Summer holidays have started and time fast passes us by. We had a meet at Stuckton near Fordingbridge, a lovely little town and within walking distance of the site. The hall we used in the town was within walking distance as well, although there is a large car park nearby where it was easy to park and a short distance to the hall. The hall was quite nice once the dancers got used to being pole dancers, and not the sort we hear about on the television. These poles are inside the hall and obviously are very much needed to support the roof and just became part of the dance. We’ll be back to this site next year.

Awbridge was well attended, and many went off to Romsey to the Beggars Fair which was on Saturday and Sunday. The site is a lovely big village hall field and the hall on site makes life so easy for arranging the ceilidh. No RAF planes this year to see, which was a bit disappointing but maybe next year.

Last weekend we were at Wildhern for a field games do. Unfortunately the weather on Friday was really wet and miserable, but quite a few people ventured out and Saturday gave us the weather we needed to play horseshoes, boules and wellie wanging. At least this year the wellies went in the right direction and I didn’t have to avoid being knocked out by flying ‘out of control’ wellies.

Sadly our next meet at Breamore has had to be cancelled. The committee decided that as there were very few people known to be going, especially those who can call, entertain etc., and as the number of units attending needs to be at least 12 for the site manager to cover his costs it was probably the best option to take.

Following this is our bank holiday meet at Titchfield – more about that in the next newsletter. For some of you there will be a journey to the FDSG Autumn gather at Cockshutt in the middle of September. The next Wessex meet after this is at Fort Widley on the Portsdown Hills. It has lovely views across Portsmouth and the Solent but is also an interesting and unusual meet site being contained within the grounds of a fort. It’s the annual bring and buy, so if you have any bits that need to be passed on for a reasonable fee bring them along and you never, know they may not go home with you.

Then we come to our Harvest supper weekend at Greatham, with the apple tasting festival at Blackmoor nearby. I was surprised the first time I went to see how many apples and pears there are that are, I understand, grown in the UK. The festival is a free entrance and there are lots of stalls there for different things including a good few for crafts. Then at the end of October it’s the Hallowe’en meet at Blackfield school. We were there last year and had a good turn out with some lovely/frightening costumes. There is hard standing for caravans and motorhomes so come and join us for the weekend.

Pam (Secretary)