Our Spanish Dream - Part 16: Mum and Dad's 50th

20th October 2006 was my parents' Golden Wedding Anniversary.  It was planned for ourselves, our youngest and my sister and brother-in-law to spend a week with them and share in the celebrations.  With not enough room for all five of us to stay comfortably at their villa we stayed in a friend’s three bedroom apartment up the road.  The main celebrations were on Friday evening with a diner and dance at a local restaurant for around 60 guests, preceded by a champagne lunch for family and a couple of close friends.

We arrived on Wednesday 18th with the plan to travel south and sign the final papers for buying the house on Thursday, then back to Mum and Dad’s that night for the celebrations on Friday and church blessing on Sunday, before heading south again Monday to start the big clean on our new house.

Lunch on Friday went well, with Dave assigned to the barbecue, and lots of laughter and presents. Mum made a Bucks Fizz for our 13 year old son, which he claimed it was very  nice and tasted of bananas.  Confused I looked on the juice cartoon to find Mum had accidently bought orange, grape and banana juice!  The evening meal went well with Mum and Dad being surprised by a Limo collecting them.  Dad gave a speech, their friend and Pastor gave a speech, the band played all night and everyone got very merry.

Sunday morning was a lovely service with a blessing.  My Dad had recently been given the all clear from his throat cancer and that added to the specialness of the occasion.  It’s a lovely memory to have of a time of such joy and laughter.  The coming years would make that time extra 

Dave and Bev Townsend have two homes, their main one in Norwich and a second home in Playa Flamenca in south Costa Blanca, Spain which they also let as a holiday rental www.house-by-the-pool.com   They run a property finding business offering a free service for those seeking to buy a property in the Costa Blanca (Alicante) or the Mar Menor area of the Costa Calida (Murcia) www.SpanishDreamProperty.com Bev has family in Spain and they intend to move there full-time in a couple of years.