Wedding Day , Friday 20th April 2012: a few more photos

The Bride’s Bouquet and the Wedding Cake

Wally emerges from the beautifully-decorated Rolls Royce Silver Shadow at the Guildhall.

Denise arriving at the Guildhall – in the first picture Wally is just visible over the roof of the car. The chauffeur is Peter, from Bride’s Choice Cars in Corfe Mullen - the use of the car was a gift from an Unknown Benefactor!

John escorting Denise

Denise is “given away”!

Signing the Register

Confetti-throwing time (that’s Vicki, one of our volunteers)

About to descend from the balcony. For those of you not lucky enough to live in or near Poole, the wedding took place at the Guildhall, a beautiful old building which dates from 1761. Weddings take place in a magnificent room upstairs – yes, there is a lift!

A VIP – Ju’s dog Genie

Outside the Guildhall – John with Jo Cor (one of our volunteers) and husband Kevin

The welcome at Dylan’s by the proprietors, Joy and Peter

No, not the local Flasher – John is showing off his magnificent waistcoat! As it was his birthday, he was allowed to accompany the Happy Couple in the Rolls from the Guildhall to Dylan’s.

Wally with Jez and his wife, Wendy (Best Man and Witness)

The beautiful cake, made by friend Janet who lives in Cornwall.

Cutting the cake with a mediaeval sword provided by Peter (in the background). The lunch took place in the Mediaeval Hall at Dylan’s – there was an unknown number of guests – we lost count at 70, as unexpected but very welcome “extras” turned up and were accommodated by Joy and Peter with their usual good humour.

Happy faces after an excellent lunch and glass of champagne.

Wally’s speech – not recorded for posterity, unfortunately

A lovely photo of Mrs Pitt.

- and another

The all-important piece of paper!

It looks like love . . .

That must have been a good one . . .

Just one of hundreds of cards and good wishes

A bit different from the Wally we usually see!

These photos were all taken by Ju, and are only a few of the hundreds she took. Thank you for the memories, Ju!

Note from the Secretary-Bird: I have quite a few pictures of guests, but I didn’t want to include them without having first contacted the person concerned. We are also waiting for another batch of photos from another friend who took hundreds, so there will almost certainly yet another set for the blog!!

Wedding Day, Friday 20 April 2012

Well, what a super day that was!  Wally and Denise “tied the knot” at the Guildhall, Poole, followed by lunch for more than 70 at Dylan’s Restaurant.

 It was a fairy-tale wedding, in as much as Wally and Denise arrived in a chauffeur-driven white Rolls Royce Silver Shadow (gift from an Unknown Benefactor!), which took them and John on to Dylans after the Ceremony.  Our Wal scrubbed up amazingly well, and Denise looked radiant – a term often misused, but entirely appropriate here.  Each lady guest was presented with a carnation on arrival, and during the Ceremony there were three readings, by Jonnie, Julie and the Secretary-Bird.  Despite the gloomy weather forecast, the sun shone, and the day was much enjoyed by all.

 

 The “Happy Couple” finally left for a secret destination somewhere in Redhoave Road in a Jazz traditionally decorated with banners, balloon, a couple of cans (donated by Dylans) and an old shoe (lent by the Secretary-Bird).

Further Delays to Season Start

I apologise for the delay in the start of the 2012 Driving Season at the EHDC…
We were due to start the driving season on the 1st March 2012 and here we are in the middle of April still unable to offer our services to our members… The reason why;
I had successful heart surgery on the 9th of December 2011 at Southampton General Hospital to replace the Aortic heart valve this went so well I was only in hospital for a week and discharged on the 15th December 2011.

I was sent home with the knowledge I should be recovered well enough to start driving the horses in time to get them fit for work at the start of March 2012. I wasn’t seen at Poole hospital or a doctor at my local surgery until the 30th January 2012. I was sent for to start my Rehabilitation at Poole Hospital. I was seen by a Specialist Nurse who discovered the procedure at Southampton to replace the valve had been very successful and although I was feeling great, I wasn’t able to exercise or go back to work because the top half of my heart is out of sync with the lower half (Atrial Fibrillation). While I feel fighting fit the danger of me overdoing work or exercise at this time would be the possibility of a Stroke or a Heart attack. I don’t want either of these alternatives, being as I am about to get Married to Denise on Friday 20th April, in the Guildhall in Poole, and at Dylan’s Restaurant after the ceremony all members welcome. Instead of wedding presents we request donations to the EHDC.

After this event is out of the way, my mind can concentrate on other things such as getting better. I am waiting for my drug levels to balance out, so I can have the next procedure attempted Cardio-version, this is where the doctors pass an electric shock through the heart and hopefully get it back into rhythm, which will allow me to commence exercise and work again.

Unfortunately add to my problems the fact that our other RDA Whips have been out of action also Denise looking after me, and Jonnie due to a bereavement, losing his mother two weeks ago. With funerals and the dealing with Mums estate, making demands on his time… The committee made the only sensible decision open to them and delay the start of the season until May and this will be the time all our lives can settle down to some kind of normality.

This has been a busy, frustrating, and difficult time for us all, I have a wonderful team of supporters who have cared for the horses during this time and have Jane Buck, RDA Whip in training driving training with Jonnie in any free time he can spare during this exasperating time for us all.

Wally

Delays to Start of Carriage Driving Season

Most of our readers will already be aware that we have had to cancel driving until after Easter - the actual date of starting again has not yet been decided. We are very sorry for the disappointment and inconvenience this has caused, but it has been due to circumstances beyond our control. You will be glad to know that our four horses are fit and well and rarin' to go, but sadly Jonnie has had a bereavement, and Wally's health problems continue. However, the bright spot on the horizon which we are all looking forward to is the wedding of Wally and Denise on Friday 20th April.

First Aid

The tentacles of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act reach unto the ultimate ends of the earth, yea, even unto the farthest reaches of the Holton Lee estate, which explains why Wally and Denise were sitting outside Winterbourne Whitechurch village hall in the sun, eating their sarnies.

We are required to have trained First Aiders available, and thus it was that Wally, Denise and Jo M attended a one-day Emergency First Aid course. The Village Hall was bitterly cold despite the best efforts of the organisers to get the central heating going efficiently, so the trainees were only too glad to decamp to the sheltered area in front of the Hall where they were in the sun for their lunch break. The Trainer (Paul . . .oops, I mean Phil from Southern First Aid Training) suggested we should have the afternoon session outside, which we readily agree to. We had to be assessed at the end of the day, and I am glad to say that we all passed, and our Certificates are on their way. It was an excellent course, and we were lucky to have such an experienced trainer, who held our attention throughout and made what could be a dull subject into an interactive and interesting session.

Rather than wait for a partner (there was an odd number of trainees) we worked in a three, hence Wally had one arm bandaged by Denise and one by Jo M

"’Oppit, and take that other bandage with you" or "you do that again and I'll scream"

“Never volunteer!!” (An alternative caption for any Goon Show fans still around might be “Bottle doesn’t like this rotten game!)

Resussie-Annie undergoes Denise’s ministrations

Denise and Jo M get together to revive the victim (you have been warned . . . )

Wally, Denise and Jo M had all done a number of first aid courses in the past, and today’s exercises with Resussie-Annie (the dummy used for practising CPR – “mouth-to-mouth”) brought back embarrassing memories for Jo M of her first meeting with Resussie-Annie, many years ago . The tutor had given a brief demonstration of CPR to the class, and invited Jo M to be the first to try it. Unfortunately, no-one had thought to mention how hard one should blow into the victim’s mouth, so Jo M took a deep breath, and in the manner of someone inflating a party balloon, blew as hard as she could into poor Ressussie-Annie, who “swelled wisibly” and for a moment seemed in danger of taking off and floating somewhere in the region of the ceiling. . . ("swelled wisibly" (with a "W") is a quote from Dickens' Pickwick Papers. . . . . not that I have ever read it, but I'd heard the phrase used and it had appealed to me!)

Posted by Jo

Chalet Spring Clean

Somehow it was decided that the Chalet needed a Spring Clean, so three willing (?) volunteers (?) were rounded up and found themselves at the crack of 9am last Wednesday emptying the Chalet of everything moveable. Once all furniture, including the fridge-freezer, had been moved out, we were surprised at how big the Chalet actually was.

The Chalet is more or less empty and we are nearly ready to start the hard work of cleaning. (Meg on the left and Jo Muggins, aka "secretary bird", on the right – the derriere behind them is rumoured to belong to Robin)



If in doubt, chuck it out . . .not quite sure what Meg is consigning to the bin this time, but at least it’s not the fridge-freezer, which is on the right of the picture.


Everything is now outside the Chalet, including all the furniture (John’s beloved chair is on the right of the picture). Fortunately the weather was sunny and very little wind. Robin (in this picture) did a magnificent job in removing the accumulated ice from the freezer, a job which involved several hours sitting uncomfortably on the ground.

Jonathan came just before lunch to render first aid to the Computer, and having ensured that it hadn’t suffered from all the dust we had stirred up, set to to help with the rest of the work – thank you, Jonathan

Very many thanks are also due to Meg and Robin, who worked incredibly hard, and to Solo, their standard poodle, who did an excellent job of supervising us.

(That "Secretary Bird" was also there, generally getting in the way as usual, but forgiven as she kept the workers supplied with tea and cakes!)

Posted by the "Secretary Bird"

New season starts!

For many months now, the stables have seemed lifeless, the only action being the regular visits from a small band of volunteers who have been looking after our horses all winter in all weathers. Suddenly, yesterday, it was all change – the weather was mild and sunny with no wind, and the stables seemed to come alive again. There were about 14 present, which included Mel, our vet, and Keith our farrier and three “newcomers”, Meg, Robin and Jonathan.

The horses were brought to the yard for a dental check by Mel, and Keith gave them all their first shoes of the year. The horses looked shaggy and warm in their winter coats, and seemed to enjoy being in the middle of all the action, ears pricked monitoring what going on around them.


A certain amount of enthusiastic spring-cleaning of the feed room and chalet was started, and volunteers were rounded up for more spring-cleaning next week. Coffee and cakes were available in the chalet, and with Wally busy at the computer, Denise hard at work on her side of the table, and others coming and going, it suddenly felt like home again!