miss my salsa classes for the next two weeks as we don't start back again until 9th January.

16th December - 25+ Christmas party

We arrived at the party quite early tonight. There was already quite a bit of food laid out in Nigel's front room. Some of us thought it was a bit cold and we soon found out that this was because the heating wasn't switched on!
I saw quite a few people I hadn't seen for ages tonight. I also met a few new people including a guy called Steven from Buxton and two guys from my side of Manchester called Phil and Kevin. Kay sold Phil her ticket for next week's dance at Stockport - she has changed her mind about going as she wants to go home early for Christmas.
The secret Santa gift lucky dip seemed to go down quite well. I got 3 Kinder eggs, Vanessa got some silly reindeer antlers and Mark got a candle. It looked like quite a few people had bought chocolates as gifts.
The evening ended with dancing in the lounge. Kay and Tim tried to do ceroc, but there wasn't really a lot of room for that. Nigel insisted on turning down the music at midnight because he didn't want to disturb his elderly neighbour. We arrived back home at about 1am.
On reflection it was a good night. People seemed to have been very generous so there was plenty of food to go round and there was a good party atmosphere.

15th December - Christmas Markets and Activities Christmas meal

I had another day off work today so I went for another look around the Christmas Markets.
It rained all day so I went to have a look at the Dazzle Jewellery exhibition in the Town Hall for a while. I go to this exhibition every year and the jewellery on show always impresses me.
Two of my favourites were Jane Adam and Vicky Ambery Smith When I went outside I managed to get a decent photo of the Christmas angels in Albert Square at last.

Yates was absolutely packed out tonight when I got there. I managed to get to the bar and ordered a Mudshake - this is the only place I know that still sells them.
We walked to the China buffet restaurant which is on Nicholas Street. I must admit I wasn't that impressed with the place. It was quite cramped and reminded me of a school canteen. The food was good but there was nowhere near the variety that you get at Buffet City or Yum Yums. Brian and I went home after the meal as we didn't fancy going to the Crown. I hope tomorrow night will be better.

9th December - Pub Night at Cheshire Line Tavern

I arrived early tonight to find Mark H,Nigel and another Mark ordering food. It looked pretty good. Jenny, Debbie and little Sarah arrived later and we spent most of the evening talking about Jenny's youth work. It was quite an amusing conversation, but I won't explain why! Most people seem to be planning to go to next week's party. The new programme was passed round - it looks pretty good. Northern Lights seem to be continuing to organise events which is good to hear.
When I left I found my car was slightly frozen up, but fortunately it didn't take long to defrost.
Had a fairly good journey home - I now feel confident about driving to that pub.

8th December - Alan's birthday meal at Lal Qila

I met up with Sue, Dave, Alan K and Dave O in town tonight. Sue is on crutches at the moment as she broke her ankle a few weeks ago and has just had the plaster removed. We arrived at the Albert pub to find Alan and Mike were already there. The others arrived not long after and we made our way to Lal Qila. It's a restaurant that I've not been to before, but it looked good. There were 19 of us all together so we sat on a long table at the back of the restaurant. The service was pretty efficient. I had fish tikka and the people sitting near me had various different types of biryani and lamb and chicken specials. That meant that there was more rice than we needed. The food was certainly very tasty and filling. I think some people regretted having starters.
As I haven't seen most of this group for a while we had plenty to talk about. Al is planning his usual party between Christmas and New Year at his house. Kay and I told the others about our planned New Year long weekend away. She is helping with the catering so that means I will have to find someone else to give me a lift which will be fun!
After the meal, we tried to decide where to go next. Some of the group wanted to go to a club in town whilst others wanted to go to the Woodstock in Didsbury. We therefore ended up going our separate ways. I went back into town with Karen, Al and Pat and then went home by taxi as I was quite tired.

4th December - Christmas markets and dance lesson

I was off work today so Mum and I went to look at the Christmas Markets in Manchester city centre. We started off in Exchange square where I had a lovely jerk chicken wrap at the Shlurp stall.
We then looked round the various jewellery and Christmas ornament stalls in St Ann's square. The strong smell of aniseed drew us towards the boiled sweet stall at the end - it was so strong you could smell it from outside the church on the opposite side of the road! We then went on to see the stalls on Brazenose Street and bought sweets there. In Albert Square I sampled olives, salami and little ginger biscuits, but we didn't buy anything else as we know you can get all the food for a lot less at the local supermarket! I was quite impressed with the giant Angels in the centre of the square. Must remember to bring my camera with me next time!
We were lucky that it stayed dry all day today -it didn't start raining until we arrived home.
Despite the bad weather I still managed to make it to the Longfield Suite tonight for the jive class. We had two new guest teachers tonight - George and Jackie. it was good to see that they both had mikes so we got good advice on technique for both men and women. The moves learnt in the beginner class tonight were arm jive,manspin and shoulder drop. The intermediate class was just a variation on the beginners class with some syncopation and styling added. It was all well taught - I hope we get these instructors again next week.

3rd December - Dance afternoon at La Tasca

I was surprised to see there was no-one dancing when I arrived at La Tasca this afternoon. I sat with Bernie and her friend Jenny. Not long after I arrived a few couples started dancing. Lisa, one of the instructors then welcomed us and did a short follow my leader session to warm us up. I had a few dances with members of our Tuesday class and one with the Chinese guy who is a really good dancer. The afternoon ended with a Tai Chi demonstration and another dance led by Lisa. She then invited any guy that wanted to to join her on the dance floor and showed off by adapting her style to suit each of her dance partners.

2nd December - Decorating the church

I was quite relieved to see the tree was already up when I arrived at church this morning. Jean,Barbara, Elaine, John and Amy arrived not long after me and we started to decorate the tree. John was the only one prepared to climb up the ladder so we passed the ornaments to him to hang on the tree. I also planned to hang up the banners today, but found they were too creased and needed ironing. After we had finished Jean made coffee for us all - it was very welcome. The church looked much brighter when we had finished.

25th November - Big Jive Night at Stockport

I must admit I felt decidedly out of my comfort zone when I arrived at the Town Hall tonight and discovered that Tim, Tony and Sean were not there. However, I was soon cheered up by the arrival of a few of the Prestwich regulars and decided to join in the lesson. I managed to master the first and last move of the sequence tonight, but not the daft "kicking" move in between. I was reassured by most of the men I danced with that they would never be inclined to use a silly move like that on the dance floor anyway.
After the lesson I had quite a few dances, mostly with guys I knew from Prestwich. It was great to see and dance with Silvano again - he complemented me on both my outfit and my dancing tonight. I also danced with the
girl who came with him and then watched in awe as she did a "Double Trouble" dance(i.e. a dance with two partners) with two other girls. I left at 11pm (as I did last time) feeling pleased that I'd made the effort to go there as I'd learnt quite a few moves and had an enjoyable time.

23rd November - Casino Royale

We decided to treat ourselves to Premier seating at the Printworks tonight and Andy was kind enough to just accept £5 from me as my share of the payment. I enjoyed the film - it was certainly action-packed and fast paced. Andy said it was the best Bond film he's seen in ages, but I must admit I still prefer Pierce Brosnan to Daniel Craig. I would love to know how they put together the final scenes in Venice - they certainly had me on the edge of my seat.
One thing's for certain - it won't be another 6 months 'till I go to the cinema again. I hope there's something good on over the Christmas break.

20th November - Modern Jive class

I was pleased to see that they still had tickets for the Christmas party on sale when I arrived at the class tonight. Phil and Wendy were teaching again. The moves learnt tonight in the beginners class were Neckbreak which I think is the most complicated beginners move,Sway, Yo-yo and Right handed comb. Had a couple of good dances during the break between the two classes. I had the opportunity to dance with Silvano who is a good dancer and gives encouraging feedback. Moves learnt in the intermediate class included an alternative neckbreak and Texas French girl. Phil and Wendy asked everyone to have a go at the advanced move which involved sitting on your partner's knee. Fortunately both of the guys I danced this move with were willing to have a go and I felt comfortable letting them support me. I look forward to seeing a few of the Prestwich regulars on Saturday at Stockport.

18th November - Meal at Casa Tapas

When we arrived at the restaurant tonight we were told that our table was upstairs. We went up to find a very dimly lit room which was also quite cold. As the other small tables surrounding ours were empty we borrowed some of their candles so that we could see what we were eating! I sat with Mark H, Chris, Tim and Elaine and we talked about Chris's recent holiday in New York as we waited for the food to arrive. The first dishes to arrive were olives, feta cheese salad, tomato and garlic bread and aubergines in cheese sauce. I talked to Tim about last weekend and found that he also didn't get a good room when he went to that hotel last time. Whilst we were chatting I received two text messages. The first was from Kay saying that she wasn't going dancing at Stockport next Saturday. I therefore asked Tim if he was going and he said he probably would. The second message was from Alan,Rick and Mike A asking what we were doing after the meal. I asked the others and ended up telling them to meet us at the restaurant later. More food arrived - meatballs, chicken and potato wedges in two different sauces - one creamy and one spicy. The waiter asked if we wanted paella and we ordered four dishes of seafood paella to share amongst the group of 20. That took quite a while to arrive. The dish that our group shared had only one mussel in it which I had (as surprisingly I was the only one in our little group that likes them). Alan, Rick and Mike arrived - they had been for a curry in Rusholme. Tim went up to the other end of the table to chat to some of the others. Meanwhile I talked to Alan about his plans for Christmas and New Year. Unfortunately, he won't be going away with us at New Year as his girlfriend is not keen to go.
Simon joined us and said that he is looking forward to the New Year weekend away as it's his birthday on New Year's Eve.
Elaine and I left the restaurant just after 11pm. She said that she hopes to see me on Monday at the Longfield Suite. On reflection, I had a good evening, but I think that if anyone suggests going for a Tapas meal again I would recommend going to La Tasca as the food and atmosphere are much better.

12th November - Lunch at The Victoria Hotel

We managed to get up in time for breakfast this morning at 9am. Most of us looked drowsy, but we revived ourselves with strong coffee and cooked breakfast. After checking out Kay and I said "goodbye" to Sarah, Vicky and Debbie before they went back to Chester. Kay, DJ and I went into Bradford in search of a coffee shop and ended up spending an hour or so in Waterstones chatting about last night and DJ's holiday in Scotland. We then made our way to the Victoria Hotel for lunch. We met up with Chris,Peter and the others in the bar. Chris gave us invitations to his 40th birthday party next May and asked us if we were interested in going to Poland with him next year. He has quite a few Polish friends and one of them has suggested that next time he goes out there he should do some Modern Jive teaching. He says he needs some other good dancers to go with him. Kay and I were both interested in this.
We had lunch in the Carmargue room.



The starter was tomato and basil soup with crusty bread and tapenade followed by chicken, Yorkshire pudding, new potatoes broccoli and carrots. As usual, the food was very good and there was plenty of it!
After the meal we thanked Peter for organising a great weekend and wished him well for the planning meeting next weekend when they are hoping to recruit new members for the Northern Lights leadership team.
Our journey home was fairly good. Kay told me that she is going home to Sheffield next weekend so I won't see her for another week or two.
On reflection, this was a really good weekend. I hope that Northern Lights will be able to organise another similar event next year.

11th November - Northern Lights Dinner Dance in Bradford

I was really glad Kay was driving today as the rain was quite heavy. Despite this it only took about half-an-hour to get to Bradford. We booked in at the Guide Post hotel and found that we had got the "Fawlty Towers" room. It stank of smoke so we opened the windows. We then tried to turn up the radiator and found that it wasn't working. When we tried to ring reception to complain we found the phone in the room wasn't working either! Fortunately, Vicky and Sarah were in the room next door so we
sat and chatted with them whilst someone tried to repair the radiator. Debbie joined us and we shared her chocolate biscuits as we watched "50 Greatest Movie Videos".
When we returned to our room we were offered a fan heater as they were not able to sort out the radiator. We watched "Strictly Come Dancing" whilst we were getting ready. Kay has become v good at predicting the scores.
The evening started with drinks in the bar where we met up with the rest of the 25+ crowd - there were about a dozen of us all together. The girls looked lovely in their dresses - I was glad I chose to wear my maroon dress - I feel more relaxed when I'm not wearing black.
The meal was good. Most people seemed to have gone for the beef or the chicken. The people on our table were quite friendly. As usual, the subject of conversation turned to dancing and Simon was kind enough to point out the best Jivers to us.
After the meal, we moved back into the bar whilst the staff moved the chairs and tables away from the dance floor.
As soon as the disco started, the keen dancers returned to the main room. I really enjoyed the disco - Dave and Chris turned out to be the best dancers. I was quite flattered that Chris danced with me for two tracks. By 1 am, when the disco ended most of us were very tired. Debbie and I went back to our rooms, leaving the night-owls (Kay, Anya, Mike and Sarah C) chatting in the bar.

10th November - Deacon Blue Concert at Apollo Manchester

I had a brill time at The Apollo tonight. I had a really good view of the stage from my seat in the circle. The atmosphere was great. The crowd went wild for "Real Gone Kid" The band were really pleased to see everyone singing the first verse of "Dignity" as soon as they heard the intro. In the middle of the gig they had a quieter section that they called the "campfire" which was when they sang "Circus Lights" and "Wages Day" - it was good to hear that sung with little backing.
Things livened up again when they sung "Fergus sings the blues". The encore included something I expected - "Twist and Shout" and something I didn't - the Springsteen song "Light of Day". I was a little disappointed to not hear "Chocolate Girl" which is one of my favourites, but nevertheless it was a great evening.

4th November 2006 - Chicago at the Opera House

When I noticed the "Chicago" was coming to the Opera House I decided that I had to go and see it. Mum and I haven't been to any musicals for ages and it is one of our favourites. There didn't seem to be any spare seats in the theatre.
This show was a bit different from all the others that I've seen. The band were on stage throughout the production and the sets were very stark. Mum said that the problem with having seen the film was that you had very high expectations. Having said that though, I thought the dancing and singing was very good. The only actress that disappointed us was the woman who played Momma Morton - we thought she didn't look tough enough. Jennifer Ellison was very good as Roxie though - she made a good ventriloquist's dummy for the "We both reached for the gun" number. The woman who played Velma was good too. At the end they both came on stage together to take their bows - it was good to see that both roles were regarded to be equally important.
In all it was a very entertaining show.

31st October - Salsa class

Looking back at my blog entries, I noticed that it's ages since I last wrote about my salsa class so I thought I'd do something to remedy this.
There were less people than usual at salsa class tonight. I think this was partly due to the fact that it was Halloween and partly due to the fact that there was a Euro Championship football match on TV. Anyway the class was good tonight. We used Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" for the "follow the leader" routine that we normally do at the beginning of the Intermediate class. Ali, (a Persian guy) amused us with his "belly dancing". It is a great record for salsa. The Scottish couple were generous - they brought some Halloween lollipops for us all. After the class, I got the chance to talk to Leona - she is off to Cuba very soon - the lucky thing! I look forward to hearing all about her holiday when she returns.

29th October - Final day of weekend away at Regent's Park

After another excellent cooked breakfast, we spent a while chatting before the morning service. This was led by Laurie for a change. It included one of Rob Bell's videos about forgiveness which many of us found very moving.
Elaine told me that after Friday's journey, she has decided to go home straight after lunch. Quite a few others had changed their mind about staying for the evening meal. Our final meal was just as good as the previous ones - we had roast beef and yorkshire pudding, followed by Black Forest Gateau.
After saying goodbye to the others, we set off for Manchester. Elaine decided to go back via the A49 and the M56 and it turned out to be much quieter than the route we took on Friday. We were both quite relieved and surprised to see that it only took just over an hour to get back.
On reflection, I think this was one of our best weekends away. I'm sure that we will be returning to Regent's Park next year as it's certainly a great place to stay.

28th October 2006 - Second day of weekend away at Regent's Park

We were all pleased with the cooked breakfast this morning - Sarah was right when she said that the food here is good.
This morning, we had the choice of going to Stapeley Water Gardens or Beeston Castle.
Most people opted to go to the gardens. I enjoyed seeing the parrots and monkeys.
They also had some scary looking spiders and small sharks there.
When we arrived back at Regent's Park we had a good lunch - Pizza and salad. There were also chips available but I resisted the temptation to have any!
We spent the afternoon wandering around Nantwich. Unfortunately it was raining so Cath, Tina, Claire and I spent most of the time looking in all the charity shops.
We also had tea in McCormick's cafe.
I arrived back at the centre to find that some of the others had been swimming and playing indoor hockey. The evening meal was Chicken curry - I thought it was ok though not up to Rusholme standards!
We spent the evening in the Leopard again. Karen,Tim and Kay had three bottles of red wine between them -they're obviously far more used to drinking than I am! Later on we went back to the centre and played "Taboo" until midnight. We turned the clocks back when we started the game so it was really 1pm by the time we finished.
The wine must have had some effect on the others as none of us stayed up very late tonight.

27th October 2006 - First day of Regents Park weekend away

Elaine met me at 2.30pm this afternoon and we set off down the M6. It looked like we had chosen the wrong route as it took over 2 and a half hours to get to Nantwich. However when we arrived it looked as if everyone had had the same problem, even those who had come off the motorway early and gone onto the A roads.
This conference centre looks like a really nice place. I'm sharing with Kay again, but our room is much bigger than the one we shared at Cloverley Hall.
Just before tea, Kay had a call from Tim to say he was stuck in traffic, due to an accident on the M6 - it obviously made things even worse than they were earlier in the day. The evening meal was good - Ham salad and Blackcurrant cheesecake. On returning from tea we were pleased to see that Tim had finally arrived.
In the evening, we split up into teams for quizzes and other activities such as juggling and portrait painting. Unfortunately, two members of our team decided to retire to the pub after the first quiz. Anya took sympathy on us and helped us with one of the quizzes, but we still came last - a new experience for me!
Later on we decided to go to the Leopard for a drink. When we returned we discovered that some of the others had gone to the Peacock instead. Robin and Richard joined in the karaoke - it sounds like their performance attracted a lot of attention!
We spent about an hour discussing Sue's art assignment with her (she has to produce something with the theme "altered state"). I'm sure she felt very inspired after our brainstorm.

23rd October - Modern Jive Class

I was both surprised and pleased to bump into Tony, one of Kay's friends from Stockport Jive class tonight. That meant that I had someone to chat to before the lesson started. We also had a dance in the freestyle session between the beginners and the intermediate lesson. The beginners class tonight consisted of the following moves :- armjive,shoulder slide,yo-yo and catapult. Intermediate class was a little easier than usual and included a pretzel,basket caress which is quite a nice move once mastered. I also saw my friend Andy from Sale tonight and my friend Pria from salsa class who I hope to see again tomorrow.

22nd October - Coffee at Slug and Lettuce

It was a select group of 25 plussers who met at the Slug and Lettuce today. I arrived to find Anya, Sue, Laurie and Beth were already there. Sue said she enjoyed the jive night last night. Anya and Sue ordered lunch - a rather expensive plate of salmon, french beans and rocket. Later Kay, Jill,Emma and Sarah arrived. There was a distinct lack of men there today - the only ones who turned up were Robin (who livened things up as usual!), Sandeep, Irish Andrew and Mike H. One good thing I discovered was that most people who were there today are going on the weekend away next weekend. Also the male/female ratio is 40/60 and there are quite a few new people going as well as a few regulars.
I also discovered that there weren't many at Rachel's party last night - Sandeep said there were about a dozen people there. I'm glad I went dancing now - I know I don't like crowded parties ,but a dozen is too few even for me.

21st October - Jive Night at Stockport

I had a fairly good journey down to Stockport tonight - roads not too busy and it was quite easy to find a space in the car park. Kay arrived about 15 mins after me and introduced me to some of her friends. Then came the lesson which featured one drop and a very awkward step called the Latin Flick where the girl has to support the man as he turns round - I'm afraid I'm not strong enough to do something like that! The freestyle section went well though. I saw and danced with several Prestwich regulars and a couple of men I'd never seen before. One guy claimed he'd only been dancing for 6 weeks, but I thought he was quite good for a beginner. Saw Eddy and had a dance with him. He didn't ask how I got there, but he would have known if he'd read my e-mail! Also saw Sue from 25 plus - wish there'd been more of our crowd there ,but had a good night anyway. I left at about 11pm and had a really easy journey home - it only took 30 mins. I was really pleased with myself tonight - I found it easier than I expected to drive to Stockport and I had some good dances and learnt some new moves.

16th October - Modern Jive Class

Back to Jive Class after a week off.
Beginner's moves learnt tonight - Armjive,Wurlitzer,Hatchback,Step Across.
Nothing new but a chance to revise Hatchback which I don't do v.often.
Intermediate moves learnt included Keyhole - complex but managed to master it when I had a partner who knew what they were doing (!) and Catapult,Duck under which was easier but looked good.
Looking forward to Saturday's jive at Stockport now. Hope to see plenty of Prestwich crowd there as well as some 25 plus people.

15th October - Harvest Festival service

I arrived at church early this morning and started to get the kitchen ready for coffee. Amy had done a good job of setting up the harvest display on the platform.
Then Margaret arrived and asked me to help her with photocopying - this turned out to be a mistake as we soon managed to jam it and ended up having to make do with just 20 or so service sheets. The baptism party arrived about 10 mins before the service started, but we had plenty room for them as there were no Guides in church today. Despite the lack of service sheets, the service still went well. The children were keen to take part and the baptism seemed to fit in well with the rest of the service. Margaret talked about planting seeds and seeing the fruit and sharing the harvest which seemed to bring both parts of the service together.
After the service, we seemed to be very busy making coffee and tea. Sue had made a lovely birthday cake for Brenda, Norman and Harold which disappeared fairly quickly! Fortunately we had a few helpers so the washing-up didn't take too long.
I must make sure we are better prepared for the next parade on Remembrance Sunday especially as I won't be at the service!

14th October - Chinese Meal at Pearl City Restaurant

I met Debbie in the Old Monkey Pub tonight. Sue, Michelle, Haydn, Ray and Dave arrived not long after us and we chatted about what we had been doing since we last saw each other. Dave O passed round his photos of Claire and Mark's wedding last month - it looks like they had a good day. Neil, Sue F, Alan K and Nicola arrived later. By the time it got to 9.15 pm we were all feeling hungry so I decided it was time to make a move. Michelle led the way to Chinatown - apparently the restaurant isn't a buffet place as we first thought, but it looked good anyway. We ordered some prawn crackers and then started to choose our meals. I decided to have Vegetable Spring rolls followed by Chicken Satay. Stuart ordered 3 courses(!) - Spare ribs,soup and Lemon Chicken. The portions turned out to be fairly generous so I wondered how he'd manage to finish it all. Haydn seemed to have the best deal - he had steamed duck with mixed meats and seafood -it looked enough for 2 so we all helped him to finish it! We sang "Happy Birthday" to Michelle and toasted her health. She certainly chose a good restaurant as everyone was pleased with their meal.At about 11pm, people started leaving. Ray was first to go, then Haydn who had to catch a train back to Glossop. Debbie agreed to share my taxi which turned out to be a 7-seater MPV! Although the city centre was busy because of the boxing match at the Arena, the taxi driver said he hadn't been too busy.
I'm quite pleased I went out with Activities tonight for a change as it was good to see everyone and I enjoyed the meal.

7th October - 25+ Moveable Feast

Once more I'm quite pleased with myself as I managed to drive all the way to Anya's in Offerton without getting lost! That was partly due to her straightforward directions. Rob and Louise were busy preparing the meal when I arrived. Andrea arrived soon after me and we spent some time chatting about Rob and Louise's holiday in Cornwall. Andrew arrived just in time for the meal. The first course was African Peanut chicken with rice and salad. During the meal, Louise told us about Rob's romantic proposal on the Big wheel in York. They have set a date for their wedding - Easter Saturday next year.
Fortunately, Andrew agreed to give me a lift to the next venue. We spent the journey chatting about our jobs in IT. We arrived at Sarah's at exactly the same time as Sue and Lesley. Nigel and Alan were already there. Lesley brought a lovely dessert with her - almond and coconut torte with pears and cream. Sue told us all about the London Ball that she went to last week - there were over 500 people there! Sarah says that our next big dance event will be a celidh in February which Alex is organising. Also there is likely to be an Autumn Ball at Haigh Hall where we had Sunday lunch in March.
Alan gave me a lift back to Anya's for the final part of the evening. I don't think he really enjoyed his weekend in Blackpool - don't think he'll be going back there in a hurry! I just about had time for coffee at Anya' and a short chat with some of the others to find out what they had had for their meals. I was told that Sandeep made an excellent curry. I was one of the first to leave tonight, but I didn't mind.
The journey home was fairly good once I found my way back to the A6. I certainly feel more confident about driving as a result of tonight. I'm really glad I went.

2nd October - Modern Jive class

I realise that it's a while since I last blogged about one of my dance classes.
I enjoyed tonight's class as I had quite a few dances during the freestyle session inbetween the two classes. I managed to follow the more experienced dancers fairly well. The second class proved to be quite a challenge - even some of the more experienced dancers had dificulty mastering the moves. After the class finished, we had a tango demonstration. Apparently Tango lessons are starting at the Heaton Park Social club on Wednesday evenings so the teachers came to dance for us and try to encourage us to join their class. They seemed a slightly odd couple - he was black and stocky and she was taller and slender and wore a flowing red dress, but they danced well together. However I don't think I will be learning tango in the near future. Modern jive and salsa is enough for the time being!

29th September - Meal at La Hawelli's

It's ages since I last went for a curry in Rusholme so I was really glad that Alan organised tonight's meal. Met Brian in town and travelled down together. It sounds like he had a good holiday in Devon. Alan turned up shortly after we arrived - he said he had invited quite a few people, but he wasn't sure who was going to turn up.
Kay and Elaine arrived next and then Jackie and Sandeep arrived. Brian was surprised and pleased to see Jackie - it must be over 6 years since he last saw her at one of our "New Life" group meetings. Unfortunately, it took over an hour for our food to arrive as the restaurant was very busy mainly because the students are now back. However, it proved to be well worth waiting for. I was happy with my Chicken Badami with dried fruit and nuts in it. Alan had his usual Karahi special and we ordered a variety of different Naan breads and rice to go with the curries. We found plenty to chat about including work, Brian's holiday and dancing. Sandeep seems to be enjoying his jive lessons and is now becoming one of the regulars.I was surprised and pleased to receive a text message from Margaret to say that the Church council has been postponed for two weeks as that means I can go to salsa class this Tuesday! We left the restaurant at about 10.30pm and Kay, Alan, Jackie, Brian and I went over to the Woodstock pub in Didsbury. I've never been there before ,but it looks like a good pub - no loud music and not too crowded. Kay told me they do good Sunday lunches too. After about an hour, Brian and I left to go and catch a bus into town. In all, it was an enjoyable evening. Brian certainly enjoyed meeting the others and chatting to them.

24th September - Afternoon at the Slug and Lettuce

As usual, I was one of the first to arrive at the Slug and lettuce. This is a new meeting place for the "Coffee at 3" meeting. It certainly looks a lot less crowded than the Didsbury pub. A group of new girls joined us - they were from the World Harvest Church in Salford Quays. They have a thriving young adults group at their church, but they still seem keen to join with our activities.
Later, Camille, Alicia and John turned up. Camille was in a very happy mood. She is still seeing the guy she met speed dating at Greenbelt.
Alan told me that he is still planning to go to Blackpool with Activities next weekend. I'm afraid the place doesn't attract me at all -it's very tacky. I also chatted to Tim and another new girl called Emma about Greenbelt. They seemed keen to know more about the festival. Also chatted about the next weekend away. It's good to hear that so many regulars will be going and great to hear there will a few new people there too. I left the pub about 5pm feeling that I'd had a good afternoon.

23rd September - Games Night at Kay's

I was one of the first to arrive at Kay's tonight. She recommended that we order our
takeaway from her local Chinese. As usual I was spoilt for choice, but finally decided on an old favourite - Chicken with Ginger and Pineapple. As expected, we had a smaller crowd than last week which meant that I had the opportunity to talk to most people. There were a couple of new girls who had come all the way from Chester. I was also pleased to see Karen N who I haven't seen since the weekend away in July.
She has been off work for over two months because she stood on a needle - I felt really sorry for her when she told me the whole saga.
Everyone was impressed when the food arrived - portions were very generous.
We then split into groups for the games. Most people opted for Dingbats or Taboo.
I joined Kay, Rachel, Sandeep, Robin and a couple of others for Dingbats because it's easier than Taboo. After about an hour we had a break for dessert. There was quite an assortment of goodies. I managed to restrain myself from having a chocolate eclair, but I was quite pleased when I found out that Kay is another fan of Malt bread. Tim jokingly chided me for not using a plate - I suppose I can be a bit too eager at times! I then wandered back into the living room and was persuaded to join in the game of Taboo. I joined the losing team, so by the time I got round to my go there was some pressure on me. However they didn't take things too seriously so I didn't feel too bad when we lost.
I had a lift home from Elaine and arrived home in a much better mood than last week.
In all it was a good evening with great food and good company too.

16th September - Barbeque at Karen's

Tonight was my first 25 plus meeting since Greenbelt. We arrived at Karen's house in Romiley to find that there were quite a few people there. Karen's garden is deceptively big. She had two gazebos on the lawn and there was enough room for two barbeque stoves on the patio. The food was good - we had burgers, sausages, salmon and marinated spicey chicken kebabs. It was all bought from the local butchers.
I saw quite a few people who had been on the Mastersun Ceroc holiday in Turkey - it sounded like they all had a great time. I also had the chance to meet a few new people. The number of people there was a bit overwhelming for me though. I think I will probably enjoy next week's games night better as that looks as if it will be a smaller gathering.

10th September - Welcome Service for Margaret - our new minister

I arrived at church early tonight to find the circuit staff enjoying tea. I was told that only 20 of them had turned up so there was a lot of food left over. No doubt it will go later as part of the refreshments. I walked into church to find a flame machine on the platform - looks very impressive. I set up the microphones whilst the dancers practised. Then people started arriving. One church had hired a minibus.It was nice to see quite a few people from the South side of Manchester there.
Unfortunately there was a hitch - our clip-on microphones weren't working. By the time the service started the church was nearly full so there must have been over 150 people there. I'm sure the turnout meant that Margaret felt that she had the support of the whole circuit. The first hymn was "O for a thousand tongues" - it had 10 verses! The theme of the service was "Fear not for I am with you". The dancing was well received -several people said afterwards how much they appreciated it.The joint choirs sung well and the communion was well organised. David Copley's booming voice made up for the lack of microphones during communion. I was pleased to see they chose one of John Bell's hymns - "The Summons" - for the final hymn. Afterwards over refreshments,several people remarked at how well it had gone. I felt quite pleased that I had asked to host the service at our church.

1st September - Ros's funeral

I travelled down to the crematorium with Joan and Harold and Winifred. It was extremely busy when we arrived and we only just managed to find a space in the car park. As we made our way into the chapel we noticed that was packed too. I decided to stand at the back with Jane and Harold and left Joan and Winifred to find seats.
There must have been about 300 people there. The service was led by Steve Poxton who is Chair of the District where Jeff's church is. He said that Ros was a determined woman and was not afraid to face death. The hymns included my favourite - Living Lord - and Ros's favourite - And Can it be. After the service we returned to our church, where there was an excellent spread prepared for us. It was evident that most people were Ros's work colleagues or people from Jeff's church. I was sorry to see that there weren't many people from their old youth club, but I was pleased to hear it mentioned in the service. Jeff and Charlotte were touched to see all the people there. They were very grateful to Steve for his touching eulogy. In all it was a moving tribute to someone who touched many lives.

28th August - Fourth and final day of Greenbelt

I started my day with a trip to the internet cafe. Then came my final shift at the city of clay. The weather was very changeable so we were less busy than usual. After lunch, I sent a message to John to see where he was. I found out that he has already gone home as he only had a two-day ticket. I wish he'd told me that earlier! After another walk around the site I went to Centaur for the Martyn Joseph gig. It was very good. The songs were interspersed with Stuart Hendersen's poems. I was particularly touched by the song "Turn me tender again". I left early to go to the Iona reunion. There was quite a good turnout and the talk from a member of the Iona community was interesting. I also discovered that there's an Angels Day in Leeds in February which I hope to go to. After tea, I went to the Performance Cafe to see "Note for a Child" who were pretty good. I went to pick up my free seminar CD and noticed that there was no-one on the seminar recording team that I knew.
I returned to mainstage for Candi Staton and met up with John and Fiona who were both pleased to see me. The concert was great. We stayed to see Michael Franti and Spearhead too. That was surprisingly good although it is not my usual taste in music.
After the gig we went to the beer tent to claim our free drinks. We met Pip Wilson there and a girl called Katy who was once on the seminar recording team. John and Fiona have had an interesting festival working for the press office. They have been fortunate enough to meet lots of speakers and artistes.
In all this was a good festival - highlights included Courtney Pine, Sunday communion , Martyn Joseph and of course the Iona reunion.

27th August - Third day of Greenbelt

I met up with John on the way to the festival site and we went to the service together. I enjoyed the service -there was a good variety of songs from all over the world. We joined with John D's group for communion which was well organised.
After the service I went to Simon Mayo's quiz. It was hilarious especially the mimes. After lunch I went to Centaur to see Cathy Burton - she has a lovely gentle voice. I then went to see something very different - the Ukulele Orchestra - they played everything from Nirvana to Gerge Formby. After this I made my way over to the grandstand where I met up with Ann and Christine. We listened to John Bell's talk on Heaven. That certainly gave us plenty to think about. After tea of veggie chow mein I went to work. We were less busy tonight. Had the opportunity to see what the clay village looks like when it is lit up. After work I met up with John in the bar foyer as the bar was too noisy and there was a big crowd blocking the entrance. He said he wanted to go to a talk on the Narnia chronicles,but I was too tired for that so I went to see Lies Damned Lies instead. The music was mellow and the ideal way to end the day.

26th August - Second day of Greenbelt

I managed to get to the Wild Goose worship this morning. They have joined up with Christian Aid again and the theme of this morning's woship was slavery. It was a powerful and moving service. After having a wander around the stalls, I went on to work at the City of Clay. We were very busy - the city is starting to grow fast. I saw my friends Dave and Sue who are here with their children and their friends.
After lunch I went to see Courtney Pine in Centaur. He was amazing - the best thing I've seen so far. I then decided to go to the Performance Cafe where I saw Phil Campbell and Brigitte Amofah who were both very good.
I then checked the programme and saw that there was a salsa workshop on in the Grandstand in one of the lounges. I ended up helping the teacher to demonstrate some moves - it was good fun. As I made my way to mainstage I met up with John W. Apparently there's quite a few people from 25 plus here. We went to the bar where we met Camille and Ursula who are stewarding. I also met Adrian ( a good friend from Crumpsall) and we had a good chat about the day so far. I went back to mainstage with John and the girls but we weren't impressed by Daniel Bedingfield. We therefore returned to the bar where we met up with Sarah and Jo. The disco was playing 80s music tonight so we had a dance. We stayed until just after midnight and then walked back.

25th August - First day of Greenbelt

I had a good train journey down to Cheltenham today. After unpacking, I went straight to the City of Clay tent and helped to make buildings. Steve, one of the Arts team managers taught us the best way to make clay models. Apparently it's better to mould everthing out of one piece of clay and not to stick pieces together.
I checked the programme and found that Robin's concert clashes with Martyn Joseph, but decided to go anyway as MJ is singing on Monday too. I enjoyed the concert more than I expected especially the piano music. I then went straight to mainstage and managed to catch Martyn's last two songs and his now infamous swearing! After that came Maria Mc Kee who was very good. She did quite a few Lone Justice songs. I then went over to Last orders which is now in Centaur. This is a less intimate venue than usual, but at least everyone fits in. I saw Cara Dillon who has a beautiful voice and also heard Jackie Pullinger's interview. At about midnight I decided to go back to Pitville rather than risk falling asleep.

21st August - Modern Jive Class

Tonight's class was a good one. My Jewish friend , Jackie (from salsa class) came down early for a change with another friend from salsa class who is also called Jackie. It was good to have some girl friends to sit with. The beginners lesson was quite complicated for a change. The moves we did were Wurlitzer, Catapult, Hatchback and Shoulder slide. The intermediate class was also quite hard -it included a Wurlitzer switch which was fun and my first seducer(!)Before anyone gets the wrong idea, a seducer is move where a guy drops you back and you lean on him. I managed to do it a couple of times without losing my balance so that's one more thing I've learnt.
Tonight was the best class I've been to so far. I got to know quite a few people's names and I learnt a lot of dance moves.

18th August - Sad news

I had a phone call from Brenda tonight to say that Ros Walker had died. She has had leukaemia for several months now. Recently she had been making good progress but she took a turn for the worse earlier this week. My heart goes out to her husband, Jeff and daughter Charlotte. Ros may have been small but she had a big impact on many lives, especially the young people that were in our Sunday club and Youth Club that she and Jeff used to run.

15th August - Salsa Class

Les and Lorraine led the salsa class tonight. They said they had a really great time in Cuba. Predictably, the class was a lot busier tonight. In the improvers class we learnt a rueda move called "Setenta" - a relatively complex move. In the intermediate class we learnt a little routine which I assume is something they put together using moves they learnt in Cuba. Sue - the instructor we had whilst Les and Lorraine were on holiday joined us - it was good to see her again.

11th August - Meal at IKAN

I met up with Debbie, Brian and Alan K at Yates tonight. It was nice to find that the place was relatively quiet. Alan said that we were going to IKAN on Sackville Street for our meal. He has recommended the place to us several times before so I was pleased that we were finally going to find out what it's really like. When we arrived the place didn't look busy. The menu was fairly short compared with some other Chinese restaurants I've been to. We all had different starters - I had sesame prawn toasts which were really good. For main course I had Chicken with Honey and Ginger. There was quite a strong ginger flavour which I quite liked. Debbie was very happy with her main course - she said it was the best Chow mein she'd had. I'm surpised the place wasn't busier as the food was of a high standard. Alan says they tend to be busier at lunchtime.
After the meal we went off to the "Lass O' Gowrie" for a drink. To my knowledge this pub offers more varities of Malt Whisky than any other in the city centre. I felt it would be wrong not to have one so I had a Talisker. It rounded off a good evening.

8th August - Salsa class

Tonight we had our second week with our stand-in instructors, Carmel and Sue.
There was no sign of some the regulars i.e. Paul, Kevin and Kay. The first lesson was a bit disappointing as we didn't learn an awful lot. The second one was better as we actually learnt a little routine and we did some rueda too. In all I think this spell without Les and Lorraine has gone better than the last one, mainly due to the fact that Sue is a good teacher. I look forward to next week when the class is busy again.

7th August - Modern Jive Class

There was no sign of Maureen again tonight, but I did see someone who recognised me as having been there on Saturday. We agreed that Prestwich is a better venue than Hyde. The moves in the beginners class tonight were Yo-Yo, Catapult, Basic and Manspin. Once again that means one new move - I learnt the proper way to do the Yo-Yo. Moves in the second class included basket flamenco which was complicated. I did notice though that going on Saturday made tonight's class a little easier.

6th August - Morning service at MCC

I arrived early at church this morning so that I had plenty of time to sort things out before the service. Unfortunately we did have a bit of a problem with the microphones. Despite this it all went well and we received lots of good feedback.
I even managed to cope with a last minute addition to the prayers from Joan during the last hymn.
Now that I've led two services I feel better about doing it again as I will probably have to do in the future.

5th August - Jive Night at Hyde

I finally managed to get hold of Sheila today and found she isn't going to Greenbelt this year so I'll be on my own for a change. I bought my train tickets this morning and found that I will have to get an early train which is good as I won't be in such a rush to get to work.
I had a call from Eddy this morning to say he was going dancing at Hyde Town Hall tonight. He seemed quite happy to let me join him. We arrived there at about 8.30pm just in time for the lesson which was good fun. There was a beach theme so most of the men were in tropical print shirts. I recognised a few people from the Prestwich class. I also saw Sue from 25 plus who said she needed to get some practice in before she goes to Turkey at the end of the month. After the lesson I had quite a few dances which was good fun. I also learnt a few new moves. I was very glad I went. I'm sure it was more fun than the pub night.

1st August - Salsa Class

Les and Lorraine (our usual teachers) are on holiday in Cuba for a fortnight so we have some other teachers for this week and next week. Their names are Carmel and Sue.
Carmel helped out last year when Les and Lorraine were on holiday but I've not met Sue before. There weren't many men in the first class so we did dancing in threes - i.e. one man with two partners. I thought it was quite fun, but Kevin (one of our regulars) wasn't too keen. I expect he'll got to Copacabana for a lesson next week.
The second class was Rueda (dancing in a wheel formation). We revised all the moves we learnt a while back and it was good fun. I look forward to learning new Rueda moves next week.

31st July - Modern Jive Class

I saw Maureen again at Jive class tonight. The moves we did in the beginners class tonight were wrist spin, side to side, basic and man spin. So that meant just one new move for me - wrist spin. Intermediate moves included aerial yo-yo and basic rock step. I reckon I could have had a go at the advanced move tonight as it didn't include a drop. After the class I had a couple of dances - one of which was with my old friend Barry. His dancing has improved considerably since the Northern Lights dance last year, but he still reeks of garlic!

30th July - Coffee Afternoon in Didsbury

I arrived at The Didsbury pub to find Anya, Sue and Leslie finishing off their lunch.
They introduced me to their friend Katie. Not long after that Kay, Mike and Nigel arrived so we moved to a bigger table. Charlie joined us and ordered lunch. Then Debbie and Vicky turned up. Ann, Sandeep, Rick, Sue F and Tim arrived later. Charlie's lunch looked good - he ordered Chicken and asparagus wrapped in bacon.
Karen turned up and passed round her photos of the boat trip which looked really good. It started raining ao we all had to squeeze up round one table. Tim and Sandeep came over and joined us and the conversation turned to the subject of the Network weekend which sounded as if it went well. Tim says he enthusiastically joined in with everything leaving himself very little free time. We also talked about dancing as Sandeep has recently started lessons. I left at about 5.15pm. I look forward to seeing everyone again next weekend.

29th July - Chinese Meal at Golden Rice Bowl

As usual I was the first to arrive at Mr. Thomas's Chop House. Brian had already rung to say he was in Wales and would not be coming. Debbie turned up not long after I did. Mike W was next to arrive and we then had a call from Neil to say he was coming.Eventually he turned up, closely followed by Jane and Mike. We walked across the road to the restaurant. I was impressed by the fact that they have free prawn crackers to eat whilst you're working out what you want. I had Prawn Won-Tons for my starter followed by Chicken with Asparagus, Sweetcorn, Carrots and Cashew Nuts. Neil and Mike W had the set menu which looked pretty good although they made the mistake of choosing main courses that were fairly similar. After the meal we all had slices of melon and orange. This was more expensive than our usual Chinese Buffet meals, but it was very good and well presented. You didn't feel rushed either as you sometimes do in the buffet places.
After the meal we went to the Waterhouse for a drink. Debbie and I were disappointed to find that they didn't have any Mudshakes in stock. The drinks are still cheap there anyhow. Dave O and Karen joined us at the pub. We left about 11.30pm. In all it was a good evening - far better than Tuesday!

25th July - Activities Unlimited Birthday party

I left Salsa class early tonight to go to the party at the Crown. When I arrived I found there were quite a few people there - some I recognised, others I didn't.
Jenny was running the karaoke machine. A few people got up and had a go. Most of them weren't all that good. Sue was the only decent singer. One disappointment was that there was no food. About half-an hour after I arrived, Sue started the quiz. This was basically a sheet of paper with little-known facts about members of the group and we had to guess who they referred to. I did quite well - I got 18 out of 25, but there was no prize for the winner whoever they were. We left at about 10.30pm. The evening was a bit of a disappointment really. I think I'd have had a better time if I'd stayed at salsa.

24th July - Modern Jive Class

The beginners class was a bit thin on the ground tonight when it started. There was no sign of Maureen. The moves we learnt tonight were Sway, Basket , Wurlitzer and Ladyspin. Only the sway was totally new to me as last week's intermediate routine included a more advanced form of the basket. I had a few dances in the interval between the two classes which were good fun. The intermediate routine included a catapult tunnel - a complicated move which looks like the hustle move I've wanted to learn for a while. Eddy didn't turn up tonight - must ask him where he was if I see him tomorrow or at weekend.

22nd July - Angie's farewell meal

I arrived at church tonight to find the hall laid out for a banquet! The tables were decorated with fairy lights and silk flowers. I sat at the top table with the guests of honour - Angie, her husband Gary and elder son, George. Her younger son couldn't make it because he'd only just returned from camp.
The first course was vegetable soup, which seemed like an odd choice for a hot summer's day.The main course was the carvery which gave us a choice of ham or beef with potatoes, yorkshire pudding, carrots,cauliflower and peas. It would have been nice to have some salad, but there wasn't any. The dessert was the best course. I had a slice of chocolate cake ,but there were also eclairs, strawberry gateau and a choux pastry slice filled with cream and fruit. After the meal Joan delivered a lovely speech about Angie and all that she had done for us. I had to laugh when she commented that Angie likes to drive fast. I have fond memories of a journey when she delighted in splashing through puddles! After the speech, I presented her with her present - a communion stole - which she seemed to appreciate. We then had some time for taking photos before we all left to go home. In all it was a lovely evening. I'm sure we will all miss Angie. I must make time to visit her next year.

17th July - Modern Jive Class

Just as I entered the room tonight, I felt a tap on the shoulder. I turned round and was surprised to see Maureen. She used to be the Brownie leader at our church when I worked with the Brownies. I haven't seen her for over three years so it was good to sit down and catch up on each other's news before the class started.
The moves we learnt tonight in the beginners' class were 2 way bounce, man spin, catapult and basic. That meant only one new move for me - 2 way bounce - as I have done all the others before.
The intermediate class was more difficult. We learnt three moves - the most complicated one was called the Irish Pretzel (these moves have very strange names!) - it took several tries to get it right.
I'm glad that I've not got any more Monday meetings until September now as that will give me the chance to attend classes for the next few weeks. That should make it easier for me to learn and remember new moves.

15th July - 25 plus Narrowboat Cruise

We left home pretty early this morning - 7.45 to be precise. Most of the journey was on the motorway. The directions were quite easy to follow. The only problem we had was when we went down a single track road and found someone else coming the other way! We arrived at Norbury Junction
to find that about half of our group was already there. We had already had a message from Sarah to say she was going to be late. She arrived about half-an-hour late with Richard and Chris. We had two boats so we split into two groups of six.
I joined Chris, Eddy, Rick, Nigel and Anya on the boat named "Defiant"! The other boat was called "Victory". Rick decided to be our "driver" as he did most of the driving last year. It was a beautiful summer's day so we relaxed at the back of the boat reading the newspapers. At lunchtime we stopped at Wharf Junction for a drink.
Lunch was provided by Sarah and Anya - we had ciabatta sandwiches with tuna and cheese, salad, fruit and millionaire's shortbread. We then turned the boat around and headed back towards our starting point. Rick decided to return on the other boat so Nigel and Chris took over the driving. Chris proved to be quite good at driving considering he'd never done it before. When we reached the halfway point, we checked the time and realised we would have to go faster to get back by 4.30pm. We soon caught up with the other boat, but unfortunately didn't get back to Norbury until about 5pm. However this didn't prove to be a problem. The boat hire company were impressed with Sarah's apology so we didn't have to pay the fine! Laurie and a new woman called Belinda met us at the Norbury Inn for a meal. We ordered drinks and were given the choice of having the leftovers from the barbecue for half-price or waiting until 6pm when they started serving food. Most of us opted for the latter option as the burgers looked a little overdone! I think Eddy and I made the best choice as far as the meal was concerned - we both had grilled trout. Richard was not happy with his gammon - he gave most of it to Belinda for her dog's supper! We left fairly early - about 8pm as we had a long journey ahead of us. The roads were quieter on the way back so it was still quite light when we arrived back in Manchester. I'm glad I decided to go on the trip. The long journey was well worth it and the weather really made the day for us.

10th July - Funeral of Brian Wibberley

I arrived at Central Hall this morning to find the chapel was already half full. The first familiar face I noticed was Evelyn so I went and sat with her. By 10.15 the room was full and Sam was hastily rushing around trying to fit more seats in. Then the funeral party arrived. The service was jointly led by Charlotte and Angie. The hymns chosen were quite bright and upbeat.The most touching part of the service was when Marion read a poem that she had written for her husband several years ago. At the end of it she placed a kiss on the coffin. The service ended with the hymn "Praise the Lord with joyful cry". It was chosen to reflect Brian's love of brass bands. In all, the service was a fitting tribute to a man who was dedicated to his church and his family.

4th July - Salsa class and Activities Unlimited meeting

On the way to La Tasca tonight, I sent Debbie a message to ask if she was going to the meeting in Sinclair's. She replied, saying she'd see me there.
Despite the hot weather, it wasn't too hot in La Tasca's tonight. We did quite a complicated routine in the Improvers' class. When the lesson was over, I decided to go off to Sinclair's for a change. I arrived to find Debbie and Neil sitting outside. I was surprised to see there were so few of our group there - not what I expected on such a nice evening. I sent a couple of messages to some of the others to see if they were on their way. Tony, Dave and Dee turned up soon after that. Also Gail joined us - it was good to see her - she says it's over 2 years since she came to a group meeting. She expected to turn up and not recognise anyone!
Debbie says she has decided to have a break from salsa classes as she doesn't feel she's improving and isn't enjoying them as much as she used to. I'll miss having her there, but I'm certainly not going to let it discourage me from going!

3rd July - Probationer Ministers support group meeting

I travelled down to tonight's meeting with Janet and Bob. On the way there they shared some sad news with me. Brian Wibberley died suddenly a couple of days ago. Brian was a steward at Central Hall. He was always very helpful and reliable so he will be much missed.
It didn't take long to get to Dukinfield Methodist church. The building was hidden in the middle of several blocks of flats so, not surprisingly, some people had difficulty finding it.
The meeting itself went well. We spent a lot of time talking about giving and receiving feedback.
I feel that being part of Margaret's (our new minister) support group will be good for me as it will help me to be more open and ready to share my thoughts.

2nd July - Final day of Cloverley Hall weekend

I decided to go for a walk before breakfast this morning and was rewarded with the sight of several rabbits - something which I'd been hoping to see all weekend. After breakfast we had a time of worship in the lounge. This was ably led by Robin who led a meditation where we were encouraged to think about the properties of string and relate that to our lives and relationship with God. In the prayers at the end I actually prayed out loud, focusing on all the strength we need for the changes that are going to be happening at our church. In all it was a good service - one of the best we've had on a 25 plus weekend.
After the service came lunch which was the best meal of the weekend. We had roast lamb with all the trimmings followed by Orange cheesecake. Some people went for a swim after lunch so I decided to take some photos. By 3pm people were starting to pack up and leave so we decided it was about time we did likewise.
On the way home we were caught up in a dramatic thunderstorm with fork lightning. I found it very exciting. I decided to get a taxi home from Manchester city centre as the rain was still very heavy.
Looking back, I reckon it was a good weekend. Hope they use the quiz on the next weekend away as that will give a better balance between sporting and non-sporting activities.

1st July - Second day of Cloverley Hall weekend

I had no problem getting up in time for the 8.30am breakfast this morning, but I think there were some of us who did! I spent the morning chatting to people. Also did an hour on First Aider duty by the pool. Only a few people went in, so that was quite a relaxing hour. The weather was lovely. It looks like this could be our hottest weekend away yet.
At 12.30 we set off to Hawkstone Park for a walk. I chose to do the two-hour walk as that seemed to be the most popular. The walk started with a steep ascent up to the monument. This was a tall tower with a viewing gallery at the top. Several members of the group decided to climb the steep spiral staircase to the top, but I didn't feel up to it. After a short rest, we continued on to the next folly. When we reached this point, Sarah announced that we needed to up the pace if we wanted to be back in time for the football as we had only done a third of the walk. My heart sank as I was beginning to find it difficult to keep up because of the heat. The rest of the walk proved to be quite hard as there were lots of steps to climb. Thanks to the encouragement of Alan and Elaine I made it to the end. Most of us bought ice lollies to cool ourselves down before making our way back to Cloverley.
Once we returned we all piled into the lounge to watch the match. It was much better watching it with everyone else. It made it much more enjoyable seeing everyone else's reactions. Some people couldn't bear to watch the penalty shoot out - we all know how bad England are at taking penalties. The final result came as no big surprise. Afterwards we all went outside for the barbeque. Unfortunately, Sarah decided to take a vote on whether to go ahead with the evening's quiz and most people voted against it. Pity - I was really looking forward to it. Some of us drifted back in to watch Andy Murray triumph against Roddick at Wimbledon. We then decided to have a stroll down to the pub as there wasn't much else to do. That pub must have done very well out of us as by the end of the evening most people had joined us. The day ended back in the lounge at Cloverley watching T.V. and finding out the big shock of the world cup - France had beaten Brazil.

30th June - First day of 25 plus Cloverley Hall weekend

I met up with Alan at Dane Rd station as usual and went back to his place where we had planned to meet up with Mike before setting off. As usual, Alan had left it to the last minute to pack and Mike and I decided to watch the Germany v Argentina Match whilst we were waiting for him.
As a result of this we didn't set off till about 6pm. The journey down wasn't too bad once we got off the motorway. It's a good job Mike was paying attention, as we nearly missed an important junction.
We arrived just in time for the evening meal. This was supposed to have been a buffet, but the Cloverley Hall staff evidently changed their mind at the last minute and we ended up with baked potatoes and a fairly bland version of Coronation chicken.
After dinner, I unpacked. I'm sharing a room with Kay. I'm glad there's only two of us in the room - much better than our last weekend away when there were 6. Even better, there's a bath nearby so I don't have to put up with showers!
Unfortunately for some people, Cloverley Hall don't allow us to drink alcohol on the premises. This meant that after dinner, quite a few people went off to the pub. I decided not to bother and spent the evening chatting with some of the other girls.

26th June - Modern Jive Class

I had a free Monday night for a change so I went to the Jive class at Prestwich.
The moves we learnt in the beginner's class were armjive pushspin, step across, octopus and the comb. All of them were fairly easy. I had quite a few dances during the break between classes which was good as it increased my confidence. The intermediate class was more difficult as it included a lot of double-handed moves. There were lots of people there tonight. I enjoyed watching the dancing after the second lesson as there's some really good dancers in the class.

24th June - Mike's birthday meal at Valentino's

I drove to Heaton Moor tonight for Mike's bithday meal. The restaurant was fairly easy to find. The only problem I found was that you can't turn right onto Heaton Moor Rd from the A6, but I managed to find an alternative route quite easily. We had a good turnout - 22 of us. That meant that we nearly had the whole restaurant to ourselves as it's not a very big place. The food was good - I had seafood pasta in a tomato and garlic sauce for a change. (Most other places I've been to serve seafood in a creamy sauce) Everyone seemed happy with their food - the portions were quite generous. We couldn't escape the World Cup tonight as they showed the match on a small T.V. in the restaurant.
I left early as this was the first evening event that I've driven to and I'm not keen on driving late at night. Kay was quite impressed that I drove and I was quite pleased with myself for having made the effort. It's nice to know that I don't have to depend on others all of the time.

20th June - Salsa Class

They're weren't many men at tonight's first class because of the footie. Learnt quite a nice little routine though featuring a lasso move and a block.
Numbers were more even in second class. The routine was more complex too - it featured lots of double handed spins.
Got home to find that footie score was a draw -2 all. I obviously didn't miss much. We didn't perform to our best and I'm now going to have to remove Michael Owen from my fantasy footie team because he's injured.

19th June - Planning Social Events -

We had a short , but productive Social Group planning meeting tonight. We decided Bob would be the best MC for our minister, Angie's farewell dinner. We're not having any formal entertainment so that people have more time to talk to each other! Emily questioned whether my choice of gift for Angie was right. I will just have to hope that Brenda and I were right about this one as the gift has already been made and is ready to be wrapped up.
The Harvest Social will be a Hot Pot Supper with games organised by Scouters and Guiders. I might actually go to that this year.
Must add all these new events to the church calendar on the website soon.

14th June - Presentation skills course

We had a presentation skills course today at work. it was led by Nick from the London office.
There were just 4 of us on the course - me, Kalpesh, John and Sarah, our Aussie editor. I learnt a lot about the others. Kalpesh told us about his Hindu faith. John talked about his DJing. Sarah talked about his travelling experiences. I talked about salsa. We all found our confidence increased as a result of the course.

11th June - Puppets on Parade

Today we had a very special and unique service at church. David Hollows brought his team of puppeteers with him from Rochdale and they performed a play about the story of Esther. He also had an illusionist with him who performed some tricks to explain his faith. The children loved the service. We will definately have to invite them again.

10th June - World Cup

I'm quite proud of myself because I drove all the way to Burnage to watch the England v Paraguay match at Jonathan's house. It was much more fun watching it with friends. About 15 of us turned up. England were lucky to win. Hope they play better in subsequent matches. Charlie reckoned the referee looked like Dracula!
Afterwards we went to the Cheshire Line Tavern for a drink and something to eat. The portions there are quite generous and the food is very good. I got slightly lost on the way home. Good job I had my A to Z with me.

6th June - Salsa class

Went to salsa class for the first time since I returned from my holiday.
Improvers routine included what can only be described as an embrace spin. Intermediate routine included two sombreros. Afterwards I had a dance with Victor which I enjoyed.

4th June - Have a Nice Day - Bon Jovi Concert

This evening I went to see Bon Jovi at Manchester City's football ground at Eastlands.
The stadium was packed out. Support band was Nickleback.
Highlights included Richie Sambora singing "I'll be there for you", "Livin on a Prayer" - the crowd sang the chorus unaccompanied and my two favourite songs - "Someday I'll be Saturday night" and "Dry County".