Last weekend my wife and I attended a 60th birthday party.

Although we have been together 25 years I had never met the person but she was a very good friend of my wife for the first 20 years of their life, until she married and moved away.

They have always exchanged cards at birthdays, Christmas, the occasional text but other than one funeral, they had not seen each other for 40 years, but it was clear to me the fondness of their young years together was special enough to be like sisters.

Anyway we accepted the invite and went through to her city to celebrate her birthday. My wife was really looking forward to it, genuinely excited about seeing her. She remembered her sisters and some of the friends and was curious if any would be there, if still alive…you never know after 40 years do you. I suspect there was a slight worry about if her friend had changed much, would she even recognise her and such other natural thoughts. I wouldn’t know anyone there but was there to support my better half.

Anyways it really was a wonderful experience and we were glad we accepted. They saw each other instantly and it was pretty obvious not much had changed between them. She had been a T-Rex, Status Quo fan back in the day and on Saturday night the rock DJ was sticking to that genre….she was just the same. Both her sisters were there and they all had a good chat and catch up. Inevitably after all that time there was some sadness, lost loved ones, health stories, divorces but equally there was kids and grandchildren who were all there dancing together to Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, Rainbow and such likes and it honestly was a joy to witness friends and family together in one place.

Even whilst sat there it got me thinking about the spirit and importance of community involvement for all ages. The party was in their local sports club and just like the hundreds around the country they are pretty much run by volunteers and members of the cricket/rugby/darts/pool/football teams. I’ve been in a few down the years and they vary in quality…usually proportionately to how many volunteers commit time and effort to the places. The age old problem is getting players to turn up other than to participate in matches.

This club was probably the best we’ve been to which reflected well and left many of us very impressed. There were all ages contributing to the night, which I reckon is the secret to their success, a few older ones were out back in the kitchen doing the buffet spread, the DJ was maybe 40ish and there were perhaps 3 or 4 behind the bar in their 20s and 30s. It really was a joint effort and it is clearly a club working very well in harmony with its local people.

It was the place that provided many with a wonderful life experience.