The following weekend came one of the season’s highlights with a weekend away, mainly to attend the JMO Day of Dance in Leicester, but also to celebrate David’s forthcoming marriage to Heather. Saturday started with an opening ceremony in Jubilee Square, and was followed by spots in Halford Street, at the Clock Tower, at the Jewry Wall Museum, the Newarke Houses Museum, and finally Leicester Cathedral, now the home to Richard III. Some of the team were a little unkind about the size of Leicester’s Cathedral, but really (though I must declare some slight personal bias here) could there be a better city in England for Richard to finally rest his bones? (Though of course he had been resting them there for a while under a car park). The day finished with a closing ceremony in Jubilee Square, where BB were one of very few teams invited to perform one dance in front of the 60 assembled teams (Windsor were another).
Overall the dancing on the day went well – except – well, the day was partly a celebration for David, and some of the team thought the best way to celebrate was to have a bottle of whisky to pass round. My, weren’t people thirsty! – and the bottle was soon followed by a second one. It was the second one, I’m afraid, that was David’s downfall – to the extent that when performing in a 12 man Cavalier at the Cathedral, he had to be prodded around from place to place throughout. By the time he got to the closing ceremony he really wasn’t too well, and had to be helped back to the fortunately nearby Travelodge where several of the team were staying.
That evening a celebration dinner had been arranged at the Queen of Bradgate bar/restaurant, but unfortunately David was unable to make it. Nevertheless it was a fun evening, and the props that had been brought to dress up David instead found their way onto Tom. And later on, just as we had done 6 years earlier after the equivalent meal for Jameson’s the forthcoming marriage, we went back to the hotel and watched the closing stages of the Eurovision Song Contest! We know how to live in BB.
The next day we had planned a rendezvous at The Bell in Adderbury, a morris friendly pub conveniently on the way home from Leicester. A recovered David was able to take part in the dancing, and we were able to apply the various props he had missed the previous evening. What a great air guitarist he proved to be!
