Tuesday Cuppa Tea - Celebrations And Special Days

Hell and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea! So glad you were able to join me during this busy summer season!

So many wonderful things going on! It was difficult to choose what to share this week... so here goes! First of all, I want to wish my other half, John a Happy Birthday! Taken in the sunroom. 40 years of marriage, and I'd love 40 more with my best friend!

Next,  I want to wish my Canadian friends a Happy Canada Day, which is July 1st. Have a great one! We are so close to Victoria BC that if it's fairly clear we see the fireworks sometimes!

Now for my teacup this week for Tuesday Cuppa Tea...the closest I could find to a red, white and blue is red roses and blue Forget-me-nots on a white bone china teacup...

This is a quatrefoil, not round, cup and saucer by Clarence, England from the 1950s...

Love the color combo of the pinky red and blue against the white...

The maker, Clarence is a trade name of the Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd of Staffordshire potteries too small to market successfully on their own. The co-op was started in 1946 and lasted until 1968 when a lot of potteries were failing.  A similar grouping of small potteries under a wholesaler until it's demise in 2009 was Royal Patrician, and now is reorganizing again under several different names but using a wholesale distributor to help maximize exposure. At least pottery is still being made in Staffordshire!!! For more info on the teacup at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.

My choice of teacup was because of our upcoming 4th of July!  I love to celebrate the beginning of our freedom...by this is how my Brit husband celebrates...

He always hangs out the Union Jack, although the US flag is also prominently in evidence...our neighbors love it and think it's hilarious!

I had a simple patriotic tea in the sunroom today, with my patriotic decor balls, Rosebud plate by Royal Doulton and blue and white transferware Bristol by Crown Ducal...a variation on the Asiatic Pheasants pattern...

The table is one I painted in the 198s when painted furniture was a big thing. It is the perfect small table for tea by the wicker chair in the sunroom in the afternoon...

It has leaves that fold away when not in use. The rest of the time it serves as an end table to the wicker chair. I had a lovely cranberry orange and almond scone I made a few days ago....perfect!

Last for today, June 30th is the 120th anniversary of the opening of Tower Bridge in London...an iconic landmark.  Here are several photos from a couple of visits, including some taken from the Thames from a lunch/sightseeing cruise we did...

One visit we took the Tower Bridge Experience which takes you inside to see how the bridge decks are opened using the gigantic cantilevered bascules.  When the bridge was opened, it was an architectural and engineering marvel...and it still is!

You enter from the Southwark side and if you go, be prepared for lots of stairs, or long elevator waits. But it is fascinating! Tower Bridge was designed to blend in architecturally with the MUCH older Tower of London and I think it's a wonderful accompaniment!  So happy birthday Tower Bridge!

So thanks for visiting Tuesday Cuppa Tea! Our best wishes for your Canada Day or 4th of July.

Below is the linky for your tea related posts...please be patient and remember it is SLOW to load...but it gets there! Cheers!

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Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Savoring The Summer, June Things

Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea, the first of the official summer!!

Saturday was June 21st, the day of the Summer Solstice...the longest day of the year...

Summer is really only starting here in the Pacific Northwest, but the longer daylight is quite nice.  June 21st is also the reason for my teacup choice today...as it's Prince William, the Duke Of Cambridge, who was born 32 years ago on June 21, 1982 to Prince Charles & Princess Diana...

And my teacup is a commemorative of that day...

The teacup is made by Duchess, England...

Notice that it only says the birth of their first child, with no name. This was one of the first teacups released, before the name was announced. But Duchess wanted to be first to the market.  Not many birth teacups were made at all. The design itself, slightly altered, was one of the approved designs first used for the wedding of Charles & Diana in 1981, in case you thought it looked familiar.

Duchess was a mark of A.F. Finney, named after the pottery building in Longton it took over from the Blyth(e) pottery founded in 1905. Duchess survived until 1969 when it was submerged in the Toms Investor group, which was then acquired by Grimwades in 1990. At the moment, the works are not use.

And now William and Kate have their own prince George!  And for his 32nd birthday, his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth has gifted him with his own helicopter, which he can fly himself if necessary, to use for the couple's official engagements...

The British press have dubbed the helicopter "Heirforce One"...

And today, I am joining Sandi for her Savour The Summer tea at Rose Chintz Cottage...

I had tea in the sunroom today thinking of Sandi's tea party, and in honour of that had sunny lemon cookies and a my tea in a Shelley China, England yellow Celandine patterned teacup in the Lincoln shape...

And I am having a cup of Assam black tea given my by our son and daughter in law made by Nottingham Tea. It was nice but a bit strong, so I needed some sugar, and I don't take milk. But I raised my teacup to toast Sandi and summer!

So please visit Sandi and savour the summer! For more info on the commemorative teacup at Antiques And Teacups, just click on the photos above . And be sure to link your tea related post with the linky below, but please be patient as it is sometimes very SLOW!

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New English Bone China Teapots At Antiques And Teacups

I was very sad when Royal Patrician closed in 2009. We had imported some lovely English bone china wares from them for several years. But recently I found a new potter I have found called Springfield, also English made, who has some of the same designs. Here are several new, 4 cup teapots we have just added to Antiques And Teacups. They are $58 each....

This is the Glamis Thistle design, named after the castle in Scotland, home of the Queen Mum, Queen Elizabeth who was the wife of King George VI and mother of the current Queen Elizabeth.

This pattern is called Dot Rose Chintz, whit pink rosebuds all over...

This is the Wild Violets pattern. I just love violets..they are the first flowers up in the garden here.

And lastly the Summertime Rose pattern, which was a very popular Royal Patrician pattern. 

Anyway, they are all new and perfect and feel so nice in the hand! For more info on any of the teapots available at Antiques And Teacups, click on that photo.  

Tea quote:

The most trying hours in life, are between four o'clock and the evening meal. A cup of tea at that time adds a lot of comfort and happiness

Royal. S. Copeland

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Trooping The Colour Teacup

Hello and welcome to another Tuesday Cuppa Tea, where we get to enjoy and share our love of teacups!  First of all, I hope you have had a lovely Father's Day, appreciating our fathers, loved ones and most of all our Heavenly Father!

But on to teatime! This week, starting Thursday has not been about teacups in our home, but about football...or to soccer for Yanks...'cuz it's FIFA World Cup time!

And it's happening in Brazil. Our tea time today was....tea and biscuits in front of the telly watching the England game...mine with the no milk, his with the milk...mine biscuits the Newman's Own vegan ginger cream sandwiches, his the pecan shortbread...Should have had tea in him St. George's Cross England mug, but it was in the dishwasher, so the Union Jack was second best. England lost this round, but has 2 more group games and chances to stay in....

Our local paper asked in their day's poll how important is the World Cup...the answer for "Not at all important" was 67%. They never asked my husband!!!
But, I am reading and working...as well as supplying tea and biscuits! Lol!

I have shared this teacup before, because it ties in to the big festivities of yesterday, June 14th in England, which is the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth, although she actually turned 87 in April. But her official birthday in June is always celebrated by The Trooping Of The Colour, when the Queen's Guards parade to honour and wish her a happy birthday.

This is actually a 1953 coronation teacup but is one of the few that chose as it's design...from the approved designs available for the coronation...the photo of Queen Elizabeth in her Trooping The Colour outfit...

This is a photo of the Queen in 1982, sidesaddle, on Burmese, her favorite horse at that time, for the Trooping Of The Colour. As you can see, that's the outfit depicted on the teacup.

http://www.antiquesandteacups.com/Cup-and-Saucer-Queen-Elizabeth-II-Coronation-Crown-Handle-Radfords_p_2070.html

Another thing special about the teacup is the crown in the handle. Very cool!

Radford's began in the 1897 in the late Victorian era in Stoke-On-Trent and lasted until 1957 when it succumber with many other potters to the Post World War II slump of lack of skilled workers and a change in the designs wanted by a new culture of buyers. For more info on the teacup at Antiques And Teacups click on the photos.

Trooping Of The Colour and the birthday celebrations always involve a procession down The Mall to Horseguards Parade for the massed Guardsmen and household cavalry...

And the Royal family are out in force...

Until the late 1980s, the Queen always rode on horse back...but now she leaves that to other members of the family...

Here it is Prince Charles, Prince William and Princess Anne...

Then it's back to Buckingham Palace, an appearance on the balcony, and the annual salute...weather permitting...by The Red Arrows.

All photos from the Monarchy website

I wonder if they went back in for a nice cuppa????

Thanks for joining me for Tuesday Cuppa Tea. Below is the linky, and please remember sometimes it is very SLOW, so be patient, and it will pop up. I love to see your wonderful posts and am so blessed by your comments. I hope your summer is progressing nicely. Lots of footers around our house this week, so...I will REALLY enjoy visiting you!  Cheers!

An InLinkz Link-up