Reflections from the Corfu Weekender May 2015

So 24 hours or so after the event, I thought it would be right and proper to put together a few words to reflect the weekender as a whole.

For those with a short attention span, it was absolutely unforgettable, and all in all BRILLIANT!!

For anybody else who can firstly forgive my propensity to waffle at a moment's notice, and who like a little more detail as they've managed to move beyond the attention span of a goldfish, the following

Over the last decade and a half, those of us who are out almost every week, can't have failed to notice the upsurge in cliques, personally I put it down to (amongst other things) a glut of local soul nights, and our generation finally coming to terms with the internet and technology in general, I leave myself out of the latter reason, as too many people can attest differently.

So BANG along comes a weekender (and I appreciate there are many foreign weekenders, but I'm purely concentrating on this one) that bucks the trend. We flew in from all over Great Britain, descending on Benitzes like the proverbial plague of locusts, and not for one instant did I, and I can only speak for me, but can say what I was witnessing, see anybody that wasn't happy to mix with anyone. I'm not sure how the locals viewed this to start with, but I'm pretty sure by the end, we'd converted them to Britishness lol.

First thing, the weather, it was 25 degrees and above virtually every day, and we all know sunshine releases happy endorphins, this may not be factually correct, but I'm counting on the fact, that nobody can really be asked to google what I've said to make sure So we're all in a good place from day 1, Thursday evening was a mixture of Greek culture, followed by an impromptu northern night, so the dancing began, and this was in the hotel itself, the venue was yet to be unveiled.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday was all at the 'Stadium', a very large arena that if this event grows in the way I think it should and will, can accommodate many more of us. Friday was just immense, pure joy on people's faces, not something you witness every day, and a coming together that was reminiscent of the old days, as previously mentioned no cliques, just a complete morphing together by everyone there. No one-upmanship on show, which helped define the incredible atmosphere. The room was big enough for us all to dance when we wanted, and retire to the pool area to rest and chat, and I know it sounds corny but I don't care, the sound of laughter was the dominant feature outside, making the night, and the mood unforgettable. For me, it was up there with any night I've attended over the last 10 years, I was so comfortable and in my element, and I saw nobody feeling any different.

The Saturday, the huge upstairs arena was opened up, to be honest the way it was set out, it was too big for us, especially as the modern room was also on downstairs, but I talked to Amanda Bradford (The Promoter and person mainly behind the event) and she'd already spotted there needed to be a little tweaking. We also spoke on the way home, and Mandy confirmed, that things were already in place to improve what was already a startlingly good event. So back to the night, musically, something for everyone, so wherever you are on the northern scene, a newish returnee or a 'Justified and Ancient' it wasn't long before you'd hear something you'd just have to dance to. The hotel owner graciously allowed the downstairs room to carry on until 3 every morning (against Greek law) so the best of both worlds was musically available.

Onto the Sunday, a party night to compare to any I've been to at any weekender and I've attended a few, it was firstly meant to finish at 11, but the enthusiasm of the dancers and maybe the consumption of alcohol, had a little to do with it as well, meant we finally left the venue around 3 in the morning. The 4 days were a blur, entertaining, enjoyable and as I've said absolutely unforgettable, please feel free to mentally affix the appropriate profanity before the aforementioned descriptive words for emphasis, I suggest starting with an F perhaps hahaha

In conclusion, I spoke to a lot of people at the weekender, and can safely say everyone enjoyed it from start to finish, it was a 'memory factory' and I think production was high this weekend. It takes a lot these days for me to be bothered to put pen to paper, this weekender poked me in the eye and demanded I do, well done Amanda, a job well done!!!