Jenny Church's 100th

Last weekend my grandmother ‘JENNY CHURCH’ celebrated her 100^th birthday. 

Leading up to the event we were all very nervous not knowing if she would actually be attending the celebration or not.  When she had been told that there was a small lunch planned, with only the regular close relatives attending who would normally visit her on her birthday anyway, she panicked and told everyone to cancel.  This lunch arrangement was only a half truth as the full extent of the event had been kept a secret.  The actual event was going to be at a local hotel called the Miami.  Little did she know that a whole suite had been booked with a glamorous lunch and as many relatives as could be seated had been invited and were flying and travelling in from all over Europe.

On the day, we arrived at the venue and met my Dad and Pat, who had organised the whole thing.  We then sneaked a peek at the room were the lunch was to be held.  It looked wonderful.  All the tables had a lovely little flower arrangement in the centre and the napkins all had happy 100^th on them.  I had also made some chocolates that I put into little bags with homemade labels that I had painted with 100^th in gold on them.  These were placed on the tables as favours like you would have at a wedding.  All around the room there were pictures from my grandmothers life on the walls and windowsills.

At 1pm and once almost everyone had arrived we had the nod and all made our way into the suite where the lunch was to be held and waited for the guest of honour.

It was so lovely to see the look on her face when she entered to room.  It lit up with happiness when she saw everyone who had come from miles away to celebrate an amazing achievement of age.  100 years.

It took a while for my grandmother and her husband Robin to get to their seats as they just wanted to speak to everyone that they had not seen for so many years.  Once they eventually got seated a photographer from the local newspaper, in Chelmsford, arrived to take photographs of my grandmother and the family.  My son, her great-grandson, was the one of the youngest generation.  She also has 3 great-granddaughters.

Once she was settled in her seat and photographs completed we sat down for a lovely lunch.  I had prawn fritters to start.  The other starters were melon and creamy garlic mushrooms which myself and my Uncle Den decided would have been a better choice as they looked delicious.  This was followed by roast lamb which was very nice.  To finish we had a choice of a fruit roulade or apple crumble.  Bother were lovely.  It was lovely and very well cooked considering the number catered for.  I would like to congratulate the staff at the Miami hotel for all their efforts.  They were very friendly and helpful under a lot of pressure as we were not a very well disciplined crowd.  Every time a course finished more people wanted to go and talk to my grandmother, say hello and introduce the new offspring to her.  

At the end of the meal my Grandmothers son, Robin, handed her the grand envelope containing the telegram from the queen.  She was very happy when she received the envelope and a tear appeared in her eye.  She was very proud.

Unfortunately we had to leave the party while it was in full swing as we had a long journey back home.

I had a wonderful time and feel honoured to have my Grandmother reach 100 years.  It was lovely to see people I hadn’t seen since I was a child like my two cousins, Andrew who flew in from Madrid and Mark who flew in with his family from Germany.  It was also great to meet and speak to people I was related to but had never met.

Happy 100^th Nanna!