Throughout the afternoon and early evening of a Friday in October, 24 of us made our separate journeys to Camp Bognor, arriving, in our case, in heavy rain. We met up with the vanguard who were on their way to a fish and chip supper at Harry Ramsden's, having already sampled some of the bars which Butlins so thoughtfully provide for their family holiday makers.
We repaired to inspect our luxury villa (mercifully not the wooden sheds of Hi-de-Hi) and to fill the fridge with some essential weekend supplies of beer and wine. Christina promptly ordered the removal of half so that she could put in food!
There are various venues for the evening bands and quite a number of us opted for Mercury (Queen tribute) and danced ourselves dizzy with "Freddie" and "Brian". Air guitars and even inflatable guitars much in evidence, all toted by men.
Saturday morning and everyone did their own thing. At 1 pm the girls met up back at the chalets for a photo shoot for the club calendar. The boys were disappointed to find that their services were not required but brightened considerably on being told to "go to the pub and don't come back 'til we tell you" a command most of them couldn't ever remember having received before! For the next few hours there was a flurry of activity. Props, curling tongs, hairspray and more cosmetics than Boots appeared. Bob Colvin managed to blag his way in by declaring himself Locations Manager and assisted Kaye Moore, who was behind the lens. Everybody pitched in with ideas and suggestions to create 11 different poses of the "Bikers' Wives" all done in the best possible taste! Tracy's legendary skills with her cosmetic sponges were in great demand as was judicious applications of "lippy". Finally we were done and the boys returned for a preview on the TV thoughtfully brought for the purpose.
Full of beans (and beer) it was decided we would all go out to dinner together at a local Chinese restaurant. It was early as we wanted to be back in time to see the bands and we arrived at restaurant at 6:30-ish. We were assured that 24 people could be accommodated and a separate room was opened especially for us, which conveniently sat 24. We ordered and then sat and waited... and waited... getting restless, not to mention hungry.
We began to make enquiries about our food and kept being reassured that "its coming" at regular intervals. Finally, at 9 o'clock Chris Biggs threw his dummy out of the pram and declared he was leaving. During the next 15 minutes more and more of us also got up to leave and paid the restaurant what we considered a fair price for the drinks and food which had been served. Amid threats from the staff that they would call the police we left, by now somewhat deflated, and made our way back to Camp Bognor. We had already missed the first band so made our way to the bar to try to rescue the mood of the evening.
There was a Saxon band on so Chris was in his element and the rest of us sat drinking. I was just wondering why everybody had sauntered off leaving Kaye and myself when to my amazement I found myself face to face with the Chinese man from the restaurant. Fortunately I had had the foresight to remove my horns (see calendar) and he didn't recognise me. He had also brought the police with him but failed to find any of the miscreants. This provoked some amused debate, which went some way to lightening the mood, but I decided to skip the Rolling Clones tribute and return to the chalet. A pity because I had been looking forward to another dancing session.
Sunday morning and the previous evening's excitement a memory. Some went off for a swim or a walk along the beach and some had a leisurely breakfast. The accommodation was booked for Sunday evening too but we were all making our way home that day, things to do etc.
Thanks go to Tracy for being our booking clerk and organising the weekend in her usual efficient manner. You will be pleased to hear that so successful was the weekend that she is currently organising another for March 2005.