The women at Sandpiper joined well wishers around the world by celebrating the royal wedding with an afternoon tea.
Dianna Fletcher came up with the idea.
“I wanted something to get us all together and to have a chance to dress up and talk about the wedding,” she said.
Several of the women stayed up all night to watch the wedding, took a short nap and then got up to make the cucumber and other sandwiches, sweet treats and decorate the clubhouse with a poster of the royal couple and British flags. They got out their best dresses, pearls and decorated hats. Jean Huntley wore a fascinator, a tiny hat which she bought in England for a wedding and thought she would never have occasion to wear again. Leaha Myrfield was the winner of the best-decorated hat contest.
“Many of the women here grew up going to one-room school houses where we had a picture of the Queen and a Union Jack in the classroom and sang God Save the Queen each day,” said Iris Balcombe.
“How often does something like this come along? We all looked forward to it. As Canadians we are part of the Commonwealth and we feel a connection. And we think the dress was beautiful.”
Balcombe put together a small booklet with facts about tea, royal protocol, and what the bride’s role might be in her new family.
