Derbyshire Tai Chi Ceremony

Back in June 2020, during lockdown, it was announced that Fibro Active had been successful in gaining the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. Back then we had no idea when we would receive the award, but finally on November 23rd, 2021, forty-one members, tai chi students, group partners and dignitaries gathered at Petersham Community Hall in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, UK, for a lunchtime of pomp, ceremony and tai chi.

What started out as a humble ceremony, soon turned into an epic production. It started from the Lieutenancy’s Office with a list of advisory notes and expectations. A programme of events was created and once the dates and programme were confirmed, ten weeks of organising and preparation began.

Invitations

I copied the format for the invitation design from the one I had received for the Queen’s Birthday Service at Southwell Minster last June. After it was approved by the Lieutenancy’s Office, the invitations were sent out at the beginning of September to a list of dignitaries, and much to my surprise they all accepted. This had to be something special. Further invitations were sent to current members, former members who had volunteered prior to lockdown and key partners who had an integral part in supporting the group from its inception, not forgetting our tai chi students. RSVP deadline was set for October 31st, that would give us 23 days to confirm everything.  I did get a little carried away and after sending out the invitations, I realised that I had sent way more than I should have - I was expecting to squeeze in about 70 people!

Dress Code

The dress code was formal day wear, suits, uniforms and medals to be worn!  However, this was not feasible for many of our members, as their wardrobes consist mainly of PJ’s and casual wear. This then became a great opportunity for us to design and print the new group t-shirts. So, Holly Lane, one half of our media team designed the new t-shirts, the designs were presented to our members so they could choose which one they liked best. The order was sent mid-September and that was one big job out the way.

Tai Chi

We were talking to our Monday Tai Chi students, who have been with us for about 3 years, I wasn’t going to ask if they wanted to demonstrate the Sun style Tai Chi for Arthritis form, but they second guessed me and offered. We also asked our group members who knew all of the form and they were in too! We had a lot of work to do as they had not practiced this form in depth for some time. We booked dates in the hall for rehearsals and changed the Yang class to a TCA practice class in the weeks leading up to the presentation. The first rehearsal was cut short as the hall had been double booked, I emailed the booking officer and he had accidentally cancelled all the dates. Luckily there were no other days double booked, so he was able to reinstate them.

The practice sessions were confusing to start with as we had all trained facing towards the stage and spread out. Now we were training facing away from the stage and quite close together, as space would be limited with the tables set out and our guests seated. As the rehearsals approached all but one of our group members had dropped out and we were left with 11, including Ben Fowler, who had trained with us at the Deyin Institute instructor course, he was doing a crash course to bring him up to speed.

Table Decoration

Ben is also a chef and he had been giving me some hints and tips on the colour scheme and what sort of catering we should go for. So, Jane and I went shopping in Nottingham to see if we could get what we needed. This was the first time we had ventured out since the beginning of lockdown; we were a little anxious. Our colour scheme was purple and gold and we also wanted a gold frame for our certificate. Typically, both colours are out of fashion this year and with disappointment we came back empty handed. We ended up mixing and matching on line by swapping the colours from purple table covers and napkins to gold and then making the plates and cups purple. We had some favours left from a previous event, so I used those to wrap the QAVS badge we were giving to everyone and I even found a matching napkin ring for each place setting.

Catering

The catering became one of the hardest tasks to sort, as local businesses were either not working at full capacity and couldn’t cope with the numbers or they had closed down. Ben had suggested everyone have an individual hot bowl. We were also toying with the idea of having individual platters on each table to prevent queuing for a buffet. In the end we found a local business, Mrs B’s Catering, who were able to box individual meals; these were delivered to the venue on the day of the event and our attention to detail really did add to the quality of the day.

Deadlines

The deadlines were looming and we had replies from just under 50 people. A couple of important people had not responded, so I chased them up, only to find that they hadn’t received my email, nor had I received replies from some of the others. Luckily, having chased them up, we were able to include them onto the list.

After the deadline, I sent an email, highlighting the covid regulations and asking if anyone had any special dietary needs, also, mentioning again, the required dress code.

Covid Regulations

We had been keeping an eye on the rising covid cases and with people coming from different areas, work backgrounds and with many of us still vulnerable, we asked each attendee to take a lateral flow test and upload the result to the NHS site so they would receive a text and email. We asked everyone to wear a mask on arrival until they were seated. On the arrival of our guests, we checked their test results, took their temperatures and asked everyone to use hand sanitiser.

Sadly, these requirements were too much for a few people and they pulled out; believe it or not, it was mainly the people who represented our partner organisations, they were either anxious about doing a test, wearing a mask, or they didn’t agree with taking a lateral flow test after being double vaccinated.

Table Plan

I was looking forward to organising the table plan. I split the dignitaries so there was one on each table. I also split the members, partners and tai chi students so there was an all-round representation on each table. However, it soon became a bit of a nightmare as people were still pulling out, even up to the day before. I did a last-minute plan before we went to set up.

Recording

While this is all going on, I needed to organise the programme so that Jane and I could start the presentation dressed in our best and then we needed to change into our tai chi uniform. I thought about recording the speech so it gave us chance to run to the committee room and change. Then I got an idea after watching Staged on TV with David Tennant and Michael Sheen. Could Jane and I pull it off? I wrote a script and rewrote it several times. Jane had a look and made changes. We had a read through and it sounded ok, so, having had our hair done, we zoomed each other and started recording. Twelve takes later and after a lot of laughter we finally got a run through where we made it to the end. We took it to rehearsals and passed a copy over to Jay Lane, the second half of our media team.

We were sitting having lunch at Jane’s house when Jay and Holly phoned us via speakerphone. ‘We have had a look at your recording and It’s cringe worthy’ no mincing of words there! Jay said he would be round on Tuesday to record a more professional interview!’ Needless to say, we are not thespians.

Monday night set up

A team of us met at the hall just after 9pm on the night before. We deep cleaned, set up the tables, stage area, big screen and placed our bags with our tai chi uniforms in the committee room ready for changing the next day. We left at 11pm and the rest was in the lap of the gods.

To see what happened on the day, the official photos and recording visit our website at www.fibroactive.co.uk.

In the next article we will be looking at how gaining the Queen’s Award has made Fibromyalgia and CFS/ME more credible in our local area.