Articles by Dartes Swimmers Past and Present

To Bexley and Back

Introduction

We welcomed the arrival of Spring with a chaperoned trip to London for the Bexley Open Meet at Crystal Palace. Two mini-buses packed with excited kids and the first real sun of 2011 baking them all the way down the A1.

Obviously the girl's bus was noisiest, the boy's bus being a hive of concentration as the games consoles kicked in! We took a few first timers away with us this time in recognition of the hard work they've been doing in the pool recently. Among them was Holly Brookes (Edl) who kindly volunteered (while Pete twisted her arm behind her back) to tell you all about the weekend.

Don't forget, we try to squeeze a chaperoned meet and a training camp in to each season, so work hard, hit your required sessions and earn yourself a spot next time. If anyone has any photos from the weekend, they'd be most welcome.

Author: Holly Brookes
Date: 19 April 2011

Bexley and back!

We left Adwick Leisure Centre at around 1pm Friday with everyone really excited and desperate to find out the most important thing - who they were sharing a room with. The boys set off in their mini bus first but the girls decided to go for a little drive before hitting the motorway (didn't we Neil?) However about half way down the girls managed to catch up and overtake. It was really warm on the mini-bus and about three hours into the journey we stopped at Stanstead Airport services for a toilet break and to stretch our legs. Then in another hour or so we began to hit some traffic as we got closer to London. Neil and Andy managed a little snack, and sweets were frantically exchanged through the mini bus window! Finally (by resetting the sat-nav a couple of times) we pulled up in the car park of Crystal Place Sports Complex.

Once we arrived we heaved all our bags off the mini-bus and set off towards our hotel where we stood outside while Pete read out the list of rooms. The hotel was tall rather than wide so we had to carry our stuff up loads of stairs (except the lucky few who could squeeze into the lift that is). We dumped the bags and dashed back down the dizzying stairs for dinner - everyone was starving! The choice was Plain Pasta, Seafood Pasta, or Lamb Pie - not great but by this time we would eat anything.

After dinner we went for a walk to check out the pool which looked quite old from the outside but it turned out to be quite nice. It was very big with lots of other facilities to explore. When we got back to the hotel we were all really tired but still wide awake. There was a little games room above the dinner hall so we could play pool but most decided to stay in the rooms and chat. By 9:30pm we were all ready for bed it had been a long day. Caitlin and I armed ourselves with the special protection provided by the hotel (coat hangers) in case we were to be attacked by any squirrels during the night (there were a lot of squirrels) but we eventually drifted off to sleep.

The next morning Helen insisted on taking photos of us all outside so before breakfast we had to run round the complex and smile for the camera! We had a little dilemma with the cereal dispenser because the cereal just kept on coming no matter what and most of it ended up all over the floor!

The morning's swimming got off to a great start with Jamie and Max achieving their NQTs and loads of other good times and medals being won too. For lunch it was back up to the hotel for questionable sweet potato but the rice and bread was ok. Sweet potato didn't fair me too well in the 400m IM that afternoon though!

The timekeepers down south certainly have a funny way of showing their professionalism - one guy fell asleep while the timing board was being repaired and had to be announced awake by the commentator - while another woman seemed to have got so excited that she bounced around on her chair until it actually collapsed! Some of the swimmers (Brighton) had obviously been trained in the use of psychological tactics to try and scare the competition because they seemed to be talking a little too loudly about some of their 'really fast' times next to me that afternoon, unfortunately for them (fortunately for me) it didn't work!

That evening some of us played pool again with a slight catastrophe with one of the cues but most of us just stayed in our rooms and talked (we are quite good at that!) We even had the luxury of a little chocolate cake with our dinner (which was suprisingly really nice along with the ice cream).

Sunday's swimming went fab too but the mood was slightly more subdued (not by much though) because today was the day we had to go home. I wasn't too impressed with the supporters, with the exception of Robert's parents of course, they weren't doing their job at all. There was hardly ever any cheering for the swimmers! If there was an award for best supported club we woud definitely have got it, we were screaming our heads of on the poolside!

Most people couldn't wait to get back in their own beds but it was a good weekend and a shame it had to end. Before we left, Pete bought us all an ice cream and Helen took more pictures of us outside the pool. Nobody could wait until we got back to Stanstead services for KFC/Burger King - the best meal of the weekend! Once back in the minibus again everyone was really tired and some of us finally dropped off (Natasha I'm sorry I fell asleep on you!)

Overall It was a great weekend and I would recommend we do it again. Finally I have to mention Georgia and all her comedy antics (which kept us well entertained in the evenings - well done there Georgia!) Thanks must go to Caitlin, Heidi and Jess for officially creeping me out with the story of the Grudge. Oh yes and Caitlin, your Exorcist impression really did scare me on Saturday night!

A very big thank you to Pete, Helen, Neil and Andy for all your help and support over the weekend we were all really grateful. It was great fun, great competition and a fantastic weekend away! The swimming was good too!