6 January 2012
Hello campers!
Happy New Year! Just about got my breath back and the washing done after the new year meet – the only thing now is rather a big pile of ironing in the bedroom!! Oh well, there’s always tomorrow! This was a new venue for us at new year so we weren’t quite sure what to expect, but we certainly weren’t disappointed. By the time we arrived most of the others were there nicely ensconsed by a lake view and a sea view. Yes, I said sea view! Yes, I know we were in Southport, and no I wasn’t drunk! It’s the first time I’ve ever seen the tide in at Southport, the pier was actually in the sea!! The ferocious wind meant a bit of extra care setting up ( keeping hold of the door was an important priority) with nothing left outside unless it was firmly anchored down! The room was already decorated with a beautiful tree so there was a bit of chill out time before the first night social. The first night is always hard to get folk motivated so this year we broke the music up with a bit of a quiz which went down well, although after I had marked them I came to the conclusion that some of us must have been doctors in a past life, judging by the “neat” writing!!
Thursday saw no let up with the wind, but hell, we were at the seaside, so what do you do? Of course, you go for a walk down the pier! Well, we did anyway! Good job there’s a bit of weight about us or we may have been blown off! Anyway it meant we worked up a good appetite for the high tea, impeccably prepared and served as always, although this time we didn’t have to keep our spoons for dessert!! During the evening there was a debut appearance by the Ribblesdale Belles, a very colourful quartet who looked vaguely familiar, but maybe they need a bit more practice if they’re expecting a call from Simon Cowell!! Fancy dress this year was“adverts” where a good half of us had got the old grey matter working with imaginative outfits galore. Worthy winners were the Dolmio family , with half of 118 and the fairy liquid fairy (does that sound right?!) winners for the children. Time to get thinking caps on for next year!! The flat area and closeness to town meant plenty of walking and not much moving of vehicles, although there were plenty of vans rocking!! The wind finally died down after a couple of days which made walking a bit more pleasant, also gave us a legitimate excuse to have a kip in the afternoon and recharge our batteries for the evening which was very handy on new year’s eve where again we all got our glad rags on and prapared to dance the night away – well some of us anyway!! A brisk walk next day to blow the cobwebs away surprisingly found a lot of shops open – I tell you, if Primark was so quiet every day, I would be a regular!! A very successful meet much enjoyed and already booked for next ( or is that this) year; we must thank Malcolm for directing us to it! Also as usual, a big thank you to the new year committee for all their hard work both before and during the meet.
The first meet in 2012 is an early bird meet at Whittingham and Goosnargh 20 -22 January so you don’t get too many withdrawal symptoms! There are also a few birthdays that we can celebrate so come and join us, everyone is welcome. Our most important meet in February is the AGM at Langho where we will be electing the committee for the next 12 months, among other things, and choosing a new charity for 2012. We also hope to present a cheque to Help For Heroes, our charity for 2011, for the magnificent sum of 3 400 pounds, an amount which you the campers have helped to raise and for which we are truly grateful and proud –give yourselves a pat on the back!! The cupboard, as they say, is now bare so once again we are asking for donations of raffle prizes - those unwanted Christmas presents, that unopened bottle of wine from new year’s eve ( not in our house!!) you know the type of thing, everything is most gratefully received.
This year we will have a new webmaster for Ribblesdale as Steven has decided to hand over the reins; an increasing workload at college does not leave him as much time as he would like and Marcus has expressed an interest in taking over; to this end this is probably my last newsletter, a clean sweep and all that! Although if he asks nicely I might help him out for a few times!! I cannot actually remember when I started writing the newsletter but I do recall that Keith Brierley was chairman so it’s quite a while. You won’t get rid of me that easily and you might still see me jotting things down to tell Marcus!!!
Still see you on the field,
Karen B.