To mark the Society’s 50th Anniversary, a new event was held at Taplow House Hotel on Easter Monday. The aim was to expand the Society’s social event calendar and to offer an event with widespread family appeal in the hope that this would attract younger families living in the area.
Easter is an uncertain time of year weather wise and it is also a popular time for families to go on holiday. So holding a new village event on Easter Monday was a leap in the dark and we had no idea how things would turn out. We need not have worried – the event was sold out and over 100 people attended the hunt and lunch, with many staying for both. It was wonderful to see so many of people from our community, age range 9 months to 90 years, those new to the village and those who have been residents for many years. Many thanks to all who came and helped to make the day a great success!
The day began late in the morning with two egg hunts held in the grounds of Taplow House Hotel
The hotel grounds were the perfect place for the event with lots of wooded paths and hollowed out trees in which hunters could scramble around. The weather was thankfully dry and the children spent a long time collecting all of the remaining eggs even after they had claimed their prizes. In fact the organisers only found one egg that had been missed (out of over 400)! With the children safely occupied running around, parents and others who had come to watch had plenty of time to enjoy the drinks and Easter cakes. It was a good opportunity for everyone to socialise in a lovely setting and to appreciate what a wonderful facility we have in the middle of the village.
Just before lunch there was a champagne hunt for the adults. This had the potential to be the most competitive part of the day. In the end there was no (obvious) foul play and the adults, who were helped by their now expert hunter children, came way with several bottles of champagne which had been hidden in the gardens, courtesy of the Taplow House Hotel.
After the champagne hunt was over, lunch was held at the hotel in the rooms overlooking the terrace, a fantastic setting. 94 people, including many of the children, came to the lunch. It was a lovely event, with many generations of Taplow residents present and all having a good time. Gill Blundell had baked a cake (bunnies and balloons of course) to mark the Society’s 50th anniversary. Eva Lipman gave a few words of thanks and with help from many of the children drew the raffle. The raffle was generously supported by local businesses and the prizes included at a voucher for one hour of water sports at Taplow Board & Ski, a month’s free membership La Roche Health Club in Maidenhead, a plant from Roots Nurseries, Waitrose vouchers and wine and chocolate from the Society.
Our initial aim was to break even rather than raise money from the event. Now with the money raised by the raffle on the day and the money raised by holding a spinning class (indoor cycling) at La Roche, Maidenhead.(16 local residents took part one Saturday afternoon in March. and the “Taplow Spinners” was born!), we are hoping to have some funds left over to give to Thames Valley Adventure Playground.
A special thanks to Sam Goss and his team at Taplow House Hotel whose enthusiastic support for the event is greatly appreciated and made the day a success.
Will we hold the event again? We would certainly like to and we have had some great feedback from those who enjoyed it. We were really encouraged by the number of people who came. A look at the photographs of the event shows there is clearly enough enthusiasm to warrant a second go next year at which point we may call it an annual event!
Here’s to 2011!
Many more pictures may be seen on the website of the photographer who covered the event (password “Taplow”)
http://www.people-photography.net/apps/links/
