Islay 2015 - Part 5 The BBQ/Party Fusion

Sunday was another full on day, particularly for chief chefs Kenny and Eddie. No sooner were they back from Jura and they were hard at work in the kitchen, preparing the BBQ for an estimated 40+ Harriers and guests, hindered ever so slightly by my vegetable slicing and roll buttering skills. Six portable BBQ's were ignited and somehow managed to provide heat long enough to cook everything to perfection. Photos from the BBQ are here. A huge thanks again to Hugh for providing ingredients of the highest quality and to Eddie and Kenny for preparing it to perfection. Billy Buchanan deserves thanks too for washing a serious amount of dishes.

Whilst the chef's were slaving over a hot stove, tennis stars in the making, Joanne and Frances, were participating in the inaugural Bowmore Beach Tennis tournament, fully justifying their joint top seeding for the September 6th Calderglen Harriers' Tennis Grand Slam (seeded places still available; present your credentials to the tournament promoter Billy Buchanan or check the blog post). However, I do think Billy will have something to say about their standard of dress which must improve before the Calderglen tournament. Further photos from the tennis are here.

With everyone well fed, various sporting and non-sporting activities kicked off in the quadrangle involving the young, old and the old who think they are young. There were notable performances by Julie Beveridge and Eddie Reid in the "Kick the Ball into the Wheelie Bin" half-time entertainment and from Mrs Holmes for defeating everyone in the cricket match, whilst still wearing high heels. On the evidence of these photos, we really should stick to running!

Geo isn't necessarily going to hit that ball.

Eventually failing light ended play outside but there were still many hours of entertainment indoors, most of which is not so easy to put into words.

The many "shapes" of the Harriers

After proving that the children could cartwheel better than the adults (I think we knew that anyway), the traditional game of spin around the football 16 times and walk 10 feet in a straight line followed. Despite some of the Harriers having decades of practice, they weren't very good at that either. Half-time entertainment was provided by the ritual soaking of Eddie and Stephen by Jim Holmes, who has a remarkable selection of party games in his repertoire. We also saw further evidence of Kenny Leinster's ability to adopt all sorts of shapes on the dance floor.  The Hand of Friendship indeed! The party in pictures is here.

However, the finale of the party was a competition which demonstrated the style, sophistication and athleticism of the Harriers to the full. This competition required toned glutes, coordination, a strong core, posture and a small quantity of loose change, attributes which the Harriers possess in abundance. If you are intrigued by the picture below, then there are more of a similar quality here. I can't tell who the winner is, the quality is so high.

Perfect Posture

Compared to the preceding days, Monday was a totally uneventful journey home but that did not matter as this was probably the best Islay weekend ever.

Thanks to all who made this weekend so memorable, particularly Eddie Reid who organised the whole weekend and CalMac who gave this weekend a completely different start to any of those in the previous 25+ years. Eddie has already booked the Bowmore Cottages for next year (first Saturday in August 2016), so watch this blog for the launch.

So what next? It was such a long blog report that it could almost have been made into a reality TV series (as suggested by Stuart Gibson) or a movie .......... and it has! A huge thanks to Davy Herbertson and family for recording and editing many hours of footage (could have been more if Kenny knew how to use the video camera on Jura) to this 12 minute future classic put to music. Enjoy and form an orderly queue for next year. 

Alan