The main difference for today’s happy couple compared with most of the other weddings up and down the country this summer was that the sun shone!  After that things were a little more interesting too as they had chosen a radically different menu once they finished their Camel Valley Brut and canapes in the garden:  fish, chips and mushy peas!

This did present Adam, our chef, with a few logistical issues as we only have two small fryers.  We didn’t seriously entertain the idea of oven chips but did look around to see about hiring in the extra fryers we needed.  This was proving to be trickier than either Adam or I thought so Adam went to plan B.  We had again almost jokingly discussed hiring a fish and chip van for the afternoon but this turned out to be the best solution.  The fryer arrived after all the wedding guests had arrived and set up near the back door of the kitchen.  Adam had bought all the fish and made the batter but we did buy the potatoes from the chip man.  Once we knew everyone was on their way in Mike started cooking the fish and chips with some help from the professional.  As each batch was cooked one of the other chefs was bringing them up the back steps and into the kitchen so the rest of the team could plate up.  All 60 covers were served feesh and crispy inside 20 minutes and it was all very well received, by the staff as well as the guests as we did have a few pieces of fish spare.

Once we had finished and cleared down the van was on its way to another function tonight!

The fish and chips were followed by a choice of ice cream sundaes - these looked great but unfortunately there were no spares of these.  We’re now ready for the evening do: a swing band from Birmingham who will entertain them through the evening but thankfully not too late a finish.  In keeping with the non traditional feel the evening buffet is cheese and biscuits and good old Cornish pasties!

I’ve just heard that the date for next year’s Padstow to Rock Swim has had to be moved to the 19th of JULY.  This is a lot earlier than we had planned and will be before most of the schools are on holiday but at least it is on a week end.  More details will be on the Macmillan web site in the new year.

This is going to run from Thursday 4th December through to Sunday the 7th, lots of people are getting involved in all sorts of ways:  we are setting up a Christmas market in the Institute in the middle of town where we think Father Christmas will have his Grotto along with many other stalls, the shops will be staying open later each evening with I think Friday night a proper late night shopping evening and on the Saturday we will be having a fireworks display.  Many of the pubs will be putting music on and as many of the restaurants will be taking part too.  We already have a dinner and dance booked for the Friday night so can’t do anything extra for then but we are looking at something special for the Thursday and also for the Sunday lunchtime.

We have the next meeting tomorrow (19th Sept) so will have more details then.

Hot on the heels of the Christmas Festival which we are busy organising now I have just heard about a literary / music festival which is being planned for October 2009.  I don’t know much about it yet as the idea was just floated at our Padstow Area Tourism Association meeting last night but it will focus on the lives and works of John Betjemen and Malcolm Arnold.

More details will follow in the news section of our web site and on the www.padstowlive.com site as it becomes available.

I didn’t manage to see any of our adopted rabbit family towards the end of August as there were people up around the pool most days, despite us not having the best of the weather.  Now that the pool has been closed for a week or so the little bunnies have been coming out to play again.

Ginty, who is looking after the pool, has been up there a couple of times this week to start the shut down process and he has reported seeing four rabbits up there now.  We have to assume that this is all of them but as we can’t tell one from another there way be more!  We will keep an eye on them and see if we can get Kate Humble and Bill Oddie to do a special programme on them!

Last Sunday most of my family met up for lunch to celebrate mum’s birthday.  As we were coming from way down here in Cornwall and my sister and family had to come down from Birmingham Dad chose The Flintlock Inn in the village of Marsh, right on the Devon and Somerset border.  We had a great day and a lovely lunch with good, honest pub food.

If you are travelling down this way from London on the A303 I would normally recommend you take the A358 from Ilminster to Taunton to pick up the M5 as it is a much quicker and smoother way than staying on the A303 over the Blackdown Hills.  This way you are quite likely to get stuck behind a slow lorry or tractor and the 20 miles till you pick up the Honiton by pass can seem like it takes an age.  However if it is nearly lunch time then it is definitely worth the risk of being held up to go for lunch at The Flintlock, Marsh is just off the 303 and those of you who know this road will recognise it as the place with the short bit of dual carriageway where you can overtake, turn off down the sliproad to Marsh, follow the road into the village and there is the pub with a decent car park.  They do serve a good range of real ales from Otter Brewery too so flip a coin to see who is driving after lunch!

Here’s some more information:

http://www.sugarvine.com/devonandcornwall/reviews/review_detail.asp?restaurantid=8163&name=Flintlock%20Inn%20The

http://www.ukpubfinder.com/pub/1335

We had the review meeting yesterday for last month’s swim from Padstow to Rock in aid of Macmillan Cancer Care, the event went really well but there is always room for improvements so hopefully we have made those.

The main news from the meeting which is relevant for publication is that we raised over £6735!

We aim to improve on this for next year but we haven’t set ourselves any targets yet ( apart from getting to the other side in one piece)  The eveny next year is booked for the bank holiday Monday, 31st of August.