2006 News

Horsham Newfs Holiday 2006

This year Jo & Emily joined the Mercer, Kinglsey, Leybourne and Scott family. We all decided to try and arrive earlyish, set up and then spend the rest of the day relaxing before a busy Saturday at Ragley Water Trials. Well that was the plan and for 4 families that went according to plan.

Why is it that something always has to go wrong for either the Scott or Kingsley family, it’s usually getting lost on the way (wish that was the only thing to have gone wrong this time!!). This was the turn of the Scott family. We duly arrived to pick the caravan up at 0830 and hitched up in no time at all, so far so good……………..then we checked the lights and one of the indicators wasn’t working on the caravan, those that know us well will realise this is a problem as we’re not good on things ‘technical’. A quick phone call to a mate who hastily arrives to help, at this point we all think it’s going to be resolved speedily, how wrong can you be. To cut a very very long story short, numerous checks later it turns out to be the wiring underneath the van and we finally get away just after 1pm (the time we were hoping to arrive at the campsite).

The saga continues. Part way up the M25 and Monty starts to get distressed and tries to climb over his cage. Although both our windows were down to let air in for the dogs it was still quite a hot day. I didn’t know Rob could drive as fast as he did that day to find the nearest place to stop. We managed to cool and calm him down and made plans to stop at the next nearest services, which we duly did. After another good soaking we were again on our way with Monty now calmed down but the owners with shattered nerves. Getting close to the campsite I decide to deviate from the route map as I can remember ‘going down this road last year’. Wrong – we were now lost and after a phone call to the rest of the tribe I interpret what I was told completely wrong and we end up more lost than in the first place. Another phone call and Keith saves the day by coming out and finding us, thanks Keith as hubby was getting a little agitated with me by this time. We finally arrived at just gone 6pm and everyone was absolutely great, Mark and Jo took charge of the dogs, cooling them down and stretching their legs, while Kev & Keith helped Rob put the caravan in place, then all the guys put the awning up for us. The ladies sat me down, poured me a drink (alcohol offered but declined for once, think I was more shocked than them!) and kept me out the way, I think they knew I was going to be very emotional once I saw them all. A BIG thank you to everyone, you were all really great and at last the holiday could start.

An early start on Saturday saw us all setting off in convoy to the beautiful setting of Ragley Hall. The usual set up of Gazebo surrounded by vans took place, Horsham Newfs had arrived. We were all very busy throughout the day either with our dogs, looking after children and in Keith’s case it was judging beginners water. Aoife managed to do an underwater dive in the water with Kev, not sure what she was looking for! Monty came 5th in advanced water and Loxley came 2nd in the carting. I took Tallie in for the obedience as Keith was busy, (but I did notice you watching from afar Keith) unfortunately she didn’t score very high as she did a runner out the ring 3 times, sorry Keith & Georgia I did my best but she just wouldn’t listen to me. Apart from Keith, as he was judging all day, it made a nice change to spend some of the day with our husbands who are usually off stewarding but this year spent time with their families or dogs. It was another long day and by the time we got back to the campsite we were all very tired so it was take away for food.

The rest of the week was taken up by relaxing, eating, drinking, carting with the dogs and eating and drinking a bit more. We had a day out at a wildlife park but poor Keith only managed part of it. First thing he went off to the dentist as he had an abscess. We all told him they would just give him antibiotics but by the time he caught up with us at the park he was not amused that they had pulled his tooth out. He did look a bit worse for wear and he ended up cutting short his visit. We had an educational time at the giant tortoise enclosure, a couple of them were getting rather friendly!!

All the families took their turn in cooking a meal in the evening with a theme. Jo & Emily cooked Sunday and we played It’s a Knockout, details of which you’ll find in Emily’s article. Mark & Keri done a Halloween evening, ever tried finding costumes in July? That evening the heavens opened and poured with rain all night, but that didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for playing the games they organised. Kev & Ange did a Mexican evening with Sombreros, moustaches and accompanying music. Keith & Georgia put on a murder mystery evening and once again our chairman turned out to be the murderer, I’m beginning to have doubts about our Kev!! We put on a posh night with Zack & Ben as the waiters, although Keri was none too impressed with our taste in classical music and that we didn’t supply tomato ketchup, posh not your thing Keri? Zack, Ben & Georgia also took their turn and on Saturday cooked a lovely spaghetti bolognaise followed by a fruit salad, we’ll have to make sure you cook more often.

I do hope I haven’t missed anything out but soooooo much went on I apologise now to anyone if I have missed a significant story. There were so many photo’s taken it was difficult to choose just a few so you will find a selection at the end of the article.

Sue Scott

Murder Mystery

Posh Night

Halloween

Mexican Night