No.19

"Mum, I've hurt my arm" were not the words I really wanted to hear the evening before we were going to be away from the kids for two days. It wouldn't be so bad if James was actually standing in front of me but he was calling from Aberdeen, a few hours before he was to play guitar, in an Aberdeen pub, with his band. Their first big gig.
        James is eighteen , he picked up a guitar many moons ago and has never really put it down. Having taught himself to play from watching You tube clips and sheer perseverance,  he only started taking lessons when he started college last year.
     He gets his resilience from his Dad that's for sure. When Robin sets his heart on something, he will wait and chip away until it finally happens.
    We own a small Brethren hall in Macduff, called, unsurprisingly...'The Brethren Hall'. This is where we meet with friends on a Sunday morning for 'church'. It's probably not what most people would define as church, as we sit in a semi circle and share what's on our hearts, sing a bit, pray a bit, break bread together and drink lots of tea and coffee. It doesn't matter who turns up, everyone is free to come and go, but there is a core of us who meet regularly and have become more like family over these past few years.
    Fifteen years ago Robin and I  belonged to a larger church, but both felt that the pressure of attending meetings was actually getting in the way of how we lived our lives as Christians. We went back to basics and and had a small family time of breaking bread on a Sunday with the kids, doing this for years before some friends came and joined us. Robin felt that having another space would make things a lot easier, so he set about searching the halls of Macduff and landed on 'The Brethren Hall, in Carny street, just a stone's throw away from our house.
   At the time, the hall was being sold by a church group, who simply didn't need it anymore and it was under offer by a property developer, who was willing to pay the asking price of £42,000 to knock it down and use the space to build a house. The folks who owned the hall were really saddened by this, but felt they had no option as no-one else was interested. No-one except Robin that is but he didn't have that kind of money.
      To cut a long story short, the buyer pulled out when the credit crunch hit and after a lot of meetings and a  prayer Robin came to the owners and offered them what he could muster up, £12,000. They looked at him and said....
           "We'll let you have it for £10,000"
   All those years ago and now we have a thriving little hub where anyone who wants can use it, if it's free. We have drum lessons, Piano lessons, craft group, bible studies, parties, musical evenings and on a Sunday we have church.
    When we have a Sunday wedding it means that we don't get to meet with everyone, but they know that life can be like that for us and hey, they know where the kettle is, so church goes on.
    Craig and Sammy are from Old meldrum and have been together on and off for the last 6 years. As Craig said in his speech, it was the times apart that made him realise that he couldn't live without her. All their family knew that they were meant to be together and it was his Aunt that said to him one day "For goodness sake, just marry the girl"!
     So we drove up the road from Fettercairn after a relaxing morning of Robin writing up his service for Craig and Sammy and me furiously writing up my blog from the day before, having a constant fight with the poor wifi connection in our hotel...I mean, how long does it take to upload one photo! We ended up sitting downstairs in the main reception area where presumably the wifi hub was and also a lovely writing desk for Robin to sit at.
       My outfit choice was a bit limited as I knew if I was hauling it about over a few days it would need to be fairly robust and not need to be ironed. So I decide on an M&Co dress that I had got in the sale a few months before , with my lacy black shoes and matching pashmina. I even got away with not having to wash my hair again, twisting it into an alright updo style.

We arrived at Meldrum house in plenty of time, despite a few calls to and from home. James had managed to play his gig the night before with the aid of painkillers and some alcohol ( How very rock and roll!), now, in the light of morning, he thought that he maybe should get it checked out. Thank goodness for Robin's Mum, Evelyn, who took him to A&E and bought him more pain killers for over the weekend , when he would have to return for an Xray on Monday morning to find out what the damage was.
        The sun was splitting the sky as we drew up and I noticed that the rhododendrons had started to blossom since we were last there.

Craig and Sammy were getting married in the converted stable area, which I love. It has underfloor heating, perfect for slipping your shoes off and enjoying a bit of hot stone therapy. We were met by Sarah, the wedding coordinator who made sure that everything was as it should be.
    At Colin and Sara Sutherland's wedding in 2013 ( Robin's 95th), there was an altogether different wedding coordinator who didn't have the ease of manner that Sarah did. When we arrived he marched through to the hall ahead of us and asked Robin how long the service would be. Robin said...
 "Well, if you take in to account that the bride will be ten minutes late, then the service should be about thirty minutes"
"Late...late? The bride will not be late" He exclaimed, in shock, " This is my hotel and the bride will be on time."
      Well forty minutes after she should've appeared, Sara walked down the aisle, looking quite stunning. She and the bridesmaids hadn't listened to the lesson that is, 'How to lace up the back of a corseted dress' and had got in to a bit of a fix. I think the poor guy probably had kittens by that time. It didn't spoil what was a lovely day, by any stretch of the imagination.......
    The flowers on the table, in the stables, were cream roses with pink gerberas, surrounded by gypsophila and I wondered if the colours would be similar to the wedding the day before.
           

      Craig seemed quite relaxed as Robin introduced us, happy to stand and wait with his best man Callum, for his bride to arrive.
     As 'I don't want to miss a thing' by Aerosmith played, the bridesmaids came in, not wearing pink, as I has guessed but a slate grey silk, what a surprise but they looked great. Sammy came in on her Dad, Kenny's, arm looking beautiful and totally chilled.She wore a strapless ruched silk dress with a glittering waist band of diamante and pearls that matched her tiara. As she came along side Craig, he reached out a reassuring hand and gave her a kiss on her lips, such a lovely little gesture, but it said so much to me about the two of them.
      During the ceremony they both looked quite happy, though Craig shed a few tears as Robin pronounced them 'Man and wife'. They kissed and led the way out in to the sunshine as the new Mr and Mrs Allan.
   

    We went inside to enjoy a drink and some canapes and the staff, as helpful as always, brought me a cup of tea as I was starting to lag a bit after the pace of the weekend and needed a bit of sustenance! We decided to enjoy the afternoon as photos were being taken by taking a 'turn about the gardens' as they say in Pride and prejudice.
       The grounds of Meldrum house are wonderfully maintained. We have such a wealth of beautiful places in the North East of Scotland, to enjoy and for people to choose from to have their special day. Next to the house are Highland cows that graze away seemingly quite happy to stand between the hotel and  the golfers on the other side, who enjoy the spectacular course. The lake in the grounds has a few fountains and the house itself has a spectacular water feature that we noticed was a great draw to jackdaws, coming for a drink on a particularly hot day.

      Kenny, the father of the bride, sat down for a chat and told us about his work at the Glen Garioch distillery near Inverurie. Apparently living just across the road from your work isn't the best idea when the machinery starts to act up. Anyway, he made it to the wedding and he and Sharon, Sammy's Mum made us feel very welcome indeed.
         Entering the huge marquee, the whole place looked fabulous with tables named after all the local distilleries and men's favours being a minature of 12 year old Glen Garioch while the ladies got a badge with a donation to cancer research. Inside our name cards Sammy and Craig had written a personal note of thanks for coming along.

 We had a bit of a panic when looking for our place at the table on not being able to find Robin's name. We were pretty sure he had been invited, but it looked as though I was the only one eating!

           
      Thankfully when we got to the table, there was, indeed, a space for him and name card...whew!!
All the speeches went well with Craig welling up quite a bit as he spoke of his love for Sammy and Callum telling us how Craig hadn't actually made his own Stag do as he had been so unwell from overindulging the night before!
     Our meal was great and yet again we had a lovely bunch of folks to enjoy it with. I had decided to take the vegetarian option of Goat's cheese wellington as it's not that often that I get the choice. All the main courses were served with beautifully steamed veg, really delicious.
        We knew by the end of the meal that we were going to have to head home soon. A visit to casualty beckoned in the morning and  I was pretty sure that there would be a bit of fall out for having left the kids alone for almost 48 hours.
         We said our farewells as 'The limit' were setting up and I was disappointed that we really couldn't stay for a few dances, as I know how good they are.
   Cake cutting was being left till the evening, so I missed one of my favourite photo shots , but still got a snap of it when it was whole....pretty spectacular eh?

     Farewells were said and my heels slipped off, to be replaced with my driving trainers.
     We reached home and the house was still in one piece, having survived being tidied by the kids under James' direction, with only one arm!
     After a quick scoot round, putting washes on , filling the dishwasher in the correct fashion ,making sure uniform was ready for the morning and catching up on everyone's weekend, we assessed the injured arm.
     It didn't look too bad and he wasn't in too much pain, so I was hopeful that the Xray would be clear and his plans to travel to Ghana in two weeks could go ahead.
        Well, the Xray said different, the arm is fractured at the distal radius ( elbow), but thankfully if he behaves himself he can still go on his adventure.
      I know that Craig and Sammy's adventure is just beginning and they won't let anyone deter them from enjoying it fully.