Clontarf Castle, mini sandwiches, bright coloured aprons and style fresh off the catwalk in Paris can only indicate one thing – the annual Time for Tea fundraiser was upon us again.

Brave women from all corners of the country could not be deterred by a little snow to attend the social event of the year in support of Clontarf Hockey. A few courageous men even braved the storms(Young Felix’s heroics will make for a great catch in future ladies). My Mam even braved the elements to come up from Cork. She said it was well worth the trip but I know she was raging for the fourth year she hasn’t won any of our amazing raffle prizes. However, she was delighted for her annual massage from Nikki McMullen to remove the knots from her long journey (I may not have mentioned that I’m from Cork?!).

Yellow was this years colour of choice and alike our guests, our hostesses looked positively radiant. Luckily I was behind the lens so there’s no proof of my night before in the photos.

As per usual, a few of us hostesses still couldn’t get to grips with the dress code of wearing all black. However, luckily our yellow sponsored aprons helped to hide our incompetence and we all felt in our comfort zone again dressing as a team. Unlucky for them the yellow is not a good colour for camouflage and it was easy to spot those sneaking a tasty treat when they thought nobody was looking (Katie Dinsmore, Nicola Taylor and Maebh Mullins I’m looking at you).

The day kicked off with a choice of exotic teas and tasty treats, and a rare few took full advantage of the occasion with a glass vino. This was aptly followed by our first fantastic speaker Karina Melvin from Artful Eating: The Psychology of Lasting Weight Loss. She talked about how we can have a healthy relationship with food and how lasting weight loss is not about what you eat, but why and how you eat. Karina practices two things each day, meditation and thinking of 5 positive things each morning. Thank you Karina for your inspiration.

Another highlight of the day was when our Ladies switched skorts and astros for dresses and heels. Deirdre Mahon was the star of the show with her comic timing and creative stylings. Our girls lit up our ready made catwalk. Supermodels in the making. From Grace’s grace to Sophia’s fun attitude each of our models owned the catwalk and showed off a variety of fun, flirty and classic outfits from Quack and Dirk.

A massive thank you to all who attended, donated, sponsored aprons and bought raffle tickets. A massive thank you also to Sadbh, Ciara and Co for stepping up to the mark and organizing another successful Time for Tea.

 

Written by: Elaine O’Flynn, from Cork

 

Special thanks to:

Karina Melvin, Artful Eating: The Psychology of Lasting Weight Loss, www.artful-eating.com

Deirdre Mahon, quack + dirk, www.qplusd.com

Nikki McMullen, McMullen Massage, www.mcmullenmassage.com

Andy Kavanagh, Resonate, www.resonate.ie

And all attendees, apron sponsors and raffle prize donators!