I've never been to a 'proper' festival.

I've been to the Godiva Festival which is 3 days/nights of lots of music, lots of food, lots of alcohol, lots of market stalls and either too much sun or too much rain but with no camping or other on site accommodation so it is back to your own bed every night.

You can, if you so wish, find out more information about The Godiva Festival here.  We have Sir Bob and The Boomtown Rats headlining for us this year.  It's a free festival so no entry fees.

I have also been attending the Queen Fan Club Convention every year since 1993.  This is pretty much a festival but indoors and with proper plumbing.  Three days and nights of music, albeit Queen and Queen related, games, market stalls, cough* lots of alcohol *cough but overnight accommodation, depending on the site, is either caravans or chalets, both of which contain proper bathrooms.

I will admit it, I am a snob.  I have camped in the past and will happily do so again once all tents have a fitted private toilet.  I have no need of a proper bed, I don't need a shower, but I do need my own toilet.

But festivals are so expensive to buy tickets for, and that is without accommodation, travel and spending money.  Attending a festival is very much on my bucket list, but I think I need to win the lottery first!

OIQFC 30th Convention - Southport.

I have just returned from a very soggy Southport where the 30th Official International Queen Fan Club Convention was being held.

The 30th anniversary convention saw a return to Pontins at Southport - after a gap of 19 years - and also saw the return of the goody bag.

Included in the goody bag is a pen, keyfob, car sticker and stick of rock.  There was also a raffle ticket to win a free trip to Montruex!  I didn't win.

As always there was a convention t-shirt available to buy, this year it listed all 30 convention locations on the back, much as a tour t-shirt does.

(Apologies for the weird photo colour, not sure what happened!)

We had three fab bands on over the weekend - The Deputies, Robby Valentine & the Queen Kings - as well as various special guests taking part in Q&A sessions.

This years also saw the long awaited return of Tug Of War, an event that has not been held for many years due to that awful pairing - Health & Safety.  Unfortunately, whilst many of us Queenies are able to stay up well into the early hours enjoying a convention water or two, a lot of us are getting a bit too fragile for something as physical as Tug Of War so there were only 4 teams taking part.

The only criticism from me was that the floor cameras were not used enough.  We couldn't see the children's fancy dress, nor the fantastic floor routine from a talented young lady called Cerys.  These could have been projected onto the screens so we could all enjoy them, instead of just the people lucky enough to get seats at the front (I started queueing well before 7pm but still ended up at the back each night) but the bands, who were up on the stage and therefore visible to all, were projected onto the side screens.

There was a charity auction - raising over £4000 for the Mercury Phoenix Trust (MPT), there were raffles for the fan club and the MPT, and collections for McMillan and the Poppy Appeal.  A two minute silence was held at 11am.

This year you could also purchase the hard to get hold of, beer, vodka and wine.

Much as I am ashamed to admit it, what ruined it for me was the people I was with, if they weren't moaning about each other, they were complaining about the lack of facilities in the chalet.  If they weren't complaining about that, then they were moaning about not being able to see what was going on on the floor, or that they couldn't hear what was being said.

I feel obliged to them as they have looked after me over the course of the last 15 years or so whilst I have been travelling up alone, but now I feel like I want to spend more time not being moaned at!  Hopefully they didn't enjoy this year's event enough to go again next year.  Selfish I know, but I need a break!

Plans are already being made for next year, who knows where we will be.....

My Year in Pictures - 2014

That was the year that was....

After 2 redundancies and 12 years of low paid jobs, I was finally in a position to be able to buy a car.  It is the oldest car I have ever owned, it is the cheapest car I have ever owned, but, my word, it is the most appreciated of any car I have ever had the use of.

June saw exams and a week in Spain, most of the week was spent here...

 In the Alcatraz...

In Gringo Joe's....

Or in the strawberry cake shop, otherwise known as Bar Centric.

In September I travelled to Norfolk for a birthday party, I also visited some of the local attractions.

The Gruffalo Trail, High Lodge Thetford, Suffolk

 Banham Zoo, Norfolk

Gallifrey, Norfolk

September also saw me in Prestatyn for the Queen Fan Club Convention weekend.  Beautiful Haven site, but the sea had evidently gone away for the weekend too!

October saw me back in Norfolk for Halloween, alcohol may have been involved here, the theme was Doctor Who if anyone is still wondering,  I went as a fat Ace.

I again visited some local attractions.

Africa Alive, Suffolk

WWT Welney, Norfolk.

Then December was exams (boo) and Christmas, a colleague and I were taken out for a Christmas meal by our line managers (and friends) to say thank you for our help over the year.

Then Santa arrived

And New Year Happened.

The Grape Escape if anyone is wondering.

Happy 2015 everyone!

Why I won't be going to see Queen and Adam Lambert

Several times over the Convention weekend we have been told that there was going to be a special announcement on Monday morning.  As Queen and Adam Lambert have just completed a tour of North America, we all guessed that the announcement would be that they were to tour the UK.

And yes, that was the announcement.

As Queen fan club members we had the opportunity to purchase tickets before they went on sale to the general public.  I followed the link, if the tickets were not too expensive then one could be my Christmas present to myself.

The tickets were £78.00, which does include booking fee (oh good) plus £2.30 postage, a total of more than £80.

By the time I add in train fares, hotel for the night, food and a couple of drinks, it could come to more than £200. As I said in my last post, I could have had 3 nights at the Convention for £79.

I would rather put one of my CDs on and listen to them as they were at their peak.

Several people I know have bought tickets for 4 or 5 different nights and venues across the country.  Where are they getting the money?

And if £80 per ticket is not enough for you, you can purchase a VIP package for £1,008, yes, that does say £1,008, again plus postage.

As you can see from the picture below, this includes a seat on the stage.  Why would you want to sit on the stage?  You will probably spend most of the show staring at the back of Brian's head.

Unfortunately, as long as people are willing to pay these prices, things will never change.

I am going to save my money and put it towards a weekend somewhere, or maybe next year's fan club convention.

OIQFC - Convention no 29.

This past weekend saw the 29th Convention weekend of the Official International Queen Fan Club (OIQFC).

For anyone that doesn't know, it is basically a long weekend (Friday to Monday) of Queen music, plus all the solo ventures and groups, videos, competitions and fancy dress.  Oh, yeah, and alcohol or as it is known over the course of the weekend, Convention Water.

The very first convention was back in 1986 in Great Yarmouth, I believe it was just held on one day.  It has since been held in Camber Sands, Southport - where my first convention was in 1993 - Prestatyn, back to Great Yarmouth, and this year we were back over to Prestatyn.

It has also extended to the current 3 nights.

It is a very full on weekend, although lots of activities have been dropped along the way, mostly due to Health and Safety, apparently alcohol and It's A Knockout type activities do not go well together.

This is a programme from 1995, I can't find an earlier one.

And this is this year's.

This year's official fancy dress themes were - Friday, Black & White; Saturday - Sheer Heart Attack and Sunday - Freddie Mercury.  There are also the unofficial themes too, if someone has a special birthday then their group may decide to have their own theme.  In the past, tables have been decorated for convention goers birthdays or anniversaries.

You can be involved in as much or as little as you like.

There is also the fun of catching up with people that you have not seen since the previous weekender.

It isn't a cheap weekend, but sharing caravans can reduce the price a lot, some will sleep 8 people and the more you have in the caravan, the more the price per person reduces, this year started at £79 per person.  I stay on my own and this year I had a fab caravan for £180, it even had an en suite in the main bedroom.

If you are a fan of Queen, it is a weekend that you need to attend at least once. you have to be a member of the fan club and each member can take up to 2 non members as guests.

Next year is the 30th convention so we are hoping for something special.  Maybe that should be the year you become a Convention Virgin and try it.

All packed, but am I ready to go?

Everything is in the suitcase, not sure I can dignify what I have done with the term 'packing' seeing as I just stuffed things in willy-nilly.

My ipod, ipad and kindle are all charged ready for the journey ahead of me and the train tickets are separated out and within easy reach in my bag.

I am now just waiting for the clock to tick round to leaving time.  I am going far later than I would normally do as I adjusted the times to better suit my travelling companion as they had to catch a train to meet me.  Now that they are no longer coming with me I am left kicking my heels as I would have preferred to have been a good halfway there by now, in fact last year I was already on site by this time having travelled the day before and stopped overnight with friends nearer the venue.

Still, am looking forward to a couple of days of company.  Attending one of these events sober is going to be an eye-opener, there is always the danger that I only enjoy myself due to the constant fug of alcohol clouding my brain, but we shall see.

Have a good weekend all!