Alderney week holiday was great! My review.

Hi again,

As you may have noticed it’s been a while since my last posting and this is purely due to the fact that I went on my anual pilgrimage to Alderney (Channel Isalnds) for the annual Alderney week festivities and to see my wifes’ family who are resident on the island.

Every year Alderney and a small goup or organisers put on an extravaganza that last 8 days and is themed differently each year. This years theme was “Around the world in 8 days” which was depicted by a wide variety of internationalythemed events and floats and lasted for 8 days. Previous years themes have been “Pure Magic” and “Holywood” and this whole event is normally covered by the BBC Channel Islands as well as some local radio stations.

I have attended 3 or 4 over tha last 6 years and plan to attend many more but Alderney week has now been running for more than 60 years and you can get more information on the official Alderney Week website . Hopefully Alderney week will continue for many more years to come as it is a great way to see old freinds, family members and meet new and exciting people. Every year I go I get to meet more people who I have seen thered before but never actually met and its great because I can say that I seen them and only now we’ve met.

On the Alderney Week website there is a programme of events and several other useful links to explore more about what goes on but to give you a run down of what I took part in heres my own little program:

The opening day is always closed off with the first of the parties and due to delays in my flight I was unable to attend. Fortunatley though my wife was garcious enough to attend for both of us.

I therefore only arrived on the second day and this day is usualy the day that everybody spends recovering from the night before and my wife once again performed this task for us both so I went out on the Raz and had a great time meeting up with some freinds not seen for a year or two.

The third day is Cavalcade day and starts with a procession of floats through the center on the lovely little town of St. Annes on the old cobble stone road. The floats the proceed to the Butes which is the sports field perched up on a hill over looking the stunning little harbour below.
After the Cavalcade parade there is loads of entertainment for all tastes ranging from old cars to live bands, junior dance and keep fit groups to the compulsory beer tent and lots of little stalls offerinbg a wide range of goods, fair ground style games and there was even a “Casino” there this year.
This generally last all afternoon and stretches well into the night with more live music and when all is quiet on the Butes the locals pubs are awash with laughter and cheer and very well priced drinks.

The Tuesday was spent more with family than participating in the events but was equally as entertaining.

Wednesday has a fun little event, aimed at the younger generation but some of the older residents\visitors do it from a nostalgitic perspective, called Spot-the-Dot. This entails walkign along the cobbled high street looking in the windows of paticipating shops\businesses and firstly looking for the spot that depicts that they are participating in the event. When the dot has been spotted you then have to find something in their display that is out of place, eg. A pencil sharpener in the butchers meat display. Take note of this along with all the others you find, some are very clever and dificult to spot, and hand in your competitions sheet at the Alderney Tourist information center. Winners announced sometime and somewhere but I’ve never know where and when.

The Thursday event of note is the man powered flight where people make silly flying contracptions and jump off te inner harbour wall, at high tide, and attempt to fly. Prizes are given on a number of criteria from the most outrageous idea to the furtherest flight. Last year I partook in this as The Flight of Iccarus and it was great fun. This year was a little more of a wash out and we unfortunately didn’t attend but the event went ahead none the less.

Friday morning was the daft raft race and tonnes of fun is had by all participating and everybody watching. The beach is swamped with children and adults alike and the rafts range from simple to the bizzare. This year saw the Tardis make an appearance and walk away with one of the prizes, albeit it not for being the fastest. The race is made even more interestesting as the participants normally throw water and flour bombs at each other in an attempt to hinder their opponents.
After the daft raft  race we took our pride and joy pet dog Rio up to the Butes to participate in the first Alderney Week Pet show and to my wifes’ surprise our Rio walked away with First Prize in the Class (all non small pets) 6.

Saturday comes all to quickly but is always very welcome as it is the day with the most spectacular events of all. Starting with Torchlight procession in which thousands of Torch barers start from the Town Hall and proceed down the cobbled hight street of St. Annes past hundreds of spectatorcs, normally outside one of the pubs, and on towards the Bute where all torches are tossed onto a huge mountain of wooden palets. This then brings on the next event which if he annual bonfire in which an effegy is burnt, check the Alderney Week website for more history and detail on this. During allof this there are smal stalls on the Butes as well a some light entertainment. The Beer tent is normally jam packed by time we get there and we’ve gotten there early before.
The bonfire then leads on to the Fireworks display, which for a small island is very impressive and awe inspiring. This years started with a great opening song and lasted for 3-4 full songs. The finaly is always spectacular and every year is getting bigger and better.
Once again more live entertainment is available on the Butes and then it’s time to move back to the pub to prepare for the nights frivolities. Take away drinks can be bought at the pub before closing time which is a good time to head off for the Pièce de résistance.
The Quarry Party. The last one of the week and in my honest opinion one very much worth travelling to Alderney for. A good line up of DJs playing some awesome dance music with a mind blowing laser show. Last years was a little wet but this made the laser even more outstanding but as this year was a most welcome dry and balmy evening the party was even more enjoyable and worth staying till the break of dawn.

The last day, Sunday this year, sees the battle of the bands, if you are able to get out of bed or haven’t bothered going to bed yet, and played out in the open is a great way to spend the day. Last time we were sitting outside at the Moorings Pub wqatching some very talented bands battle it out to be crowned the best for the Alderney week celebrations and to achieve, in some cases, their initial recognition. Sun, booze and bands is a good way to spend the day if you’ve got anything left in you.

So that was my week in Alderney, I flew out the folowing Monday, no chance of a delayed flight as I had work the next day,  but other than the Alderney week events I had a great time visiting my in-laws, walking our dog Rio around the Island and spending some quality time with my beloved wife. I also got to do some fishing and caught a nice RAS, rock cod, and some Mackrel which we had on the BBQ the very same night.

If ever you’re lookign for a holiday spot and iregardless of wether you’ve been to Alderney or not I ould recommend visiting the Island in the first week of August and partaking in some wonderful events and culture in what should normally be glorious sunshine. As I said this is normally an annual pilgrimage for us and who knows maybe we’ll see each other there some time soon.