Fun In The Sun

Saturday 5th November 2005

Apple Bobbin' Anyone?

Rob dispenses with the safety bib in his bid for bobbin' glory.

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The 400th anniversary of Guy Fawkes' attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament receives a fitting tribute with this years' Fun In The Sun party dedicated to his moment of historical failure.

Once again it was an out of season Fun In The Sun but as usual the fun was expected to more than make up for the lack of sun.

The competitive element was delivered with what promised to be a gripping Flap The Firework contest, related in no small way to last year's Flap The Fish.

The BBC Gardeners' World garden supplied several hundred conkers, more than enough to provide ammunition for the Mixed Singles Celebrity Conker tournament 2005. Pre-party rumour and gossip built this challenge up to be the 'one-to-win' for 2005, due in no small part to the custom made trophy waiting for the winner.

The much sought after celebrity conker trophy, waiting for a worthy winner.

It took nearly as long to confirm the official rules for apple bobbin' as it did to fill the sterilised washing up bowl with five litres of Sainsburys Strong Dry Cider, most of which ended up over the floor.

The most talked about event for this year was the guy competition and to avoid any suggestions of bribery and corruption on the judging panel it was decided to conduct a poll for the winners of each category.

The 'bring something, eat anything' rule on food seemed to work a treat, although my kitchen is still full of children's sweets and frozen sausage rolls.

Despite a few spillages along the way, including several litres of cider on the floor during the bobbin', and conker debris being flung in every direction in the heat of battle, the flat survived remarkably well.

The highlights and lowlights were captured on camera so have a look through the best ones in the gallery.

Photo Gallery

The winners

Event	Winner
Flap The Firework	Dave. (a surprise winner, never really looked in control, but the rest just didn't perform on the day)
Apple Bobbin'	Me. (although I think partly due to the fact that we'd run out of apples for a play-off)
The Guy Parade - Most Innovative/Creative Guy	Bethanie. (A wave and a smile from Monty Don swept the competition aside)
The Guy Parade - Guy Most In Need Of Burning	Tie: Mark & Sally / Dave & Nikki. (Kev the Chav on equal footing with Osama)
The Guy Parade - Best Dressed Guy	Mark & Sally. (Immaculately dressed Kev the Chav was a clear favourite and never disappointed the crowds)
Conkers	Tom. (He came, he saw, he conquered)

So that's the end of that. With plenty of planning time ahead, Fun In The Sun 2006 may actually take place in the summer and involve some sunshine for the first time in three years.

So, finally...

As ever, thanks to everyone for turning up, taking part, and at least making it look like you were having fun on the photo's.

Thanks to everyone who put in the thought and effort to make a guy and bring it along, even Craig who made his ten minutes before the party started out of paper and leaves.

Thanks to Gardeners World for un-knowingly supplying the conkers and to Sainsburys for selling cheap cider that is probably more suitable for pouring over the floor than actually drinking.

Thanks to Bethanie for extra help with the food preparation, and everyone else who brought some food with them.

Thanks to Jon for the use of twine which, although clearly too weak for a fully professional conker tournament, did ensure the competition lasted a manageable length of time.

Thanks to Dave and Nikki for supplying additional scissors and colouring pens to aid the production of flappable fireworks.

Thanks to all my neighbours who, even though they hadn't even met their new neighbour yet, didn't complain at any point.

Cheers.

James x