Rowland's 50th birthday party was organised by his bridge partner and opponents. We were determined that it would be a surprise.
It didn't take all that much work to get just about everybody who knew Rowland to come along. His Durham and Stirling family, his work colleaques, the Chilean community, his political and personal friends, everybody turned up.
They came from London, from Sheffield, they even came from abroad. And he never forgave us. It annoyed him to think that we had been scheming behind his back all those weeks prior to the party and he had never even had a sniff at what was going on!