The Bakers’ Summer Party has become something of an institution; every summer since 1996 we’ve had such a gathering in our home for old friends and new to get together and enjoy food, fun and music!

Of course, we didn’t have summer parties in 2005 or 2007 as we were in Benin then (and what’s the point of celebrating the nice warm weather there?!) Click here to see a post about the 2006 summer party.

It has become the norm of late to have a BOUNCY CASTLE for the party – lots of fun for kids of all sizes! Here are some party pics:

Another tradition has been live jazz in the garden whenever possible. This year, we had a jazz quartet with Gary Wood on trumpet, Fergus Milne on trombone and yours truly on piano. We were then joined by the legendary Michael Meadowcroft on clarinet, who Rob met and played with in Benin. (Michael, formerly a Liberal MP, even appears in Wikipedia! Have a look here).

This year we beat our summer party world record! Not in number (although 92 guests was very close) but in age range. The eldest guest – “Auntie Grace” is 96 years old whereas the youngest was Toby, who is about one year old. Here they are:

So an age range of 95 years. Wow! We’re planning to have a Summer Party next year, probably in June. Watch this space…