An English
garden tea party
The gardens of England are famous the world over. We have always talked about the fabulous English gardens, which we’ve only seen in postcards, magazines and books. And so, on a recent summer day, the Negros Occidental Garden Club was treated by the Sampaguita Group to a special presentation called “A Tea Party in an English Garden”.
Members of the group came wearing hats of all shapes and sizes (ala “Titanic”). The two British members of the Sampaguita group, Hazel Stuart and Robert Harland, supplied their brand of expertise to produce a replica of an English garden tea party. Members were dazzled by the exquisite table setting of a genuine silver teapot made in the 1800s with oh-so-delicate Meissen china brought by Hazel from England. Hazel, a documentary film producer, showed a splendid video of the county of Kent (where she comes from), with its old castles and lakes surrounded by beautiful gardens with flowers and plants that took your breath away. The audience gasped with delight at the picture-perfect scenes of all kinds of flowers that dot the countryside. Hazel also featured a ‘concert’ of singing animals which brought the house down. For a finale, she sang “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” from My Fair Lady, complete with a cockney accent (ala Audrey Hepburn).
For the tea party, Robert (a certified chef), supervised the menu of iced tea, scones, dainty cucumber, ham and egg sandwiches, yummy Shepherd’s pie and Victoria sponge cake with strawberry jam. The Garden Club president Peps Remitio, who was also celebrating her birthday, supplied a big lechon and a scrumptious chocolate cake with walnuts. Wow! What a treat everyone had, gorging on the unspeakably delicious merienda. What fun it was to come up with a unique and most enjoyable presentation!* |