16 November 2017
On Saturday a group of fourth year parents attended the ASPA 80s night. Everyone streamed into the CMR in a riot of neon colours, tightly fitting white suits, sunglasses, back combed hair and a significant amount of nylon! Relieved that no naked flames awaited them the partygoers enjoyed an eighties inspired cocktail and, of course, a cheese on a stick plucked from a pineapple hedgehog. The night got off to a lively start with no one for a moment thinking “should I stay or should I go”.
Over to the Café the guests stepped through the dry ice and disco lights and were transported back to a time when no colour was too bright, no song too cheesy! Our boys would have been amazed to see how their Café was transformed and would have particularly loved the glitter balls, just as we did!
The catering team provided a meal with an eighties flair. Yes, of course there was prawn cocktail to start, what else? As the serving hatch raised to reveal the desserts of trifle and pineapple upside down cake an unprompted cheer filled the room. Well done Clive and the Catering team, a triumph!
Entertainment came in the shape of an eighties quiz (thanks to Claire Mitchell) and a “spot the intro” (with thanks to Pascale Atkins). Although there was a winner for these quizzes (table 7 for both), had there been a best dressed competition a winner would have been impossible to choose given the amazing lengths that many had gone to. Worryingly, some people still had outfits that they owned in the eighties!
The evening was sadly in full swing when someone noticed that it was actually time to clear up and exit. A few people forgot for a while that they were no longer as energetic as they had actually been in the eighties, but most were not going to let that stop them. There may well have been some aching joints to match the aching heads on Sunday morning, but all enjoyed an opportunity, in our current troubled times, to step back to a time when we at least thought life was about keeping our leg warmers straight as we tried to see “the whole of the moon”!
Many thanks to all those who helped to make this event a success: Claire Agg (creative flair and hard work in transforming the cafe), Emily Wilson (cheesy hedgehogs), Simon Hardman (photographs), Claire Mitchell (80s quiz), Pascale Atkins (spot the intro), Glen Williams (perfectly chosen music), Nicola and Suzanne (serving at the bar), John, Clive and Natalia and the rest of the catering team plus everyone who helped us to set up the room and tidy up at the end of the evening – Claire, Lindsay, Vicki, Lucy, Victoria and Emily (and any late additions to the helper list!)
Jacqui Summons and Karen Hope
