After some gardening chores, we set off to attend the seventh national rally of the British Ambulance Preservation Society, collecting Mum from Stanton and Freda from Redgrave so that Mum could present the Fred Broad Memorial Trophy to its first awardee, an owner from Northern Ireland.
At this Kilverstone Wildlife Park venue the girls were particularly taken with the miniature Falabella horses bred from South American stock. Back home via Redgrave where we saw the latest renovation work after which I relaxed for the evening, tired from my exertions.
We had not got to bed until after 1:30am this morning and had a bit of a lay in, myself not waking up until 8am, which was just as well for me to recover. Diana still made a nice fried breakfast this morning, which we all enjoyed, but it did mean that I had been eating far too much lately. I went out to do my chores and was struck by how much the garden had sprung back to life with our watering and care. The roses, in particular, were flowering nicely and smelling quite sweetly as well. Della helped me by watering the conservatory and feeding the fish, and then I updated my journal until it was time to get ready for the journey. We were committed to go to the seventh national rally of the British Ambulance Preservation Society, collecting Mum from Stanton and Frida from Redgrave on the way.
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There we presented a fine trophy in memory of Dad, which was given to the owner of the vehicle would have travelled the longest distance to get to the show. Mum had become a bit nervous before I arrived and was fretting about time passing, but I managed to reassure her as we drove together in her car, whilst Di collected Frida and took our family in the Range Rover. We were allocated parking spaces on arrival and then welcomed in the VIP lounge by the chief ambulance officer for Suffolk and the event organiser. They served us a nice buffet lunch and we then had an hour before the presentation ceremony toom place to look around. Frida took Mum off in her wheelchair to look at the ambulances and they tried in vain to find an old ambulance exactly like the one Dad used to drive. My girls looked at the animals at the Kilverstone Wildlife Park, which was the venue, and were particularly taken with the miniature Falabella horses bred from south American stock. This is the only breeding herd in this country, and they are quite fascinating.
We all met up to make the presentations and mum gave a little speech and presented the Fred Broad Memorial Shield or Distance Award to its first winners. It was due to the owners of the ambulance that travelled the greatest distance and the winner came from Northern Ireland. Mum then received a floral tribute and we all went home. Our first stop was to Freda’s when we met Alf and Chris and saw the latest situation with their renovation work. The chimney stack had been demolished and will be rebuilt over a more secure foundation, but it looks all in dust at the moment. Daniel saw Redgrave Stores for the first time and the girls enjoyed spending their pocket money there. Home via Stanton, where I dropped Mum off. She was tired but pleased at the outcome of the day and would, no doubt, sleep very soundly afterwards. We then got home in late evening and I was so exhausted after all of the driving and walking that I just relaxed in the lounge. I tried to cut out some more press cuttings but did not manage to do any.