A different "Stag Do" !

Having been retired from my employment since I was fifty two (I am now sixty six) I was chuffed to to find out that Dingle ( an entertainer that I used to work with) was getting married and having a small get togeather at a local (to my old park) pub/restaurant! I was double chuffed to to find that he would like me to attend (after all this time? I couldn`t believe it).

Paddy Kane ( another entertainer friend of mine, who used to be the entertainments manager back then ) called to tell me this and to invite me to lunch. (which was a usual thing for us, having kept in touch for may years) after which we would visit Dingle and his other attendee`s at the pub. This we duly did and I was so pleased to find that most if not all the entertainers that worked at the park, when I was there, attended! not only male but femail too? After great hugs and kisses from all (men as well as women) and such greetings as "My! you haven`t changed"( Christ I must have looked old then too :o)) ) to "don`t you look well".

We chatted about what they had been doing over the years and how they had progressed from young and not so young street entertainers (at the park) to TV celebrity, and blue/redcoats to famous Illusionist etc, as well as dingle ( for whom the stag was being held for) having become the best clown act in the UK for many years. Many of the guys and Gals are still actively touring the stage, Andrea travelling around the UK in popular shows! (she used to work the park dressed as an over weight "Cleaning lady" who would hold whole groups of people with her repartie and stories of her (scripted) jobs in the cleaning department at the park as well as pretending to fancy the most easily embarrassed Dad in the audience! chasing him around the park, much to the amusement of his whole family

I never cease to be amazed by the ability these people have to gather a crowd (enough people to make it worth them commencing their many and various routines, at least) and the immense skills they posess from "Eating fire" , Juggling fire, knives, dustbins, in fact anything they could get their hands on! to close up magic, acrobatics (Dingles, spinning on his stomach on the top of a thirty foot flag pole situated above the queueing public ( I did have to, sadly, draw a prompt close to that act though) Bensons, repartie, carrying a lifelike rubber croc in the reptile house, You can imagine how well that went? snapping at anybody who tried to stroke it( Benson, is now the Uk`s most famous TV childrens entertainer ). Paddies dissapearance of a person (on stage) I still don`t know how he did that in front of everybody, in the open?????!. To mention but a few.

Their fantastic, creative ability and the fact that they would never cease to grab and run with any idea to entertain the public and "add value" to the venue. I am also reminded of Matts "singing nun " which he is incidently still "doing"today. We ( initially the maintenence department and later a professional props company) built him a mini grand piano on an invalid carriage which had an electric organ as the keyboard. Dressed as a Nun he would zoom around the park singing at the top of his falsetto voice such songs from the sound of music as "The hills are alive" "Maria" etc and getting the publich to over entheustically join in with him. He would dismount periodically to perform an energetic dance, (all of his own choreography) , a sort of cross between "Wilson, Betty and kepple" and a "Moulin Rouge routine", where the audience would be treated finally to a glimpse ( only a glimpse mind you!) of his union jack underwear.

I am further reminded of a day that he went out on this contraption! I was in a stressed meeting with the Board of Directors and my boss, when all of a sudden Matt flew across the windows of the meeting room, ( they were on the ground floor) singing at the top of his voice, stopping the chairman of the company, dead in his tracks whilst in full verbal flight (mid-way through his usual team-building speech) causing him to turn to my Boss and comment "I don`t believe it! I just saw a nun riding on a piano singing at the top of her voice, go past the window" To which he nervously commented, Oh! thats only matt! Robin will explain! ( I used to explain a lot of things that occurred there) Matt certainly gave us value for money as did all of the Guys and Gals of the "Ents Department". Really great people! I am so proud to have been remembered ( obviously in a good way?) by them all.

Following the informal meeting we were invited to have a look around the park by the current "Ents Manager" Graham, who also showed us around, and I again met some more of those people who knew me in my term of office (for 20 years ) as usual frantically working away to get the park ready for the "Easter opening" I certainly laid some ghosts to rest that day.