For a number of years now Headway North Cumbria has visited a variety of local venues for afternoon tea. These events have always proved popular, but have become increasingly costly. This year we decided to have a go at an in-house afternoon tea and see whether we could lay on a quality afternoon tea for our members that was much more affordable. We asked our bakers and members of the cooking group to prepare elements of a standard afternoon tea – savouries, sandwiches, tray bakes, cakes etc. to be served with tea or coffee. The event was held at the New Waterton Hall instead of our normal day centre session.
We held our afternoon tea on Monday 13 July 2026 with thirty-three members in attendance. Our volunteers laid out tables with nice crockery and table decorations to give the venue a suitable feel. Our volunteers had prepared a range of savouries – sausage rolls, quiche and sandwiches – along with scones, traybakes, and a wide selection of cakes. These were served at the table along with tea and coffee. The quality of the food provided was of the very highest standards – at least as good, if not better, than can be had at any of the local commercial outlets offering similar. This was all achieved at about a third of the cost we would have had to pay had we gone out for afternoon tea.
The afternoon was a great success. This was due to the hard work, time and effort that our volunteers put in to making it happen, both in advance of the day, and in their tireless work during the afternoon making sure attendees were well looked after. A huge thank you goes out to Christina, Darren, Jean, Jennifer, Maureen, Natalie, Shareen and Simon for their fantastic efforts which ensured that the afternoon ran smoothly.
A series of photographs from the lunch can be found in the gallery in the Photo Album called Afternoon Tea at The New Waterton Hall and can be viewed in a slideshow below.
