The surprise birthday party

Uncle Sid was married to my Aunty Audrey and they often used to come and stay with us when we moved to the west country. They came one April and it was Sid’s birthday and we decided to have a party for him, but we wanted it to be a surprise. Audrey was terrible at keeping secrets so we didn’t tell her either but just discreetly got everything ready; we invited all our friends who Sid knew very well, and as the main course we cooked a whole ham and studded it with cloves to say ‘Happy birthday Sid’.

My dad was playing golf with another friend and we made up some reason why we had to have the car – just so we could send Sid to the club to collect him and allow the guests to arrive. Sid kept saying Dad could borrow his car, he was always generous! We managed to resist his suggestion so we packed him off to the club to collect dad and then told Audrey we had twelve guests coming!

When Sid got to the club Dad was playing snooker, and his friend, who was in on the secret and was also invited to the party,  entertained Sid. Poor Sid, kept thinking it was dinner time and wishing Dad would hurry up. Meanwhile all our friends arrived and hurried into the house with gifts and cards.

At last the snooker was over and Sid drove dad home. When he saw all the cars parked outside (some of which he recognized as belonging to friends) he remarked to Dad how inconsiderate it was for people to drop by at dinner time.

Imagine his surprise when he walked in and was greeted by a round of ‘happy birthday to you!’ and lots of happy smiling faces!

Uncle Sid died earlier today, a few months short of his ninetieth birthday… but we have many happy and fond memories of him.