Bradford 18 Plus at
SANDCASTLES 1999

On Saturday September 25th the annual Sandcastles Competition and Disco at Cleethorpes, hosted as ever by Grimsby & Cleethorpes 18 Plus Group took place. The sun shone, the tide was out and the local populace and tourists were out in force with their ever helpful comments of "Go on then, tell us what it is" and "It looks more like a banana than a submarine to me" etc.

There was the usual excellent support from the Yorkshire Groups (this event was always one of the highlights of the Yorkshire Area Calendar), and this year a few more of the North West were persuaded to venture over the Pennines to take part.

The Disco had probably the highest attendance of any Northern Area event we have had so far.

Grimsby & Cleethorpes 18 Plus are not a struggling Group, but they are 47 miles away from their nearest Federation neighbours (Doncaster) and 75 miles away from the central groups of the (ex) Yorkshire Area, and so are 'stuck out on a limb' as far as the Federation is concerned. I hope they were encouraged by the support, turnout and atmosphere at their event.

Because of the reputation of the event, people do not mind the travelling and the B&B costs (almost everyone who was there stayed overnight - B&B costs of between £12.50 and £15). In the past there have been Sandcastles built by 18 Plus Groups from as far away as Kent, Worcester and Reading. (!)

The winners of the Sandcastles Competition, for the second year in succession were Bradford. Next year we hope for more North West groups to enter to try and wrest the Trophy away from us.

The new Area is taking some time to gel, there are still some 'doubts' about those Groups from 'the other side' but only by having good events and competitions can we bring together all the groups in the Area. Bring the Area together using the competitive spirits of the Groups, and build up the Area spirit by the Groups socializing together afterwards.

The majority of the North West Groups weren't at Cleethorpes on Saturday, but there are two ways of looking at this. You can either be disappointed by the lack of support from the "other Area", or, more positively you can count it as progress that there were more North West groups than last year - The trend is in the right direction.

The next Northern Area event is the Ten Pin Bowling ?Competition and Halloween Disco on 30th October in Leeds. Ten pin bowling is popular among all the Northern Area Groups and rivalry is strong, most Groups in the Area, even the mysterious, rarely seen Groups will be sending a team for the competition. Last year there were many groups who scurried back across the Pennines after the bowling.

Hopefully this year the number of Groups who will only attend the competition will be small, and a new attendance 'high' can be set at the Area Halloween Disco.

Philip Bettis