Halloween Party

The Diary and its wife were given the rare and special privilege last night of judging at the annual Halloween party at the Sonachan Hotel.  Having been confidently told by one of the mums who organise this super event that, "all you have to do is judge the winner", we were faced with no less than six competitions to judge, and had to allocate a first, second and third prize in each.

Nothing daunted, we faced the first hurdle, judging the pumpkins, with confidence, but there was such an array of wonderful entries that the Diary felt like leaving immediately.  We finally chose the three impressive winners, 1st: Holly Cameron, 2nd: Alex Cheadle, and 3rd: Nathan Isherwood.

The other five categories were the fancy dress.  The Diary's one attempt to photograph the assembled competitors is shown - getting the small ones to stand still for even a moment seemed impossible - but The Diary hopes to show more pictures taken by better photographers later.

The 'Under-Fives' section was so full of excellent entries that it was almost impossible to choose a winner, but we finally decided that Alex Cheadle deserved first prize, followed by Edie Crosbie and Cailean MacLachlan.  Similarly, in the 'Primary 1 to 3s' section we struggled to make a decision, altering our choice of first prize several times before finally deciding that Holly Cameron deserved it, with Chloe Curtis second and Stuart MacLachlan third.  And in the 'Primary 4 to 7' section, Nathan Isherwood won first, followed by Kirsten Rowantree second, with Innes Ferguson and Cheryl MacIntyre joint third.  Well done to the youngsters, all of whom must have spent hours and hours making their costumes.

Usually it's the teenagers who don't want to participate in events such as these, so it wasn't a surprise when only two entered the 'Teens' section, with Callum Isherwood winning.  But the lowest entry was in the 'Parents' section: not one of the fathers made the effort, most being too busy sorting out the world in the bar, and only one Mum stepped forward, though Gael Cameron (above) was a worthy winner.

The Diary and wife were thoroughly enjoying relaxing after the stress of judging when the evening came to a sudden end when Hughie MacLachlan offered us some chipolata sausages, made from those darling little Kilchoan piglets.