24th June - After the ball was over...

I had breakfast at 9 with Chris and Brian as planned. The continental breakfast was pretty good - we had cereal, muffins, fruit and coffee. Peter had decided to have a lie-in as he was pretty tired. We went over to the other hotel where we split up into groups to go to church. I went to the Anglican church with Keith, Brian, Leanne, Liz, Rob,Phil and Ella. St Helen's Church was a very traditional looking building - we reckoned it dated back to Norman times but once we went inside we found it was quite modern. They had a band and all the hymns and responses for communion were on an OHP so there was no need for books. The congregation was quite large - about 100 - and the service was lively. We stayed for coffee afterwards and chatted to members of the congregation who were quite friendly.
Unfortunately it was raining when we came out so we dashed back to our cars and headed back over to the Red Kite pub for lunch. We arrived at a similar time to the other group who had been to the Pentecostal church. I ordered duck in orange sauce with new potatoes. Chris had roast beef and Yorkshire pud with all the trimmings and Brian had roast turkey. Dave had a Chicken and Apsparagus pie. The portions were quite generous. Peter had benefitted from his lie-in though he said there was quite a rush for the last serving of breakfast.
Sarah, Susannah and a few others joined us later - they had been to the local sculpture park which they said was quite interesting - mainly modern art work.
We originally planned to ge the earlier train back but this didn't work out as Chris wasn't sure where the station was and the signs in the town centre weren't all that helpful. After saying goodbye to him, Brian and I caught the first train to Leeds where we found the first train to Manchester was going to Victoria station. It was one of those trains that stops at every station and had no buffet trolley, but I think I was too tired to care. Eventually we arrived back at Victoria and jumped on trams going in different directions. I had a light meal at Mum and Dad's before going back home for a much needed early night.
In all it was an excellent weekend - I'm so glad I decided to go.