EEDA Valentines Ball .

Billericay in Essex  isn't the first place that comes to mind when attending  a romantic "Valentines" weekend.

However, having been to a few East Essex Camping and Caravan club events I knew that it would be a great weekend and I wasn't disapointed.

We all stayed in the Grounds of Mayflower School and the main event was on the saturday Night.

Over 200 of us filled a large hall and partied all night to the Mowtown sound of "The Curvettes".

Sadly too much alchohol and fabulous food  was consumed to make the night truly romantic, but what the heck there is always next year.

New Year 2010

Best wishes and a Happy New Year to all of our Friends and Family

This year we decided to go all the way the Chelmsford and spend the New year at "New Hall School" with the East Essex Camping and Caravan Club. The event spanned the new year and each night had its own theme


The venue was a very posh private school and we had access to the parking areas, ( were we parked )  One of the Halls and the Swimming Pool.   Once we had found the way in it became the perfect venue for a New Year Rally.

The usual crowd of Sonja and Kevin, Andy and Lorraine were in attendance 

We arrived on the 29th a day after most people and the theme for the evening was a "Scottish Night ".

What this really meant was dressing up and making a complete idiot out of yourself  taking part in impossible tasks and challenges. As the drink flowed it got  louder and  became a great evening. Needless to say we were  crap at most of the tasks but what the heck

The next night was pretty somber, so we decided to go out for a Chinese Meal in Chelmsford whilst most of the group went out on coaches to see the pantomime "Aladdin "

New years eve turned out to be a very unusual day.

It all started to go a bit strange in the morning when our good friend Andy went swimming.  After he got out of the pool having swam 40 lengths he became disorientated, confused and very forgetful.

We took him to the local hospital were he was diagnosed with a temporary condition known as Transient Amnesia. The good news was that he had recovered fully by the next day. The bad new was that he saw the New Year in from a Hospital bed.  It could have been a lot worse, it could have been me . ( Sorry Andy )

Enjoy it mate , we 're off to a party

Despite poor Andy's incapacitation the decision was made to abandon him at the hospital with the small amount of remaining sweets and grapes that I hadn't eaten and go and have a party. ( That's what good friends do )

The New Years Eve  party theme was "The Musicals"  This meant that each table had to create, in advance, a large table decoration that depicted a Film or TV Musical . The table decorations would be judged and one table would be declared this years winners.

We knew that some groups were quite competitive and that they had secretly been making their table displays in advance ready to produce on the day.

What we failed to understand was that this competitive spirit had clearly got out of control and that some teams had in fact devoted most evenings of the whole of 2010 planning and creating their displays.       Winning was the only outcome in their eyes, anything else would bring shame on themselves and their families for the next year.

We had decided to go with the musical "The Wizard of Oz" with a  twist in that the OZ bit was Australian.  So we created a 3 foot square model of Aires rock with a large picture of Dorothy on a pole stuck in the middle of it . We then adorned it with most of the characters of the film , but with an Australian spin on it.    For instance the "Tin Man" became the "Tinny Man" and was decorated as a "Fosters Lager " can.


The painting of Dorothy looked distinctly Transsexual but all in all we were quite proud of our creation and genuinely felt that we were in with a chance of winning.

Our hearts sank when we entered the hall and looked around the room and discovered that we had failed to incorporate moving parts involving pneumatics, hydraulics and complicated electronics . We knew we had lost before the night began.

Andy's illness and absence  was instantly forgotten, we had more serious problems to deal with. How could we make our cross dressing Dorothy more competitive. We were in serious trouble .

One group had created a the city scene from "West Side Story" with lights and animation, another had created the fairground scene from "Greece" complete with a moving Ferris Wheel which small children could have ridden on .

The entire set from the Lion king was present and another  group had built a full size Kebab House, out of beer cans ,  in the shape of the Acropolis , complete  with a 4 foot high revolving kebab in the centre of it . They claimed that it was an alternative "Greece"

Our Dorothy   ( of doubtful sexuality )  on a stick looked pretty lame in comparison.

We all dressed up to match our displays , Pat was the Glinda the good witch, Sonja was the Wicked Witch, Kevin kindly stepped into the absent Andy's role and became the Tin man and Lorraine was the Scarecrow.

I opted for the alternative angle and went as "A friend of Dorothy's "  which is gay code for being gay and dressed as "Dame Edna" .

The competition winners turned out to be the "Lion King "

The next   Morning Dorothy the Tranny was consigned to the skip and Andy was collected from the Hospital right as rain again.

In view of the fact that poor Andy had missed the main event we decided to drive up to Polstead in Suffolk for a few days to make up for it. We didn't do much here , a couple of walks and a nice pub lunch .

Lorraine claimed to be crap at Scrabble and then thrashed everyone.

A great start to the  year.

2011 Bring it on .

Happy Xmas

Happy Xmas 2010

We wish all our Friends and Family a Very Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.

Below are two videos that Pat created  . 

They are both very similar, only the drummers have changed from Rachael in the first to Stephanie in the second.

( Not enough characters to get us all in one. )


Jonathan is the one with the make up on







version 2 with different drummer

Aylesford Priory 2010

This weekend we went to Aylesford Priory near Maidstone Kent with our great friends Andy and Lorraine ( who seems nice )  and Sonja and Kevin.

We parked in the grounds of the Priory courtesy of the Kent MCC, who were having their Xmas party in a Barn within the grounds .

On the Friday we went into the Priory to a Carol service with a band  followed by the obligatory coffee and Mince Pies in a nearby building that was set on three floors, Minstrel gallery style.

On Saturday we had a short walk around Aylesford and then onto Rochester were we met our friends Dane and Hazel.

Rochester was hosting a Dickensian market which also had a Bavarian feel about it within the grounds of the castle.

On the Saturday night the Xmas party was brilliant with a superb live band. We all decided to go in fancy dress .  Andy, Lorraine and I were Santa's and Pat and an Elf.

Lorraine and Pat made the most of the chocolate fountain.






All in all a fantastic weekend with fantastic friends .

Boro Waters EEDA Fireworks

Great Weather, Great Bonfire, Great Company, Great Fireworks, Great Hogroast.,

What else can I say

Halloween 2010

This weekend we joined up with the old crowd , Kevin, Sonja, Lorraine and Andy at the East Essex CC Halloween meet at West Newland Farm, St Lawrence, Southminster.  This was a Halloween themed rally and involved lots of dressing up and scaring children.  Lorraine and Pat  were quite good at it.

On Friday we took part in the biggest game of Cluedo that I have seen which involved Lorraine becoming one of the characters and some detective work. We won this .

Saturday was great  weather and we spent most of the day preparing for the evening trick or treat event for the kids and the social night that followed. Jonathan joined us for the remainder of the weekend and prepared his pumpkin.

The girls created a dimly lit cave style lair in which to sit and entice the kids into before frigtening the S%*t out of them.

Some of the smaller kids looked genuinly disturbed by the experience.  

Brilliant weekend again

Pevensey Bay East Sussex 2010

Brilliant weekend and the weather was unbelievable.

The usual crowd , Sonja and Kevin, Andy and Lorraine ( who seems nice ) and Dane and Hazel and their new puppy Charlie for the Saturday.

The aim of the weekend was to try sea fishing from the beach. I think we had grand ideas of eating what we caught on a big BBQ in the evening. Needless to say the local Fish and Chip shop did okay from us.

On the Saturday we entered the East Sussex Camping and Caravan Club local group Fishing Competition and I came joint last along with several others who also caught nothing.( including Pat )

Sunday was a bit better with a few small Whiting caught but too small to be edible.

Fantastic experience in a brilliant location .