Nigel Collor's Conservative Thankyou Party/Aboard the Norwegian Gem.
6 October 2007
On a misty ghostly night on Dover seafront we made our way through the spitting rain to reach the far flung East Cliff, and onwards then with bravehearts to find the home of Cllr and Mrs Bryan Cope. Through the darkness a light from a panoramic window shone forth and who should we see waving through the gloom from the source of said light, but none other than Nigel Collor himself, beckoning us forward. Up the seafront decking we went and into the lovely magazine gloss home of the genial Cope's. Cllr and Mrs Cope were throwing a Thankyou Party for Nigel Collor who had recently fought a very successful campaign in the local KCC Elections. Nigel did not win the seat but gave the successful Labour Boys a real run for their money producing a substantial swing of 5.5% to the Conservatives. This successful swing was remarked upon by none other than David Cameron himself on The Andrew Marr Sunday Show only last week, in real and solid recognition of the fine achievement. Who knows, but it may even have led Prime Minister Brown to call an abrubt halt to his Election plans. After mingling with the pleasant crowd, and nibbling the nibbles and drinking the drinks, I whipped out the camera while still compos mentes, and produced the following pictures....
Picture above left shows the main man himself Nigel Collor enjoying the celebration in honour of the hard work put in by one and all. Left to Right - Barry Williams, Cllr Chris Precious and Cllr Nigel Collor.
The picture on the left here shows the very pleasant and welcoming couple Cllr and Mrs Cope who throw an excellent party...and one speaks from experience in these matters! Many thanks to them for putting up with the Doverforum team while we fiddled about with cameras and so forth. The picture on the right shows Cllr Trevor Bond, genial sales manager at The Ramada Hotel, one of Dover's excellent venues, with his lovely wife Carolyn. Always a pleasure to see these two jovial Aussies.
On the left we have Cllr Sue Chandler, nice to see Sue again, with Nigel Collor and Carolyn Bond. Taking up a staunch position on the sofa and in deep deep conversation are Olive Wallace, Sheila Farrell and last but most definitely not least Mary Francis.
A headline burbled forward from Nigel Collor when he saw this picture and it went something like this
"First Tranter, then Matcham, now Boland..!" but no it wasnt the case. I havent crossed the floor as I dont have a floor to cross, being strictly neutral in all things. I was just there as an observer to watch the evening unfold and to record it for posterity. But it was a good joke....and a very enjoyable evening.
Pic shows Left to Right. Roger Frayne, Chairman of the local Conservative Association shaking the hand of yours truly, then Barry Williams former Conservative Chairman, then I myself and I, then Nigel Collor and of course Trevor Bond.
My thanks to Colette Boland for stepping in at the eleventh hour and helping me with the notes.
While we are restructuring and considering new options on Doverforum.com we have set up a Letters Page (see menu on left) if anyone cares to add anything. Positive comments very welcome
****************************************************************
Diary of Events Oct 5: Running late.Arrived at terminal but shunted into furthest carpark from the ship.Everywhere else full. Blast! The day saved by rumbling shuttle bus which ferried us to the dockside. There we see the gynormity of the vessel up close..all fourteen fantastic floors or so. The ship is a stunning majestical masterpiece in warm white with coloured livery. Picture on Forum.
Onboard and it really is a floating palace. There is so much of it and all magnificent. Made my way, even though bamboozled, to the first engagement. A wine tasting event with Jilly Goolden of the BBC 2's Food and Drink programme. She showed us how to suck, swill, swallow and gargle. But we were doing this with some of the worlds most expensive champagne's. Dont even ask as you probably cant afford it! But roughly £90 a bottle was mentioned. We tried, in some quantity, a tipple much favoured by James Bond, Dom Perignon, and wow was it good. Sniff swill swallow..aaah very nice too...and down the ever open hatch!
Then a brand much favoured by those Absolutely Fabulous girls Patsy and Eddie...yes you've guessed it..Bollinger. Dear ol' Patsy lives, as we know, on Bolly and Stolly, and hasnt eaten a solitary item of solid food since 1968.Well its hard for some! But again a hugely enjoyable tipple.
The picture above left shows yours truly rubbing champagne glasses with screen legend Jilly Goolden. It's tough going yes, but someone had to do it. The picture on the right shows some of the gathered throng sampling the delectable delights of Dom Perignon. Jillys Wine Lecture was very full and greatly appreciated by one and all. Her former partner in all things fizzy on the BBC2, Oz Clarke, was sadly nowhere to be seen.
As soon as the Wine Tasting Event finished, we where whisked upstairs on to the deck of choice to see the fab firework display. Whoosh! it was on - they exploded into the night above our champagne clouded heads and were very enjoyable. Bang ! and the colours burst forth dazzling the bewitched deck watchers all gazing upwards. At no time were we aware of the assembled thousands on the beach. They were held away from us by a barrier of fab fireworks and lapped up luxury.
Barry W-S grabbed another living legend Ruby Wax as soon as she entered our immediate bar. We photographed her and had a bit of fun doing it, as the Ruby wisecracks flowed. She placed her arm around Barry which was above and beyond the call of duty on her part, but Barry had no trouble at all basking in the fame and glory. And speaking of fame and glory, they dont come much more famous than the guys in the pic on the right. Yes thats them...you can clearly see here the dogged newshounds of the Dover Express trying to force some champagne down ! Steady lads. That's Rhys Griffiths on the left, Barry W-S of Doverforum in the middle, and Yam Zendera on the right.
No good international bar is complete without a white piano tinkling away in the corner, and here we see a splendid example of same. B W-S sends the fable up with a scintillating Chopin performance soothing softly the chill night air. However if the truth be told, this piano plays itself. Anything you want and anytime you want it. Yes it tinkles away with refined gusto. The human element is replaced. Sam no longer required in all the bars in all the world!
On a misty ghostly night on Dover seafront we made our way through the spitting rain to reach the far flung East Cliff, and onwards then with bravehearts to find the home of Cllr and Mrs Bryan Cope. Through the darkness a light from a panoramic window shone forth and who should we see waving through the gloom from the source of said light, but none other than Nigel Collor himself, beckoning us forward. Up the seafront decking we went and into the lovely magazine gloss home of the genial Cope's. Cllr and Mrs Cope were throwing a Thankyou Party for Nigel Collor who had recently fought a very successful campaign in the local KCC Elections. Nigel did not win the seat but gave the successful Labour Boys a real run for their money producing a substantial swing of 5.5% to the Conservatives. This successful swing was remarked upon by none other than David Cameron himself on The Andrew Marr Sunday Show only last week, in real and solid recognition of the fine achievement. Who knows, but it may even have led Prime Minister Brown to call an abrubt halt to his Election plans. After mingling with the pleasant crowd, and nibbling the nibbles and drinking the drinks, I whipped out the camera while still compos mentes, and produced the following pictures....Picture above left shows the main man himself Nigel Collor enjoying the celebration in honour of the hard work put in by one and all. Left to Right - Barry Williams, Cllr Chris Precious and Cllr Nigel Collor.
On the left we have Cllr Sue Chandler, nice to see Sue again, with Nigel Collor and Carolyn Bond. Taking up a staunch position on the sofa and in deep deep conversation are Olive Wallace, Sheila Farrell and last but most definitely not least Mary Francis.
A headline burbled forward from Nigel Collor when he saw this picture and it went something like this
"First Tranter, then Matcham, now Boland..!" but no it wasnt the case. I havent crossed the floor as I dont have a floor to cross, being strictly neutral in all things. I was just there as an observer to watch the evening unfold and to record it for posterity. But it was a good joke....and a very enjoyable evening.
Pic shows Left to Right. Roger Frayne, Chairman of the local Conservative Association shaking the hand of yours truly, then Barry Williams former Conservative Chairman, then I myself and I, then Nigel Collor and of course Trevor Bond.
My thanks to Colette Boland for stepping in at the eleventh hour and helping me with the notes.
While we are restructuring and considering new options on Doverforum.com we have set up a Letters Page (see menu on left) if anyone cares to add anything. Positive comments very welcome
****************************************************************
Aboard the Norwegian Gem
Diary of Events Oct 5: Running late.Arrived at terminal but shunted into furthest carpark from the ship.Everywhere else full. Blast! The day saved by rumbling shuttle bus which ferried us to the dockside. There we see the gynormity of the vessel up close..all fourteen fantastic floors or so. The ship is a stunning majestical masterpiece in warm white with coloured livery. Picture on Forum.
Onboard and it really is a floating palace. There is so much of it and all magnificent. Made my way, even though bamboozled, to the first engagement. A wine tasting event with Jilly Goolden of the BBC 2's Food and Drink programme. She showed us how to suck, swill, swallow and gargle. But we were doing this with some of the worlds most expensive champagne's. Dont even ask as you probably cant afford it! But roughly £90 a bottle was mentioned. We tried, in some quantity, a tipple much favoured by James Bond, Dom Perignon, and wow was it good. Sniff swill swallow..aaah very nice too...and down the ever open hatch!
Then a brand much favoured by those Absolutely Fabulous girls Patsy and Eddie...yes you've guessed it..Bollinger. Dear ol' Patsy lives, as we know, on Bolly and Stolly, and hasnt eaten a solitary item of solid food since 1968.Well its hard for some! But again a hugely enjoyable tipple.
The picture above left shows yours truly rubbing champagne glasses with screen legend Jilly Goolden. It's tough going yes, but someone had to do it. The picture on the right shows some of the gathered throng sampling the delectable delights of Dom Perignon. Jillys Wine Lecture was very full and greatly appreciated by one and all. Her former partner in all things fizzy on the BBC2, Oz Clarke, was sadly nowhere to be seen.
As soon as the Wine Tasting Event finished, we where whisked upstairs on to the deck of choice to see the fab firework display. Whoosh! it was on - they exploded into the night above our champagne clouded heads and were very enjoyable. Bang ! and the colours burst forth dazzling the bewitched deck watchers all gazing upwards. At no time were we aware of the assembled thousands on the beach. They were held away from us by a barrier of fab fireworks and lapped up luxury.
Barry W-S grabbed another living legend Ruby Wax as soon as she entered our immediate bar. We photographed her and had a bit of fun doing it, as the Ruby wisecracks flowed. She placed her arm around Barry which was above and beyond the call of duty on her part, but Barry had no trouble at all basking in the fame and glory. And speaking of fame and glory, they dont come much more famous than the guys in the pic on the right. Yes thats them...you can clearly see here the dogged newshounds of the Dover Express trying to force some champagne down ! Steady lads. That's Rhys Griffiths on the left, Barry W-S of Doverforum in the middle, and Yam Zendera on the right.
No good international bar is complete without a white piano tinkling away in the corner, and here we see a splendid example of same. B W-S sends the fable up with a scintillating Chopin performance soothing softly the chill night air. However if the truth be told, this piano plays itself. Anything you want and anytime you want it. Yes it tinkles away with refined gusto. The human element is replaced. Sam no longer required in all the bars in all the world!