Butlins with Steve and Wendy

As usual, on our way to Skegness we stopped off at a lovely country pub for lunch.  Upon arrival at Butlins we had a nice relaxing cuppa then unpacked and settled into our Gold Star accommodation.

Each evening we ate out in different restaurants, a particular favourite being “Papa John’s” where we all made the most of the “all you can eat buffet”!

As usual the entertainment was fantastic! We saw magicians, comedians, The Glee Show, The Story of Soul and tribute acts to Michael Jackson and Take That. We all showed off our moves on the dance floor and Matthew seemed to know the words to every song.  We were usually the last to leave the floor!

During the day some of us went to the swimming pool. Paul, David and Michael especially enjoyed going down the flumes. We all had great fun in the arcades seeing how long we could make our coins last. Well done to Robbie for winning our Air Hockey Tournament and to Jonathan for winning our first game of Bowling. We had a team competition of Pool which ended in a draw and Angela who had never been bowling before did brilliantly and won our second game!

We went to the cinema to see “Pirates! In an adventure with Scientist” which was hilarious and at the funfair Jonathan and Angela won teddy bears by hooking ducks.

We also had time to do some souvenir shopping, Angela was an expert!

After packing up on Friday we drove to Lincoln where we had our last meal all together in another nice pub. We said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways home.

Blackpool with Colin & Pat

We headed up North, picking up our final two holiday-makers just outside Manchester. Once we were all together it was off to a pub for introductions and lunch before heading to our resort, a 5 star luxury holiday park. Everyone got on well together right from the start and we were all looking forward to a great week in Blackpool.

We went straight into the Tower Dungeons, getting lost in the mirror maze and were entertained in a number of spooky rooms. Mark and Andrew did especially well as they helped two of the ghoulish characters perform their acts. After dinner we spent the evening in the Bar & Grill watching the evening’s entertainment and dancing until closing.

We all loved meeting the celebrities at Madame Tussaud’s! We all got a chance to stop in at the Queen Vic, meet our football heroes and even join the Fab Four. A real highlight of the holiday was watching the Circus at the Blackpool Tower. The show lasted over 2 hours but the time seemed to pass very quickly as there were many fabulous acts. The high-wire act and trapeze artists were of a very high standard but everyone’s favourite was ‘Mooky’ the clown.

We made the most of our beautiful surroundings, as some explored the resort while others went for a swim in the resort pool. We were all looking forward to visiting the world-famous Blackpool Tower Ballroom. It was great to dance along to the Wurlitzer organ in such grand surroundings.

One evening we drove to Preston to go ten-pin bowling. Everyone did well and enjoyed the evening our star bowler being Mark who with his last ball reached a score of 100! A special moment was visiting the Equestrian Centre where we were given a tour to see all the horses (there are 25 altogether stabled at the centre). Everyone enjoyed stroking the horses.

Wanting to see more animals we went to the Sea Life centre, where we got to see lots of marine life. On our last evening we drove to Wrea Green to have dinner at ‘The Grapes’, an old country pub situated on the edge of the village green. Despite not having the best weather this week, we all had a great time. Our last evening was topped off as with most evenings, dancing ‘til midnight!

Spanish Coast & PortAventura with Derek & Jen

We arrived at our favourite hotel and organised for dinner and a night of music and dancing that was very much the order of the week ahead! There was some fantastic line dancing every night that we all enjoyed! Many friends were made on the dance floor during our stay.

Our first day was spent exploring Salou with its many shops and bars. We walked along the promenade for a while, but although bright it was very breezy. After lunch out we went back to our hotel and played pool and table top football. Those that were brave enough managed a dip in the lovely swimming pool.

The next two days we set out for the PortAventura theme parc. We had a great two days of rides and shows in the beautiful sunshine. Some of the rides were wet, some scary and most were just plain enjoyable! We visited the very funny Wild West show, a bubble show, a brilliant musical & dancing show, a Polynesia dancing show, a tropical bird show and an evening parade of characters.

In between a couple of restful days of shopping for presents and just relaxing within the resort of Salou we went for a day trip to Barcelona.  It was another lovely day and we strolled down Las Ramblas taking in the atmosphere. We saw the port area and visited a beautiful square where we managed to get a pair of nice policemen to pose with Beckie. It was impossible to walk past one of the shops as it had the most marvellous ice creams, all just needing to be tasted!!!  

Our holiday just seemed to fly by and no one really wanted to go home....in fact it was suggested that we stay another week or two, but unfortunately there was a plane to catch!