In May I made my second trip to Scalford Hall, to enable our group to continue with our training, discuss momentous issues affecting RIBI, and get
to know each other better. While we were doing this, the DGNs also had some
meetings. One of the main talking points
of the weekend was the International Assembly in San Diego, which by now was
less than 7 months away. We heard that
there was to be an ‘International Evening’ where different countries put on a
show on stage for the benefit of the others. A bit like the Eurovision Song Contest, without political correctness (and without Graham Norton). Also nobody
judges your performance, thankfully. So all the DGNs and Consorts of Great
Britain and Ireland had to put together a 5 minute show portraying our countries.
This was not going to be easy.
I’ve always wanted to be a Morris Dancer, but my suggestion
didn’t carry enough support in a democratic vote, as one vote was not enough.
(Not even the DGN supported it). General agreement was reached that we need to
come up with an idea which will include everyone.
A trio of Consorts, Keith Barnard Jones, myself and Ron Marshall enjoying a moment's relaxation in our hectic schedule
Fortunately, Lyn Marshall, one of our DGN’s had some experience of showbiz, and she
offered to put together a show for us to perform. Amongst much hilarity, we all
sat around in the sunshine on Saturday afternoon, singing songs like Danny Boy,
Bread of Heaven, Land of Hope and Glory etc. We wanted to include all of the
home nations, so within our 5 minute slot, we had to sing 4 songs, and look
interesting whilst doing so. Lyn came up with an idea of playing cards, where
we all wore tabards depicting our home countries, arranged ourselves
artistically on stage and sang our four songs, following which RIBI President
and his wife Peter and Di King would skip on to the stage dressed as
Jokers. Nobody else, except me, had come up with a coherent plan so we all
decided to throw ourselves into this routine, assuring ourselves that it would
be all right on the night.
Most seem happy with the planned International evening routine
Earlier that Saturday, myself and a few of my Consort
friends, decided to embark on another tour of Melton Mowbray. Our driver was
Dave (I’ve forgotten his second name), the same very obliging local Rotarian
who drove us last time. We did mostly the same circuit as before, except that
this time we visited an extremely old pub. We went to St Mary’s church again,
which has a fascinating history, except there were no Christmas trees this
time. We also visited (of course) the Dickinson and Morris pork pie shop. However they did not have any of the mini
pork pies that I wanted to take into work. Dave took us to a couple of other
pork pie establishments in the town, but they didn’t have any either.
Apparently Saturday afternoon is not a good time to look for mini pork
pies. We eventually found some in
Morrisons Supermarket. Whilst they are still authentic Melton Mowbray pies, I
could have picked them up in any supermarket in the country, probably.
By the end of the weekend, we were all getting to know each
other and becoming more comfortable in each other’s company. I also now have a collective name for a group
of Consorts: A Consortium!
Several of us would be meeting up again in Lisbon next month.
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