Monthly Archives: September 2009

Tenerife – Friday Again

We didn’t get up to see the first Gatwick flight or the Luton flight people off, well they left about 8.30am ! but as we had to be out of the room by 10.00 or so, we did eventually get up and get our stuff packed while the cleaners were knocking on our door trying to encourage us to leave. When we got down to the hotel lobby we found that Dave was back at the hospital as he was suffering from second degree burns from the sun (presumably mainly at the water park) and his shoulders had come up in blisters the size of fried eggs. We were a little worried that he might not be released in time for the flight home.

paulh
Paul H seems happy enough to be homeward bound

We saw the second Gatwick flight people off at 11.15 and then the group of us who were left went over to a cafe and had a final holiday full English Breakfast. It was all just hanging around the hotel until it was time to leave… when it clouded over and started raining it sort of put the final seal on the fact that the holiday was over. Dave turned up back at the hotel, looking a right mess with blisters and ointment and dressings all over his back. Fortunately we had our own medical personell (Venita) to change his dressings. He had a difficult struggle getting his shirt on as he couldn’t move his shoulders, but after much pain he managed it.

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Lance, taking a dip

Then it was minibus back to the airport and hanging around in a long queue for checking in, then the flight was delayed so we were hanging around in queues in the duty free shops until eventually they called the flight.

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Mark, resting by the pool

It was quite a bumpy flight back, turbulence after takeoff as we passed through the weather then just as they started serving the meal we did a rare thing, flew through the wake of another jet, this caused a lot of shaking and a lot of anxiety among some passengers (and some of the crew had never experienced it before). The film they showed was “X-Men Wolverine” but again I didn’t bother to watch it and tried to snooze all the way back cos my book was still not captivating. And again I didn’t bother eating or drinking on the plane. It can’t have been a pleasant trip for Dave as he had to sit rigid and not lean back on the seat. Venita encouraged him to go straight to A&E when he got back to let the NHS attend to his injuries.

We didn’t have to hang about long in Birmingham, the bags were on the carousel almost as soon as we got through passport control. Mark was disappointed that he hadn’t brought more (cheap) cigarettes back as there was no one on the customs desk at all. A taxi ride back to Coventry and I said my last goodbyes, got in my car and drove off.

Fortunately I didn’t have far to go ! I wasn’t driving home, but just driving to a friends house which I got to about 3,00, but what with talking about the holiday and one thing and another we didn’t get to sleep until 4:30 again.

fil

And this is me, waiting in a restaurant earlier in the week

And that was the Plus Holiday 2009 to Tenerife.

Tenerife Holiday – click on a day to find out what happened

Friday 11th
Saturday 12th
Sunday 13th
Monday 14th
Tuesday 15th
Wednesday 16th
Thursday 17th
Friday 18th

Tenerife – Thursday

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We got up late on Thursday morning and were just going to go out for some breakfast with Adam when he called up to say that Dave had collapsed inside the bathroom… fortunately he was not blocking the door !
The hotel first aid called for an ambulance and the paramedics came and eventually took him away to get examined, not too sure what happened, he says he went dizzy, sat down on the toilet then woke up on the floor, he’d hit his head on something and had a nasty cut over his eye, which needed a few stitches. The Paramedics didn’t seem to have a great bedside manner, but then I suppose they see a lot of collapsed Brits, all worse for drink, but Dave hadn’t drunk anything the night before and had had an early night after the exertions at the water park, so at least he couldn’t be complained at for that.

The Ambulance that came for Dave

We did eventually get breakfast then I wandered off down the town by myself as the others were going to sunbathe around the pool, I went for a last paddle in the sea, and burned my feet again on the hot sand before I got to the water, and I bought a banana flavoured ice cream that was the most fluorescent yellow colour, god knows what they put in to make it that colour, but I’m kind of glad there was no geiger counter around to put me off eating it ! After that I went back to the hotel and had a rest cos I was still tired from the previous day.

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The Playa Maritimo

In the evening we were sort of planning a last hurrah down at Playa De Las Americas, there were some who were going out to see a flamenco and horse show, and we had the idea was that the rest of us would go and eat then come back to one of the bars by the hotel to do some Karaoke and then go to Las Americas later on when the others got back around 11:30. We ended up with 16 of us in the Chinese Buffet that we had been in on the first night, it didn’t take them long to cook up some more food to feed all of us, they weren’t expecting to have to seat that many people at once ! Eventually even Harry’s voracious appetite was satisfied (after the third large plateful)

Back at the Chequer Bar we sat outside and some Karaoke was performed, and eventually the Flamenco show people joined us, but rather than go to Las Americas we just stayed in the bar until they turned the lights off at 2:00am, no-one could be really bothered to go anywhere else and some people needed a reasonably early night as they had an early flight back in the morning. After the Chequer Bar stopped serving Katherine persuaded Gary and Steve to go to Las Americas with her, and they got a taxi over there, but by the time we had walked back over to the hotel they had returned, as Katherine had got there and then changed her mind so they had one quick drink and came back… at €6 each way in the taxi it was an expensive drink.

Mark and I went back and sat on our balcony for about another hour and a half chatting about how the holiday had gone, and what we could do next year, it was about 4.00am again before we got to bed.

rhianna
Rhianna, reading her book in the sun

Tenerife Holiday – click on a day to find out what happened

Friday 11th
Saturday 12th
Sunday 13th
Monday 14th
Tuesday 15th
Wednesday 16th
Thursday 17th
Friday 18th

WASH 2006

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The biggest change in the twenty-odd years I have been going to Searles happened in 2006… They swapped the toilets over ! The Ladies toilet had become the Gents and the old Gents had become the Ladies.
I always had a certain regard for the old gents toilets, the door handle made a satisfactory sound when it banged on the tiled wall and the counter with the sinks was a suitable place to put your drink down if you found you were still carrying it into the loo’s.

The girls, who were now using what used to be the Gents toilet were amazed at the size of their new toilets and complained that the boys had had it good for so many years as the Ladies had much smaller facilities. What they didn’t seem to grasp at first was that the Gents toilets had been smaller, but had now been extended for use as Ladies facilities.

Even in my drunkest state I only ‘forgot’ which toilet to head to and went towards the wrong one, though there were other people (of both sexes) whose confusion sent them right into the wrong room.

What the Committee said…

Hi all

Hope the heatwave continues – wonder if will last until November? Perhaps not because some things never change at WASH

BUT SOME THINGS DO!!!

We may have some exciting news next week about altered drinking hours, a novel way for loads of people to see the fireworks, and even more of the top accommodation available

Big thanks to those who have paid deposits – numbers are looking good, so if you thought you would give this year a miss as numbers falling DON’T. Target 300 is definitely looking on. Just think how good it’s going to be – full venue, top entertainment, a totally revamped Saturday night, return of the film at the Princess Theatre AND the chance to ply me with alcohol all weekend!

A band booked for Friday night was seen through an alcoholic haze by Keith, me and Dawn lot last Saturday at the Kings Lynn Festival. 7,000 other people packed into the market place for what is in the top ten free festivals in Europe, quite rated them as well. They got their spot by winning Battle of the Bands on the local radio station.

Next week we will let you know how YOU can take part in some voting that will help shape Sunday night’s musical entertainment.

18 days until deposit deadline
76 days until balances deadline
113 days until WASH (oh bugger, where’s the Valium!)

Paul, WASH 2006 Bookings Officer

What the Committee said…

What they said…

I must add my thanks to Keith and his team for putting on another fine WASH weekend…

On Friday night the main entertainment was watching peoples confused embarassment from going in the wrong toilets ! The band was good too, though being old I preferred their second Glam Rock set to their modern set.
Lack of a chip shop was a bit of a problem at 1.30am Saturday morning, fortunately our caravan was well stocked with pringles, crisps, biscuits and the like for those late night munchies 🙂

Saturday I had a quietish morning going to Tesco’s cafe for breakfast and then wandering into Hunstanton to look around the town. I have always liked going to the Princess Theatre, but didn’t bother this year cos I saw “Over The Hedge” at the cinema and didn’t think it was worth seeing again, so Saturday afternoon was spent taking it easy, then we had a sing song and a bit of a tea time party in our caravan (lethal vodka jelly !)
The Comedy Show on Saturday I thought was a bit hit and miss… mainly cos I could only understand about 1 word in 3 of what the Australian guy was saying… the Hillbilly version of Bohemian Rhapsody though was a highlight of the whole weekend.
Shamus O’blivion and the Megadeath Morrismen may not have been to everyones taste but my hands still hurt from banging my morris pole on the ground for an hour though I left most of the manic dancing to those far younger and fitter than me !

Sunday morning and a quiet introduction to the day in the form of Aqua Line Dancing in the pool… it was really great, much more entertaining than the aqua aerobics sessions of previous years, then it was back to the caravan for bacon sandwiches before going down to the quiz. unfortunately my team didn’t win the quiz, we were in a clear second place but were beaten by the WASH committee team… though we claim a moral victory on the grounds that
a) there were less than 6 people in our team
b) none of our team related in anyway to the people doing the marking of the answer sheets !
c) none of us were the people responsible for the booking and the paying of the quiz masters !

Sunday Night saw one of the best acts we have ever seen at WASH… Pop Goes The 80’s, it’s rare to see a band like that with 3 such good singers, they certainly had the whole room dancing, including the bar staff and the St Johns Ambulance people – an audience reaction not really seen since the appearence of the boys from Foxx ten years ago. The band really looked to be enjoying themselves too, I think they liked some of the audiences rock star costumes ! ! They were up in the top 5 of bands ever seen at WASH, maybe not quite up to the standards of Oceanic (1992) Four Bills and a Ben (1995) or the late great Edwin Starr (1990) but up there close behind them.

All in all another highly enjoyable and successful WASH weekend
Roll on WASH 2007…. but remember there’s Brean in the spring first ! !

Fil – Plus email forum
(I didn’t remember writing that either !)

toilets
Confusion… which toilet is which ? ?

What they said…

Well I had a good weekend and thanks to the WASH committee for the entertainment.

Friday
Got to Searles at 3:15pm just in time to Book in and say hi to the people at booking in. The band on Friday was good. The Glam Rock band we noticed that the lead singer was reading the words to the verses when singing but then the guy maybe only 20 and was not born until 10 years after glam rock. 🙂 Then again he could sing and play the guitar better than me.

Saturday
Went to Kings Lynn for shopping got the bits we wanted. I liked the idea of the Searles Train for the Firework display. It was better than any Plus coach I had been on. It made the Fireworks go with a bang, rattle, bump or whistle. 🙂 Got back and got into my habit or was it the Deep Fat Friar (Thanks Chris Page) How to confuse a Australian comedian put up a Brentwood Plus Banner and dress medieval. He thought we were all Brentwood Plus, also I had no problem understanding any of them. I just want to know when is the 2nd comedian going to release the country version of Bohemian Rhapsody as I would buy it. I don’t know if it was a good thing or bad, but with the comedian’s could not see us. So no poking fun at people dressed as monks. As for the Morris dance band I thought it was a nice change since we normally have a cover band of some type. But then they said they only did songs about 2 things, Sex or Death.

Sunday
Walked into Hunstanton and had lunch in a pub in town so sadly missed the quiz. But as Joe said I do like good quiz team names like Richard Hammond’s Pit Crew or Saddam Hussein’s Executioners. As for the Sunday bands they were just as good as the others. The venue was the busiest I had seen it on a Sunday night in years as a lot of people have to work on Monday morning.

Monday
Sorted the rubbish in the lodge and packed in the morning. Had a carrier bag full of glass bottles for recycling in Tesco’s bottle bank. Did my bit for the environment then again not as many as past years. I did not want to go home since I had enjoyed the weekend. Avoided the traffic jam just after Norfolk Lavender by turning left there and then the next right in Sedgeford to get to Snettisham then turned left through Dersingham to Kings Lynn and home in quick time.

Only had two problems with the weekend.

1. It was not long enough
2. Nothing

I hope to be there next year

Chris – Plus email forum

kaboosc
Kaboos… played the first set on Friday night

Glamorize… played the second set on Friday night
beneath the make-up they looked very similar to Kaboos

What the Committee said…

Hi All

Hope you all feel as rough as I do. Just like to say an enormous Thank You to everyone who came to WASH 2006. It’s YOUR event so feedback would be much appreciated. WASH 2007 IS DEFINITELY HAPPENING

My highlights of WASH 2006

1. Winning the quiz
2. Being kept warm and safe by Jo T on the land train
3. Winning the quiz
4. When going to pay ‘Pop Goes The 80’s’ last night, seeing the ladies in their bras
5. Winning the quiz
6. Keith Israel getting so wrecked that he ended up in another bed getting his toe nails painted
7. Winning the quiz
8. Lara’s pom poms,
9. Winning the quiz
10. The weather
11. Winning the quiz
12. Our caravan party which went on a bit longer than we anticipated
13. Winning the quiz
14. Being used as a human chair by Pom Pom girl at above mentioned party – I always knew I was fat for a good reason
15. Winning the quiz
16. Impressing Chris by downing in one stupid amount of Ukrainian Pepper Vodka and living to tell the tale
17. Winning the quiz

I’m sure as my consciousness gradually returns I will think of some more. There appears to be a theme to my weekend, involving sexy young ladies and unhealthy amounts of alcohol. Lets have yours

Paul – WASH 2006 Bookings Officer

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pg80a
Some of the many costumes of Pop Goes The 80’s

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Some of the many 80’s costumes in the crowd

What they said…

Great time, great people great atmosphere too…….:) See you next year – Alex

Just wanted to thank the WASH committee for organising another fantasic WASH weekend.
The band on Saturday night certainly had to be seen to be believed. I think I need to get myself a tambourine!! The Sunday night band were also excellent, the most people I’ve seen on the dance floor on a Sunday for a good few years.
Wonder how many of you are feeling as knackered as I am. However it was certainly worth it. Roll on the next one. – Lara

It was an excellent weekend, my thanks to all the organising committee. Put me down as one who thought the Saturday band were bloomin’ brilliant – there’s plenty of dance music played over the rest of the weekend. – Huw

To all, Once again thanks for a fantastic weekend amongst true friends (everybody at WASH 2006). You guys and girls are absolutely amazing. – Pat & the boys – Black Express Roadshow

Just a quick note to say thank you to the WASH committee for another brilliant weekend. I especially enjoyed the friday night band(s)!! and the eighties tribuite band on sunday night. I think my feet have just about recovered from dancing all weekend to the great tunes spun by the Black Express roadshow, cheers guys. Here’s to next year… – Hazel

It was another WashTastic Weekend! Many many many thanx to the whole organising committee!
Friday night was WashTastic – chatting to so many people, getting them to enter the Brean Competition (which btw is won by Richard Leach, who didn’t even know he entered!).
Saturday day was WashTastic – Hadn’t seen the film before and it was funny (could we go to the cinema again next year?)
Saturday night was WashTastic – Loved the comedians (although I couldn’t understand the last one much) and the band was.. eh.. different 🙂
Sunday day was WashTastic – We actually made it to 18th place 😀
And Sunday night.. WashTastic – Where do I start? – Winning second fancy dress prize and playing the part all night (good call, Phill, we had to move Ozzie out for safety reasons), convincing everyone weeks before hand that if we do our little Becks dance people will join in (whahahaha.. glad the dj changed the music after two minutes) and the best compliment of the weekend – ‘I love the Dutch’, said Keith Israel,’They spit when they talk English.’ Thank you very much!!! 😀 And see you at Brean! – Kirsty (recovering while having a smoke and a pancake)

All from the Plus email forum

seamus
Seamus O’blivion…
shamusc
… and the Megadeath Morrismen
shamusb
They certainly got the crowd dancing

What the Committee said…

To All

Thank you very much for your attendance at WASH 2006 and your kind comments on this list. Now that 2 weeks have past I would like to summarise as follows.
I thought Friday was fine with Kaboos providing two different and ideal warm up sets. Karaoke went very well and thanks to Adam for the show (Do you think if we started the Karaoke at 3-00pm on Friday and just kept going until Monday morning there would be enough time for everyone to have a go?). I didn’t get to the movie but understand it was well received but I did get to ride on the train to the Fireworks which was great and a bit different. Posts suggest that Saturday night was not everyone’s cup of tea but we wanted to change things about a bit so as not to be samey I note we had one entry saying it was not their thing followed immediatley by one saying it was excellent, the problems of organising a holiday weekend eh. The aqua line dancing was a new and different activity which was followed by the quiz which remains excellent fun and of course the finale was Pop goes the Eighties which had just about total approval from everyone. I could go on about the excellent facilities the fact there seemed more parties that went on later than ever this year and much more but it was a pleasure for me and the committee to once again organise this event and know you had a good time.
Just a couple of individual points
1) Putting nail varnish on my toenails when I am asleep is just wrong Fuscia Blush is sooo not my colour.
2) Kirsty – when I say Dutch people spit I suppose its more of a tshcp sound Martin Jol does it as well I hope you were not offended.
3) Richard – I did not get upset when you called me an old git as on reflection I’ve probably got socks which are older than you. It was good to meet you.
4)We won the quiz.
I am delighted to say we have already sold 25 deposits for WASH 2007 which will be on the 2nd-5th November 2007.

Best wishes

Keith

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Caches Nos. 125 to 144 – The Eccup Challenge

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A few miles away from where I live is the tiny village of Eccup, notable for really only one thing – giving it’s name to a reservoir. There are fotpaths all around the reservoir and a cache trail of 21 Geocaches – The Eccup Challenge, together with a few more that are on the same footpaths.
On a late September Sunday morning I set off to walk the walk – but unfortunately I was not alone…

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Tenerife – Wednesday

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Wednesday was the daytime highlight of the week, the Siam Water Park. The Siam Park is the biggest and brightest water park on Tenerife and has some of the biggest and best slides in Europe.
After the late night previous we were still a bit groggy as we caught the free bus from outside the neighbouring hotel to take us the 10 minute ride to Siam Park. €28 Euro’s to get in is a lot of money I suppose, but it was worth every penny – or cent !

The Giant… ride on an inflatable, tunnel down into a funnel whereupon you spiral round until you get caught by the water jets that send you down the exit tunnel forwards or backwards whichever way you happen to end up !. There are two twin rides, one you spiral clockwise, one anti clockwise. I went down three times on my own and once in a two person float with Manoj

giant

The Giant

The Tower of Power – or Kamikaze… The longest, steepest water slide in Europe… down the big slide, through a tunnel inside the aquarium and into the exit pool… it’s a long climb up, but really not a very thrilling ride as you are in a lot of water so theres a lot of spray, you can’t see anything and it’s over very quick. I guess the first time we were all pumped up and it was okay, but we went on again later in the day and we all found that it actually hurt, cos we knew what to expect so there wasn’t the adrenalin rush and you could feel the bounce off every joint on the slide… it’s a good centrepiece attraction for the park but actually quite a dull ride

kamikaze

Kamikaze – The Tower of Power

Mekong Rapids… ride on a 4 man inflatable down what’s basically a toboggan track… not particularly exciting and was not worth the queueing which was the longest of the day so we only did it once

The Volcano – 4 man inflatable in what is basically an upscaled version of The Giant… but in the dark. the first tunnel is pitch black, but there is some lighting inside the funnel as you spin round. We went down three times, not a bad ride, but not as good as…

The Dragon… again a 4 man inflatable ride down a tunnel into a cone where you oscillate up and down the sides of the cone until you get to the exit tunnel which sends you out into the pool… the thing is that if you get it right you go so far up the sides of the cone that you reach the height where you drop a bit rather than slide back down. We went on it 6 or 7 times with different combinations of 3 and 4 people to see which was best, it turned out to us that the best ride was when there was as much weight as possible… so Pete, Dave, Mark and myself went down a couple of times to experience the maximum thrill. The weight limit on the ride was 365kG… now I weigh about 97kg, and Pete and Dave are bigger than me, Mark is quite a bit smaller, but I bet we were over the limit. With that much weight you are still oscillating up the sides of the exit tunnel and we entered the pool perpendicular to the water, which confused Pete as he was at the bottom and so was pulled out of the inflatable by the drag from the water and didn’t understand how he had gotten out of the float.

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The Dragon, guarding its cone

The Jungle Snakes… 4 intertwined slides that you go down on individual (or dual) inflatables, one is mostly open, one of the others is half open and two are almost totally dark as the others go over the top of it… four tunnels, four rides.

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The Jungle Snakes

Naga Racer… a straight slide with 6 lanes, slide on a mat to see who gets to the bottom first… thing is it depends on an even flow of water down each lane which there isn’t. So a larger person on a drier lane has a long way to walk at the bottom ! We only went down twice.

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The Naga Racer

Lazy River… the gentle ride that floats you right around the park, takes an age to get round, though there is a short slide in the middle to add to the excitements and a tunnel through the aquarium, underneath the tunnel that the Kamikaze goes through, but all you can see is a pulse of water as somebody shoots through above you.

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The Aquarium, with the Lazy River in a tube under the Kamikaze tube

Siam Beach Wave Palace… An artificial beach with the largest wave machine in Europe… at the front you try and bodysurf the waves, in the middle you stand and let the waves (and body surfers) crash over you, and in the shallows you can sit and let the wave pick you up and carry you further back… there are about 15 waves and then 30-40 minutes break before the next batch.

And that’s it… apart from a few details… firstly, you aren’t alowed any loose items, so I went down most of the rides with my sunglasses tucked in my baseball cap which was shoved down my shorts… I wasn’t going to not wear a hat when I could cos we were there from 10:45 to 6:00pm wearing just our swimming shorts, the park has only been open since Sept 2008 so although there are palm and banana trees growing for shade they haven’t grown enough to keep you out of the sun and no sun block is going to survive the amount of water that gets blasted on you.
Also, for the men, well, all the girls are in bikinis…

Wednesday night suffered the same problem as Tuesday, Mark watching the football meant no-one was there to tell people what to do, so we wandered down into town and split up into smaller groups, like the previous evening Alpa, Chris, Gavin and I went off by ourselves, this time to a Spanish restaurant, after a pleasant meal we went for a walk among the posher hotels and shops and spent a quarter of an hour watching the dancing fountains doing their music and light show before going back to the hotel, to find that some of the others were just finishing their karaoke session at one of the bars by the
hotel, so we had another cocktail there and went to bed… after spending all day out in the sun climbing steps to the top of slides I was knackered… 1:00am bedtime was the earliest all week. Mark and some others had gone to Linekers bar in Playa De Las Americas, he arrived back about 3:30, decidedly worse for wear !

pault

Paul T, relaxing by the hotel pool

Tenerife Holiday – click on a day to find out what happened

Friday 11th
Saturday 12th
Sunday 13th
Monday 14th
Tuesday 15th
Wednesday 16th
Thursday 17th
Friday 18th

WASH 2005

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Big changes at Searles for 2005 – the carpark in front of the venue was gone and the whole area roofed, right over to the reception building to form the new Plaza – also a childrens play area appeared (similar to the ‘Wacky Warehouse’ play centres). This saw the end of the telephone boxes (see WASH 1990) and the ‘Bovis Tree’ (see the Dossers section). Apart

2005pass

What the Committee said…

Hi All
Went for a meeting at Searles on Tuesday evening, it’s the third year we have been for a summer meeting with the Searles management and I still can’t get my head around:
1. Children
2. People in shorts
3. Sunshine
4. People who are sober

Never mind! Once the shock had worn off we were given a tour of the new Plaza (which we have already christened the Greenhouse). This is the bit between the reception and the venue entrance. It’s a bit like the pavilions at Butlins and will be a great addition this year.

NEW FOR WASH 2005
Chinese food (eat in or take away)
Burgers
Pizzas
Southern Fried Chicken

WASHFEST 1
THIS IS NOT TO BE MISSED!!! On the Saturday evening (6.00pm to 9.30pm) we will proudly present WASHFEST 1, which is a German themed beer festival with an Oompah band, commemerative steiners to buy (bet I have spelt it wrong!), trestle tables, the lot. Also we will be putting on some real ale as an alternative.

All the bands and entertainment are booked, so I supposed I had better sort some paperwork out for you very soon. Save your pennies up

Paul – WASH 2005 Bookings Officer

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The new plaza

What the Committee said…

Whilst by now many of you are aware of the fantastic atmosphere and entertainment the WASH weekend provides and this years new activity WASH-FEST promises to be quite a blast . It is quite possible to overlook that WASH is an ideal opportunity for you to have a relaxing Autumn break in the company of friends in the popular Norfolk countryside at a much reduced price than you would expect to pay at Centre PARCs or other similar centres (Four sharing at Centre Parcs Thetford in similar standard accomodation over the same weekend would be £112 each).

For a start we will be occupying the centre’s top of the range accommodation, which in Mid- Summer would set you back the best part of £1000-00 per week. All units are warm, cosy and have all the facilities you’d expect. Your bed is even made for you on arrival. All have colour TV’s and many have microvaves, dishwashers and DVD players. On site we have an indoor swimming pool with 2 organised aqua aerobics sessions with jacuzzi, sauna and Gymnasium. There is also a highly regarded Country club and 9 hole golf course, all of which are available to members attending. You will also have the opportunity to try your hand at Laser Clay Pigeon Shooting. The Norfok coastline gives the more energetic a chance for spectacular walking and the area is steeped in traditional Country Pubs. Within 15 minute of Searles is Royal Sandringham, with over 1000 acres of woodland to explore. If retail therapy floats your boat, then the City of Norwich is less than an hour away and has recently opened a new shopping centre which has been described as one of the best in the UK. As we have said, we believe the party atmosphere at WASH is second to none, but if a relaxing stress free break in the company of friends is what you fancy then WASH has the answers.

The Israelite – Chairman WASH 2005

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What they said…

Keith, Paul, Dawn et all CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

WASH 2005 was superb:- I think this was my 11th or possibly 12th year and I think that it was the best by far.

Junior Rocked!. Steve Ferringo Band were just out of this world again.!! T-rexsasty gave the camp rock you promised *grin*

A weekend to relax – We did in the jacuzzi and Sauna
A weekend to excercise – We did at Aquarobics
A weekend to be challenged – We came 7th in the quiz
A weekend to see and hear live bands – We did Saturday and Sunday night
A weekend to meet old aquaintances and make new freinds – well we did this all weekend long.

For the ammount of entertainment provided I have to say that this was the best value for money in ages. Accommodation just awesome – I mean we had a dishwasher – and yet I still did the washing up 3 times!

Superb weekend. Great to see old friends and catch up on what they have been up to.
Enjoyed meeting new people too! Matt – Joan’s friend – great laugh – top bloke , Richard – The wig suits u mate another top bloke

Thanks also must go to Caroline, Chris, Dave, Erica and Fil who made our accommodation home from home.

See you all at WASH 2006.-

Biggles (The Original) – email forum

ferrigno

The Steve Ferringo Band – not much more dressed than last year

What they said…

It was really great to be a part of WASH 2005. Had a really good time, drank too much beer……it was brill! – Alex

Hi all what a great weekend it has been at wash many thanks to wash committee – Lisa

Just to a big thank you to Paul,Keith & co. If all members could put into plus what these guys put into WASH, we would never have any problems. – Brian

I also wish to thank the WASH committee for booking the Steve Ferringo Band again they were the best act of the weekend for me anyway. – James

Just like to add my thanks to the wash committee for another fantastic weekend. The Steve Ferringo band were I agree the highlight of the weekend although the rock blues band on the Sunday was great too. Really good to catch up with all of you who were there, seeing old friends and making some new ones too.
The oompah band they were really funny. Particularly when they got Ian and Richard performing the dance of the sugar plum fairy including lifts. Has anyone any photos?
Having real problems focussing on the screen at the moment. Think catching up on sleep is high on my list of priorites!! A sign of a good weekend me thinks!! – Lara

I think I speak for so’ton friends when I say it was a fantastically brilliant weekend… I went to all but one of the “gig” _really_ enjoyed every act I saw (except the singing “comedian” who I didn’t find at all funny and wanted to heckle off – does any one else agree with me on that? – maybe it’s my sense of humour) my highlights was trying to avoid seeing fleshy bits that the steve ferringo band obviously wanted you to see, while still enjoying the music and trying not to laugh too hard…
I know organising such a large event is a massive task and I want to thank the entire team for their effort (but maybe even more importantly the results)… – Richard

A big thanks to the Wash committee for a great weekend. I had a great time and it was good to meet new people, and of course met up with old friends. The highlight for me was the Steve Ferringo band and the comedians (though not the singer) – Jo

I would just like to say a big thank you to Keith and the WASH committee for an excellent weekend this weekend. Our accommodation was brilliant and it was great to meet so many other plussers there. I am already looking forward to WASH 2006. 🙂
I would also like to say hello to everyone that I met there, and I hope you all had a safe journey home. To all those who weren’t there – you missed out. – Joe

I would like to say that Barnet thoroughly enjoyed the weekend too, thank you to all those in the WASH committee who organised it, you did a great job as usual. None of us enjoyed the comedian musician either!, but the other two comedians were great – Clare

I must have been the only one that got the singing comedian. I got his humour which was dry and very subtle. But then I always say that the comedy at WASH needs to be crude and rude.
But then I realised you needed to listen to what the guy was singing to get it.
I must be getting old as most of the bands were so loud I could feel the air moving around me or was I very drunk and the air was moving anyway 🙂
But I did have a good time even winning a Wok set at the Bingo at Thomas’s on the sea front. – Chris

All from the Plus email Forum

marc

T-Rexstacy – the most realistic Marc Bolan tribute act there is

oompah
The ‘Max Bloodaxe Oompah Band’… and dancers !

A funny thing happened…

What links the WASH appearances of Max Bloodaxe (1998), Legiova Maximus (1999), The Big Wolff Oompah Band (2002) and The Max Bloodaxe Bavarian Oompah Band (2005) ? The answer is that they are all the same band, their 4 appearances make them the band seen most at WASH, ahead of Five Card Trick (’86, ’87 & ’88)
The Floating Greyhounds (’99, ’01 & ’03) and Foxx (’96, ’99 & ’08) all who have played three times… though to be fair Foxx from 2008 bore little resemblance to the guys from the late 90’s

acer
Acer entertained on Friday night

What they said…

Keith, Paul & Co. – What can I say YES!!! An excellent weekend, wished I stayed till the end but unable to, I am sure there were tears from many there. WASH 2006 should be another date to remember, so ensure you all book in, if you don’t book you miss out!!
The music was great, the entertainment wonderful, the company magnificent, seeing old friends and making some new ones or just renewing them. Thanks to Donna, Dave, Tony and WASH Virgin Karen (Tony’s Sister) for great company and good laugh to. – Wayne

Just to add to the many comments and thank Keith & his team for the best WASH ever. The live acts were to my taste, the highlight being the Steve Ferringo Band. T Rextacy we’re great although a bit loud. Daffy & The Alien; that guitar solo on Comfortably Numb had me mesmerised. The Hoochie Coochie band were good, again a little loud for the room. Didn’t see the Oompah bad, were they any good? – Mark

Well another great weekend thanks to all the wash committee I had excellent time, was nice to have luxury accommodation again (lodge) 2nd year running. For all those people who asked myself and tracy if wash is running next year, yes it is and I would stongly encourage as many to go you dont want to miss it.
I have to agree with richard about the singing comedian my group all found him awful and so did many others too due to lack of laughing and silence in the room. enjoyed the quiz, steve ferringo band and junior. I am not going to thank the ducks who woke one or two of us up early sat morning.
I would like to thank the people who helped do my sandals up on the way out the venue sat night cant remember who you all were i was slightly drunk.
am already looking forward to next years wash – Lucy

All from the Plus email forum

daffey
Daffey & The Alien (Though who knows which is which ?)
proving that you can play rock music on one guitar and some bongo drums

What the Committee said…

It has been quite overwhelming to read the one-list since WASH. From us all on the Committee a huge thank you for supporting us, we have had so many lows this year worrying about WASH, standing there on Saturday evening watching Steve Ferringo made me realise just why we run WASH – for FUN.

You have all proved that there is a future for WASH and that is really nice as we care passionately about it. Anyway, we have to have WASH next year so the WASH WA**ERS can defend their quiz title.

We hope to see all you back next year and hope to see some of those who gave this year a miss.

Paul (who has declared Monday 14th November a day of national mourning for never being able to call myself a ‘Thirtysomething) WASH 2005 Booking Officer

A funny thing happened…

I’ve never been one to drink and drive, but after a weekend of consuming far too much alcohol, not eating properly, staying up well past the early hours and not getting much sleep – your typical WASH weekend – then you probably are going to be a) still over the limit, b) very tired and c) slightly worse for wear on the Monday morning when it’s time to drive home. A late start and a fried breakfast at Tesco’s probably helps with the first but driving home so exhausted that the only thing keeping you awake is the excessive pain from the pounding in your head is not a good place to be. This happening at WASH 2004 was one of the reasons that I gave up drinking for the whole of 2005. No alcohol passed my lips from about 5 past midnight on Jan 1st to the chimes of Big Ben the following year. Which was “interesting” at WASH, cos I’d never been there sober before !

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