|
May 1996 Black pool |
|
Arrivals All But Bill Gilbert ( Work commitments) arrived at the Royal York Hotel mid-day onwards Friday the 10th May. Some arrived a bit earlier than most but this could have been due to their walking distance from home. No names mentioned but Wigan is only around the corner. Anyway Ron Hall, Brian Larcombe, Dave Wood, Jeff White & myself booked into the Hotel around 15:00 hrs only to find a few hard-liners supping a few tinnie’s in the bar. Hardly able to walk after our long motorway slog from the south coast we struggled up the stairs to our rooms for a wash and change before joining the hard-liners in the Bar. (Guess whose room was in the attic). Other old and friendly faces continued to dribble into the hotel for the remainder of the afternoon and early evening. At around 17:00 hrs as a shock to all was the arrival of out chef extraordinaire to comments like “hi Dave, what are you doing here. Don’t you know that this is the correct weekend.”
Friday Evening Entertainment Dave Perry and myself left the hotel to find a payphone about 18:00 hrs. The payphone was about 100 yds up the road so we managed to get our calls done quickly and got back to the hotel around midnight. We Promise not to disappear at pompei next year. All the other comrades of old headed towards the infamous “Alabama “ night club where I believe they came across the “Tarts on Tour”. There is a nasty rumour going around that either Des James or Gary Stewart on trying to give a love bite to the neck of a blow up doll gave the poor thing a puncture. Is this correct guys. Comments please! All I Believe had a good time, getting back to the Hotel early enough to get to bed in preparation for the Saturday morning and 1996 old comrades club challenge.
1996 Old Comrades Challenge Saturday morning and rise and shine. Sharing a room with Dave is great as long as I manage to escape before he wakes up in the morning. Not quit so “Bright and breezy” as “bear with soar head”. My sympathies Leslie. After a few nags from the bear, a wash and shave we proceeded to the dinning room for breakfast . Most were there already. Full English breakfast as usual was on the menu (twice for some). When all had had there fill we left the hotel for a pleasant stroll to the indoor carpet bowls centre. Not so pleasant a stroll for recce Mechs who need Eckas to help them up hills. On arrival at the bowling centre we booked in, changed our shoes and proceeded with the 1996 211 challenge. As Barry Greenaway seemed not to be coming and he was to be my partner at the bowls our Chief clerk Brian Finland chose to take his place. Thanks Brian ( First cup I ever won). A very enjoyable morning was had by all. Input was great from everyone, especially our friendly north east hackler and cheat Mr Tom Fromson. Where’s your cup Tommy? Dixe Dean & Partner (name) won the trophy for the best team on the day ( maybe due to their hidden talents as national Olympic Gold Medallists in the sport). Runners up after a fantastic effort of play was the mighty team of Brian Finland and Bryan Hawkes.
Saturday afternoon Entertainment After bowls competition we had ourselves some munchies by the way of a buffet in the bar area. Drinks at the bar followed the buffet after which we all departed the bowling centre in our own little groups to take in the town and do some shopping (pressies for loved ones etc). I don’t believe there was anyone with the bottle to take in the amazingly high and famous (Pepsi Max) roller coaster.
FA Cup Finial 95/96 :- Manchester United V Liverpool All pressies purchased and beer consumption put on temporary hold, the motley crew that is 211 gradually made their way back to the Royal York Hotel where they all met up in the TV lounge. They settled back to watch what we hoped to be some exciting football i.e. the 1995/96 FA Cup Final, Man U v Liverpool. Strangely enough the Man U support were mildly obvious by there attire. Nice fashion show Des and Gary. Mr Liverpool preferred to keep a low profile in a seat with a view being the easy chair conveniently positioned right in front of the tele. A few beers later and it was half time of a game that could easily have been surpassed by the local Auchinlech Talbot V Craig Mark Burntonians Scottish Juniors cup final. Pissed off and bored football supporters and old comrades of 211 decided that they were hungry so it was now that the lovely waitress was to get a hard time on the sandwich run. More boring football in the second half including (to the dismay of our chief clerk) a sneaky little goal from Oh Ah Oh Ah Cantana. Final score Man U 1 Liverpool 0. Bet you wish you had placed that tenner bet with me Des.
211 Old Comrades Club Annual Dinner Seven thirty Saturday evening and caned into more formal attire (Manchester United shirts carefully folded away for a few hours, sure to be totally worn out by the end of the week) we all congregated around the tables in the hotel dining room for the 1996 211 Old Comrades Club annual dinner. Starters for those with a sweet tooth was melon boat wit oranges for sails I believe. The more savoury palette went for the vegetable soup and very nice too. Main course as I an sure you all remember was a lovely roast turkey wit potatoes and vegetables. For sweet ( Where’s my ice cream) we had a choice of ice cream or chocolate gateaux. All very nice and lovely compliment of wine to boot. Thank you Brian, well organized once again. Minutes of our annual meeting will be published later. One decision that pleased me was to hold out weekend at southsea next year. ( I Live there) After dinner and meeting were completed we retired to the bar where we had our last drinks together and oonce again exchanged stories of Old.
Sunday Morning Breakfast and Goodbyes
Sunday morning arrived with the telephone ringing. Who could this be Dave and I ask ourselves and each other, as if we couldn’t guess. Thanks for the early morning call Brian. Well back to reality and time to get out of bed and down for breakfast. Everybody was there, packed and ready for departure. There was some sort of Parade going on just up the road from the Hotel. Looked like old veterans or maybe the Royal British Legion. Remaining consistent I managed to chat the receptionist up for a pint of Guinness much to the disgust of Dave. A great shaking of hands and saying goodbyes and we all gradually drifted away back to our normal lives. Never mind I am sure we all look forward to doing it all again next year. |