As happens to a fair few of us around Christmas time, I became rather languid and as such neglected my duties of reporting to you on the happenings of the vintage scene. Well, there was homemade Turkish Delight that just had to be eaten!
Before I became a slave to Christmas and all the wonderful food it provides, The Vintage News went to the festive edition of the Candlelight Club.
We were greeted with the warming aroma of cinnamon, cloves and other festive spices. This, added to the candlelight, made for an intimate atmosphere, the sort of thing Bing Crosby would sing about and then hit stuff with his pipe. 
Christmas trees bedecked in glistening decorations added yet more to the festive feel of the evening.
Christmas trees bedecked in glistening decorations added yet more to the festive feel of the evening. 
The musical entertainment of the night was provided by Albert Ball’s Flying Aces. An amazing band, of whom we had previously been unaware, they play popular hits from the Great War on authentic instruments.
Named for the highly decorated pilot, they perform glorious renditions of ragtime, jazz, music hall, blues and polkas from across Europe.
Projected on the wall behind the bar was ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, well what would Christmas be without it?
The dancer of the evening was the impeccably dressed Josephine Shaker. Tap-dancer extraordinaire, she regaled us with stories of the greats (of course, Astaire and Kelly) when we interviewed her.
Once again, we were fortunate enough to be able to interview with one of the organisers, Clayton Hartley.
The room in which we conducted our interviews was glamorously dishevelled, think Sunset Boulevard.
All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up. I had a bit of trouble deciding between two dresses, so in the end I wore both! I had an emerald green pencil dress (to which I attached black velvet trim and halterneck) which I found in a charity shop. The skirt was from a Vivien of Holloway circle dress which was folded under. The join was ‘masked’ by more black velvet and a large silver brooch. I had green and red flowers in my hair, to be in-keeping with the Christmas theme of course.
A lovely touch was the inclusion of a roast dinner available in the courtyard. It smelt delectable but we had to save room for all the wonderful cocktails on offer. 
My favourite cocktail of the night had to be Cherry Christmas; a delicious concoction of gin, cherry brandy, cherry bitters, rosemary tincture and cranberry juice. The cranberry made it seem almost cleansing! Other alcoholic offerings included the mincemeat vodka based Mince Flip, Ginger Snap with rum, advocaat, ginger wine, ginger beer and Boker’s Bitters(that could’ve been one of mine!). Other yuletide ingredients included chestnut syrup, Frankincense bitters and nutmeg.
While the footage from this event is being edited, here is a link to the last time we went to the Candlelight Club
Oh, and you may have noticed in the latest New Sheridan club newsletter, a few pictures of myself and my fellow comrades at their Christmas bash.
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