High Tea

A couple of years ago I was part of Rural Women New Zealand here in Tirau for a few years. However because it was on in the early afternoon I found it an awkward time of the day and often they would have activities in the mornings which didn't suit me with my job, so I stopped going.

Although Rural Woman have good values etc our branch had predominately elderly women who had been a part of the organization for over 40 years and they were reluctant to keep up with 21st century expectations so no young members were attracted to this branch. In fact they wouldn't change the day or time for this was what they always did on the first Wednesday of the month.

I was pleasantly surprised to receive an invitation in the mail a few weeks ago to attend a High Tea for past members, so being curious to see how the group were going theses days and because I like this sort of thing, I gratefully accepted.




The invitation said hats and gloves were optional so I hunted out my white dress gloves but I only had my straw sunhat, so tucked that under my arm in case others were wearing theirs.
 
Arriving I found that no one else had worn gloves at all and only one lady had a hat so I didn't put my hat on.

I was seated at a table and asked what I would like to drink.

Tea was brought to me along with some plates of mini sandwiches, salmon and asparagus rolls. After a while tea trollies were wheeled around the tables with tempting sweet treats in dainty cuts.

Each table was set with an embroidered afternoon tea cloth and matching serviettes. The settings were a matching bone china cup, saucer and plate. There was a silver teaspoon and cake fork each. The sugar and milk jug on our table was silver and there were fresh flowers in a vase.

All the while we were being entertained by a talented man at the piano.

There were also spot prizes and free raffle tickets which were at each setting when we arrived. I didn't win anything but it didn't matter it was still a lovely afternoon.

We were then given a programme of songs, poems and some timbrel playing all preformed by one of the local ladies as the afternoon tea drew to a close.

Although once again I was probably the youngest person there, it was nice to meet some new people and but served and entertained making it a treasured afternoon.