I had the very great pleasure of re-visiting Chiddingstone Castle on Friday evening, not this time with a view to writing an article about it, but as the guest of the Kent Community Foundation for their annual fundraising dinner. Chief executive Iain McArthur, resplendent in his family tartan, has a knack for picking exceptionally fine venues for what is an eagerly anticipated date in the calendar, but this year excelled himself - when he first saw Chiddingstone towards the end of 2007, it was a bit of a wreck, to say the least. But Iain had the faith to belief that the tiny band of in-house restorers could work a miracle and, of course, by this Easter that's just what they had done and the Castle was once more open to the public, and available for private groups such as ours.
It certainly looked lovely on Friday evening, and after we'd all admired the impressive collections of Japanese lacquer and Egyptian antiquities, we sat down to a great dinner, interspersed with speeches about the achievements of the Foundation over the past 12 months. And played The Game. Gulp.
I've encountered this one before, at the Demelza Midsummer Ball, and I think it's quite traditional at these events, but I have never been involved to the extent I was on Friday. Basically, Heads and Tails involves everyone standing up and putting their hands on their heads if they decide to be a Head or behind their back if they opt for Tails. Our Master of Ceremonies (the inimitable George Jessel, on this occasion) then tossed a coin and if it was heads, the 'heads' remained standing - until just two players are left. I expect you can guess the rest.
By keeping my hands firmly behind my back for every single round, and tails being called every time, I ended up 'last man standing' with Dr David Starkey, no less, battling it out for a night for two at the Hotel du Vin. To everyone's amusement - and my mounting consternation - David became convinced that the prize was meant for the two of us and that I had been sent to 'convert' him.. To my enoromous relief, and no doubt that of David's partner, the highly entertaining James Brown (no, not that one), the coin at last yielded a 'head' and I was out. Phew.
The rest of the weekend hasn't been quite so grand - I went to an 'open house' engagement party on Saturday night where my friend, the groom-to-be, had been, er, 'celebrating' since mid-afternoon and by the time a group of us arrived in the evening, was more or less speaking in tongues, and showing us all what an excellent dancer he is. Or perhaps not. Hope the head's better soon, Ric.
And I have tackled The Jungle, aka my garden, and shown it who's boss. That'll teach it to grow behind my back.
Until next time, Sarah.