Afternoon tea in a lovely Cambridge garden – at 15 Long Road, Cambridge, the home of the Association Chairman, Donald Douglas and his wife, Pamela.

About 60 people enjoyed tea, finger sandwiches, scones and cakes in the garden – and while it started with a light shower of rain, it soon stopped allowing everyone to enjoy a thoroughly nice tea in the Douglas' lovely garden.

Vicky Ford, MEP, and her family were the guests of honour.  She was introduced by John Ionides, chairman of the Queen Edith branch, who reported that the re-establishment of the branch is well underway.

In her talk, Vicky said how interesting she found working in Europe and that she was in the course of changing her main committee role from being a member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs committee to Industry, Research and Energy.

“This committee is vital to the interests of the East of England,” she said. “We have world leading businesses particularly in innovative research. Energy supply and energy security are also key challenges for the years ahead. We cannot solve these problems in the UK by acting alone." 

This was followed by the obligatory raffle, with Peter Mann, the editor of this website, getting first ticket out of the basket for the second year in succession!

Organised by the Queen Edith Branch.

From the top, our pictures show

• District Councillors Ben Shelton and Tom Bygott.
• SCCA Chairman Donald Douglas and a tray of delicious cakes.
• Eric and Iris Lay with Baroness Perry.
• Hugo Ford with sons Edward and Anthony and Rosa Ionides.
• John Ionides and family – his Mum, Maria (with young Basil), Rosa and John.
• Julie Simpole-Clarke, Baroness Perry and Pamela Douglas.
• Anthony Ford, Andy Bower, Linda Yeatman and Julie Simpole-Clarke.
• Pamela Douglas with the Queen Edith’s cake + Ann Howard, Lilli and Eric Barrett-Peyton.
• Neville Gregory, Peter Mann (cluching his raffle prize) and Ian Carr.
• Val Godby – who did stirling service making sure everyone had plenty of tea, cakes and sandwiches.
• From the back row – Vicky Ford telling us a little of what it's like to be a busy MEP.
• Raffle time with Vicky Ford and County Councillor Gail Kenny.
• Vicky Ford (centre) and some of her family – husband Hugo and daughter Elizabeth + Val Godby and Malcolm Buchanan.