Chapter 30 #2
That was until Kev came back in looking serious.
Cath’s heart sank. Had they missed something?
Was someone without a lunch? But Kev reassured her, saying that Reggie and his friends from the home were insisting the hard workers all came through and joined them for lunch.
Cath hadn’t even considered that. In all the planning, and with all that hard work to do, it hadn’t crossed their minds what they might have for lunch themselves.
‘Umm, right, well, Dan, Andreas, is there enough meat and veg for another six portions, do you think? Anyone feeling peckish?’
‘Bloody ravenous. I thought you’d never ask,’ said Andreas.
‘And yes, there’s plenty left,’ confirmed Dan.
Cath felt the stirrings of a rumble in her tummy too, breakfast being one slice of toast and many moons ago.
Nikki nodded enthusiastically, and as Cath caught her eye, she remembered her fabulous elves and Mr Kevin Christmas himself, adding, ‘Oh, and for Kev and the boys, of course.’
‘Okay, we’re on. Lily, petal, could you fetch us ten more plates from the crockery stack please? And it’s back to your dishing-up stations, everyone.’ Nikki whizzed off to the hall with Will, to set up some more seats, squeezing them in at the ends of the two trestle rows.
And as the helpers came through five minutes later, each carrying a cutlery set and a very tasty-looking plate of turkey dinner, the crowd started clapping and gave a huge ‘Hurrah!’ Reggie even got to his feet to give them a standing ovation, with Kenneth following suit.
As the last one in, Cath took a moment to pause at the doorway and gaze around the hall.
She was so glad they’d made the extra effort with the strings of Reggie’s paper chains looped along the cream-painted walls, the tinsel and foliage decorating the tables, the windowsills, with Lily’s tree sparkling by the stage.
And there, gathered at the old school trestle tables, she saw a host of party-hatted, smiling and cheering faces.
A group of people making new friends, enjoying good food, and happily munching away as they chatted among themselves.
Hah, it was like their supper club on steroids.
Nikki had joined her family at the end of one row of tables, and Cath took the last seat – ooh, right opposite Will – along with Lily and the lads. Which happened to be just a few seats down from Reggie and his care home crew.
‘Absolutely marvellous,’ said Reggie, who was sat back down, raising his sherry glass to them all, with that twinkle very much back in his eye.
Spare party crackers were passed down. The team soon sporting red and green paper crowns, and reading out the corny jokes.
‘Okay, I’ve got one. How much did Santa pay for his sleigh?’ called out Dan.
The ritual pause, as a few paper-hatted heads were shaken in thought.
‘Nothing, it was on the house.’
Several chuckles were heard.
‘Right, here’s a good one,’ said Will. ‘What do donkeys send out near Christmas?’
‘Mule-tide greetings.’
Giggles and groans came from the gathering. Cath was so pleased to see Will relaxed and having fun and couldn’t help but catch his eye, and she gave a smile. His smile back was so damned beautiful, it hurt.
The food was indeed scrumptious. Cath tucked into tender turkey and luscious gravy. The veggies were tasty and not overdone – incredible considering the amount they’d had to boil and bake. She had to admit, they’d made a fine job of it.
Andreas gave a big thumbs-up across the table. ‘I’d say we smashed that cooking, guys.’
‘Yeah, we absolutely slayed it,’ Lily chipped in with her teen slang.
‘Sleighed it, more like. As in Santa’s carriage …’ Dan was harking back to his cracker-style jokes.
The conversation buzzing around their end of the table included several from the care home, or at least the ones who could hear them well enough.
Some were merely smiling and munching contentedly, and that was fine too.
Betty remembered one Christmas when her daughter was at the school and was a donkey in the school play, right in this very hall.
She was the back of the creature and her friend the front.
They’d got in a bit of a tangle at one point and ended up in each half at different ends of the stage, with her daughter Emily’s head hilariously peeking out to sing from mid-donkey-torso.
Other tales and memories were shared too.
These were magical moments not to miss, and Cath discreetly nipped off to fetch some sheets of A4 paper and some pens she’d spotted in the old school office, asking the lunch guests to jot down their memories of the place.
More mementos for her precious board. Hamish, Angus and Scott swiftly devoured their food and were soon up again checking the guests were okay, and topping up glasses of water from the WI jugs.
They seemed to actually (incredibly according to Nikki later) be enjoying their new role waiting.
The old and young were getting on so well.
Nikki caught Cath’s eye across the room, and pointed at her children, her mouth open.
She then came over to join her. ‘Well, I need to put these boys’ new skills to good use at home.
I’m going to make damned sure I get waited on now and again, and put my feet up!
’ She gave a grin. ‘Good job, boys,’ she called across the room, and the look of pride that spread across her face was wonderful to see.
*
Back in the kitchen once more, Lily set about making a quick reviving brew for their gang. The supper clubbers had brought back some of the empty plates with meals finished so far, and snatched a few minutes to chat.
‘Well, I think we can count that as a real success.’ Andreas grinned, his brow lightly beaded with sweat.
‘Yeah, great teamwork, gang,’ added Dan.
‘Whoa, that was even more work than Saveur’s kitchen on a full service. Been great experience though,’ said Lily.
‘I think most of the guests are very happy.’ Will gave a small sigh, yet was smiling, as he leaned back against the kitchen surface.
‘Only one complaint as far as I know,’ added Nikki. ‘That there wasn’t enough gravy, but Angus was onto it like a shot, and found a little jug to pour some extra in for them.’
‘Oh, and one old guy said the sprouts were too hard … mind you, it looked like his false teeth were on the move, so he’d probably need them pureed.’ Kev chuckled.
‘Aw, bless him,’ said Lily. ‘I’ve been chatting with lots of them about the school.
One old chap was a pupil here over sixty-five years ago, and remembers having his school dinners right here.
Says the quality has shot up today. He shared fond memories of the treacle sponge and custard, mind you.
So, I hope my mince pies and the Christmas puddings come up to scratch. ’
‘On that note, I suppose we’d better drink up, and finish collecting the dirty dishes in. Ready for round two,’ said Will.
‘And we all want some figgy pudding …’ Andreas started singing to jolly them along.
‘Oh, don’t start that again.’ Dan pulled a face. ‘The oldies from the home will be asking us to do carols next.’
‘Well, it wouldn’t be so bad, would it?’ said Nikki.
‘Maybe I’ll go and set up my speaker in the hall with some Christmas tunes,’ suggested Dan.
He’d brought along some of his old DJ’ing gear just in case; it was just outside in their car.
‘Dan D Groove at your service.’ He doffed a pretend baseball cap.
‘That’ll add to the entertainment, and perhaps take the pressure off us lot needing to sing.
But hey,’ he conceded, ‘one round of “Jingle Bells” and a “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” before the guests head off home might be sweet.’
‘Yeah, I think we should do that,’ Cath agreed. ‘A few carols before home time. It’d be a lovely way to close the event.’
*
They needed to serve pudding before they could draw the raffle.
Many of the guests had seen the lads’ bountiful hamper prize displayed on the stage front, plus a new offering, with landlord Bill from The Star kindly donating a voucher for ‘A Meal for Two with a Bottle of House Wine’.
And after several requests, Lily ended up selling even more tickets whilst the gathering was served dessert.
Cath had warmed dozens of mince pies and heated the special Granny Ruth Christmas puddings. She was with Andreas ready to dish them out with a generous dollop of thick cream.
‘I think I’d better make sure there’re enough pots of tea on the go for any guests who want to have another cuppa, too.’ Lily was acting as chief tea-maid.
‘I’ll sort some jugs of coffee out, too. The WI stuff has come in really handy,’ said Will.
‘Oh yeah, one of the old ladies here was on the original WI committee. She told me how they used to have coffee mornings, bake sales, village fetes and all sorts back in the day. They had to join forces with the Kirkton group, which are still going, when unfortunately the numbers here got too small,’ Lily added.
‘Bet this place was a hive of activity once. It’s nice to think it’s being used again,’ commented Dan.
Out in the hall, more memories were stirring with Reggie now thinking back to the tea dances that were held here in the school hall as it was then, back in the Fifties, soon after the Second World War.
When they were all full of hope for the future.
He and his pretty Elsie swirling and twirling to the music.
Suddenly, Reggie was up on his feet and with a twinkle in his eye. ‘Maestro,’ he called over to Dan, who was now behind the decks, ‘do you have any Fifties music? A little “Rock Around the Clock” perhaps, to get things going?’
Dan did a Spotify check and linked his phone to the speaker. ‘Here we go.’
The first bars rang out jauntily.
Without his dear Elsie, Reggie gestured his arm towards the elderly lady from the village who’d been sat beside him. ‘Mavis, would you care to join me?’