The Lilac Tea

For some reason, we lived in Chemainus, but went to church in Ladysmith. The two towns were eight miles apart, and very similar in size, but the Anglican Church in Ladysmith was perceived as more friendly by Mom, I think. It certainly met all my requirements for friendship. The minister, Reverend Houghton, had been a student of C. S. Lewis, and would tell stories with ecstatic abandon, and the church had a Girls' Auxiliary. The G. A., as it was known, was a girls' club, along the lines of Girl Scouts, but less formal.

Every May, the G. A. had their major fund-raiser of the year; our Lilac Tea.

You must understand that there was not a whole lot of entertainment in those small towns, and the Lilac Tea was eagerly anticipated. We each made a poster and placed it in the front window of a local business. There was a poster contest, and, one year, I won. We, and our mothers, baked for days ahead of time; cookies, cakes, brownies, nut bars, lemon pies, petit fours, and all manner of sweet things. We made sandwiches with the crusts cut off, with ham, chicken salad, cucumber and cheese. We dug out the church's immense stock of cups and saucers, and about a hundred teapots. We polished the silver, and made sure those tea sets sparkled.

I can remember to this day the cheerful ambiance. Every table had a bouquet of lilac on it, and that beautiful fragrance, combined with the lovely smell of fresh-brewed tea made a pleasant and memorable pot pourri. The murmur of many conversations was punctuated by the tinkling sound of silver spoons stirring in porcelain cups. We girls were kept busy keeping the sandwiches stocked and the teapots full. The kettles in the kitchen were never cold. If we were lucky, there would be a bit left over for us to eat when the patrons had gone home and the dishes were washed.

At the time, we took it for granted. Looking back, it seems idyllic. There were no cell phones to go off, punctuating the atmosphere with their tinny tunes. Nobody was plugged into an Ipod. There wasn't even a dishwasher in the church kitchen...that's why they had us!

We raised enough money between the Lilac Tea and our booth at the Christmas Sale to fund weekends at Camp Columbia and other treats. We also learned how to make and serve a terrific tea.