The weather today is hot, wet and humid, but better weather promised.

Last night I went to a dinner for all the Tuesday Hurlingham Tennis Ladies. And their other halves. There were eleven of us.

Code names: Mr and Mrs Jetset, Mr and Mrs Croquet, Mr and Mrs Fineart (returned from six months abroad), Mr and Mrs Napier (they live on the premier street next to the Hurlingham of the same name) and Ms Christies (where she works-the hostess).

Mr Napier was to my right at the head of the table. He was educated at Winchester and smart (high up in Sloane hierarchy). He was educated at Winchester, just like Geoffrey’s grandfather, Algernon, on Eve’s side. I have a photo of him, standing proudly in his school uniform, in the hall at the Old Rectory. Geoff’s father, Tony, was sent to Tonbridge, like his father and like Geoff.

The concept of boarding school was foreign to me and it was inconceivable that I would send my children to board. It is what many Sloanes do. Less now. Tony and Eve, nicknames Pops and Mutti (Geoffrey studied German), had seven children. Twins at the top and twins at the bottom and three in the middle. Tony and Eve lived abroad in Africa with a short stint in Singapore. Like many of their expat class, they sent their children home from the tender age of seven to boarding school. Later they would go on to public school (private not state). This cost shed loads of money, but not as much as it costs today, relatively speaking. And by all accounts, boarding schools back then were not, on the whole, that nurturing and cosy, shall I say. Caning was allowed. Bullying was viral.

At the top of the Wilmot sibling group, were fraternal twins, Jono (Jonathan) and Mim (Miriam). They were the grownups in the family. The other siblings looked up to them. They married and had children streets ahead of the rest of the pack. As a new Wilmot wife, I studied them carefully. I had to produce Wilmot offspring afterall.

Mim was the first to marry. Mim was beautiful, musical and clever. By temperament she was thoughtful, measured and kind. Rob was film star handsome, personable and brilliant (went to Rugby and Oxford). They started with Rebecca in 1978 (born on the same day as Anna 16 years earlier), followed by Bethany and Zoe followed with a gap. These girls were super children: academically gifted (Cambridge, Oxford and Durham); musically advanced and gorgeous in all respects. At Christmas they would perform recitals in Sound of Music type outfits, made by Mim. As a kangaroo, I was panicked I wouldn’t be able to produce offspring, even vaguely, in the same orbit as theses girls. Rob and Mim were teachers. The grand proportion of Rob’s adult life was at Harrow School, just beyond SW London. He was head of The Park, a boarding house and later registrar. So the girls grew up in a boarding school environment, but attended North London Collegiate. Mim taught there.

Jono married Sue next. Jono, as the vicar in the family, was warm, pastoral and inclusive. It was handy having him. He married siblings, christened offspring and offered advice in sticky times. Sue, his wife, is a dynamic, Cambridge graduate and they had two blonde haired boys, Tom and Mike, much later followed by Ciffey in the next tranche of grandchildren.

When Mutti and Pops died, Jono and Mim led the family in their absence. In the meantime, they held the bench high for the rest. I was in awe of them and loved them.

Today we have dinner with the Corries of Waterperry fame.