The Bartonian _______________________________ Reunion Weekend April 4th-6th (2003)
The reunion weekend took place at the Lindum Hotel in St Annes on Sea. In fact it was less like a reunion and more like a return to shift after three days off. The humour has not changed and, in essence, neither have the people. There was an opportunity to catch up on the lives of old friends and colleagues, a chance to tease, insult, tell old jokes, bullshit and booze. Of course, some had more talent for the last two than others- no change there then. We were very fortunate to have Dave Brown from Australia, Ron Bretherton from Holland and Diane Nelson (now Kelly) from California, fly in to join us. There were people from Scotland, Wales and many areas of England but to my knowledge no one to represent the Irish - unless you count the Liverpudlians (and there were pleanty of those). Although there were many new faces there were also one or two people from previous reunions missing - for a variety of reasons. Jock Devlin, Jim Preston and Bill Kendall were excused duties on medical grounds and Mel Chapman was a non starter due to a last minute oil leak on his car. Bill Edgar and Jack Tyson went AWOL. Alma Barrow (now Barlow) was in Australia greeting her 1st great grandchild - probably as good an excuse as any. Ron Freer, our founder and organiser of the previous 2 reunions, was temporarily posted overseas (sunning himself on the Costa Brava actually). Gabby Hayes and Ron Sey were particularly missed but their names were mentioned, with affection, so often that I am sure they were not really too far away. Kath Sey organised raffles throughout the weekend with prizes donated by herself and Ron also Hermin Sprat. Stan Jones ran the Grand National Sweepstake which kept him out of mischief for a while. The raffle money, together with a bring and buy sale held on Saturday morning and a donation from the sweepstake, raised £138. Thanks Kath for all your effort and everyone who donated items for the sale. Following the bring and buy, a brief meeting was held and it was agreed that the proceeds will help to fund raffles and treats for future reunions and the concensus of opinion was that we should continue to pay subscriptions each year. If we get a large surplus this will be put towards an extra free event ie; admission to an airshow or a lunch etc. Pam Chandler agreed to take over the "Kitty".which is a huge relief to me and Val will continue as second signee. Several ideas were put forward for a venue for the next reunion and whilst they were all good ideas, for one reason or another they were gradually rejected - the fact is, everyone thought that the Lindum Hotel was the best option. April is a good time weather wise, location is quiet but central for other activities, and the Hotel has good facilities, nice accommodation and lounge areas. The food is exceptional for the money and there is reasonable car parking on the forecourt as well as unrestricted parking on the road close to the Hotel. It would have been nice to hold the reunion to tie in with Boy Entrants reunions in September, but due to the illuminations, the prices will rise tremendously.and, as the the hotel will fill up quickly, there would be no facility for late bookings.However, if in the future we decide to hold a reunion outside of the Fylde area, this would be an option and would make it possible for those Boy Entrants travelling from overseas to kill two birds with one stone.
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