A's students graduation ball

Some of A's students graduated this week and we went along to the graduation dinner/ball on Thursday evening. They are a great bunch of students and they all love A...which is verified by the signed teddy bears, bottles of wine & spirits, photographs, cigars, cards and gifts currently on the kitchen table.  He works really hard but times like this are so rewarding. Not the gifts...just knowing how much he's appreciated and how much he's influenced so many lives over the past few years.

The venue was amazing.  A lovely old country house hotel called Fallowfields in Kingston Bagpuize, Oxfordshire.  I wish I'd taken some photo's of it now but I kept getting distracted by students asking me take photo's of them with 'A'...I now have tons of emailing photo's to do. 

The girls all looked beautiful in their evening dresses and the boys handsome in their suits (teachers too). The food was presented amazingly.  The greenest vegetable soup ever for starters, followed by either tomato risotto or chicken breast with intricately layered potatoes and greens. 

Fallowfields  have their own kitchen garden, farm and orchards. All the produce is either home grown or locally sourced. A great food philosophy. They were cooked to perfection. My only criticism is that it was a tad cold by the time it was served.  But catering for what must have been over a couple of hundred people must be a logistical nightmare. Especially as a hot sticky day had turned into a chilly evening and food in the marquee section soon cooled down.  Oh and I wasn't too keen on the desert.  I think it was tiramisu or chocolate torte with ice-cream...just a little heavy on the 80 percent cocoa...great quality but a little too bitter for me but A enjoyed having an extra one. 

More of my attempt at dodgy filming...but actually if it was too clear I couldn't post it...all those rules about not filming and photographing young people that I have to heed...

...I just had to stop filming and start dancing when the DJ  starting playing  Tu Vuo Fa' L'Americano.  I mean who couldn't?

...still think the original version was the best ever...I love those instrumentals...can't beat that 50's vibe

...Oh and aren't the carriages beautiful...they beat the limousines hands down for me...so much cooler...but I've always been obsessed with horses and it's just so more romantic...even if it did bring the traffic to a standstill in Oxford...