I hadn’t quite realised, when I started The English Cream Tea Company, just how much it represented my beliefs in life.

I’ve always loved the actual contents of an afternoon tea (are there many people who don’t?!)…from the dainty sandwiches to the tempting cakes and the warm scones with clotted cream and jam. Enough said! So what a joy to be involved in making and sending out chilled hamper boxes of deliciousness on a daily basis!

Afternoon Tea in a box

However, www.englishcreamtea.com really taps into other aspects that are dearly held. That of spending quality time with people that matter to you and the importance of simply connecting with others. It’s like the antidote to living in a Throwaway Society or the solution to Loss of Community.

As a child, I wanted every day to be a gathering – friends and family, the more the merrier. My memories of Christmases in particular, were magical with sometimes 32 of us there – and presents stacked as high as the ceiling. Cousins, aunts and uncles, great aunts/great uncles, grandparents et al – three or four generations all under the same roof – and a hubbub of busy-ness, laughter, cups of tea and fun.

Everyone had a role to play in the preparations, whether it was artistic cousin Richard’s job of making the table centrepiece or great uncle Alf, who for some reason, had the task of marking the X in the bottom of the sprouts with a knife. I was one of the youngest and my own job was to dust 3 tables and put out the coasters and Twiglets/Cheeselets. Most important! It was wonderful to see everyone doing their bit though – and even to this day, if a guest at our home asks if they can help, I’ll try to find them a fun way to participate, so they can feel involved. No, I won’t make them wash up (- though, have you ever noticed, that somehow washing up in other people’s houses isn’t nearly so dull as in your own?)!

Well at those family gatherings, all the ladies (yes, I know…but this is going back a few decades when the chaps stayed out of ‘Woman’s Work’!) would congregate in the kitchen and pitch in together – and it was really rather marvellous. Whether it was making short work of washing up or creating a production line of tea making until every last person had their cuppa, it was teamwork! I also have the fondest memory of playing games (with prizes!) at those family gatherings – at which point people would either join in or doze.

Yet this all contrasts with hearing Esther Rantzen this week talking about the epidemic of loneliness in older members of our community. I remember my great auntie Lily telling me that a week could go by without her speaking to a soul. Oh no. And I’m also aware that our sons live in a block of fla

Guinness World Record of Largest Cream Tea Party Ever!

ts where the only time you meet up with someone is in the lift – and most of the people look away. So I challenge the word ‘community’ too, with a heavy heart. But I quickly rally when I remember back to 15th November 2011 when, charged by Guinness World Record with breaking the record for the largest English Cream Tea Party ever – hubby and I witnessed the glorious occasion of 334 people gathering with laughter and helpfulness and the biggest sense of camaraderie ever. It was a Union Jack waving, scone-eating, all-dressed-up-nicely, joy to behold.

Well the hamper boxes of afternoon tea or sharing Picnics that we send out, are usually enjoyed by a handful of people at a time, not 334 – but the principal is the same! It’s a bringing together of people for some quality time and even creating future memories for them. If that sounds old-fashioned, all the better. My parents used to tell me that i

n their early married years, they would gather with friends (pre TV years!), sing songs round the piano or play Murder in the Dark, Sardines and all manner of old-school games. When I told one of our sons, George, about that – he didn’t scoff at the lack of computer games and screens; he thought it sounded fab! So our next step is that we’re now developing some branded Playing Cards, Talking Point Cards and old fashioned games (with instructions in case many of us have forgotten how to ‘play’!) for some of our boxes (coming soon). The thought of you curled up with our cakes and sandwiches, scones, cream and jam, sipping our tea and playing games together, makes me smile from ear to ear. It actually touches my heart even more than the scones make my tum and taste buds happy! Only thing is, can I come round for tea and games too? I love it!!

Jane Malyon – Chief Scone Gnome at The English Cream Tea Company
www.englishcreamtea.com
and The Office Auntie too!

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