Saturday 30th July was the day of the Area day out to Southend. Five members of Redbridge went by train from Ilford to Southend. Having met Yvonne on the bus we arrived at Ilford to find that the station entrance was cordoned off due to an incident and we needed to use the tradesman’s (side) entrance. Meeting up with Cathy, Elliot and Fran, we duly brought our tickets and jumped on the train, meeting Steve G at Romford (we should have all ducked down to miss him!).
Upon arriving at Southend, we headed to the Last Post pub where we were meant to meet with members of the other groups. Finding ourselves the first there we settled down for a drink (shock of the day, I didn’t have a beer!). After a while, the others turned up. Having had a bit of a head start on them, we bid them farewell and headed to the seafront for some lunch in one of the many seafront cafes. Fish and chips was a popular choice, and my years of living in Yorkshire shone through, when I was the only one to have that northern delicacy, mushy peas (champion!).
Suitably fed we headed off, Francesca and Yvonne to visit the Southend museum whilst the boys and Cathy headed off to tackle one of the Crazy Golf courses, which is always fun. Despite taking an early lead, Elliot suffered his customary mid round collapse, don’t mention the helter skelter hole to him, whilst Cathy got not one, but 2 holes in 1, (Steve also got 1). But, with a string of holes in just 2 shots (but no hole in one, despite a few near misses, honest!) I sneaked in to win, with Cathy being the runner-up.
After the celebration ice-creams, we met up with the girls at the pier (Fran and Yvonne that is, not just any girls at the pier) (Editor – pleased to know you’re keeping up moral standards!) for a walk along the sea-front. Next stop was the Adventure playground, where we enjoyed a spin on the dodgems, and Elliot and I went on the go-carts, although to be honest, mine was more like a “go-slowly” cart, my only similarity to Lewis Hamilton was I kept being told off by the marshals. .
We headed to a waterfront cafe for a well deserved tea/coffee, which we enjoyed overlooking the sand/mud and watching the tide come in, before returning to the station to catch the train back home, and finally rounding the day off with a couple of beers at our traditional Friday night pub. It was a good day out and here’s to many more to come.