At our meeting on Tuesday, 19th July, 2016, it was Rtn. Arthur Bowles’ turn to entertain us after lunch and he embarked on a nostalgic journey which he had described as “Thirteen Months Out”. It all began with a telephone call from Councillor Billy Davy in November 1969 asking Arthur to attend a Public Meeting at the Town Hall. Full of curiosity he turned up at the Assembly Room at the appointed time and at the end of that meeting found himself Manager of the Great Yarmouth” It’s a Knockout” team. The Borough Council had decided to enter Great Yarmouth in the forthcoming "It’s a Knockout" series, feeling it would give good publicity for the town as a seaside resort. During the month of December Arthur gathered together a squad of 30/40 young people, both boys and girls. (For our younger readers "It’s a Knockout" was a competition consisting of slapstick type games.) After various meetings and competitions the Yarmouth team found themselves drawn to play against Lowestoft. Unfortunately they narrowly lost that match but they did go through as ‘best losers’ which meant they went straight into the International Round, The team was drawn to play in West Berlin and in August the team flew to Berlin with the chosen squad of 25,where they stayed at the Hilton Hotel. After battling through various heats and enjoying the whole experience, the team found themselves qualified to represent Great Britain in the International Finals to be held in Verona in September 1970. The competition was to take place in the famous Colosseum of Verona and the theme of the games was based on the Roman era, gladiators and chariots etc. In the middle of the competition the Italian skies opened and Verona experienced the first rain for six months -a torrential downpour. All the proceedings were suspended for an hour until the rain stopped . The last game of the competition involved a large flag and our man found it impossible to lift the flag which had become saturated and extremely heavy. The team finished in fifth place overall and enjoyed a closing reception with the other teams, bringing home £300 for the town as our share of the prize money. Arthur was thanked by President Diana Loveland fort his most enjoyable talk.
more Dr.Nick Ireland gave presentation about his special trip to New Zealand with the “Flying Kiwi Ultimate Exploration Expedition”
back Matt Williams explained how the National Standard called “Bikeability” helps both young and old alike to be responsible on a cycle and helping them to be confident on the road.