Celebrations at Minton's Tea Room

Happy 14th Birthday Minton's!

How we've grown from the original small menu and just 5 tables to our new and extensive menu. Sometimes 9 tables are not even enough! Thank goodness for lovely sunny autumn days to enjoy eating outside.

Thank you so very, very much to our customers for making these years so successful and enjoyable. Mr.Houseley has come in every day for his lunch-he's like one of the family, bless him. Many, many of you come to Minton's so very regularly that we've established wonderful friendships and we thank you for that is so special.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the help of all staff from those early days in 1993 to present day whether they have been able to work for a short period or for many years. Roger and I could not have reached this point without such hard work from all of you.

We will be sharing out a big birthday cake from Thursday onwards this week and will take some photos to show on the blog. So, see you all very soon. If you've not had chance to pop in for a while we look forward to seeing you again. You are still assured of a friendly welcome and attentive service-and you'll be amazed at the new menu.

Cosy Corner

Minton's will keep seating outside just as long as the weather permits - check out our pretty cosy corner. As autumn sets in you hopefully will be sheltered from the wind.

You can have your bread and eat it

Yes, we have homemade bread. Roger gets it baking before he goes shopping each morning. Don't know how he finds the time.
We are serving chunky pieces of our bread with the homemade soup of the day and of course Minton's smells doughlicious

HELP!

Can anyone shed any light on these holes that have appeared in the tea garden this year. Have we something burrowing underground to my famous baking?

Verging on the Ridiculous

Whilst I was cleaning the Church last Sunday (As part of my verger duties) I heard the most almighty noise outside and ran to see what was happening. An enormous branch had fallen from the elm tree in the churchyard. Amazingly over the years as it has shed branches it has not damaged any of the old gravestones around it.

The photo shows council workmen going to great lengths to carefully remove the tons of timber.

ANOTHER FIRST FOR MINTONS

CREAM TEASE!

Last week we had an amazing situation where 32 customers, one after the other, ordered our scrumtious cream scones. Most had tea, some had coffee or hot chocolate. Another first for Minton's. Is this a record?

St. Marys Church

Of course it has been lovely and busy at Church too for me as Verger. We have had many lovely weddings and as well as the traditional services the family service and prayer and praise service with the worship group leading, bring such uplifting and joy.
Don't forget now the nights are drawing in that our beautiful church building can be illuminated for you for any reason or indeed for a special occasion. Simply contact Judy on 01773 713394 (Church phone) giving a few days notice. The cost is just £12. cheques made payable to Greasley PCC.

The Cottage

This year our lovely little cottage in North Yorkshire has been our retreat to recharge our batteries. whenever possible we have spent Mondays and Tuesdays letting others look after us. We have found some lovely tearooms, been on the NYM Railway, walked on the beaches and of course had plenty of fish and chips. Please call in the tearoom for details about booking the cottage for a break for yourselves, you wont regret it.

Friends

Apologies for neglecting those we have not seen (11 hour working days take their toll) but huge thanks to the amazing party's at the Lings, the Cullens, Ralph in Holland, the Breedons, Shelly and Petes, Vick and Robs now moved to France, Sheila and Rays, Sam and Andreas, Jenny and Nicks in Scarborough.
Dave and Dannielle make every visit to Holland special, the tulip fields were unforgettable in April - such a perfect day. August was exiting in Rotterdam as they held formula 1 car racing through the streets of the city, the noise was unbelievable.

Staff

Congratulations to Lynsey and Lucy for passing their driving test first time, well done to you both and Hayley for your exam results whilst working so very hard in the tearoom. Hayley looked lovely in her prom photos.
We thank Lisa for her hard work in the first six months this year and Kevin Bonnington who helped us out during July - we wish you both well.
We cannot thank Kevin and Michael enough for their help in the tearoom,creating menus and the website and even making the soup, thanks for your encouragement when we have been so tired.
Thank you also Kate, Amy, Jade, Ellissa and Rachel for your hard work and we welcome recently Toni, Debbie and Laura. You all help to keep Judy's sanity.

Parties

We have catered for many and varied parties these last months. Michael's birthday party was so crazy with an adult bouncy castle. With friends and family we enjoyed barbecue and booze. Yes, one to remember, but I am not sure to be repeated!!
Because we are so busy we do restrict parties to our regular opening hours, but still enjoy many bookings from business meetings, walking groups, baptisms, birthdays and anniversaries, funeral teas, and many day centre outings.

Bank Holidays

Easter, May Day, Spring and August Bank holidays were tremendous - you like your home cooking don't you!! We entered our scones and jam in the Moorgreen show and won 3rd prizes, does that mean they can taste even better? I'll try again next year.
We had an emergency in the kitchen when the fridge broke down, thanks to Mike Broughton for coming to our rescue.
In May our eldest son Kevin kindly bought a lovely bright set of swings for the youngsters to enjoy in the Tea Garden whilst the parents have a well deserved treat and relax. I took a photo of a handsome Labrador called Harvey last Sunday, who comes to relax too.

Busy Lives On Going

Thank you all so much for such a very busy season - we've looked after you in the tearoom and garden, but sadly neglected my blog duties. So it's catch up time - photos to follow.
weather wise I think the rain drove you all in to see us and when the sun came out you came in crowds. I wonder how many cream scones I have made? it must be thousands.

Easter Raffle

To add a little bit more to our fund raising for safe water in poor countries we raffled a very eggstravagant Hotel Chocolate Easter Egg last week-end . Janet and Graham on the right were the winners with ticket number 87.
A very big thankyou to everyone who took part over our busy weekend at Mintons for raising £65!

CLOD HOPPERS

Hi, let me bring you up to date. We've been so very busy here at Minton's -must be the fantastic new menu and website! The lovely big group in the garden are the local Blood Donors who call themselves The Clod Hoppers. They met for coffee, tea and bacon butties before setting off for a good walk over the fields. Thanks Clod Hoppers, you were a friendly group. Keep up the good work!

£900 Raised for Christian Aid

A year ago relatively new friends at Mintons, Nikki and John were having a sort out at home and asked if I had any use for some good quality items? It inspired me to raise monies for Water Aid and we started a continual Bring and Buy Sale which happily ran for many months. In the summer a wonderful charity singing group named Farnaby and Co. gave their time to produce a superb concert here at church which was thoroughly enjoyed by many. This Easter our eldest son bought the most eggstravagant Easter egg from Hotel Chocolate and we raffled it.

So now it's time to say a very BIG THANKYOU to all our customers, friends and family and CONGRATULATIONS for raising a whopping £900.00.

As you can see the cheque has now gone to Christian Aid for them to provide community taps in 20 different areas. Each tap costs £45 and will provide safe, clean water which will hugely improve health and sanitation. Thank you all so very much. Judy

MADE TO MAKE YOUR MOUTH WATER.

At Minton's we have a wonderful selection of cakes and desserts made by Judy who was brought up on home baking and is truly a 'bacoholic'.
Gluten Free? Don't miss out, the Orange and Almond cake is just for you, served with cream or ice cream it's a delicious dessert. See you soon, Judy.

Happy Days.

Last week the secretary of Hollywell Primary School rang Minton's to ask if the children could walk over and eat their lunches outside in our garden.It was a pleasure to see them all laughing and enjoying the chilly Spring air. Thank you for being so good. I bet your legs were aching by the time you all got back to Kimberley!

48 hours in the life of Judy.

On the understanding that Blogs can be newsy, informative and inspiring here's a real life peek behind the scenes at Minton's. How's this for my Mothering Sunday?

Our eldest son who lives in Nottingham arrived with a card and a beautiful tub of spring flowers for the patio and stayed to help friends and staff run the tearoom for the afternoon. This wonderful gesture enabled Roger and I to then pay a flying visit to our youngest son in Holland. By 7.15pm we were seated around the table eating and drinking and catching up on each other's news. The next day we were taken to Antwerp in Belgium. Yes it rained and snowed and hailed there too but we did enjoy the day and the Belgium chocolates. That evening we treated the family to a meal out. They have such excellent steaks! The next morning of course it was time to head home ready for work again but what a wonderful 48 hours! That must take some beating.

Judy x

Simnel cake Greasley style!

What fun it was last sunday when our Vicar asked me to make a Simnel cake with the children in Junior Church. Master Chef eat your heart out, we have very strong contenders for a Junior Master Chef!

The children were so enthusiastic, they stirred and they beat their little arms off. They grated cinnamon and nutmeg and rolled out the marzipan to decorate the top. Eleven rounds complete the decoration representing the eleven disciples. You must agree they made an excellent job it looks very professional.

In true Greasley style the cake was then cut up and shared at the family service making sure everyone had a small piece of the delicious cake and a specially made disciple for the top.