Coffee Mornings
It’s the place to go for a natter with neighbours and friends over a nice cup of coffee or tea and a slice of yummy cake, usually freshly made for the day.
Sue Wright’s ‘Mad Hatley’s Tea Party’ cake collection, made for the Coffee Morning’s first birthday in 2017.
Judging from the hubbub when walking in to the first Hatley Coffee Morning on Tuesday, 4th October 2016, here was welcome social gathering – and well over two years later, it has grown in popularity and become fully established as a regular monthly event.
It was started and continues to be run by Linda Hudson and Mervyn Lack, who live in East Hatley, to help raise funds for the village – there’s no set charge for anything, just a handy pot to drop in a donation.
Special mention to two brilliant regular cake-makers Pam Offord and Sue Wright – not forgetting many others who have contributed from time to time (and often still do): thanks to you all.
Proceeds raised from the Coffee Mornings are held by Hatley Parish Council in a village fund for use in East Hatley and Hatley St George.
Date First Tuesday of each month.
Time 10.00 am to 1.00 pm.
Food / drink Tea, coffee and a variety of cakes for sale by donation.
Place Hatley Village Hall.
The Famous Hatley Quiz
The first Saturday evening in February has become the regular date for ‘The Famous Hatley Quiz’ – a pub-style quiz for all the family for teams of up to six going through ten rounds of ten questions plus a ‘table’ round.
Studying the ‘table round’ questions at a Hatley Quiz Night.
There is, though, a twist at the end – the winning team, in addition to each member receiving a bottle of wine, gets to set and present the following year’s quiz.
The first Hatley Quiz, on 18th February 2012 as a fund-raiser for the Village Hall, was run by Alan and Pauline Pinney who wanted to kick the idea off but not commit themselves to always doing it – so started the ‘your turn next year’ tradition.
This has given the quizzes an unexpected air, for the quiz-setters work as a team to pool ideas rather than the usual one person downloading a predictable set of questions from the internet.
An innovation in 2015 was to project the questions onto the back wall of the Village Hall – an idea from Allen Miller of East Hatley – to supplement the questions being read out. This proved to be very welcome because it gives more time to think about / discuss the answer with your team-mates, although there’s still the opportunity to ask for any questions to be repeated at the end of each round.
And what sort of questions? The usual favourite subjects always crop up – food, sport, films, TV, geography, nature etc, but there’s room for almost any subject as long as it’s not too obscure, for it is meant to be an enjoyable evening out where everyone has the opportunity to do well.
Date First Saturday in February.
Time 7.00 for 7.30 pm.
Team Six per team.
Food / drink Bring your own for the half-time break.
Place Hatley Village Hall.
The Hatley Christmas Tea
The first Sunday afternoon in December has become another regular date for everyone in Hatley – to start getting into the Christmas spirit.
Nattering away at the 2018 Christmas Tea in a crowded Village Hall.
There is tea, coffee and soft drinks, many cakes and a variety of mince pies to gobble up.
Some years there has also been mulled wine on offer and in 2016 a special Men’s Baking competition when the men of Hatley were encouraged to bake a cake all on their own, which seven did.
The two judges declared Alan Pinney the winner, even though the competition was his idea – honestly, the result wasn’t fixed. The judges also decided eating so many (small) samples of cake was really hard work and not good for the waist line.
A bring-and-buy book stall has become a regular feature and, hopefully, the Gamlingay Community Choir, which started us off with an entertaining melody of seasonal numbers in 2018, will become another regular highlight.
Like the Coffee Mornings, it’s a chance for neighbours and friends to sit around and simply chat to one another on a chilly December afternoon before the real fun of Christmas gets underway.
Date First Saturday in December.
Time 2.00 to 4.00 pm.
Food / drink Lots of tea and cake – cake and mince pie contributions warmly welcomed.
Place Hatley Village Hall.
Page created 27 February 2019. ▲