Ok so the weather was unpredictable... "sunshine and showers" they said... Friday was lovely, Tony set up camp and all was lovely with the world. Saturday evening was the given time for the actual bonfire, and hope sprung eternal that the weather would hold for it. Sunday's forecast was pretty awful, so an executive decision was made to hold a high tea on the Saturday, rather than coffee morning on Sunday for the 11 units on site.

As all people on site were West Kent members it was more of a family get together than a meet, and even with the great and glorious (SER Chairman Paul Westripp and SER Vice Chairman Trevor Wilson) amongst our ranks it was a really relaxed affair. Everyone gathered, tea and coffee made, cakes provided, sitting relaxed overlooking beautiful views. What more could we want. A stretch of dry weather at that moment in time would have been good, but perhaps that was just too much to ask for. As soon as bums were sat down on seats we didn't only get out our tea cups, but umbrellas as well. You know it is a dying art form to juggle cup, cake and umbrella, but we practiced and got it about right. The surprising thing is that as the afternoon wore on, it seemed the natural thing to do sit out in the rain chatting and drinking tea...

Anyway, we had a lovely afternoon, though moist, and when the weather cleared later we lit the bonfire which surprisingly burnt with great gusto. Everyone enjoyed the evening until the inevitable happened, and again the rain came down. The next challenge was to see how many people you can get under one canopy of a caravan, complete with table for soup and rolls. Yet again the West Kents proved to be skilled in that role. But all in all, wellies, brollies and rain macs aside, it was a lovely bonfire meet.

The only real surprise, was that the awful weather forecast for the Sunday was a mile off, and the day dawned bright and beautiful. But stoicism being our middle name, we all agreed sitting in the rain the day before, having high tea, was a much better option than chilling out in the sun at a coffee morning.

See Photos of Bonfire meet