The best weekend of the year: International Queen Convention
by
Freddie van ter Beek
Although this was the 7th Queen Convention in a row for me, I still get
nervous and exited when the weekend comes into sight. Thursday 7 May was
"D-Day". The Convention was extended this year by 1 day, lasting now from
Thursday afternoon till Sunday afternoon.
Because I had to travel quite a long distance and the departure times of
the ferries from Holland to England had changed, me and 54 other Dutch Fans
couldn't get accross the sea early that Thursday. At 16.15 hrs in the afternoon
the ferrie started it's engines and left the coast to hurry to England at
a breathtaking speed of 40 knots! (about 75 km/hr !).
After 3 hours and 40 mins
we arrived and in a coach we drove off to Prestatyn at 19.00hrs.
As we expected we took the whole evening to get there. It was about 30 mins
after midnight when we arrived in Prestatyn. We were all tired and wanted to
get out of the coach asap! But the (Dutch) driver couldn't find Pontins (the holiday park)!
So, 15 minutes later at 00.45hrs we finally arrived in the park after having to turn
back when we got to another village!
Gazebow was coincidentally in front of the main building and he was quite happy
seeing me because he asked me 1 day earlier to bring him a bottle of vodka
and a lot of sigs which are quite cheap on the ferry.
Also greeting me were Joy & Tony Whitelock (also called mr. and mrs. Hedgehog)
and Marion van Nijnatten (Dutch queenfan who lives in Germany). So even at that
hour I already met some of my friends who I only see onces or twice a year! ,br>
After bringing my stuff to the chalet and "installing" myself, I went to the
chalet where Gaz was staying together with 3 girls from which 2 had arrived
already. We chatted till about 4am which is a normal time to go to bed for a bit
of sleep when you're at the Convention!
The following day I started filming the park, meeting my friends (many from
other countries) and at noon Jacky opened the Convention with her welcoming speech
and she showed us a video message from Brian and an audio message from Roger.
Also 3 songs from Roger's new album were played and they sounded exellent!!!
Except from filming as much of the competitions as possible I also hang out with
other fans, chatting. In the afternoon I started dressing myself as Freddie Mercury
for the Fancy Dress Competition that evening. And many others did too!
It was fun seeing all those people in sometimes very weird outfits. As soon as the
Fancy Dress started I went into the middle of the ballroom, the centre and largest
Hall of the Holiday Park, where 2000 people could fit in easily!
I didn't make it to the final, so I sat down in the back on the seats and filmed the
other fans walking in circles in the middle of the room while the audience was watching
them from the side, trying to decide which people they found dressed the best way.
After a few Queen songs, the selected people went to the stage and the audience applauded
for everyone, some a bit less, some a bit more. The fan/fans for which the audience applauded
the most got the 1st price, a signed photo, by Roger,Brian and John!
Later that evening THE BOHEMIANS took the stage. A nive Queen Cover Band that entertained
the fans with their favourite Queen songs performed live. 90 minutes later, lights went out
on stage, and lights went on in the middle of the hall, QUEEN DISCO started! The HUGE
lighting rig made everybody sweat, while they were dancing to almost every Queen song and solo
stuff of all 4 bandmembers! The party lasted till 2am in the morning. But ofcourse afterwards the
party continued in numerous chalets! :-)
On Saturday more competitions, the weekend turned out to be great, also with weatherconditions.
After a few weeks cold rainy weather, the sun came through and we were all walking about in summer
clothing, sitting in the sun for chalets, relaxing and ofcourse competing in things like: the 5km
Fun Run, Aerobics (if you were still alive after the night before...), Table Tennis, Darts Competition,
Tug'O War, etc etc etc.
Also the Queen Market opened and everybody rushed in to try to find some new additions to their Queen
(record) Collection. ,br>
Also the whole weekend the swimming pool was open (ofcourse with Queen music in the background) and
vidoes were played at big screens in 2 halls and on the TV-channel of the park (QTV it was called.
appropiate heh?).
The QMS people gathered for a group photo in the hall, many nationalities together!
In the afternoon the final of the Talent competition took place. Talent seems to get better each
year! 2 guys doing "Under Pressure" won the contest, second was a Swiss (or Austrian) guy doing
"You take my breath away" on the piano. Can't remember the 3rd right now.
After that I again changed myself into Freddie Mercury for the Mime competition and the fancy dress
theme party. Allthough I reached the final that evening, I (as usual) did not win a prize. But
was photographed many times! :-)))
Because Arena Travel, the organization that puts the Convention together, celebrated their 25 years
Annivesary, they came with a surprize. A Gary Glitter cover Band! Not appropiate for a Queen Convention
but because the theme of the Dress that evening was 60's-70's (lots of people dressed that evening!)
it was a nice addition to the party. The place rocked! Everyone started singing, dancing, waving their
hands. Incredible! I enjoyed it very much!
Then the Queen Disco started again. This time till 3am in the morning because the band was put into the
agenda of that evening and it started later. Ofcourse lotsa parties after the Disco in many Chalets....
Sunday, those that still were alive came to the Ballroom for a last dancing session.
We started gathering our stuff for the journey home. But there we still a few hours disco lying ahead
of us. So we went to the ballroom, watching videos on the huge screen on stage and sang along with the
songs, holding our hands together during "Champions", "Friends", "Ga GA", "We will Rock you".
Time flies when you're having fun.... even now the Convention is longer than ever, we still want to
stay and party more!
But after 2pm we all got our bags to the coach that was waiting. For us Dutch fans, the weekend wasn't
over yet. After almost 6 hours travelling we stayed in a Hotel in Ipswhich and took a ferry home on Monday.
The VJ on the ferry (yes VJ! they had a big videowall!) played some Queen songs for us and about 15 of us
went to the small dancing floor in front of the wall and sang and danced along to the music! The journey was
shorter this time (hmmm, maybe the wind caused this?). After only 3 hrs we arrived in Holland. Still it wasn't
over yet from me. I had to travel 2.5 hrs by train to get to my hometown!
It was 6.30pm on Monday when I got home. Tired but satisfied. Another great weekend was over....
PHOTO'S
Photo 1 (me on the ferry to England...)
Photo 2 (the merchandise stand)
Photo 3 (one of the big bars)
Photo 4 (a stall with Queen Artworks)
Photo 5 (me with Tessa, Jean and Mr. and Mrs. Hedgehog on the seats in the back of the ballroom)
Photo 6 (the guitar player of The Bohemians during the sound check)
Photo 7 (the singer of The Bohemians during the sound check)
Photo 8 (the drumsset of The Bohemians)
Photo 9 (The Noticeboard in the hall near the entrance of the entertainment building)
Photo 10 (view on Pontins holiday park)
Photo 11 (view on Pontins holiday park)
Photo 12 (view on Pontins holiday park)
Photo 13 (fans dressed as early Queen during Fancy Dress)
Photo 14 (Queen fan dressed for Hot Space fancy dress)
Photo 15 (Queen fan dressed for Hot Space fancy dress)
Photo 16 (Queen fan dressed for Hot Space fancy dress)
Photo 17 (Queen fan dressed for Hot Space fancy dress)
Photo 18 (Me dressed as Freddie Mercury)
Photo 19 (Me dressed as Freddie Mercury)
Photo 20 Mini model Queen cars for sale at Queen market
Photo 21 The Queen Market
Photo 22 Jef Simonet (french comic drawer) at Queen market
Photo 23 The group of people from the QMS at the convention! sorry for the bad quality pic.... :-(
Photo 24 Me as Freddie Mercury
Photo 25 The front of the Queen Convention Agenda
Photo 26 Tessa & Jean Lothingland at the Convention, Tessa wears original shirt and tie of Roger Taylor!!!!!!!!
Photo 27 Me as Freddie Mercury
Photo 28 A 60-70s dressed Queen Fan
Photo 29 A 60-70s dressed Queen Fan
Photo 30 Sandra Smitte with a picture of Queen Rocks signed by the 3 members of Queen, 2nd price Fancy Dress
Photo 31 Guy dressed for Fancy Dress competition
Photo 32 more strange dressed fans!
Photo 33 more strange dressed fans!
Photo 34 more strange dressed fans!
Photo 35 more strange dressed fans!
Photo 36 more strange dressed fans!
Photo 37 Mr. and Mrs Hedgehog at the convention in a Chalet after 4am!!!
Photo 38 me and .... guess who? :-)
Photo 39 at the Queen disco
Photo 40 The Dutch fans at the coach going home
Photo 41 The Dutch fans at the coach going home
A big report about the convention can be found on QUEEN HEAVEN!!!
go to: Convention 1998 report
