Abbeyfield Scotland hosts largest simultaneous strawberry tea party

Graeme Thomsonblog

Abbeyfield Scotland, the charity which provides support for older people, has for the first time held a simultaneous strawberry tea party across all its houses in Scotland on the same day.

Famous for their Strawberry Tea events held each year during the summer, Abbeyfield has teamed up with Graham’s The Family Dairy who have generously donated the dairy essentials including butter, cream and milk for the events which all took place on Friday 19th August.

The events at 15 Abbeyfield Scotland houses – from as far north as the Black Isle to Dumfries in the south – collectively welcomed over 300 people including house residents, families, staff, volunteers and members of the local community on the day.

At the Bridge of Allan strawberry tea event, Graham’s The Family Dairy who are headquartered in the town, joined in the fun with Mrs Graham enjoying a cup of tea and a strawberry scone while chatting to the residents and volunteers at the house.

Niall Patterson, CEO, Abbeyfield Scotland said: “Our annual strawberry teas are well known and loved by our residents but this is the first year we have held the event on the same day across all of our houses. At Abbeyfield we want to bring people together for company and conversation and there’s no better way to do this than sharing a cake and a cup of tea! We are very grateful to Graham’s who have been extremely supportive of our event with not only the donation of their dairy products but with their time today at our Bridge of Allan house. On behalf of everyone at ASL I want to say thank you to Graham’s and to our many volunteers across the country for their support.”

Mrs Graham from Graham’s The Family Dairy said: “We are delighted to be involved in this year’s annual strawberry tea event. It’s a fantastic charity and we’re happy to support the day by providing them with our butter, cream and milk. I am sure it will be a successful and enjoyable day.”

A typical strawberry tea event is a gathering of people to share homemade cakes, strawberry scones and tea with entertainment for the guests courtesy of the volunteers. There are 15 houses involved and these are Inverness, The Black Isle, Coatbridge, Dumfries, Greenock, Giffnock, Haddington, Lenzie, Lockerbie, Nairn, Stonehaven, Turriff and Torphins. Bridge of Allan and Killearn houses have joined forces to host one large party.