Bank Holiday Weekend

As you can imagine this is one of the busiest weekends in the calendar, photographically speaking for the newspaper, with fetes and suchalike and from Friday to Sunday I was working flat out. I’d been invited to a party on Friday night and also to camp with the Morris Men at Alford where they were performing over the weekend, 5 sides and to camp with them at Well Cricket Club. Unfortunately I couldn’t take the weekend off with so much to do, so tried to (and did) fit it ALL in. Friday wasn’t so bad, only 4 jobs in the afternoon but I left it to the last minute to pack my camping gear (a tent and lilo was provided for me – thanks Den x) but I went to the party to show my face and had to leave just as the food was appearing at 9, just grabbed a piece of tortilla before disappearing. It was a fun night and rediscovered the joys of camping, LOVE sleeping in the fresh air. I had a big duvet to roll up in, plus a two sided blanked, fleece one side, furry the other, plus my brushed cotton pyjams and bedsocks. Snug as a bug in a rug, I was! On Saturday I dashed off at 10 for the first job, then to a big fayre for a little chappy, Harvey Phillips, 10 months old who contracted meningitis in June and lost both legs, his right arm below the elbow and the fingers on his left hand. www.meningitis.org Almost £8,500 was raised at the fayre and I was fair pooped going around taking pix for two papers. Next on to the draw of a raffle for a Morris Minor (by the official Lincolnshire Poacher, John Lill) and that was in aid of the CT Scanner Appeal, then zoomed to the annual Fuchsia show and finally skittered back home and zombie-like got changed into ‘lady clothes’ to zoom over to Market Rasen for the Ladies Night. I had thought about putting on my pale blue cropped trousers …. SO glad I didn’t .. the dress rules as I entered stated ‘no cropped trousers’. There were five races but I didn’t really get to see any, except the last couple of hundred yards of the last race, cos I was busy searching out nicely dressed ladies and trying to get pics to give the feel of the occasion. One ‘lady’ was lucky to get into the Members Enclosure with it’s strict dress code .. she had a really short skirt and stocking tops showing! Fortuntely she was a he (Patsy) and raising money for the Scanner and the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance! Zipped back home, grabbed my computer, filled my coffee flask and dashed over to the cricket ground where I sat with computer on my lap until 11pm, working on pix of the day and of the Morris ‘men’ enjoying themselves from previous night and ran a slide show on the laptop for them. Sunday took craft market pix of various stalls in the morning, including the dancing Morris. A lovely lady, Dawn Blakely gave me some of her handmade soap. It was really interesting talking to her about the process and the products she uses, all natural. I did write that up for a longer article, in fact. Next on to Mablethorpe to get some ‘seaside’ pix … kids on donkeys and THEN there was a simulated rescue involving the Mablethorpe RNLI and Coastguard and the Humber Lifeboat. Hundreds of people were up on the prom, watching from a distance. Up I trotted to one of ‘my boys’ … can I go down there??? Yes, mind out for the lifeboat when it’s launched though! So I trot off down to the beach and get pix of the guys coming down to the sea, then being launched and zooming out to the ship with the engine fire and then the Coastguards put the ‘victims’ on stretchers, one of whom they carried up the beach to safety - asking me to see if I could get a good shot or two. My pleasure! One of them, Dean, I love it when I see him. My leggies go to jelly – he’s the nearest thing I’ve seen to Paul Newman in real life! Next, on to Alvingham Watermill which was opened for the weekend for charity for the Scanner again. The couple who run it, Phil and Ann, last year raised £500 for the Eating Disorders Association. An organisation dear to their heart since they lost their daughter last year to the illness. They are a lovely couple. Ann is such a kind and gentle lady. She remembered my name and made me feel so special and welcome. I’d seen her the previous week and she’d stopped to chat with me then, too. How come some people just have the knack of making one feel special? I then went home to do 3 hrs work on the pix then suddenly realised I was going to be late for the massed evening dance which was to start at 8pm and drove like a person demented to get there only 10 mins late! Back at the club, once again, computer on lap I sat in the corner, humming along til around 11 and produced another Slide show. This one included some of the day’s dances, including Kelvin with his skirt flying up showing his knickers! You’ll recognise him in the picture. The side is called the Bunnies from Hell. Their motley outfits are vivid pink! Around 2 some of us were sitting outside my tent with wine and coffee, and finally retiring my legs were sooooo cold I couldn’t sleep. 3 am went by, 3.30 and two trips to the portaloo, 4.30 and then I remembered my fleecy bottoms I’d put in the bag for such an emergency (I’m a bit slow in emergencies) and finally I drifted off warmed up around 5am for a 9am awakening! On Monday there was some more dancing and a final ‘award ceremony’. Some Plaster of Paris bears had been painted by various of the Alford Morris and handed out for achievements such as the most pennies collected, youngest dancer, best family man, best caller (for evening dancing at the celdih (however it’s spelled) etc and your’s truly got one for being an embedded journalist. I trust that only meant cos I slept over! Got a nice pic of people laughing as I tucked my teddy between my legs so I had hands free to take a final piccie of them gathered. I produced about two weeks worth of piccies in those 3 days and it was exhausting but I really enjoyed the Morris company. Thanks you guys!