Viking Squares Campout, May 2024
Friday 24 May 2024, the start of the 2024 Viking Squares American Square Dance Campout held in Colsterworth, England.
After a l-o-n-g journey from Lancaster, mostly queueing over the M62 and south on the A1 we arrived at Colsterworth (home of Isaac Newton) late Friday afternoon.
We set up the motorhome along with the other motorhomes and caravans, about 20 of us camped on the field outside the Sports Centre. Just nicely timed for a quick wash and brush-up and into the hall for the 6.00pm Meet-and-Greet welcome tea/coffee with pork and apple sauce (or cheese) bap… is that a Yorkshire word, us Lancastrians say bun. Having said Hello to our square dancing friends, back to get changed for the first evening dance with Simon & Trudy Fielding calling the Mainstream and Plus levels of Modern American Square Dance, and Nick Wright calling Rounds – another form of dancing. A long day for us we but managed to stay till the last dance at 10.30pm then to bed and slept well.
Saturday & Sunday daytimes were free, but lots of activities laid on, with evening dances 7.30-10.30. Saturday morning was spent walking around each motorhome or caravan and checking their clues for the ‘window quiz’. On arrival we were each give a ‘country of the world (the theme for the weekend) which we had to create by drawing/painting on a piece of paper to be stuck in your van window, 27 drawings for 27 vans. Some were really tricky (maybe just bad drawings!) some were cryptic and some fairly easy. By lunchtime we had most of them guessed but those last few really eluded us. Saturday afternoon we gathered outside on the field in a chilly overcast day waiting for the Spitfire fly-over sometime after 2.00pm (no Lancaster bomber this year as it is in for repairs).
We waited until 3.30pm by which time we decided he wasn’t coming. Imagine our horror when we heard a little later that the pilot had crashed at the Battle of Britain airshow and had been killed. A sobering moment.
Saturday evening dance was dress in ‘countries of the world’. There were some super costumes, won by a very authentic Dutch traditional costume. Together with the raffle and lots of Mainstream and Plus dancing called by Trudy & Simon all made for a great evening. Sunday daytime was free. We walked to the local church and joined their service at 11.00am, and a visit to Isaac Newton’s home of Woolsthorpe Manor (NT), the afternoon sunshine made it easy to take yourself back 400 years to the time he lived here with his mother and watched the apple fall from the tree. Sunday evening began with the winner of the Van Quiz, yes… yours truly Gill & Alan winners by half a point 23½/27. More dancing, more raffle prizes and more fun (no-hands dancing etc).
The end of one of these weekends comes very quickly and there we were saying goodbyes until next time or next year. We stayed an extra night at Colsterworth and the following day drove to Folkstone to take Le Shuttle to France for the start of an epic road trip all the way to Sigtuna, north of Stockholm in Sweden.
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