Annual Family Week     28^th July – 5^th August 2007

Our annual Family Week was another superb time at our club.

Don't worry; although named as such, you do not need to bring your whole family to attend – you simply become part of the Blackthorns Family!

This is the one-week of the year that we ensure there are activities throughout the day to keep everyone entertained in some way.

We have a Social Officer and a Social Committee who work hard to organise the week’s activities. Our club is always keen to meet everyone’s demands so it is up to the members to suggest events and their help in organising them is always welcome!

We were very fortunate with the weather and had plenty of sunshine all week.

The first day was spent around the pool and there was a duck race and I can personally say how successful this was as MY duck won!  They are a special local breed and tend to be yellow in colour; in fact, every entrant was yellow and of very similar size so it was a fair race!  Our resident barbeque chefs cooked lunch for everyone and no, there was NO duck on the menu – perish the thought!

Maybe it was shouts of “orange sauce” that made them speed their way to the finishing line - something certainly got them moving!

We spent the evening ready for bed, as it was a Pyjama Party.  So many people declared they did not HAVE any pyjamas but everyone should have an emergency pair just in case they are taken into hospital, or invited to Blackthorns!

During the week Frank also known as Calvero, who is a mime artiste and a Charlie Chaplin look-a-like performer, joined us.  He combines magic tricks and balloon modelling in his performance and is great fun, enjoyed by all ages.  He had spent the day organising aqua aerobics in and around the pool.  The youngsters were leaping around with no trouble though they did have some competition from the adults taking part and by the next morning, there were one or two grown ups discovering muscles they didn't know they had!  Frank also guided a group undertaking a body painting competition and that is the best form of light weight clothing you could wear in the hot sunshine we were experiencing.  I’m not sure if we’d get away with it anywhere else for long but some of the designs were very eye catching!

Frank also passed some of his acrobatic skills onto a group of youngsters all keen to walk on their hands and pile up in pyramid fashion!  He makes it all look so easy!

As they still had plenty of energy left he suggested to the children that they might want to put on an impromptu talent show and they were amazing! They produced several acts in a very short time and Simon Cowell would have been impressed!

Frank is marvellous company and all he asks for in return is a collection for his favourite charity – “Save the Children”.  Do get in touch if your club would like him to visit and if he is in the vicinity he will endeavour to get there.

We had sports going on most days with competitions in Miniten, Petanque, Crazy Golf and Croquet.  Blackthorns managed to regain the Captain’s Cup when they played Petanque against the visiting Suntreckers.

We had games of bingo and a whole evening of pub games and even a night of horse racing with the best type of horses to cater for – wooden ones!  They move with the help of Blackthorns jockeys and punters pulling numbered balls from a bag determine distance. With some unfortunate falls at the water jump and hedges there was a lot of excitement in every race.  It was more fun than the Grand National!

Another night was set aside for a team quiz – time to learn how knowledgeable we really are!

A group of hungry people set off for a meal at a local pub one evening and on another, we had fish & chips delivered.

We had a market day, coffee mornings and, oh yes…….the Ladies Cocktail Afternoon.  Rumour has spread that it is merely an excuse for the ladies at the club to drink too much….untrue!  That is only spread by the men who are meant to be taking a break from their own relaxation and can holding, to keep an eye on the children and let the women take a well earned break!  Okay so we take the opportunity to donate a bottle of something each and then proceed to make colourful concoctions to pass the time away and have a good chat and even a sing song if we feel so inclined! But we still managed to make it to the Rock Chic Night….well, some of us did!

Not every day has to be hectic and, for those of us who wanted to really unwind, we even have a qualified aromatherapy masseur amongst our membership, who was supplying treatments under a gazebo on the lawn.  Imagine!  That feel good feeling and then laying in the sun and letting the oils soak into the skin and doing so much good with so little effort!

The second Saturday night saw us dressed as Cops ‘n Robbers with some stern looking policemen and various policewomen with an interesting slant on the standard uniform and some really dodgy looking men in masks and black-as-night clothing and several cat burglars; some even had whiskers, ears and tails!

Sunday was spent dining on barbeque food cooked by our very own resident chefs and consuming cream teas on the patio passed the afternoon.  All very refined!

The Grand Raffle was drawn and after a week of happy faces there were a few sad looking ones as they had to leave and return to the outside world where they wear clothes and fewer smiles………

If any of this sounds like fun to you then you know what to do – JOIN BLACKTHORNS!

Phone me on 07974 303 151 and ask for details. 

We have similar fun all year round so come along and experience it first hand.

Roni Fine

Public Relations Officer for Blackthorns Sun Club