Outing to Scottish Organ Preservation Society and Manderston House - Thursday 14th July 2016

The third outing of 2016 was on 14 July to the Scottish Theatre Organ Preservation Society in Greenlaw, then Manderston House. 44 people came on this outing but no fancy bus this time, nor our usual driver. Again the weather was very kind to us although Edinburgh was sunnier.
When we arrived in Greenlaw there was an ambulance on the main road near the Organ Hall. That’s when we found out we had a problem. It had the Organist in it, as he had taken ill before we arrived and he was being taken to Borders General Hospital.  The person in charge of the hall had not had time to deal with the Teas and Coffees. The tables had been set, so we mucked in and everyone eventually got their elevenses, thanks to the committee members and some Association members.
One of our members, Alan, then stepped in and said he could play the organ if there was music available. So although no requests were played and “Happy Birthday” was missed we were well entertained.
With time on our hands, we then had an unscheduled stop in Duns where lunch was bought by some, either at the bakers or the baguette café. Someone even managed to make a purchase from the Charity Shop!
We then proceeded to Manderston, where we wandered round the gardens in the sunshine and also visited the House which is famous for its silver staircase.  Some even managed to walk back to the Stables and the Tea Room.
After that, High Tea was at Carfraemill which was good as usual.  However that didn’t go without incident either.  Alan’s wife tripped entering the building and ended up clutching a bag of ice to her face with a large plaster on her elbow.  “The things that people will do to get a free glass of wine!”
We all returned safely to a still sunny Edinburgh, a bit early as Carfraemill isn’t too far away.