Residents at Friends of the Elderly’s Coulsdon Residential Care Home Celebrate This Year’s Afternoon Tea Week
Orford House Residents sisters Margurite and Adrienne Lawrance enjoying this year’s Afternoon Tea Week at the care homeAt Orford House, the Coulsdon-based residential care home run by charity, Friends of the Elderly – which is celebrating its 120th Anniversary this year – the residents have had a wonderful time celebrating this year’s Afternoon Tea Week and answering some very important, age old, tea related questions.
“There’s nothing quite as lovely as a traditional Afternoon Tea,” said Mary Bradley, the Activities Coordinator at Orford House. “It’s a lovely custom that the residents thoroughly enjoy as it combines all their favourite things – delicious, tasty treats, a good cup of tea and the opportunity to have a good catch-up with each other.
“The residents adore our regular afternoon teas, so to celebrate this year’s Afternoon Tea Week what else could we do than host an extra special afternoon tea for them all to enjoy? To add to the fun of the event, I thought it would be a good idea to do an entertaining poll to find out, once and for all, their favourite brew, tea likes, dislikes and to answer some important questions such as do you dunk or not dunk and is it cream before jam on scones?”
Whilst enjoying a scrumptious spread, Mary asked the residents a series of afternoon tea-orientated questions. “I put together 14 questions for the residents to answer and we had a lively voting session whilst indulging in a fantastic afternoon tea with all the traditional accompaniments,” added Mary. “The results were quite interesting, fun and some, quite hilarious.”
The Orford House residents voted English Breakfast Tea as their number one favourite, with Earl Grey taking second place and tea bags taking the top spot over loose leaf tea. “We had quite a debate over whether or not the tea should be poured into the cup before the milk, and whether dunking was appropriate. In the end, to answer to the all-important question of whether it should be milk or tea first in a cup, the residents decided that the milk should go in first so you can add the tea after to make sure it’s the correct colour and strength. Funnily, dunking biscuits was voted as totally acceptable,” continued Mary.
Other answers to the ‘Tea-zing’ quiz included ‘When having Afternoon Tea, should the tea be served in a China cup and saucer or mug?’. “As the residents do enjoy afternoon teas served in the correct and time-honoured way, it was no surprise that 100% voted for having their tea in a China cup and saucer, and that a tea pot should be used instead of just popping a tea bag into a cup,” added Mary. “However, what did surprise me was that all of the residents who took part in the ‘Pot Quiz’ said they didn’t take sugar as they are all sweet enough, which is true.
“We also had a great conversation about scones,” continued Mary. “The Devon vs. Cornwall ways were highly debated. In Devon, you put clotted cream on first and cover that with jam, but in Cornwall the jam goes on first, then the cream. Again, the outcome was quite clear with 99% of residents voting for jam first, then cream. However, the residents broke with tradition saying they all preferred raspberry jam on their scones instead of strawberry.”
“The residents never cease to amaze me, I’m always learning something new,” added Mary. “One resident told me that the idea for afternoon tea was invented by Anna Maria, the 7th Duchess of Bedford. At that time, it was customary for people to have only two main meals a day – breakfast and dinner – so to combat the ‘sinking feeling’ she used to get at the later part of the afternoon, the Duchess indulged in a pot a tea and a light snack, which is how it all started.
“Another resident told the group that in keeping with the late Queen Elizabeth II’s preferred choice, scones served at the Buckingham Palace garden parties are always served jam first as well.
“The residents had a wonderful afternoon tea and a great time talking ‘Afternoon Tea Shop’. There were quite a few jokes as well. One that did make everyone laugh was ‘What did the Baker say when his recipe was stolen? Oh no, it’s Scone’. Another thing all the residents agreed on was that a delicious afternoon tea is enjoyable any day, as long as it’s with friends, which is what they like to do all the time,” concluded Mary.
