We got together with the friendly crowd at Derbyshire Cricket Foundation's Monday Mates monthly café. There was a bit of setting up to do, so we moved a lot of chairs and set up the very important tea and coffee table. One of the chairs was bad, so we sent it to the corner. There was an ugly face or two at the news that this would be Tim's last session here before he moves away.

We met the gang at DCF's Parkinson's Cricket in a warm hall on a cold day. After a chat, we were recovering balls from the warm-up, then from the bowling practice, Alex made it harder by moving cones to make the bowling straighter and farther. The session finished with a chat over tea and biscuits.

Gwyn and Tracey joined their Monday Mates at Derbyshire Cricket Foundation. We turned up ahead of time to sort out the chairs and the mugs, but delayed on plating up the biscuits as we didn’t know how many would be needed due to the bad weather. Despite snow and ice, we had a good attendance, welcoming our friends into the new year. Alex from DCF had prepared a host of activities; colouring, wordsearches, crosswords and quizzes, and then we ended with a game of seated cricket. After the session we put the chairs back and discovered that lots of biscuits had been needed after all!

We met the gang at the session with Alex. There was a big turnout today. We had a very close warm-up game, a session of cricket and then a fuddle with a good chat and a singalong. There was excellent home-made cake!

Tracey and Gwyn met the Monday Mates on a wet day at the cricket ground. Fortunately, there was no Donner or Blitzen. The weather didn't stop a record number of people Cometing to the event. The Mates were busy chatting and had Cupid as one of the quiz answers. After party food, which Alex had kept away from foxes and Vixens, it was time for Gwyn to be a Prancer in a reindeer game. We finished with music and our little helper was an enthusiastic Dancer.

Tracey and Gwyn met Alex from DCF and the cheerful cricketers on a chilly morning in Allestree. The first game was bowling at the cones (keeping us very busy!), then indoor cricket followed by tea and biscuits with a good chat. It was lovely to see new and old friends again.