On June 16^th Capel Ladies Club held their usual Summer Social, but with a different twist this year, as it was a “Country & Western” themed evening. We were entertained by “Mr Smooth” (Jim Hawkins), a versatile singer who performs all types of songs. We enjoyed numbers from the songbooks of Glen Campbell, Roger Miller, Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers, amongst others – and a few ladies even took to the floor to do some line dancing! There was a tasty buffet with contributions from each of us, and a Cowboy-themed Quiz with prizes including cans of sausages and baked beans, in the tradition of a Cowboy’s breakfast! A fun evening, it was just a pity more members couldn’t make it due to holidays or illness.

Our next project was Scarecrow-making for the annual Scarecrow Trail, and as it has been a Right Royal Year, we thought something regal would be suitable… so we chose The Queen of Hearts, Disney-style, with an angry expression after the loss of her tarts! Mary, Pat, Shirley and Sue spent a very entertaining morning creating the figure with a lot of laughs along the way!

On 7^th July a party of us went to see the Orchard Players’ latest show in the Community Centre. It was entitled “Into the Light”, and it was an evening of songs – and dances – from many different genres with some brilliant performances from younger members, as well as the seasoned regulars and the live band. A fun, foot-tapping evening – CONGRATULATIONS Orchard Players! My overall favourite number was the Victoria Wood classic, “Barry and Freda” – Let’s Do It! Finally, to end a busy month, Capel Ladies manned the refreshments stall at Rose Chiverton’s Open Garden Event in aid of the Blossom Appeal, our charity for this year. Rose’s garden is unique as it includes a permanently laid out model railway track with working trains. These can all be operated with remote hand-held controllers, and visitors to the garden had great fun sending the trains going, over the bridge and round the circuit! There were stalls selling plants and pink items as well as tea and home-made cakes to try! It was a scorching afternoon and the men’s singles final was on the tele, so although it was a fair turnout, we might have had even more visitors on a cooler day with no other distractions!

We look forward to afternoon tea at Kersey Mill to end our busy summer season! Do try and join us in the autumn – we begin with a talk from a Wimbledon Line Judge on Thursday 1^st September! Have a good summer – and remember to check out our Programme here on the website for details of our Autumn activites!