Oldies On Tour

On the evening of Thursday 11th April I arrived at the Holiday Inn Express in Gloucester ready for an early start on the Friday, being part of the support team for Jane competing at the Dressage National Championships at Hartpury College,  just outside Gloucester.  Jane had qualified for these Nationals during the year and I was very fortunate they fell between our wedding and our Honeymoon, so that I could lend my support as well, what luck!!!  I was also to be her video cameraman, oh such responsibilities as she needs these videos to look back to see her mistakes etc.

Driving to Gloucester was done with hail stones at times the size of golf balls, torrential rain with the odd glimpses of sun poking through as a tease; what would the weather be like on Friday bearing in mind her tests were outside!!

Arriving at the college in good time for her warm up, only to be sent into a totally separate car park well away from the horse boxes etc., meaning a 10 minute walk down hill (oh, I have to go back up later!!!!!) to get to the arenas, so by the time I was kitted up for all kinds of weather, my good intention of arriving in good time before her warm up went by the way,  she was now well into it; at least she saw me so was relieved as I was there with Camera!!!

0927hrs was her time, so I positioned myself in a suitable place outside the arena and was ready as she approached the perimeter waiting area before her start, the bell went, Jane was officially introduced over the P A system giving a little history about Jane and Herbie as she entered the arena.   About two and a half minutes later she was finished, so we had to wait for her score and when it came it was very good, so we then had to wait ‘till the last competitor had completed to see where she came.

Herbie knew he had been good as he came straight over for his “I’ve been a good boy”

Herbie expecting his Polos for being a good boy

polo mints, apparently he only gets them when he behaves, is that training or bribery, still if it works, good.

This competition has been going throughout the year, all over the UK with the best 60 riders qualifying for these finals.  The 60 then compete with the best 30 competing again in a “final final” later in the day, so Jane’s first task was to get into this

Herbie eating his Polos

last 30.  As Herbie, [his competition name is “Urban Knight”], is only a 5 year old, he is still a very young horse and therefore still learning his “trade” so, Jane getting him to the finals was an achievement in itself but having got there, you can imagine their next ambition was to make the last 30.

Herdie wanting more Polos

Waiting for all 60 to go through was quite nail biting because she was again one of the early competitors to go and very gradually she dropped down the score sheet, “but” she didn’t go down too far and qualified to go through to the last 30; better still she did it by being in the top 10.  You can imagine the joy around the support team, not to mention Jane!

During the interval we all watched the play back of the video and Jane was quite impressed, mainly about Herbie who behaved impeccably, he has a history at some venues of playing up but not to day, he must have known the importance of everything.

1438hrs was her next time, also amongst the early riders.  Again I was on duty with camera to the “ready” when her turn came, once again Herbie behaved impeccably and Jane completed without a hitch so all we could do was wait, and wait, and wait until 1630hrs when all the competitor’s scores would be posted.

I stood by the score board not moving, just waiting as the lady kept arriving and posting scores as they happened.  Jane’s score went up, wow, 2nd at this point but still about 25 to go.

18 competitors scores were up and ouch, Jane dropped to 3rd, oh dear 12 to go, nail biting was happening throughout the support team; no one else stayed with me at the score board as the last scores went up.  In amongst these 12 was a competing friend of Jane’s  who had competed against her on many occasions and always won; unfortunately she still had to go, so we were a little despondent but hoped Jane would get into the top 5 at least.

The lady came with the score for Jane’s friend and wow, her marks were lower than Jane’s, that was another great achievement and a first for her, so third place was still held.  You can imagine we had run out of finger nails by this time and were well into our fingers.

Down to the last 5 and still 3rd,

Down to the last 2 and still 3rd but then no more scores, we were kept in suspenders!!! until suddenly the public address system burst into life and confirmed Jane Littlejohn was third overall, fantastic, well done, what an achievement with such a young horse.

The Final Final score sheet for all competitors

So back to the Video as naturally we had to record the presentation.  The first three went into the inside arena and were presented with their rosettes and prize money!!! This was followed by un-tacking, giving herbie a well deserved supper, a quick change for Jane and then then off to Julie Hugo’s horse box for a well deserved glass off bubbly.  Julie is the Lady that trains Jane and Herbie, without her none of this would have been possible.

A Winner in our eyes

I arrived at the college at 0845 in the morning and drove out of the car park at 1830hrs,  a total of nine and three quarter hours, all for about 5 minutes of competing, is that good or what but it was all worth it, but more importantly, the weather generally behaved itself, another first I believe too!!!!!!

Well at long last the day has arrived, we have had so much stress getting here, but now it just feels good, everything is going to be OK.

I had agreed with Geoff that I would have breakfast at 9 am, whilst he was down earlier at 8 am, we had slept in different rooms very strange.  I had ironed the girls dresses before as I could not sleep, and then I went to see the hairdresser Emma, she was already doing Catriona hair, Jersey Jane was next, Jane and I were on at 10.30 am. At 11.30 am Photographer Lee arrived he was too early for us, so we sent him down to the golf course to photo the boys.

We opened the champagne, and several friends came in and out, Tracy, Joe, Jane, Helen,and Paula it was lovely, we were still having our hair done, but it was good fun, Tyla and Ashleigh came in to have their hair done, and I had to go and see the make-up lady, I  have never had all this fuss, but it was all good fun and a laugh, meanwhile Lee was still taking photos, dread to think what they look like.

Time was ticking on, we started to get dressed, the flowers arrived, I had to have a quick drink as I was getting nervous now,  Andrew kept coming and going, it was lovely, Shaynee came in to see me, everything was going well.

Finally the time came to see the Registrar, to go over the legal bits, then we all went to the wedding room, I was shaking but very happy. Dave was outside, and said we all looked lovely, which calmed me a bit. At 4.02 pm  Mark (Toastmaster) started the music ‘Power of Love’ by Jennifer Rush, and I started walking up the aisle, supported by Andrew, Ashleigh, Tyla and Jane followed, it was lovely to have the whole of the immediate family there sharing our day. With Mark as Best-man, and Dave being usher and doing a reading, (which he wrote himself) we wanted everyone involved.

Whilst the signing of the Register was being done, we had ‘O Sole Mio ‘ by the Three Tenors, after the legalities were over, we walked out to Nat King Cole singing ‘Too Young’

A lovely service, not too long, and with a bit of humour, at one stage, I was shaking so much that I had to hold my other hand whilst Geoff put my Mum’s wedding ring on, she had asked on lots of occasions when we were getting married, I just replied we could not afford a ring, so she left me hers.

Paula, Mark, Jane, Dave, Geoff, Christine, Tyla, Ashleigh, and Andrew

Everyone filed past us, and we managed to have a quick word, we had 73 guests, sadly some could not make it, but thank you everyone for all your good wishes.  Photographs now, and fortunately the weather was kind to us, so we were all on the lawn in one big group, then the normal formal photos, we went down to the lake and had some down by there, hopefully they will look good when they arrive.

We then went into the Westminster Suite, which had been laid out in 9 tables, plus top table, it looked lovely, we had named the tables after our boats, which intrigued some people. We had Smoked Salmon & Prawn Parcel with lime and coriander dressing, followed by Lamp flavoured with Rosemary & Mint served with red wine jus.  We had Pouilly Fume Calcite 2011 wine and Chateauneuf-Du Pape 2008 wine, both of which we had chosen whilst travelling through France. For sweet we had Glazed Lemon Tart with cream and sweet berry compote, it was all very good.

The cake was cut, we had one made, the shape of a Anam Cara our last boat, Tracy the cake lady had done a very good job on this, we were very pleased with it, tasted lovely too. The speeches were next, Andrew had told me that he didn’t know what to say, but when he stood up he produced a piece of paper, and made the funniest speech about several incidents that had happened since he knew Geoff, he made everyone laugh anyway.  Then Geoff did his bit, some serious, some funny, he presented Jane with a bouquet of chocolates, as a thank-you for being so helpful to me, she had been brilliant, then the girls, Mark and Andrew for all their help of making our day complete.  Mark did his bit, making jokes about  when we took the girls to Lapland with Geoff putting his ski-suit on, and also things that happened on the Stag Do!!  Both Mark and Andrew did us proud, a big thank-you.

We cleared the room, so we could get ready for the evening, several people had to leave, as they were travelling back to Cornwall, Farnborough,Reading and Coventry, as they have work tomorrow.

The first dance was ‘Sailing’ and Mark Pearson our music man for the evening, was brilliant, he kept the floor filled for most of the evening, we had everything from slow, rock n roll, modern, 60s’ 70’s 80’s and 90’s we had Dave doing some sort of dance, and Jane and I dancing on one of the tables, and the highlight of the evening was when Ashleigh sang to one of Westlife’s songs, she had learnt the words as a wedding present to us, she nearly reduced everyone to tears, she was fantastic.  Later in the evening she did another song.

What a brilliant day, we shall treasure the memories, everything worked out so well, and we hope those who shared it with us enjoyed it as much as we did, I think I smiled from first thing in the morning, until 2 am the following day. BRILLIANT

Plans were made for this “Very Important day” well in advance as I was hoping to get tickets for the Local Derby, Northampton Saints V Leicester Tigers.  This fixture is always sold out well before the tickets go on sale to the general public, so, as I have always said it is not what you know, but who you know:  Step forward Jeff.  Jeff is a season ticket holder and as such has priority to buy tickets, so as you can imagine, Jeff was the top of my list of guests!  He finally managed to get 11 tickets;  well done and thank you Jeff.

Saturday Morning dawned bright, though cold, and following a hearty breakfast Dave and I left Jane and Christine to do what girls do best !!!!!!!!!! and headed round the M25 and up the M1 when I suddenly had that awful feeling, something was wrong, aaaaaah, I had left my coat behind!!!!!  We were too far up the M1 to go back but I had to find somewhere where we could buy one at very short notice.  After a hectic ‘phone call to Mark he suggested the Garden Centre in Wootton, this was fortunate as several of us were staying at the Holiday Inn Express also in Wootton!

We flew into the shop and after looking at all their stock, two that fitted (red & Blue) I plumped for Blue, then onto hotel to check in.  No time for a quick drink as we were due to get our taxi at midday sharp and meet the rest of the party at the Rovers, a rugby pub just up the road from the ground.

We booked in successfully, Taxi arrived on time, and we arrived before the others and “got em in”.  The rest arrived within a few minutes but by us getting their early, we had a large table with chairs very close to the bar to sit at.  Originally we were going to meet

The “Tour” Party

elsewhere, but at Mark’s suggestion we went straight to the Rovers.  Had we had gone elsewhere we would not have been so comfortable, which was pretty essential, bearing in mind several of us were over ’60’s and all that!!!!

Martin was elected to hold the kitty, Mark collect all the ticket money, Jeff handed out the tickets whilst a few pints were drunk, then to our dismay we were told there was no more Guinness left, well can you imagine our disgust as well as the other Saints supporters being distressed.  Can you imagine a Hostelry pro-porting to be a rugby pub, running dry on Match day, what ever is the world coming to!  So disgusted, we all toddled

Guinness to the ready

off into the ground and found the Beer tent.  Apart from being more expensive, there was plenty of stock but unfortunately we seemed to have to queue for ever; not good when one is thirsty and on a mini rugby tour!!!

At this point, I have to say there were two invitees who went AWOL, one had “man flu” and the other had “another engagement”  At this point I will not name and shame but I may do later in this piece!!

So 9 of us took up our seats all looking forward to a great game, both teams were up to

Mark’s Last Guinness with Great Expectations before Kick Off

full strength as the 6 nations had finished the week before,

Wot Dave, no Guinness

though we won’t talk about those results, and our expectations were high, hopefully with a Saints win.

Ouch, Leicester Tigers turned on the pressure from the start and Northampton Saints left their skills in the changing room. Talking to several people around the ground, it appears the Saints only seem to play well away from home, this is rather unusual, traditionally teams normally play better at home!

The Saints won the “Put-in” Wow!

Easier by two’s

Anyway we were all comfortable, sipping the several hip flasks that were circulating, not too sure what was in them, each tasted so different, still they cheered us up and we were all under the impression the second half would be better, we were wrong!!!!!  Northampton were outplayed in every aspect of the game; that’s enough said about the game, we won’t even mention the appalling score-line,

At least the Ground looked good

needless to say the air must have been blue in the changing room,  a new manager maybe!  During all this time one can imagine the buffeting, the ridicule, even the abuse I was subjected to for leaving my coat behind and having to buy something that I would not normally have bought, oh well I did rather set myself up for this fall; still if had not been the coat, I am sure they would have found something else to have a go at!!

After the final whistle we were all back to the beer tent for a few pints to drown our sorrow, reflect on the game, pontificate on future changes and strangely enough bump into several depressed friends from past.

What’s the attraction that has caught your attention???

Being some of the last people to leave the ground, we could go to the bar at will,

Some people are never far from a ‘phone!

no queues at this time which was probably as good as it was going to get at Franklins Gardens that “black” afternoon.

Out of the ground and over the road straight into the Indian Brasserie (pre booked) where we enjoyed some great indian food, well all but one of us that is;  Derek had an “excuse” to not join in so had “something” and chips, oh well there has to be one though at least he came in with us, well done Derek!!!  This was an excellent choice of restaurant both for food and also as we had several players from both teams come in.

After dinner,  several Gin & Tonics, red wine and a few beers to-boot we were off to the Thomas a Becket where we were assured they had Guinness for a night cap or two or three followed by “carriages”  well, taxis organised for everybody thanks to Mark.

The four of us arrived back in the hotel, then back to the bar for another night cap before finally making our way to bed around 2300hrs, I think!!

A wonderful Stag Day for me and I would like to thank all participants for making it such a memorable day, and I hope you all enjoyed yourselves as much  as I did, thank you all for coming.

Attendees:- Mark P, Jeff C, Martin F, David L, Simon W, David R, Garry, Derek B

No Shows: Andy S, Jim S