High Tea at St Stephen's

 Last Sunday afternoon, a gracious friend of mine took me to a High Tea 

at

 St Stephen's Bayswater.

 The afternoon was organised by an NGO called

Australia Aids South Africa.

As the name implies, the organisation works to assist

AIDS victims in South Africa.

 The hall at Stephen's was packed.

There was wonderful music from talented local people.

As well as my friend and her lovely family,

I also enjoyed the presence at our table of

St Stephen's vicar, Father David.

Each table had its own host.

The host (or hostess if you prefer) provided all the beautiful

napery and tableware.

I thought this was a great idea -

since it split so much of the organisation, responsibility and work.

Beverages, it should be noted, were not limited to coffee and tea!

I did enjoy the champers in beautiful fluted glasses -

and the flowers and chocolates, too.

I think the afternoon was a marvellous social success.

I am sure the hard work was rewarded, as well, with financial success.

Thank you, Australia Aids South Africa.

...and are the tables set for Tea?

A week ago I was thinking of the morrow, Saturday 28 June 2008. Can you please mark the date? Major achievements must be recorded with the time (the invitation said to be there at 1.30pm) at the Zetland Hall in Kyneton. Three of us were taking the trip to Kyneton: Gina of Patra's Other Place, Helen of Helen's Haven and Miss Eagle. Our blogging friend, Leeanne of Pear tree cottage! was organising a Ladies Afternoon High Tea to raise money for the Starlight Children's Foundation.

Here are the tables all set up waiting for the guests.

But I think we should begin at the beginning - or working from the bottom up.

Leeanne has long been a collector but in the year leading up to the High Tea she excelled herself at collecting. Above is detail of some of the cloths that graced the tables of the Zetland Hall.

And then there were the trios - cups, saucers, plates

Bone china galore!

Some were retro, some were vintage, and some were ancient treasures.

Beside each setting were exquisite napkins. Detail above.

Placemarkers!

And then there was the food - and the teapots

And then there were the people.
Leeanne's mother - she of the 250 scones - top left and bottom right.

Leanne, the wonder woman, second from top left and bottom left.

Miss Eagle is on left second row from bottom;

Gina is in the middle in a pink top; and next to her in elegant black is Helen.


The men of the Zetland Lodge waited on us and modelled the auction items.

And Master of Ceremonies and Auctioneer was Rob, Leeanne's Dearly Beloved.

It was a magnificent afternoon. Such an achievement! The Mount Everest of feminine hospitality. For most of us if we had organised an event in such detail for six of our friends we would have considered it well done. Leeanne did this for 104 women. Can you imagine - the trios, the cloths, the napkins, the tea and coffee pots, the cake stands! And each place had a novelty and a gift and a place marker. And then there was the wit and whimsy! Gina is a great collector of embroidery - and a great favourite is the crinoline lady. We were seated at a table with the most exquisite crinoline lady cloth. I noticed the beautiful plate on which our scones were placed. But as we ate our way through the scones, a crinoline lady appeared. Matching cloth and plate!

Thank you Leeanne - and to Rob and the men of Zetland Lodge - for an absolutely amazing afternoon. Extraordinary! It will live long in the memory. Blessings and bliss!

The Blessing of The Curse

Thanks to the repeats of Foxtel I am about to line up for my third viewing of The Curse of the Golden Flower. How can I not? This time Foxtel has preceded the viewing with The Making of... Apparently, the crowd scenes which look like a cast of millions to me are only a cast of thousands. But the costumes, the colour, the lights, the sets, the action!

This is the most expensive Chinese movie ever - and I think they get more bang for their buck in Beijing than in Los Angeles. The promo has just said that if you love House of Flying Daggers, you will love this. How tantalising! But I loved House of Flying Daggers. I came out of the theatre after that movie thinking that I didn't really need to see another movie ever again - because it had everything.

The director of both movies is Zhang Yimou. I have not seen all of Zhang's work - but who can forget that beautiful and poignant movie, Raise the Red Lantern with the magnificent and beautiful Gong Li who stars again in Golden Flower. And who can forget his production of Turandot at the Forbidden City? And as if all this wonderment was not enough, Zhang has been selected to produce the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.