Wendy Smith’s Birthday at Sartaj Restaurant, Catalkoy

 By Margaret Sheard …

A large group of people were at Sartaj Restaurant in Çatalköy on Tuesday 12^th June to join Wendy Smith and help to celebrate her 68^th birthday.  Wendy’s partner (and future husband) Peter Toms, was doing his usual meet and greet and making sure everything was running smoothly, which of course it was.

Peter and Wendy are a very well-known and popular couple so it was not surprising to see so many people who had come along to join in Wendy’s special evening.   We noted that there was another large table occupied by a local resident who was also celebrating his birthday, so Khan and his staff had a very busy night in store.

We sat with a couple we had not met before, Talbot and Glenys, and it was nice to make new acquaintances and chat with them during the evening.  They were due to travel back to the UK the next day so this was their last evening in North Cyprus for a while and a nice way to finish off their visit.

The entertainment was to have been provided by Katie B and Peter made an announcement that due to the sad death of Katie B’s sister, she was returning to the UK and Gavin had stepped in to entertain Wendy’s guests.   Condolences to Katie on her sad loss and thanks to Gavin for being able to take her place at such short notice.

Gavin proceeded to entertain us from his vast repertoire and the food and drinks started appearing and we all enjoyed our chosen meals as Khan and his staff dashed around the tables making sure everyone was served as quickly as they could.    Some of the guests were dancing to the music in between courses and generally enjoying themselves.  As the evening moved on, so did the tempo and there was more dancing taking place to many of our old favourites.

Later in the evening Khan arrived with the birthday cake(s) and following the traditional “Happy Birthday” song, Wendy made the first slice of the cake, with much laughter.

By this time it was getting late and some of the guests were leaving and by the time we left there were quite a few still enjoying the end of the evening in this lovely garden setting.

We would like to take this opportunity of congratulating Peter and Wendy on their decision to “tie the knot” and will be looking forward to their wedding in the Karpaz on 18^th May 2019.   I am sure this will certainly be a day to remember.