Sittingbourne Carnival 2007 - Blog

It’s 9am and the clan gather in one corner of the Club House sorting out dresses, wigs, make up etc. Lee Richardson is starting to get into character as Paris Milton (he admits he was named after the place he was conceived; the other is the capital of France). In another corner is the Print Department, where Emma Charlesworth arranges the artwork she lovingly produced during the week before passing it on to the Woods family, who were in charge of laminating the words “Sittingbourne FC” and “Tony Woods, A True Brickie”.

Meanwhile, under the threat of darkening skies, the lorry was being prepared by Dave, Peter, Alan and Dino, who were trying to build a canopy before the rains came down….too late, the heavens opened. Things didn’t look too bright but in true Bourne spirit they battled on and soon we were all listening to the delights of “It’s raining men” (warped sense of humour, our DJ).

Back in the Club House, time was running short so it was “all hands to the pumps”. There was a frenzy of activity to ensure that all our hard work was protected from the rain. Finally we were ready to “dress” the float and we were all rather pleased with the end result. So, finally the time had come that we were all either dreading or looking forward to. ………dressing up. The jury’s out on some of the boys, who looked like they do this sort of thing regularly at weekends.  Others struggled with what attached to where, but with the help of Wardrobe Mistress Pauline, we were ready to rumble….although Gaz bore a striking resemblance to Shrek, dressed in all green and frequently heard calling “Donnkeh”.

For Health and Safety reasons Dave, our driver, was unable to carry us on the back of the lorry, so we had to make our own way to the starting point in Milton. We arrived at the start in good spirits having braved the wolf whistles and knowing looks of people who obviously enjoy the company of older women in the Philippines.

 We turned the corner and our hearts sank. Disaster had struck along the way and we learned that most of our artwork was now strewn along the route and what was left of our float was a mass of jumbled letters and soggy cardboard. We were so down, we were ready to throw in the towel and come home. But, in true Brickie style, we decided that we had put so much effort into the day, the Belles of the Bourne couldn’t let Tony Woods or the Club down. With very few tools and one final push we managed to build a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Well, we had done our best and we decided we were now just going to enjoy what remained of the day.