Golden wedding anniversary

It was a delight to celebrate my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary last Saturday; we travelled up to Nottingham in the afternoon to spend a few hours with them before the party and to give our gift to them early. They adored the photo album we assembled for them, to the point where they wanted to bring it to the celebration to show other guests.

Nearly forty people attended the event. Besides obvious people such as my grandparents, parents, brother, and me, others in attendance included my aunt/uncle/cousins from Nottingham, aunt/uncle/cousins from the East of England, Nottingham uncle's brother, my grandparents' nearest neighbours, and several other friends and relatives of my grandparents. At least three-quarters of the people invited to the party came, and one person who was accidentally not invited had the good sense to make it. Some of the people I hadn't seen for a couple of years, but there were others whom I hadn't had any contact with for close to twenty years, and a few I hadn't met at all.

The celebration took place at a fancy Chinese restaurant, with an entire room - which contained four large tables - booked for our group. After people started filling into the room I chose a table and waited to see who would sit with me - there weren't any pre-determined seats, so people could sit where they desired, although my grandparents' and their children sat at the "head table". We did not have to order any food, as my Nottingham aunt had been the primary organiser of the event and had chosen a set menu.

The speeches went very well: Dad was the first to speak - given that he is my grandparents' oldest child - followed by my uncle from the East of England and my aunt from Nottingham (my other uncle is in Hong Kong). Six of the eight grandchildren spoke next (my eldest cousin is also in China, and my other older cousin was briefly away during the speeches), with me going last: the content in my speech made it worthwhile me being the final speaker, and other than a couple of flubs when reading out my script I had no problems in giving a speech in front of nearly forty people. I received one of the largest rounds of applause, so I can safely assume that my speech was well-received!

I have plenty of pictures of the event - as do several other people - and there was more activity there than what I've written about, but in keeping with my personal privacy policy I cannot share any more here. All I can say is that it was great to celebrate my grandparents 50th, and everyone - especially my grandparents - had an amazing time.