Retro Ravers!

This weekend we did something different, something a little 'out of the box' for us - sometimes its good to shake things up a bit. The past few months we have had very busy weekends. We have helped our daughter, Zoe, with decorating and moving into the house she has bought with her partner and then we have been reorganising our own belongings and creating new spaces in our home, making new uses for the empty rooms she left behind. All of this has been quite a journey and demanding a lot of both physical and emotional energy from my husband and I. On the day that Zoe moved out I posted a poem that went some way to encapsulating the mixture of emotions that we were feeling...

Taken from 'An Imposter Whispers'

Setting that as the context then, we were both feeling very tired and a little trepidatious about the weekend that we were planning. As a birthday present last year, I had bought my husband, Stuart, tickets for the Ministry of Sound Classical event in Brighton, which was playing in June 2025. At the time it seemed a long way off, but now we were to focus on putting the paint away and planning our journey and what we might do beforehand in Brighton. With our first choice of rail travel discounted (we didn't want to miss the last train) we researched and found a way to pre-book our parking space alongside the venue and so we were sorted to arrive at 2pm, plenty of time to enjoy wandering around the town and seafront.

Once parked up, we made our first retro decision, having lunch in the Wimpy restaurant. It was like an 'old school' date. Before we were married, back in the 80s, we used to grab lunch in the Wimpy bar that was just along from our Saturday jobs in Woolworths. As soon as we took a bite of our burgers on Saturday, we were taken back to memories of those times. We started discussing the jobs we did there - stocking Rimmel nail varnishes on the shelves, filling pick n mix sweet tubs, choosing which tracks to play on the record bar. We also tried to remember the names of the people we worked with and those who we used to go out with after work. Happy times.

After lunch we took a stroll around The Lanes, which was an assault on the senses to be honest. People and colour everywhere, smells of different street food and cafe offerings spilling out onto the pavement tables and music, it seemed like a new sound on every corner. We have been to The Lanes before but never with it quite so busy and vibrant as this. Once Stuart had treated himself to some old fashioned fudge from Roly's we made our way to the beachfront. The beach was dotted with visitors too, everywhere that you looked - one shrieking family group was the victim of dive-bombing seagulls who were escaping with parts of a picnic, others were playing games and chatting.

As we tried to find a quieter spot to sit for a while, we passed by many happy people -

• a 'hen do' where all the participants were singing at the top of their voices to the tracks being played into their headphones from a silent disco, led by a flamboyantly dressed guy with an infectious smile

• kids in the giant sandpit

• sporty groups playing volleyball and basketball on the beachside courts

• day trippers who had found their spot at the promenade bars and were making the most of the beer and live music

• boutique shoppers

• a host of vendors from crab sticks to confectionery

We found our spot near the Flour Pot Bakery and enjoyed our coffee with a sea view and a funky soundtrack, curtesy of a trio who just set up to play guitar, bass and drums and were inspiring passers by to dance a little as they went on their way.

An hour or so and a Mr Whippy ice-cream later (it had to be done!) we were heading for the main event. Now, I wasn't really sure what to expect and I had got the tickets because I know that the music was much more Stuart's thing than mine but by then, we were excited to find out. There are lots of superlatives that I could choose to describe the experience here, but I think the thing that I took from it most was joy. I looked around at everyone, audience and performers, and there was joy. Singing, dancing, performing, recalling youthful memories, feeling the sounds and appreciating the light show and exuberance of it all. For four hours we were taken outside of our routine, our familiar weekend chores and usual coffee stops, and we were energised.

Dancing at the Ministry of Sound Classical - Brighton

It took a lot of organising for us to be able to attend this event (logistics of sorting dog sitters mainly) but it was great to do something different. Driving home to get into bed at 1am isn't something we could do very often but occasionally its good to put responsibilities aside and be retro ravers for an evening.