by Leslie Stewart
Ville Voice Correspondent

The English Speaking Union’s annual Queen’s Birthday and Garden Party was held at the lovely Midlands estate of John and Janet Conti Sunday, June 7.  Louise Cecil chaired the event, which annually awards summer scholarships to college students and high school teachers to study abroad at some of Great Britain’s finest academies, including Cambridge, Oxford, and the University of Edinburgh.

Table talk was a veritable, spontaneous game of English Trivial Pursuit, revolving around lineage, peerages, dukes and duchesses, and the recent and unexpectedly well-behaved visit of Prince Harry to the colonies.

The tea was presented by the all-student Sullivan University catering crew, under the direction of April Gregory, assistant to catering chair Chef Kimberley Jones.  Gregory had but five days to assemble and produce the menu for one hundred and fifty distinguished guests.

A lavishly festooned tent and creatively presented buffet tables presented savouries consisting of finger sandwiches of several varieties – cucumber, an apple-bleu cheese spread, potted shrimp, and salmon mousse.  Naturally, there was also an assortment of scones with the traditional Devonshire cream (oddly, no crumpets, but those do seem to be more of a breakfast item).  Other sweets came in the form of chocolate mousse, lemon curd, and panna cotta tartlets with fresh berries.  Of course, there was the requisite tea – Earl Grey, to be precise, with all the proper accompaniments, plus just enough champagne to toast the Queen’s birthday with the appropriate amount of pomp and circumstance.

Alas, the Queen was otherwise occupied and not in attendance, but other appropriately costumed dignitaries were, including a robust-looking King Henry VIII and all six of his wives (two heads miraculously restored for the occasion), along with an authentically costumed early music ensemble from the University of Louisville.

For more information on the ESU, visit their website.