European Convention 2010
4th to 7th June 2010
| Photo Gallery |
The 2010 European Convention was being hosted jointly by Belgium VI & VII at the Hoge Duin Hostel in the town of Oostduinkerke, Belgium.
Your Vice President and Secretary attended with their wives (with Cookie going in the car as he was still playing the invalid!). Well, Cookie writes …..
We had decided to meet at the Travel Lodge at Ashford on the Thursday evening so that we could relax, enjoy a meal and travel on the next morning. Well, that’s exactly what happened and after a good hearty breakfast we made our way to the P&O Ferry terminal at Dover in brilliant sunshine. We could not have asked for better weather for our crossing.
Oostduinkerke is located between Dunkirk and Ostend, so only about one hour from Calais – nice and simple. Sinples!! Well, it should have been. Unfortunately, the Hostel was not in our SatNav’s and no directions had been supplied. Whoops! So that is how we met up with Wales 1 and Germany 22 – all lost in the same area and all looking for the location with no-one being able to help us. It took a while, and thanks to one of our German friends, we managed to work our way around and eventually located a lone Blue Knight stood in the road waving us into our hostel.
The accommodation turned out to be shared rooms, so the four of us shared for a weekend. The first time Muddy & I had shared with our wives – made for interesting times and Lesley found it hilarious at times. Tina even suggested that they record Muddy & I during our talks???? I just don’t know what they mean.
Well, the convention was attended by 460 Knights from Europe and America. A sight to behold. We met up with many of our good friends from America, Belgium, Benelux, Norway and of course, Germany. During the weekend, we also made some new friends, especially Armin who is from Germany XXXII. We will be meeting him during the Great Escape 2 Ride next year, as he wants to help us.
Friday was taken up by meeting our friends over a beer or two and listening to the live band. Oh, one surprise. Bob Sparks (England V) surprised his wife with a Renewing of their vows presided by the local Chaplain. It was a big surprise for her, especially when the Best Man dropped the ring into the sand. It took a little while for it to be located! Eventually the service went through and followed by more drinking to celebrate.
Saturday was still sunny and hot, and the ride outs were going to different locations of interest, the Battle Sites or the Shrimp Fishermen of De Panne, as an example. Muddy, Lesley, Tina and I, joined others and took the police coach into Brugge where we had a great time sightseeing in brilliant sunshine. Oh, and a beer or two. These was a local brew served in tall glasses similar to our ‘yard of ale’ glasses. It was a strong beer, not that Muddy and I discovered that …. at first!! 
We also enjoyed a tour in a horse and carriage driven by a very nice young lady. We were pleased that the horses were given a break with food water and a wet rub down during the ride. Muddy wanted the same from the young lady but ….. was unlucky. However, he did make friends with her horse! I have to say, that she said it was unusual, as he normally pushes people away, but semed to like Muddy. Well, that was a first! You just HAVE to look at the photo’s!
We were tired after our day, but neither of us wanted to sit in the complex, so we went to the beach and had a walk along the golden sands. We think Weston-super-Mare has a long beach, but you could not see the end of this one! It ran for miles and we joined hundreds of people out ‘promenading’. Fantastic!
Sunday saw a change in the weather which had been forecast. It had been raining all night and when the ride out’s left the complex, it was in heavy rain. We did feel for them. The four of us decided to drive down to the nearby resort of De Panne to see the famous Shrimp fishermen who fish on horseback. It took us ages to figure out the parking system and as we had no change, went to Adinkerke to purchase some beer, to get change (HONEST!) before returning and walking along the sea front. Could we see the horsemen? Not likely, it was too wet! We enjoyed the walk though, before having lunch. Tina shared a bowl of Mussels with Muddy which they both devoured with gusto! I have never seen such a size – it was HUGE!
Soon it was time to head back for the evenings official functions. First we had the presentation of the cheque to the host Chapter’s charity. The Convention had raised over €4000 which was split between four families (relatives of chapter members). It was an emotional presentation and you could see where the money was going.
Following the presentation to/from Chapters, Switzerland 1 presented the hosts with two original Swiss Army Knives to be auctioned for the Charity collection. Well the first one came up and Muddy was determined to get it and entered into a phenomenal bidding war with our International President, Dave Mulford. Muddy won and then went over and asked Dave for the €40 he owed him for running the price up!!!! I was more fortunate, winning the other knife (complete with leather case) after a short bidding war. We were both happy as we had helped the charity fund and gave everyone some entertainment. They won’t forget us in a hurry.
The other unusual event was that the European Conference have a toy Frog which is given over to a volunteer chapter for six months. They are to take the Frog around to rally’s and get badges for his collection to allow him to be well travelled and photographed. Well, there was quite a furore with lots of chapters bidding, but a UK&I Conference Chapter won, England V. They had the loudest cheers, so it will be interesting to see where the Frog goes in the next few months, as it’s the first time it has been outside of the European Conference.
All too soon, it was time to yet again say our ‘goodbyes’ to our dear friends. It’s always sad, but on this occasion it was happy, as we suddenly learnt that our good friends, Madnick and his partner, Simone are expecting their first child in four months. We congratulated them and wondered how Simone was looking so slim after 5 months!! We will be watching Facebook avidly to see how they progress and for the birth itself. Well done guys!!
Typically, the weather cheered up a little as we headed home, passing our good friends from Wales 1 on the motorway in Belgium. We will meet up with some of them again at the UKIC Rally in Scotland in September, so until then …
John Cooke
Secretary & Past President
| Photo Gallery |