The Barker Summer BBQ has been around for some time and is a well known feature of summer in these parts. Previous years have seen us basking in sunshine beneath blue skies, our guests scrabbling for a place in the shade. On only one occasion have we been virtually ‘washed out.’ That was a challenge! With Dave manning the barbeque outside, beneath a hurriedly erected gazebo, the rest of us huddled indoors. At least, most of us did. The children still insisted on running through the rain to play on the bouncy castle and some intrepid teenagers managed to join them. The guest list had dwindled somewhat as some people assumed that we would cancel the event due to the weather. Not us! The following year, having learnt from our experience, we hired a marquee, a covered bouncy castle and a live band to entertain us. The sun shone unremittingly and all sides of the marquee were raised because it was so hot within. Since then we have had pretty good weather for our annual summer bash. It was fingers crossed for this year… The previous week was one of the wettest on record. Rain lashed down, temperatures dropped. We watched the weather forecast with anxious eyes. Miraculously, Friday ‘dried up’ and Saturday dawned sunny and reasonably warm if a little windy. We decided to make the occasion a fund raising event for the charity, ‘Help for Heroes’. this year. Hence, we could be found preparing a raffle, a ‘guess the name’ event and various other ‘fund raisers’. We were not that well organised but with plenty of willing hands to help, we managed to get everything up and running including face-painting for the children. Only one child had an allergic reaction to the paints and had to be cleaned up quickly – the others turned into tigers, lions and teddy bears without any trouble at all. The musician we had hired for the evening had travelled down from Nottingham and was brilliant. Despite temperatures dipping a little towards evening, he kept his audience entertained even if they were, by now, sporting a fleece or two. The rain stayed away and although some of our guests left before hyperthermia could set in, we managed to raise an extremely respectable, £510.27p So, a big ‘thank you’ to everyone who made that possible! As we climbed the stairs to bed at 2 a.m. we were already planning next year’s ‘Barker Bash’. Better start checking the weather forecast now…