Reception at Wolfsberg Castle

Sunday was another beautiful day. There were some taxis arranged to take us up to the castle, although some adventurous types decided to walk. (It takes a little longer than 'fifteen minutes', Igor...)

Once at the castle we were directed into a marvellously decorated room with tables set out for our brunch. This was probably the last time that we would all be together and so there was much conversation.

The proceedings were initiated by the Count, Andreas Henckel-Donnersmarck, who welcomed us all to his home. He was followed by the Mayor, Hans-Peter Schlagholz who thanked us all for attending the weekend. I was on next; my final speech of the weekend, much to my relief. I took the opportunity to thank the Mayor and the people of Wolfsberg for their hospitality and also made special mention of Igor, Christian, Daniel, Christine and Alex for all their hard work in getting the Exhibition together. After that I invited Eric to give us his speech again, this time in English.

Finally I presented to the Mayor the proceeds of our collection. He immediately passed it on to the Head of Culture, Peter Zernig. Igor then explained to us all that the money would be matched by Wolfsberg Council and would go towards creating a permanent exhibition in the Museum.

Just when I thought that it was all over, Denise Brown-Kahney pulled a fast one, thanking me for my efforts and presenting me with an album filled with messages from all those who attended the Weekend. Thanks, Denise! You are a star. Thanks to everybody, too.

The official proceeding were now over and we could tuck into the food. Well, I say 'we'. Every time I tried to get some food, I was engaged in conversation and lost my place in the queue. Not that I minded.

(An awful lot happened that morning and so I may have omitted some events and got others out of order. I plead old age in my defence.)