Saturday 14th November 1998

When all met up the following morning, Chris and Ralph had had a comfortable night and an adequate breakfast at the hotel. The other two, however, came back crowing about their accommodation and the fantastic breakfast they had had. Thanks, Danny, and Mrs. Danny in particular.

Regrettably, the weather had not improved on Saturday. Nevertheless, the team made good use of the time before the tournament was due to start (6:00 pm) to take a good look at the town. The excellent situation of the hotel - not only in the main square, but also right opposite the swimming pool - made it a good base to which to retreat for hot drinks etc. when the inclement weather got too much.

 The "dodgy statue"

Turnhout is a really pretty and well laid-out town, and the Saturday morning market, in particular, is a triumph of organisation. Apparently, the stallholders arrive at about 5:00am to set everything up including power lines for lights, heaters, refrigerated counters etc. There were an amazing variety of stalls selling fantastic fresh fish, fruit and vegetables, and more or less anything you could think of. By mid-day it was all over, the stalls packed up and by mid-afternoon no-one would know it had ever happened.

The church in the centre of the square contains some of the most spectacular woodcarving to be found anywhere. After the market, the group visited the other places of interest – the Castle, the Convent and finally the Playing Card Museum. The manufacture of playing cards has been Turnhout’s major industry for centuries, and the museum has a wide range of them on display. These range from very ancient ones that don’t have numbers on them to some very modern ones indeed. What seemed to attract most attention was a deck featuring a series of fully clothed models whose clothing miraculously disappeared on the application of a hair-dryer. Presumably, the same thing would happen when clutched in someone’s hot hands for any length of time. A pretty effective way of distracting one’s opponents!

Fortified with some excellent chocolate and taking along some water and some bananas to keep us going, the Chesham team turned up at the swimming pool to meet the other teams taking part. There were six teams altogether, including one from Holland. Danny and Fred managed to find some players who were willing to boost the numbers of the Chesham team when not playing with their own team, and the tournament began. It was a very hotly-contested tournament with a high standard of play, and eventually ended at about 11:30 pm. Can anyone imagine a swimming pool in England staying open that late?

After it was all over, everyone retired to a lean-to tent at the back of the pool. This was equipped with a wooden floor, lots of chairs and tables and an impressive disco outfit. A huge, typically-Belgian meal was also available and then everyone partied until about 4:30 am. During the proceedings the results were announced and we were delighted to find that (with a little help from our friends) we had come third, and were were presented with a cup to prove it.

Our tour T-shirts were again hot property, and of the fifteen that we took out we came back with only two unsold/unswapped. Displaying his usual leadership qualities, Doug modelled his shirt so effectively that a couple of Belgian ladies decided to remove it - we're not sure whether they wanted the shirt, or whether they just to see what was underneath it! Sometime during the evening, Cap’n Doug was asked if he thought the play had been too rough: in an unprecedented attack of honesty he replied that perhaps he was not the right person to ask! Mind you, the same might be said of the rest of the gang.