The West Lancashire Provincial Mark Ball |
Foxfields Country Hotel, Billington. 29th October 2023 |
(Part 1) |
| Looking forward to a great evening and a relaxing stay at Foxfields which is set in a beautiful part of the country, peace and quiet, surrounded by trees in all their autumn glory, it’s ideal for an escape from normal everyday living if only for a weekend. |
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| Set off early as usual, it was pouring down and continued all the way to the hotel, ah well it’s not like were not used to it, funny thing is once we had checked in, I went back to the car for the bags, and it had stopped!! Had a chat in the reception with my good friend Kieran from way over in Barrow, then as usual I set off mooching about before making my way back to the room, the same one we have had on several occasions, nice and comfy complete with a great view of those trees, Linda made us a nice drink of tea and got out the biscuits, we sat back and chilled out for a couple of hours, then we got ready and made our way to the dining room. |
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| The time had arrived for the reception at 6.30, what a great site greeted everyone, our PGM Keith his wife June along with all the Executive and their wives all looked splendid, and welcomed us all, wishing everyone a great evening. |
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| The dining room looked magnificent and was a credit to those who had dressed all the tables, once everyone had charged their glasses and taken up their allotted seats, an excellent meal was served up by the very friendly and efficient hotel staff. It was a really pleasant and chilled out atmosphere, even the two guys doing the music for the evening joined in with a few easy listening songs from the swing era. At the conclusion of the meal Keith thanked everyone for attending, he especially thanked those who had put so much effort in to organise the event, several presentations of flowers followed, all of which were well received, then it was time to relax for a while before the dancing commenced. |
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| Keith and June lead everyone on to the floor for the first dance and they were quickly followed by us all, some great songs were played, both old and new, I’m afraid I don’t know what time it came to an end, but when we made our way back to our room there was still plenty of party goers sat around chatting and enjoying each other’s company, after all this is “The Magic of the Mark” |
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| The next morning, we enjoyed an excellent breakfast, there was everything you could wish for from every variety of cereals, fresh orange/apple juice, then it was over to the Chef for his delicious, cooked items, everything you could want for a Traditional Sunday morning breakfast, only thing needed was “The Archers” on radio 4, (only kidding). |
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| Breakfast enjoyed then it was time to leave, would you believe it the sun was shining and did so all the way back to Urmston. |
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| Here’s Looking forward to next year’s Mark Ball. |
There are lots of pictures to enjoy, let the smiling faces do the talking, many more on Part 2 |
| Words and pictures by Austin N Fletcher PGJD FSE 1173 |
