It’s been four years since Biggleswade Minis last tour and thankfully, the weather was a lot brighter in Lincolnshire at the weekend than the horizontal winds and rain of Norfolk in 2019.
An influx of orange hoodies descended on Golden Sands Haven Holiday Park in Mablethorpe on Friday, all excited for the promises of tour. There were fun family activities as the group of nearly 200 kids, parents and coaches took over the diner on the first night, with staff wondering what had landed!
When the festival changed venues within weeks of the tour weekend, it meant the minis had a much longer bus journey to Hull on Sunday, so it was decided not to go with the friendly matches on the Saturday, but to head to the sands for beach fun and games.
Then it was an early start on a drizzling Sunday morning, and a trip over the Humber Bridge to Hull Ionians, on a stiflingly hot bus (due to the heaters being stuck on!).
As the sun came out, the teams from Biggy’s U7s to U11s went on to enjoy plenty of rugby against teams from hosts Ionians, Wrexham, Scunthorpe, Market Rasen, Barnet, Nottingham, Goole, Pontefract, and Wakefield.
It was great to see the kids and coaches in their tour shirts, paid for with lots of fundraising help from the mini tour fundraising committee and sponsors, so a big thanks to everyone involve is due - especially our generous sponsors: AltemisLab, 1320 Mini, Onyx Management Accounting & Headsail Coaching.
The weekend ended with an evening of film-themed fancy dress, with Haven agreeing to open a usually closed bar in a Sunday night and put on entertainment – It’s like they were happy to keep us away from the other holiday makers!
A great time was had by everyone this weekend. Well done to the boys and girls for representing Biggleswade RUFC so well and doing themselves proud. Thank you to Ionians for hosting and to all involved in the huge amount of work that makes a minis tour possible. It definitely won’t be so long before the next one!
