Ford Castle, Northumberland, 1-3 May 2009  

Carol and Margaret in front of Ford Castle	group photo

Carol and I had a great time at this event.
 
We arrived at 4pm and after settling in to our room we made our way to the bar where we had coffee and cake while Kay made as welcome and introduced us to the Castle’s manager Graham. He was the only male in the Castle!!   After dinner the tutors explained the content of the classes. This was most useful as there were over 30 classes to choose from! 

For our first class, out of four on offer that evening, Carol and I both chose “Here come the girls” with Anne Kingston. This put us right into the groove for the weekend!! 

Then it was straight on to the Friday night show and boogie.

Each of the classes did a short performance. This was followed by solo and group performances by the students. I was glad to go on first. Having got that over with I had a big gin and tonic and relaxed watching the others. All of them put my modest turn to shame. The dancing was superb and the costumes stunning but my favourite would have to be the comedy act “Desperate Housewives”! Unfortunately my camera played up and I don’t have any video of the show.

Just at the start of the boogie we all got the thrill of anticipating the arrival of the fire brigade as the fire alarm went off! However it was a false alarm and Graham remained the only man in the Castle! 
So it was on with the dancing!!  Then on to a relaxing drink in the bar with our friends “The Desperate Housewives”.
 
I was up and bright and breezy next morning and ready for my “Veil Virgin” session with Jill Henderson at 8.30am. She was being assessed for her teaching qualification and no doubt passed with flying colours, as she was very informative about both choosing and using a veil. She showed us some techniques, which are not too taxing for the beginner and then took us through a short routine.
After a quick break for coffee we were of to our next workshops! I choose “Disco Diva” with Jeanette Taylor and Carol chose “Fabulous Veils” with Charlotte Desorgher. After a quick lunch and swift visit to the Souk I was on to a frame drum session with Hilary Thacker while Carol went to a class with the fabulous Eman Zaki.

In the afternoon I did an exhilarating “Dancing with the tabla” with Joelle and Anne Kingston while Carol “Danced from the Heart” with Alison Lewis. Then we had another quick trip to the Souk and had to get ready for the group photo. While we ate our buffet dinner in the long gallery we were entertained by more performances by the students. After a beautiful fashion show by Farida there was a competition “Bralicious” in aid of “Just Because”. I’m happy to say I got third place! There were a lot of very beautiful handmade bras, but the judges voted for the funny ones! Then Graham did a turn dressed in veils! The Tutors’ Showcase was spectacular and was followed by dancing until about 1am. 

On Sunday morning after a big breakfast of bacon and eggs for me and veggie for Carol we did another veil session with Jill.  I took a break from lessons and went for stroll round the castle gardens and packed my bags.  Carol went off to Lady Waterford Hall for a class called “Egypt goes Hollywood” with Yvette Cowles.

After lunch I just managed a session of “Nubian Fun” with Charlotte that was really hard work, but I have to say it was fun!! Carol went to Anne’s “Cheeky Malaya”.

We had just time for more coffee and cake before we headed off home, with huge bags of bargains from the Souk, exhausted but full of new moves and ideas and a lot fitter than when we arrived.

First, second and third in the  “Bralicious” competition	short video of Margaret at the disco	The Desperate Housewives