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by John Bendall |
Holidays
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Geoff's Holiday blog
I thought that I should update the news regarding Pembury Bridge Club meetings away from home. The long weekend in Suffolk went ahead in October 2009; 28 of us travelled by coach to Copdock near Ipswich; we had an excellent driver called Clinton. We stayed at the "Elizabeth" hotel, where the accommodation was very good and the food excellent. They gave us a very nice room in which to play Bridge. The excursions were very good, going to the coast at Aldeburgh, calling at Snape, and the next day to lots of the places where Constable had painted. Many people said that it was the best weekend we have done so far. On 16th. November 30 of us went to Malta. We started from home at a reasonable time (8.45am) by coach, which I had provided to take us to Gatwick. We arrived there at just the right time. There was quite a queue to get through security, so having got through that we were able to go straight to the gate for boarding. After a good flight with Air Malta, we arrived and a coach was waiting to take us to our resort. A slight delay as a case had gone missing (it arrived OK the next day). We got to the resort mid-afternoon, to be met with a drink, and from that time we were plied with food and drink (all free) until we left. Most people were out on excursions every day as the weather was excellent, up to 24 degrees centigrade with lovely sunny days. We played Bridge each evening in the Penthouse Suite on the seventh floor, an excellent room, from which there were lovely views. We had gone with an odd number of Bridge players, but we found a lady at the hotel who played with us all week, and we discovered that she came from Ryde in Kent. There was some good evening entertainment for the three non Bridge playing people who went with us. A very nice Gala Dinner (we had to take a night off Bridge for this) with two excellent professional dancers entertaining us. We had a very early start back home, up at 4.30am. But the up side was that we were home by early afternoon. (Some of us went to play Bridge in the evening.) It was generally considered to have been an excellent holiday. We all certainly enjoyed ourselves, as the noise levels were a testament. Four days back from Malta and we were off once more to our regular second home, the "Congress" hotel at Eastbourne. There were 44 of us, a wet and windy weekend, just right to be indoors playing Bridge. We were playing for the "Vi Ingrams" trophy for the first time. Up until the time of her death she was a regular at Eastbourne (my partner) and when her son said that he wished to donate a trophy in her memory, we thought that Eastbourne would be a good place to play for it. We also celebrated Clare Shaw's 90th birthday on the Saturday evening, for which she provided birthday cake and wine. It was a great evening enjoyed by everyone, especially Clare. There was a group of people in the hotel on a Tinsel and Turkey weekend, so we all had a Christmas dinner, paper hats, balloons etc. Another great weekend enjoyed by all. On a less successful note, I tried to organise a week in the Algarve and a week in Turkey but there was insufficient support. Some of us are going to the Algarve in February as part of a group organised by Petchey Leisure. If anyone else is interested, contact me and I am sure that they will be able to accommodate you. I will try one more foreign holiday next year and if that does not get enough support to go ahead I will not try again. I am trying to get a weekend at the beginning of April, as Clare's husband Syd will be 90 years of age then. I will try Abingworth in Sussex first. It is a H.F. house to which we have been before. Geoff. 30.11.09. Back to Top |