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View Full Version : Southport Or Bognor?????



Trouble
14th-November-2006, 02:37 PM
[/B]Im utterly and totally confused as to what is best to do and im looking for some input from you more experienced weekenders.

I want to do one of the above dance weekends well actually i would like to do both but i cant.:sad:

So i have to pick one of them.

Then i thought, what i would do is to get some feedback on which one has the best reputation or could offer the better weekend, is there any difference, dance standards, class levels, accomodation differences.

so if anybody can help that would be absolutely, tickle ya fancy, get me going fantastic....:D

TheTramp
14th-November-2006, 02:39 PM
Southport. Not even a close decision....

TheTramp
14th-November-2006, 02:40 PM
No. Wait.....

YOU should go to Bognor. Really! :whistle:


:love:

Trouble
14th-November-2006, 02:42 PM
No. Wait.....

YOU should go to Bognor. Really! :whistle:


:love:

mmm me thinks you play with me :respect:

:flower:

stewart38
14th-November-2006, 02:44 PM
Im not going to be bias,ive been to both

If your looking for a 27min walk from car to chalet

The intimacy of a large new town with other events going on

Bars closing several hours early

Id choose bognor every time :grin:

Trouble
14th-November-2006, 02:50 PM
Im not going to be bias,ive been to both

If your looking for a 27min walk from car to chalet

The intimacy of a large new town with other events going on

Bars closing several hours early

Id choose bognor every time :grin:

mmm Stewart if your going to Southport then that could be the decision made for me :flower: :D :whistle:

stewart38
14th-November-2006, 02:53 PM
mmm Stewart if your going to Southport then that could be the decision made for me :flower: :D :whistle:

Dont go to Bognor just because im going to southport :tears:

Im a man ill decide an hour before :wink:

WittyBird
14th-November-2006, 03:01 PM
I can't believe you had to ask this question.

No competition to be honest.

Southport wins every time :clap:

Zebra Woman
14th-November-2006, 03:26 PM
I can't believe you had to ask this question.

No competition to be honest.

Southport wins every time :clap:

I have to agree with WB.

I have only done Bognor once in 2005. IME It has several disadvantages:

The blues room has a floor made of hard lino tiles.
It's on the first floor....AND you have to go outside in the cold and wet to get to it from the main jive room (I used plastic bags to put over my leather soled dance shoes to move between the rooms).

Getting into the main jive room also involved a lot of stairs.

If Camber is anything to go by I'm not sure whether Franco's gender balancing policy for Bognor will actually work.

In summary, I can only think of 2 people who would prefer Bognor to Southport and neither of them are women :rolleyes: .

Can you guess who they are?



S******3* and G**

Trouble
14th-November-2006, 03:41 PM
I have to agree with WB.

I have only done Bognor once in 2005. IME It has several disadvantages:

The blues room has a floor made of hard lino tiles.
It's on the first floor....AND you have to go outside in the cold and wet to get to it from the main jive room (I used plastic bags to put over my leather soled dance shoes to move between the rooms).

Getting into the main jive room also involved a lot of stairs.

If Camber is anything to go by I'm not sure whether Franco's gender balancing policy for Bognor will actually work.

In summary, I can only think of 2 people who would prefer Bognor to Southport and neither of them are women :rolleyes: .

Can you guess who they are?



S******3* and G**

yeah i got it.xxxxxxxx - this is going to be an easier decision than i first thought.,.xxx

stewart38
14th-November-2006, 03:45 PM
yeah i got it.xxxxxxxx - this is going to be an easier decision than i first thought.,.xxx

yes i know as i said ill be going to Southport :grin:

I think Bognor accomedation is better to be fair and keep it 'balanced'

Trouble
14th-November-2006, 03:51 PM
yes i know as i said ill be going to Southport :grin:

I think Bognor accomedation is better to be fair and keep it 'balanced'

Stewart, if your at southport then im going to go to Southport.......cant resist. :D :D :D

alex
14th-November-2006, 06:17 PM
to me most weekenders are the same. the standard of dancing, the music, the workshops etc dont change from one to another. the only difference is the ratio of dancing time to travelling time, and the standard of the accomodation.

on that basis bognor is most definitely my choice.

Trouble
14th-November-2006, 06:20 PM
to me most weekenders are the same. the standard of dancing, the music, the workshops etc dont change from one to another. the only difference is the ratio of dancing time to travelling time, and the standard of the accomodation.

on that basis bognor is most definitely my choice.

oh u see now im confused again... :D

WittyBird
14th-November-2006, 06:36 PM
to me most weekenders are the same.

I don't agree


the standard of dancing, the music, the workshops etc dont change from one to another. .


I most certainly don't agree.

Zebra Woman
14th-November-2006, 06:52 PM
to me most weekenders are the same. the standard of dancing, the music, the workshops etc dont change from one to another. the only difference is the ratio of dancing time to travelling time, and the standard of the accomodation.

on that basis bognor is most definitely my choice.

Where have you been? :confused:

alex
14th-November-2006, 11:14 PM
Where have you been? camber, bognor, southport. probably 10 in total, although none in the last year.

also done a rock bottoms and a beach boogie, where there was a difference

Blueshoes
14th-November-2006, 11:25 PM
Looks like I have the same decision (unfortunately, as I'd like to go to both). Never been to Bognor, have been to Southport three times and found them superb..... So if I have to go to only one it'll be Southport.

With many more weekenders coming on the market this sort of decision will become more and more common. I think one of two things will happen, either the dancers will be stretched thinner (less at each weekender) which will reduce the overall experience for the ones who do go, or people will polarise towards specific events.

If the latter is the case the forum could well heavily influence peoples decisions with threads like this one.

Gypsy Rose
14th-November-2006, 11:41 PM
Looks like I have the same decision (unfortunately, as I'd like to go to both). Never been to Bognor, have been to Southport three times and found them superb..... So if I have to go to only one it'll be Southport.

.......and I definitely think you would be choosing the right one. I quite enjoyed Bognor when I went two years ago, but then I hadn't been to Southport. Southport is much further away for me, but that will be my choice as I can only do one of them!

WittyBird
14th-November-2006, 11:52 PM
.......and I definitely think you would be choosing the right one. I quite enjoyed Bognor when I went two years ago, but then I hadn't been to Southport. Southport is much further away for me, but that will be my choice as I can only do one of them!

I didn't enjoy Bognor when I went, but then I'd just come out of hospital. But having said that I'd just come out of hospital when I went to Southport.

With Bognor you've gotta go outside to go to and from the main room to the blues room, which when I was there had lino on the floor :eek: AFAIC it doesn't have the atmosphere of Southport or Camber. Yes the Villa's are much nicer and the distance for me is nearer but that's about it.

Lynn
14th-November-2006, 11:55 PM
to me most weekenders are the same. the standard of dancing, the music, the workshops etc dont change from one to another.
I most certainly don't agree.
Where have you been? :confused:To someone who goes to some classes and spends most or all of their time dancing in the main room, there might not be that big a difference. Variations in venue, coolness and flooring maybe, but the music and dancer mix is probably fairly similar.

And given that there are more people in the main room on a weekender than any other room, that's clearly what those people are looking for from a weekender. So yes, they could view the big weekenders as pretty much the same in that respect.

Not everyone is looking for 5am mellow blues room dancing as part of their essential weekender experience.

David Bailey
15th-November-2006, 08:42 AM
to me most weekenders are the same. the standard of dancing, the music, the workshops etc dont change from one to another. the only difference is the ratio of dancing time to travelling time, and the standard of the accomodation.

on that basis bognor is most definitely my choice.
I think there's not a massive variation between most large-scale weekenders - ultimately, you're in a holiday camp, with 1,000+ other dancers, in grotty chalets and usually off-season. There are classes, there are freestyles, and so on. But the difference is minor compared to the difference between different freestyle venues I think.

People can over-hype the differences - so much so that if you don't have The Best Time Of Your Life, Ever at a particular weekender, you probably feel like a freak.

fletch
15th-November-2006, 03:02 PM
With Bognor you've gotta go outside to go to and from the main room to the blues room, which when I was there had lino on the floor :eek: AFAIC it doesn't have the atmosphere of Southport or Camber. Yes the Villa's are much nicer and the distance for me is nearer but that's about it.

:yeah:


Just what I was going to say.

The thing I didn't like about Bognor was changing my shoes, putting my coat on, putting up the umberella, trotting across the road in the rain, in the loo to straighten your face and hair to find no one in the room :( and having to do the same trip back across :sick:

I was up and down the stairs every 5 mins at Camber :rolleyes:

and in and out each room at Southport:what: well I need to get around everyone :na:

I haven't booked Bognor but it doesn't mean I won't be there :hug:

I just love weekenders :clap:




.

Yogi_Bear
20th-November-2006, 05:55 PM
Southport by a mile.

The chalets will be heated, the blues room will be available with a marquee covering the outside area, the teachers will be amazing, the organisation is spot on and the best dancers will be there.....need I go on?

Bognor was OK before Southport arrived on the scene and raised the bar. But the last time I went to Bognor it was extremely cold, the chalets were appalling and quite a long walk, (they may have improved since), it was dingy inside, you have to go outside and flash a pass to go from one dance hall to another (which for me means changing shoes).....

Minnie M
20th-November-2006, 09:53 PM
......Bognor it was extremely cold, the chalets were appalling and quite a long walk....

:mad: that's a little bit strong - one of the things Bognor has over the other big weekenders is that the accomdation which is relatively good compared with the others and AFAIK there is free electricity:yeah:

It only takes 45mins to get to Bognor for me and 5 to 10 hours (depending on traffic) to get to Southport - so I am going to BOTH !!!

Yogi_Bear
21st-November-2006, 09:03 AM
:mad: that's a little bit strong - one of the things Bognor has over the other big weekenders is that the accomdation which is relatively good compared with the others and AFAIK there is free electricity:yeah:

It only takes 45mins to get to Bognor for me and 5 to 10 hours (depending on traffic) to get to Southport - so I am going to BOTH !!!
well, as i said, things may well have improved, but when I last went (several years ago) they were dreadful chalets compared with Camber....it stuck in my mind.

But on the general point, if you live in Essex you may well prefer a shorter drive to Bognor to the longer one to Southport.....that could outweigh the other pros and cons for many

Andy McGregor
21st-November-2006, 10:44 AM
well, as i said, things may well have improved, but when I last went (several years ago) they were dreadful chalets compared with Camber....it stuck in my mind.

But on the general point, if you live in Essex you may well prefer a shorter drive to Bognor to the longer one to Southport.....that could outweigh the other pros and cons for manyWhen I stayed at Bognor years ago the accommodation was very basic, probably slightly more sparse than Camber. But the last few times I stayed at Bognor the accommodation was fabulous. I've got absolutely no complaints about Bognor accommodation.

However, I will not be going to Bognor. But only because the change of date means that it clashes with a Ball that I'm putting on in Brighton on the Saturday night :tears:

I will be going to Southport in February as I'm teaching there and we're having a satellite meeting for our fledgling organisation for Modern Jive Organisers.

WittyBird
21st-November-2006, 10:48 AM
we're having a satellite meeting for our fledgling organisation for Modern Jive Organisers.

Most importantly before you have that meeting, you need to arrange to have a meeting about the meeting you're going to have, so you need to have another meeting to organise who's going to arrange the other meetings and another meeting on top of the others to arrange the minute takers :D

Then when you've done all that you can then arrange to play the meeting game, aka Buzz word Bingo.

Hope that Helps :whistle:

Lory
21st-November-2006, 10:49 AM
I can't remember what standard I booked for when I went to Bognor but my chalet was positively luxurious, compared to any (even the top) at Pontins. :nice:

The beds were made up, towels provided, as was a toaster, microwave, iron and hairdryer and it even had a DVD player. :waycool:

The main dance room is fabulous too, with tables and chairs, arranged in tiers overlooking the floor. :na:

But the big, actually HUGE, downside I found was, the Blues room, its completely lacking in any form of atmosphere at all, horrible lino floor (a nightmare for the poor old knees)and horrible flourescent lighting.:sick: :sad:

Now Southport IMO, is the reverse of all the above! ;)

TA Guy
21st-November-2006, 01:27 PM
Only been once to Bognor, but it has it's plus points.
The Chalet we stayed in was by far the best of any weekender I've been on, by quite a long way. Clean, didn't look pre-war, real towels and bedding, nice beds, heating was perfect, no elect cost, great kitchin, the list goes on....
The main hall was also pretty well perfect. I actually think the actual site is about the best as well (not talking facilities here). Nice paths, layout, trees, doesn't look like a prison, High street round the corner, beach a short wander etc etc.

When I went, the second room was a Lindy room, so that was about as much use to me as chocolate shoes, so crossing to it wasn't an issue.

Besides, it's an hour or so away from me compared to 6 weeks on the S.S. Lostmyway to get to Southport all for the priviledge of freezing my whatsits off. If I go to either, I'll be bognoring :)

stewart38
21st-November-2006, 03:19 PM
I think there's not a massive variation between most large-scale weekenders - ultimately, you're in a holiday camp, with 1,000+ other dancers, in grotty chalets and usually off-season. There are classes, there are freestyles, and so on. But the difference is minor compared to the difference between different freestyle venues I think.

People can over-hype the differences - so much so that if you don't have The Best Time Of Your Life, Ever at a particular weekender, you probably feel like a freak.

would agree with things like Camber/Southport or Breeze etc. similar lay outs etc people would have their own preferences

However Bognor jive is like a 'town' its very 'different' . It 'felt' different.

Lee Bartholomew
21st-November-2006, 04:02 PM
Who is organising southport? any web address?

Trouble
21st-November-2006, 04:06 PM
Who is organising southport? any web address?

www.jiveaddiction.com

Are you going??

Lee Bartholomew
21st-November-2006, 04:20 PM
www.jiveaddiction.com (http://www.jiveaddiction.com)

Are you going??

Might do. One hell of a trek though. Saying that. Some of you lot came from Scotland to go to Camber.

Will think about it. :nice:

Lee Bartholomew
21st-November-2006, 04:21 PM
Thought about it.

Will see who else from ceroc kent wants to go and will do a group booking.
:nice:

TheTramp
21st-November-2006, 04:31 PM
Saying that. Some of you lot came from Scotland to go to Camber.

Only 6 of us I think....

Lee Bartholomew
21st-November-2006, 04:36 PM
Only 6 of us I think....

Took me 15 mins to get to Camber. Thats acceptable.

How long did it take? did you drive?

Raphael
21st-November-2006, 04:36 PM
Southport every time, the atmosphere is great the dancers are wonderfull and i always seem to have a good time. :respect:

TheTramp
21st-November-2006, 04:41 PM
How long did it take? did you drive?

Can only talk for myself and Doune.

We left her place at 6am to miss the traffic. Flew from Edinburgh airport, arrived at Gatwick about 10am. Picked up the hire car, then drove, getting to Rye about 12:15. Shopped, and arrived at Camber about 1pm.

Going back, we left Camber at 6am on the Monday, and I was back in Dundee at 2pm.

So, 7 hours going down, and 8 hours coming back.

Lee Bartholomew
21st-November-2006, 04:42 PM
And I thought my hour and half drive to Northfleet was dedicated!!!!!

ducasi
21st-November-2006, 05:10 PM
How long did it take? did you drive?
I left home at about 3pm in the afternoon, flight got into Gatwick about 6-ish, on the road with Wittybird (thanks :flower:) by 7-ish, and with a stop in a pub on the way, we arrived at Camber just before 9pm. So about 6 hours to get there...

On the way back I had a fair bit of time to kill in Gatwick, but excluding that, it would have been about the same...

It was by no means my longest journey for a weekend of dancing. In fact, getting to Southport was around the same length of time, and when I took the train, a lot more expensive.

Probably the longest journey was to Weston-super-Mare, which from Glasgow I think took about 8-9 hours on the train.

But in every case, it was worth it. :)

WittyBird
21st-November-2006, 07:14 PM
On the way back I had a fair bit of time to kill in Gatwick, but excluding that, it would have been about the same...

It took me a lot longer to get home than you.

We left at 11ish and I dropped you at Gatwick I didn't get home until 6-30ish that evening. For what was 130 mile Journey :mad:

fcuking M25

Sinner
23rd-November-2006, 04:28 AM
No. Wait.....

YOU should go to Bognor. Really! :whistle:


:love:

obvious where your loyalty lies there Trampy.. NOT :whistle: