District 1180 Conference Southport day 2 - Halloween

October 31.  District 1180’s Conference will follow a slightly different format to ours, in that there is no plenary session on Friday or Sunday. Instead there is an informal dinner on Friday night, followed by an all-day session on Saturday, and finally a gala dinner on Saturday night. So we were to have a free day today, during which I wanted to get to see a bit more of Southport, and the DG wanted to do some shopping. In the end, a compromise was reached, and we went shopping.

                                                      Unusual drainpipe seen in Southport

At breakfast we caught up with Les and also Pat, who reckons she has lost 2 stone over the last few weeks, and is looking very well indeed. Whilst at breakfast we met the RI Representative, Jess Nicdao who is from the Philippines and only flew in yesterday. He is a personal friend of Les Wilson, who first met him some years ago when he led a Group Study Exchange  visit to the Phillippines.  Les particularly asked for Jess to be the RI Rep for his Conference, and it was agreed. I didn’t know you could do that, as the DG and I both thought you just got whoever  RI sent you.  Anyway, we found   Jess to be a charming man, whose English was very good.

                                                          The Philippines (some of them)

After breakfast, we headed off back to Lord Street, around which the main shopping centre is situated. I actually had some gift vouchers to spend in WH Smith and in Marks & Spencer, so I wasn’t entirely against the idea of coming shopping. We spent most of the morning wandering around the centre of Southport, and I was very impressed. I can’t think of any other town with such well-preserved Victorian architecture.  I have never seen any arcade as good-looking as the 19^th century Wayfarers Arcade in Lord Street, and much of the architecture around Lord Street is superb.

                                                     The magnificent Wayfarers Arcade

I had rather a costly experience whilst visiting a public toilet in the town centre. At my age you need to be aware of where the nearest loo is, and I had noted there were some outside the Town Hall. After an hour or two of shopping, I went to visit the toilet, which I saw was coin-operated. I don’t mind paying to use loos like these because they are usually cleaner than free ones. I didn’t look at the price as it has always been 20p in my experience. So I just put 20p in the slot and waited for the green light to come on. It didn’t.  ‘Just my luck’, I thought,’ I’ve put my money in a broken one’. Only then did I look closer at the price, which turned out to be 30p. The trouble is, I didn’t have another 10p on me and I was starting to feel a bit desperate. The only other coin I had in my pocket was a £1 coin so I put that in, and finally the door opened.  At £1.20 it was without doubt the most expensive visit to the lavatory I have ever made. I think it’s time the old saying ‘to spend a penny’ was updated.

                     Impressive bank building in Lord Street, with the Coat of Arms carved in stone

With shopping finally over in the early afternoon, and it being a fine day, we decided to go for a stroll along the pier, which must be over half a mile long, with half of it over land. The tide goes out a long way here, and the sea  was probably a mile away, so after walking to the far end of the pier, we were still a long way from the sea. There is a tram that travels the length of the pier, but we chose to walk instead, and we stopped at the café at the far end for a cup of tea and a sandwich.  There was a small craft fair in the café and I had a long chat with a young man who was selling a wide variety of home made jam. He gave me some good advice on jam-making, particularly on the thorny issue of setting point.

                                                      At the end of the pier - where's the sea?

                                                       The pier tram

We then walked back down the pier and to the hotel, where the DG had a rest, whilst I went out for a walk. I had noticed an RSPB Reserve a couple of miles up the coast, so went for a stroll there with my binoculars to see what was about. It turned out to be a great time for seeing pink-footed geese, which had stopped over on their annual migration from Greenland, and I saw hundreds of them flying overhead. There was a small lake on the reserve with quite a variety of ducks to be seen, and some waders I couldn’t identify in the fading light. Eventually, I headed back along the coast road, past Britain’s smallest pub (I wasn’t tempted to go in, but later wished I had done) and so back to the Hotel.

                                       The 'Southport Belle' - a Mississippi-style paddle steamer on Marine Lake

The DG had another errand for me when I arrived back, as I needed to get something from Boots, which was about ten minutes walk away. It was getting dark now, and I couldn’t help notice there were lots of people in hi viz jackets with ‘Crowd Control’ written on them. I wondered what was going on tonight. Later, I discovered that Southport was to have a Halloween parade that night, as it appears that the town wants to be seen as the Halloween centre of the country. I would have been interested to watch it, but we had our own Halloween event to attend.

                                                         Ken Billington tries to look scary

The theme for the dinner tonight was, obviously, Halloween, and I had been told to wear black for the evening. I didn’t go to any more trouble than that, as I was totally unaware of the extent that others would go to. The DG and I duly reported to Les and Pat Wilson’s room to join VIPs and the Conference team for pre-dinner drinks, only to find the most outrageous Halloween costumes I have ever seen. There were witches, wizards, numerous Draculas, Herman Munster and various other ghoulish disguises. Mukesh, who was at the Conference in his role as RIBI International chairman, came as a surgeon, suitably covered in blood. However we didn’t have to worry about being underdressed, as Les told us that last weekend he was in a shop in Gretna Green which had a Halloween Sale on, and they bought £90 worth of Halloween stuff for about £15. So we were both gratified to be given witches hats to wear. In addition I had some red paint applied around my mouth to make me look sinister. It worked, because when I popped back to my room for something, I inadvertently frightened a woman in the lift.

                                                       Some went to more effort than others

                                                     RI Rep Jess Nicdao with Pat Wilson

At the pre-dinner event, we met up with Les’s other guests for the weekend, DG Lyn and Ron Marshall , DG Alistair and Margaret Marquis, and Ken Billington, all of whom we know very well. For some reason, Alistair had come dressed as an Arab. When I enquired, he explained that he has worked a lot in the Middle East, and he acquired the costume on his travels. Another woman approached me to say Hello. She looked vaguely familiar, but was well disguised in a long dark wig. After an awkward moment, I realised that she was Elaine, Ken’s Trade Aid partner, who was here for the weekend to help with their stand. We also met up with RIBI President Peter King and his wife Di who were attending the Conference. Di King pleased the DG when she said that she felt comfortable in the company of this year’s DG group who she had got to know well over the past couple of years.

                                                        It took ages to get the make-up off

                                                         It's been a long day for Peter

There was no pre-arranged seating  for dinner and you had to sit where you could. Fortunately, a place was saved for us on Les and Pat’s table, along with Jess, Peter and DI, Alistair, Margaret, Lyn and Ron. Dinner was served via a buffet, which was very good indeed, and there was a musical interlude when a group of singers entertained us with some songs. Unfortunately their voices seemed to be a little drowned by the accompanying organ, or maybe it was just where we were sitting.

                                                   The singers entertain us

We had had a fine day in Southport, enjoyed good company in the evening, and now we looked forward to the Conference session tomorrow.