Last Friday, 20 of us from the London Fancy Dress Group went to Butlin’s ‘Skool Reunion’ weekend. We descended on the coastal resort in Bognor Regis with about 4500 other revellers.Butlins Holiday resort is England at its tackiest. It's littered with arcade machines, fast food restaurants, cheap looking bars, fun fairs, a water park with slides, cheesy holiday reps, the common sight of binge drinkers. Definitely not classy. In terms of accommodation, I went prepared for the worst (think cheap youth hostel with communal showers) so was pleasantly surprised that our twin bed chalets were clean, had ensuite bathroom and amenities like iron, kettle, TV. We paid for half board – which included breakfast and supper. Everyone in the group moaned about the food – for me it wasn’t too bad as I had been expecting the usual bland English affair... and that's what we got!
The atmosphere was festive and everyone smiled and talked to each other just like in Summer. A lot of silliness takes place. It’s great! There were a variety of interesting costumes on display. The ones that stood out were the 2 guys in dark suits who looked decent until they turned around to expose open backs showing the bras and thongs they were wearing underneath! In the Five Star concert, which I went to on my own because it clashed with Right Said Fred, I bonded with an ‘Amy Winehouse’ crew, and a group of ‘school girls’ who like me knew ALL the words, and dance steps to the songs, and screamed every time Stedman glanced our way! There was a lot of Super Heroes, a break dancing Scooby Doo and Mystery Inc, Surgeons, a Sheikh with his bodyguards, Cat women, The Joker from Batman dressed up as a nurse… I really miss having a camera! 
Friday night, we dressed up as school girls – knee high socks, short tartan skirts, white blouses un-tucked and enough buttons undone to show a little cleavage. My roommate was a crazy Australian, who was there to get drunk and score with the boys. She kept going back to the room to top up her ‘fruit shoot bottle’ with the vodka that she’d snuck into the resort. A couple of other girls had the same goals. I don’t really like vodka, and I couldn’t keep up with them – so gravitated towards the Mediterranean’s in the group.
It was great hanging out with them as they did not have social barriers in expressing themselves; greeting with hugs and kisses, a touchy feely group – reminded me of the guys I grew up with back home.
Saturday, we went as netball teams and had a private room cocktail party in Room 3.
Sunday we dressed up as old ladies (the boys too!!), and played Bingo in the Irish Bar, which according to Andy, our Fancy Dress group organiser, was ‘Boring in an intense kind of way’. Afterwards went for a fencing lesson.
Quite funny sword fighting dressed up as old ladies. Watched football and later on changed into 80’s themed outfits for the night’s entertainment. There was live entertainment every evening with old pop acts from the 80’s like Right Said Fred, 2 Unlimited, Five Star, Bewitched, 911; a really good tribute band for The Madness called Complete Madness.
Butlins is not for everybody though. A couple of Americans in our group, left after just one night. Apparently one of them ripped her fingernail. I don’t know what they’d been expecting, but we figured that maybe it was just too tacky for them and they were looking for an excuse to leave. Having fun is pretty much an attitude, and life is what you make of it. The appealing thing about Fancy Dress parties is that people let down reserve and slip into character of the costume, sometimes their alter egos. I was taken aback when my Aussie roomy told me that she was a Matron (so quite senior) at a London hospital.I felt like I bonded with the group and I am looking forward to our Christmas party
