Ty Powdwr - Bonfire, Big Birthday and Boogie Bash

Members: Roger Dyke, Dave Wylie, Sheena Hendrie, Craig and Sue Marsden, Jim Symon, Philippa Maye, Colin Maddison, Mary Stuart, Jeremy Engineer, Cathy Devine, Lorna Marsland, Kirsten Mundt, Christine Beeston, Ann Waters, Midge and John Castick, Jo and Andy Stratford, Trish Cranston, Al Metelko, Steve Graham, Cathy Gordon, Dave Dillon, Kate Harvey, Geri Mihalkova, Sabina Cosulich,  Michelle Harvie and Mark Garrod (29)

Guests: Gabriella, Gemma, Phoebe (3)

Growing old gracefully? No chance! The constant stream of friends heading back into the disco lounge at midnight, for another bout of boogie-ing, clutching their cups of tea, summed it up for me.

The main event was a communal meal on the Saturday, with lasagne and chilli, followed by a fantastic array of puddings. Thanks Sheena and Jim for your very kind words, and for everyone for not insisting on replies by the birthday girl and boy. Michelle’s cake was a work of art (just depends which art class you go to) but very much appreciated.

The obligatory bonfire followed, which was easily built in ~30 mins thanks mainly to the tree cull that had taken place at the working party meet 2 weeks previously; it provided an endless stream of brash and small logs which burnt well into the next day. Gabriella especially showed great promise as a pyro-maniac with her constant fire-feeding.

Andy then entertained us all with a superb collection of (mainly) oldies to keep us moving and grooving. Sabina danced all night, on crutches, or on crutch when Stevie borrowed the other one to try and clear the dancefloor with a few twirls and prods. There was also a special Madness feature dance by M&M. We only stopped for the judging of the caption competition, captions having been requested from everyone for many old (and some very old) photos of Sabina and Mark. Mary of course won the caption competition hands down. All-in-all a memorable and very enjoyable evening, and whilst a lot of people put in a lot of effort to make it work, our particular thanks to Andy for his DJ-ing, especially as he had to leave early on Sunday to head up to Dundee for work.  

Midge, John and Roger did a stretch of the Anglesey coast on Friday, Craig ran up Elidwr Fawr, Michelle and Mark ran round Llyn Padarn, Dave W bagged some lesser Carneddau peaks, and Phoebe and Sue had a walk around the quarries.

Saturday saw Andy, Geri and Dave W scale the Parson’s nose in less than clement weather, M&M, Jim, Craig, Sue and Phoebe went up Moel Eilio, while Philippa and Jo took a stroll to the quarries viewpoint. The Eilio team got some fantastic sun, cloud, hail and hill views – all very moody. They also got a covering of hail whilst lunching.

Sunday was the worst day, so a gentle walk round the quarries was in order for most, although Linda, Christine, Kirsten and Cathy went further afield – not sure exactly where.

Thanks everyone for helping us celebrate, especially Lorna who admitted she hadn’t been down to Ty Powdwr for 12 years.   

Sabina & Mark