Grandad is 60!! And he had a party.

Grandad (Trains) is 60 on 30th August so yesterday he had a party which we all went to.

No one will be surprised when they learn that the party was held on a Steam Train on The Churnet Valley Railway. We had to make sure that we were on the platform at Froghall Station for the 13:47 departure as this was The Party Train.

We met Auntie Alison, Uncle Michael, Auntie Jennifer, Uncle Mike, Amy, Callum, Uncle Graham, Courtney and Jake (Auntie Carrie and Luke stayed at home) at The Railway pub and then we all made our way down to the platform ready to catch the train. The train arrived and we saw Grandad sat in the Party carriages – we were very excited and couldn’t wait to get on the train.

We boarded the train and as we pulled out of the station the party food and drinks were served – we devoured the sandwiches, scotch eggs, sausage rolls, quiche and crisps in record time before moving onto the desserts – we had chocolate fudge cake and cream (Daniel had 2 pieces!!)
We had a few trips up and down the track and we enjoyed looking out of the windows at the cows in the fields and the people on the platforms, who waved to us. After an hour or so it was time for Uncle Harry to make a speech as he is Grandad’s older brother and has known him since he was born – the speech was quite funny and we liked laughing (looking) at the pictures of Grandad when he was younger – the first picture we saw was Grandad in a dress – but he was only a few months old.

Uncle Harry’s speech was short for him – only 15 minutes – so then it was time to sing Happy Birthday to Grandad and for Grandad to cut his birthday cake that had lots of icing balloons on it and was delicious.

When the train stopped running at 5 we went to The Boat pub and had some drinks with Grandad and the rest of our family and we had some dinner which we all devoured as we had been running around with our friends on the train for the rest of the afternoon.

We really enjoyed the party and hope the Grandad will have another one soon, as it means we get to go on the trains!!!!!