Warners- Sinah Warren
The hotel felt like it was Christmas already as we were welcomed by a huge, wonderfully decorated Christmas tree and decorations throughout. We didn't expect to meet the 'big man' himself either! What a great surprise!
A morning was spent at Portsmouth historic dockyard which is steeped in centuries of maritime and naval history. We then explored the waterfront and the dockyard, ending up at the hugely impressive, even by today's standards HMS Victory which was first launched in 1765.
This ship has an amazing history and is the only surviving ship that participated in the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary War and also the Napoleonic War. Not only that but HMS Victory perhaps aptly named served as Lord Nelsons flag ship in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805! We boarded the ship and immersed ourselves in its fascinating history and once inside we got a real sense of what life was like for all those that sailed, from the lowly deck hands all the way up to the top deck where the captain himself had his own quarters. We watched a short film about how HMS Victory was built, its service and how it was rescued and restored after decades of neglect. We wondered round the ground floor of the museum checking out many of its interactive exhibits and artefacts then headed upstairs to see an amazing collection of figure heads each with a particular significance to the boat it was originally mounted on.
One evening our table had been decorated with Christmas crackers, party poppers and funny, festive glasses. Santa took to the stage and read out some very funny Christmas wishes.
We were able to make use of the fantastic facilities here at the hotel and we enjoyed relaxing in the jacuzzi, practising our swimming and warming up in the sauna.
We hit the bowling alley and it was game on. Everyone was great sports, scoring highly. We crowned Frances the winner and gave her a little prize to celebrate.
The live evening entertainment was always a big hit with our group. The team performed a variety of shows with some slick choreography.
We were always up on the dance, showing off our groovy moves.
There were so many great activities for us to get involved in. We loved joining in the with line dancing lesson kicking our heels and mastering the Do-si-do. We had soon perfected the steps and couldn’t wait to put them into practice later. Great fun was had testing our music knowledge in the quiz and Abigail did a great job in getting through to the next round of 'Killer Skittles'.
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