Mrs Stokes' Secret Tea Party

God save the Queen!

I know I'm a bit late for the jublilant Jubilee celebrations, but in actual fact I was a week early, because on Saturday 26th May, some vintage-loving chums and I went to a 1950s Jubliee-themed Secret Tea Party!  Hurrah!

The sun came out and everything!

Once inside we were greeted by the organiser, Mrs Stokes (she does this for a living - FOR A LIVING!)  and given a free glass of bubbly:

There was a vintage clothing stall, whose dapper proprieters can be seen either side of Sarah and our new friend Ally, below (how cool are Ally's glasses?!)  She blogs, of course, and you can find her at Of Cakes and Science):

There was a live rockabilly band, the Roadhouse Roosters and my old lindy hop teachers Hoppin' Mad were on hand to give free jive and swing lessons:

There were some marvellous outfits:

Plenty of cake and dainty finger sandwiches (although I must admit, I would have preferred somehwhat larger scones...but don't we all?)

And we all took pictures of the lovely, lovely teaspoons!

The kingfisher was my favourite:

But I have to admit, my favourite part of the day was the Pop Up Parlour: vintage hair and make-up!  Here's the lovely Ginny (AKA The Daily Mexican) being made to look even lovelier (once the terribly hot work of back-combing ceased!):

Doesn't she look sensational?

And here I am demonstrating why I have always been too scared to attempt back-combing my own I'm-half-Greek-it's-pouffy-enough-aready-thanks barnet!

I wish I'd asked our stylist for her name, because she was awesome.  See how she tamed the beast (and see her spot-on headscarf ensemble)?

 

And here is the finished product!

Lucille Ball!

I actually loved it, I never look this neat and tidy!  I wish I'd taken a picture of the back, because it was in a perfect French twist, and there were well-behaved curls piled up on top.

Sarah didn't get her hair done, of course, because Sarah is a genius and can make her own hair look like this:

Isn't she clever?

As luck would have it, she got to teach me a hair trick or two later on that same week, in an unrelated WI outing, but that's for another post...

So we ate as much cake as we could and drank as much tea as we could, had a little dance and did a little window shopping, then off I trotted home to watch the Eurovision Song Contest.  I think I can say with certainty that it was the best outfit I have ever worn to watch the Eurovision Song Contest.  At home.  In my flat.