Surely surviving ten years without actually knowing what we're doing called for some sort of celebration?
Of course it did - and where better to celebrate than in Glastonbury? Not in a field, of course - we're far too sophisticated, old and prone to rheumatism to contemplate that, the King Arthur pub sounded a much better proposition. Now to find some unsuspecting fools who were willing to pull the whole thing together...step forward Tir na nOg's manager Trevor Boyd and Icarus Peel.
Together, we approached some of the label's best-loved artists and every one of them said they were up for playing, so there was no turning back. The tickets sold so quickly we had to twist the venue's arm to let us push things to capacity (OK, maybe just a bit beyond capacity), and we could have sold far more but, good grief, we had a Fruits de Mer 10th birthday party!
Come the day, come the friends of FdM and it was great to see so many familiar faces joining in the celebrations - what a lovely, friendly bunch of people. The Fruits de Mer stall creaked under the pressure, as did Lizzie, Steve, Kev and Craig (our happy band of helpers) while Liz did her usual excellent job of meeting and greeting, and dishing out the traditional goodie-bags.
And then there was the live music, which in the end is what the day was all about - seven terrific acts crammed into about ten hours, with barely a hitch or missed note between them; it really was a grand day out.
This double DVD, very kindly put together by Mr. Peel, is a chance for you to enjoy some of the day's music:
Tir na nOg
The Honey Pot
Magic Bus
Anton Barbeau
Mark McDowell and friends
Icarus Peel's Acid Reign
Jack Ellister
Cary Grace
- they're all here - two hours' worth of music.
Whether you were there at the time or not, I hope you'll get a feel for the fun we had - Fruits de Mer gigs really are a meeting of old friends.
and yes, the pub ran out of beer.
Here's a taster of the DVDs...