THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 21, 1994 TAG: 9409200127
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: AROUND TOWN
SOURCE: LINDA MCNATT
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
In Isle of Wight County, the pronunciation of tea, long ``e,'' as in iced tea, has changed to ``tay,'' long ``a,'' as in hot tay, even on an afternoon when the sun is pouring into a gazebo on the river and the temperature is in the 90s.
And we all learned that you don't make ``tay'' by running it quickly through your coffee maker. The water must be steaming hot, the tay pot pre-heated, and you have to let it steep.
The advice and new pronunciation of tea were compliments of some visitors from Isle of Wight County, England, who came to the county fair last week.
It's a shame that all the citizens of this county didn't have a chance to spend few minutes with these folks.
I'm sure they would have found our friends from across the Atlantic down to earth, friendly and intent upon being good ambassadors for their country.
They came here to celebrate the county's birthday and the first fair in the county since 1941. None, as far as I could determine, was among those who came over from England 10 years ago when the county celebrated its 350th anniversary.
But somewhere along the line, through their friends and neighbors at home, or through local folks who have visited the island off the coast of Great Britain, they had long established a real attachment to the rural county in Virginia where their ancestors first settled during Colonial times.
The focus of the visit, said Felix Hetherington, who described himself as England's answer to Myles Standish, was to keep the ties going. Hetherington, a lawyer by trade, has been the county administrator in Isle of Wight, England, for about 10 years.
Val Anderson, chairwoman of the English county's council, talked animatedly about life on the island. She is one of 43 members of that particular council. There are actually three councils at the moment, she said, but that is about to change since the national government in England has recently reorganized all local governments.
I found it interesting that of the 43 members, 11 are women. In our county, women are still under-represented on governing boards.
Anderson has been on the council for 10 years. She was elected chairwoman by her fellow members.
She spends about four days a week at the local government headquarters taking care of business, she said. And the only pay she and other members of the council getis a small attendance allowance for official meetings.
That's real public service, we agreed.
``It is very beautiful here,'' Anderson said during tea served in the gazebo of Bob and Sylvia Hart's home on South Church Street.
``I hope to see more of the water. We're actually an island, but there are a lot of similarities between the two Isle of Wights.''
In the group, there was a hotel owner, a convenience store owner. Everyone who came to the fair was connected in some way to county government.
Doreen Hipkiss tried to teach Americans how to make ``tay.'' And the English people at several ``tays'' we Americans scheduled here for them really seemed to enjoy the food we served and the effort we put into making it familiar fare.
They moved from cucumber sandwiches, Smithfield ham and creamed cheese sandwiches, scones and puff pastry at the Harts' home on Wednesday to similar samplings on Friday at The Collage on Main Street, home of the Isle of Wight Arts League.
I attended that function as a reporter and ended up pouring. The table was decorated with tomato sandwiches, a variety of breads and cakes, and lemon tied in tiny net bags (to keep the seeds out).
It was interesting what firm friendships had been formed between the English and the Americans in only a couple of days. When Florine Moore, representing the county Tourism Bureau, arrived at the art gallery to offer the visitors boat rides on the Pagan River, several of them declined.
They had promised to have dinner with their hosts, they said.
From the teas, they moved easily into the spirit of the fair.
All in all, it was a busy, fun week for everybody.
The fair was declared a success. About 10,000 people toured the fair grounds Saturday, and the rain held off until just past 10 p.m., after the fireworks had been displayed and the final band was in its final set.
It was a jolly good show. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
A tea was held at the Smithfield home of Bob Hart. Val Anderson
enjoys the evening tea with Felix Hetherington of Isle of Wight,
England.
by CNB