FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH ("Don't panic Mr Mainwaring")

As Friday dawned in beautiful downtown Cambridge, the Lower Hall floor was nearly ready for use after its radical week-long makeover. But nearly doesn't butter any parsnips as Captain Mainwaring frequently opined. We could have chosen the soft option and cancelled lunch this week. But we at St Paul's are made of sterner stuff. Hence the decision to invoke the spirit of our glorious forefathers who made this country what is is today. We improvised in the spirit of Warmington on Sea and served lunch in the Lower Tower room, entrance hall and Room 5.
To all our wonderful volunteers and equally wonderful guests, young Mr Grace (different sitcom but who's counting?) would like to say "You've all done very well." Funnily enough, nobody mentioned that it was also Friday the thirteenth which just goes to show that we're not a superstitious lot. One theory  traces the superstition to the arrest of the legendary Knights Templars, a monastic military order founded in Jerusalem in 1118. Threatened by their power and eager to acquire their wealth, King Philip of France ordered the mass arrest of the Knights Templar on Friday, October 13, 1307 - Friday the 13th.		Another theory is a tale in Norse mythology where Friday is named for Frigga, the free-spirited goddess of love and fertility. When Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, Frigga was banished in shame to a mountain top and labeled a witch. Every Friday, the spiteful goddess convened a meeting with eleven other witches, plus the devil — a gathering of thirteen — and plotted ill turns of fate for the coming week.  You pays your money ...