It’s hard to imagine that it’s more than twelve months since we shivered in Cheltenham with Mary and Ellis, watching Giffords Circus 2013 show.

But last evening, we were back in our usual venue, sitting on Minchinhampton Common, drinking Pimms with our friends on what should have been a glorious summer’s evening.

Ahem.

Never mind.  The exuberance, the skill and sheer silliness that makes this particular circus so special isn’t dependent on the weather and of course, we had a great evening.  Well, have you ever seen a turkey in a circus before?

As always, Brian the goose received a round of rapturous applause – or was it as a result of Toti’s refusal to remove his shirt and tie when wearing his Greek tunic?  Whatever.  All our favourites were here: Bibi and Bichu, the Russian acrobats, Tweedy, Nancy and Myrtle the bear plus a few new introductions including the most amazing contortionist.

We had a great evening and were sorry to wave goodbye for another year.

Though actually, the show wasn’t over yet – after dinner in Circus Sauce, the kitchen crew appeared at the window with a surprise puppet show, bringing the evening to a suitably quirky end.

(Marco Pierre White had been cooking there last week and had left his pinny hanging on the nail)