DBE Christmas Tea

2011 DBE Christmas Tea.

First of all my apologies to all our readers.
This event took place in December but due to pressure of work etc I have been unable to update the website until now. Still I hope you enjoy reading the article.

Well this time of the year comes round so very quickly. This weekend was time again for our DBE Christmas Tea on Saturday.

What a beautiful day to hold it on as well. The sun was shining brightly and the temperature was up in the 50s.
132 Ladies and younger ladies turned up for what was to be our busiest Tea that we have ever hosted. Once more St Elizabeth’ Episcopalian church in Farragut was the venue and it was a perfect setting.
A large number of DBE ladies and husbands turned out on Friday to prepare the hall for the event. When I arrived on Saturday morning the hall was resplendent with a very Christmassy feel to it. The tables had been beautifully laid out and many seasonal decorations around the hall gave such a festive atmosphere.

At around 12.30 the first of our guests started arriving and as is the usual practice they were escorted to their seats by the husbands of DBE members. This is always a good time for me to chat with the ladies I escort and get a feel for any new first time guests and welcome back the regular ones.
Once everyone had arrived and were seated, Diane Jones the DBE State President gave a welcome speech and a brief run down on the afternoon’s program.

Then mayhem ensued, (Organised of course) as a bevy of DBE ladies descended on the tables with steaming pots of British Tea. Once that had been served our guests settled into partaking of a delightful British High Tea. For their delectation this year was an assortment of dainty Sandwiches, Sausage Rolls, Scotch Eggs all followed by many different cakes and pastries. These were all prepared and cooked by the DBE lady members fresh for the tea.

During the tea, Diane, with the assistance of Phil Perkins and Jim McCulloch, raffled off many wonderful door prizes that had been donated especially for the event. Soon though, it was time for the Webb School Madrigal Singers who sang a selection of old and new British Christmas Carols. The students of the school were historically attired in period costumes and sang beautifully to our guests. The Madrigal Singers have become a regular entertainment on our annual tea and the guests love to hear them. Actually so do I shhhhhh.

Following the Madrigal Singers, came our usual Fashion Show which this year was hosted by Chico’s of Turkey Creek. DBE Members Dore Dumas, Terry Smook, Melanie DeWitt, Janet Edkins and Lorna Pace assisted by Dore’s Daughter Amanda were the models for the show and proudly showed off some wonderful fashions to our guests. At the end of the Fashion Show the Chico’s Manager gave small jewelry gifts to all our younger guests. This was wonderfully received by the young ladies.

There was supposed to be a Bell Ringing demonstration but the group had to cancel, so Phil Perkins and Jim McCulloch stepped in and read some poetry satire about the English language and some of it’s strange nuances and expressions. This was received with high acclamation from our everyone.
All too soon it was time to bid our guests adieu for another year and all the DBE ladies gathered to sing the traditional song “We wish you a Merry Christmas”

New to this year’s event was Diane asking for people to give us their Emails if they wished to be given advance notice of future events. So if you are reading this and would like an Email notifying you of any of our events please send an Email one of the addresses on the site. We do not send out any spam or give anyone your Email.