The West Lancashire Grand Stewards Mess on Tour
 Part 1 - The Dinner
A Weekend in Caernarvon and a Gala Dinner.  13/15th Sept 2019
 
What a great weekend to look forward to and guess what it stopped raining, the weather turned pleasant, and even the sun came out. Set off early afternoon straight up the on ramp M60 which was very unusual (could be because we were heading away from West Lancashire) and headed for the M56, no problems all the way to the A57 Expressway which virtually would take us all the way to Caernarvon, I said all too soon this is great just like the old days when you could just get in your car and have a pleasant trouble free drive to the coast, yes that did it.!
The Hotel
Table View
Peter Connolly
All Wave

The Bar
Not far from Abergele the Sat Nav turned Red, as far as you could see in the distance maybe 3 miles was two lanes of completely stopped vehicles going nowhere. What shall we do?, well the decision was made as we slowly approached the turn off for Abergele, let’s go for it only to be met at the bottom of the ramp by a completely blocked roundabout, now is it just me or does it happen to everyone. Five minutes and we managed to force our way out on the single track road heading for the town, eventually we found out what was causing all the hold up, at least two miles of it, simply two sets of traffic lights in the centre of the main street, to make it even worse a double decker bus turned into the road after going through a Red light and from there on every time it stopped we all stopped nobody could get passed it for another couple of miles. Does this sound familiar to anyone else who came this way to Caernarvon?
Happy Together 
New Grand Steward
Nice Group
John W “Mr Cool”
Two John’s and wives
After driving miles round we got back on the Expressway (ha har) and there was the sea, we spotted a little cafe called the Puffin or was it Penguin anyway in we went for a nice snack and a coffee to be told I’m sorry but we close at four and it was now five minutes to, I can do you a coffee but you’ll have to take it outside oh and we have crisps and a few cakes left, ok that will do. We sat outside enjoying the afternoon sun and a great view over the sea, vehicles continued to pull on to the car park only to find the cafe closed.
The Celtic Royal Hotel was very easy to find, we pulled in, parked up got our keys went back for the luggage, made our way up to the very nice room and collapsed on to the King sized bed, it really was American King sized. Ahhh. Made it.
Table Views
At Your Service
Mrs 'F'
Around seven after a quick wash we made our way to the dining room to be greeted by the others in the party who were having a good old chin wag and enjoying some starters, it seemed that most had also encountered some traffic problems, do you get the feeling that our roads just cannot cope with the amount of vehicles we now have. (Let’s not mention my pet hate the M60 Smart Motorway, that isn’t).
Ready
General Table Pictures
Great Chat
Nice Picture
Great Design
Following on from a great meal served up by very friendly staff we made our way to a very pleasant well stocked bar area where I was pleased to find my favourite Laphroaig on the shelf, settled back into a nice comfy chair and   enjoyed the rest and of the evening chatting with some great company.
No He’s not asleep
Table Shot

PGM enjoying the evening
Well it was funny
Up early the next morning we went downstairs to the dining room to enjoy a full English/Welsh breakfast and then we were off to see the sites of Caernarvon, it was a beautiful sunny warm day with blue sky’s as far as you could see, we made our way towards the Castle and down to the sea, wonderful, more of this tour in Part 2.
Tables
Cheers
PGM
After a great day out we slowly walked back to the Hotel and yes had forty winks before getting ready for the Gala Dinner, made our way downstairs and found the room for the event which was dressed up in fine style including just one huge table where everybody could be seated together, I thought it was brilliant. Following canapé’s and drinks we took our seats to be served the individual meals we had chosen previously and can I say as before the staff were excellent. What a great time we all had, following the usual Toast to the Queen we had a couple of excellent welcoming speeches from our PGM Keith Beardmore and then Eric Drinkwater who along with his wife Tegwyn are the main organisers and driving force behind the West Lancs Grand Stewards Mess. 
PGM
John W
Breakfast

One of the features of the evening and a tradition is a change round, this is where all the men folk have to move to their right, on this occasion it was three places, I think it was three because Keith had quickly worked out that due to the large number who had attended we would never had made it back to where we started before the evening was over !! Can I also say it was a good job that I had Eric on my left telling me where I was up to because I soon lost the plot. (and no it wasn’t the Laphroaig). 
Tables
This was an evening to remember, enjoyed I’m sure by all present, great company, excellent food / drink and sad to say it was all over too soon, goodnights said it was time for bed after a long day, up bright and early on the Sunday morning, packed our bags, loaded them in the car then had to suffer another full breakfast (only kidding) it was delicious especially the bacon and that was it we set off keeping our fingers crossed that we wouldn’t encounter the same traffic jams going in the other direction back to Manchester, as it happened there were no hold ups, got back mid afternoon, nice cup of tea with a big slice of cake purchased from a local bakery in Carnarvon, and settled down to watch some football (well that was just me).
The Famous Puffin Cafe
We reflected on a great break where even the sun came out and look forward to the next West Lancs Grand Stewards Mess on Tour, wherever it will be, come on Eric give us a clue, Thanks Again.
Mark Well
Austin N Fletcher. PGStwd.
Flixton Shepherd Eastwood Mark.  No.1173