The Swans migration to the Butlins started early on Friday with Red coat enthusiast Jayno getting the party started with her plastic bottle of warm ale, no doubt Caroline was questioning her decision to chauffeur two of the committee when KP turned up brandishing her personalised Swans hipflask containing a questionable substance. Nevertheless, the journey was stress free and the first of the Swans on Tour pitched up in ‘The Beachcomber Inn’ ready for the arrival of the remainder of the party. One by one the Swans arrived at our new home for the weekend (Butlins, not the pub) and after a slightly disturbing security briefing centred on fancy dress leading to guns we made our way to bed relatively early so that we would be fresh for an early start on court.

Alarms rang, pink dresses were donned and we set off for the courts in convoy. We kicked off our assault on the Butlins Championship in a blaze of glory, sweeping aside our first 3 opponents in convincing fashion. Refreshments were taken from our super swish new Swans water bottles (courtesy of tour officiado Maddog Milne – thanks Linds!) and we returned to the court for a local derby against Kingston League side, Brads. Annie Hall started her usual tactics, chatting the oppo up before the game had even begun in order to gain favour when it came to Player of the Match. She was therefore somewhat disappointed to hear that this particular accolade wasn’t up for grabs in this part of the country. Two closely fought draws left us pretty certain that we would be in the afternoon Cup the next day (cheers all round) and so a disappointing loss against NRG1 wasn’t enough to dampen our spirits. Netball over we headed for central Bognor where lunch, humming, the luge, karate and crayon colouring all took place, fuelled by plenty of bubbles.

The main event (other than the netball obviously) was upon us and KP’s pop up beauty salon opened up in room 338 of the Ocean Hotel. Disregarding the earlier safety warning from ‘the security bloke’ we headed out into town in full Grease-style ‘Pink Ladies’ get up, reading to take on the legendary ‘Sheikhs’ nightclub on Bognor Pier. Even George was in on the fancy dress action, sporting a rather fetching pink neck tie. It was that neck tie that got him into trouble throughout the evening with several Bognorite men taking a fancy to him (and Swans resident yummy mummy - Bouch) which resulted in a footrace along the sea front as he was the victim of a shocking kidnap plot. These Bognorites didn’t know what they were up against though, as Cat, Caroline & Linds managed to rescue George from their clutches and restore him to his rightful place at our side. The remainder of the night was spent Macarena-ring with Stanley and Jayno demonstrating they could still produce immaculate footwork on the dance floor until the lights came on. Good effort ladies!

Day 2 of the Cup arrived and with some sore heads amongst us we decided to try out a bit of versatility. We weren’t the only team on court with this approach and we enjoyed several eyebrow raising moments before we got our act together. There was a great day of fun netball had by all, with a number of new and exciting combos tried out (some more successful than others). A highlight was coming up against fellow avian enthusiasts - Swan Gold. We may have narrowly lost on court but we definitely won in the style stakes, the pink dresses once again proving a hit amongst our peers. Sadly, all good things must come to an end and after a great weekend full of laughs the time came for the Swans to return to their Surrey roost.

The summer of fun doesn’t end here though – next stop the Walton & Hersham Fastnet Tournament and the wedding of legendary Swans interceptor, Ali Barker, to long time Swans supporter – Leal Ignatius. Pictures to follow!