Volleyball weekend

Laurieston Hall

Last weekend 10 intrepid Forge Bank cohousers went along to the annual intentional community volleyball competition. Your Forge Bank team included: Chris, Mac, Maria Angeles, Fiona, Gill, Mark, Jon, Pete, Frances and Steve. The venue this year was Laurieston Hall, a long standing community dating back to 1974. If you want to know more about this fascinating community you could always quiz one of its early members seen here in a very fetching pair of designer glasses.

Laurieston Hall turned out to be a fantastic setting for a very chilled out weekend. The weather was stunning, the camp site idyllic and the company second to none. On Friday evening we were all welcomed with a communal meal, camp fire and a barrel of the local real ale. Team Forge Bank can be seen here keeping a close watch over the camp fire, an essential feature of any Scottish camping trip used to keep the midges at bay.

Our hosts laid on a superb array of meals and showed us all how easy it is to cater for 80 people at one sitting. Not only did the provide excellent main courses but we were also treated to home made bread, flapjack, biscuits and even ice cream using milk from their own cows. All this with such ease and efficiency, and at a cost of just £10 per head for the whole weekend. 

As well as eating visitors had the opportunity to wander around the grounds which included a small loch side beach used for swimming, boating and fishing, a two-acre walled kitchen garden, lots of wacky straw bale insulated caravans, fantastic oak woodland, pigs, cows and, the piece de resistance, a wood fuelled sauna (insulated with straw bales) The later feature came complete with a small lake used as a plunge pool and saw heavy use from the Forge Sauna team of Pete, Mac, Chris, Maria Angeles and Steve.

On the Sunday a few of us got involved in some hay baling, helping the community gather in hay from one of their fields. This turned out to be a great way to end the weekend. It was very satisfying collecting the bales and moving them into the barn, and a nice way to help to the Laurieston community.

Oh I almost forgot - we did play some volleyball! Team Forge Bank managed to win two out of our four matches on Saturday. We did not make the semi finals on Sunday but came a credible 6th out of nine teams overall. Canon Frome snatched the trophy form the Brambles team in what was a very close final. However our team, some of whom had never played before, would have won the prize for the smartest team kit had there been one. Yes, it was very pink and yes, that is Mac dressed as a Wookie.

So if you think a volleyball weekend is all about playing volleyball, think again and sign up for next year's event. Finally I will leave you with an image of our top cheer-leading team doing what comes naturally...CHILLING OUT!

Steve


www.lancastercohousing.org.uk