As Christmas is a time of tradition, we appear to have slipped into one ourselves. The last Wednesday of the year (yes, we have one night off between Christmas and New Year, despite several Explorer asking if we are meeting next week), we get dressed up and head out for our Christmas meal. The past few years - Covid permitting, we have headed off to the Chadderton Bar and Grill, a lovely restaurant, very nice food and the most important thing when you are taking 18 teenagers with you, it caters for virtually every taste, from Burgers to Pasta, Pizza to Steak, they've got it covered. You can even choose whether you want fries or proper chips!
Catering for different dietary requirements is the easy part, it's catering for the strange requests that is the interesting part, for example, one Explorer who shall remain nameless, specifically ordered his burger without any tomato relish. Then when it came, without tomato relish, asked for tomato ketchup to put on it, because apparently they are two totally different things, who knew?
One of the highlights for us is seeing them all scrubbed up and looking amazing in their best clothes, one of them proudly announced that they had had their third shower this week especially for the event, we felt honoured!
Starters were quickly demolished and then on to the mains. Again, full credit to Chadderton Bar and Grill for having twenty meals out all at the same time, exactly as ordered. You know the food is good when the conversation stops and a hush descends on the table as eating is more important than talking!
Deserts swiftly followed, and to be honest, by that point I was too stuffed to take any photos, so you'll just have to take it from me that they were as good as the rest of the food. And before you know it, it was time to pay the bill say our goodbyes.
All in all a great way to end off a great year. After the previous two Covid interrupted years, it was fantastic to have a full year of activities without any breaks and a return to the dreaded zoom! Not everything has been blogged about as the website is a new thing, and time in-between work and other activities doesn't allow, but from our first activity of the year, the January night hike, to the back to basics camp, to week camp, climbing days, mountain days and our winter camp - plus all the Wednesday evenings, it's definitely been a very successful year.
As leaders, and I speak for all of them here, we do Explorers because we love spending time with these incredible, talented, humorous and highly entertaining young people, all of whom are a credit to their parents and themselves. No thanks are needed, just lending us your teenagers for a short while every week is enough, but it is appreciated when thanks come along.
So, all that remains is for me to wish all of those that celebrate it, a very Merry Christmas and wish everyone a very happy and prosperous New Year - see you in 2023 - the adventure continues!
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