I last attended Summer Wine previews in 1997 at the BBC studios in
Portland Place, London, ten years ago!  Although I never intended to leave
it so long I have just never been able to spare the time to venture
southwards for one of these enjoyable occasions, 'the former Mrs Fernley'
wouldn't let me!!

In the autumn of 2006 Clive gave me the dates for the 2007 series
previews and it just so happened that the second set fell on Sunday 21st
January - my 39th birthday.  Now having a birthday in the depths of winter
means that I will never get to spend my birthday on location, the odds
of a preview falling on my birthday again must be massive, and as it
wasn't my weekend to have the children I was free.  An added bonus in the
planning stages was that Travel lodge were running a special offer with
rooms at only £15 per night!
 

On Saturday 20th January I picked up Clive and headed down the M1, it 
was still a little windy after the gales earlier in the week but nothing 
too worrying.  We arrived in Leatherhead early afternoon and the layout 
was perfect with the hotel being around the corner from the theatre.

The day of my birthday dawned and after a full English breakfast we 
headed round to the theatre to watch the rehearsals of the linking 
performances.  The day then started for real and consisted of three sittings, 
each consisting of two episodes from the new series, a behind the 
scenes film and live performances from Robert, Jean, Frank, Stephen, and 
Burt. We even had a brief, but hilarious, guest appearance from Peter at 
the start of the first performance.   There wasn't a seat to be had in 
the theatre, with over 500 seats filled and people hailing from Northern 
Ireland and Australia!  Everyone enjoyed themselves immensely and the 
laughter was loud.  I can promise you some excellent funny stories for 
the new series.

After the last performance we retired to the Green Room and I noticed 
that a lot of whispering seemed to be going on but assumed that it was 
just BBC business. Alan got to his feet and began a little speech about 
the Summer Wine Appreciation Society, then next thing I knew he was 
talking about birthdays and called me to my feet and presented me with a 
birthday cake.  It was really touching and was the icing on my birthday 
cake, and to top that I then had a birthday photo with Frank, Sarah, 
Stephen, Jean, Robert, Burt and Alan.

I would like to take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to 
Alan, Frank, Stephen, Robert, Jean, Sarah, Burt, Clive and Margaret for 
arranging such a super birthday for me.

Also a belated Happy Birthday to Frank, who was 87 on Monday 15th 
January, and an early Happy Birthday to Peter who will be 87 in February. 


Now before I sign off I was wondering, a 39 year old Barry is all alone 
in Lancashire and would really like to meet his Glenda.  If there are 
any young ladies, with an interest in Summer Wine, out there (dragons 
need not apply!!) please do contact holmfirth68@aol.com