Ok Barry, I won't check the 'tacky stuff', I'll leave it in the cellar where it belongs! Can't think why I typed 'Portland' (thanks for correction), I meant 'Portsmouth' of course. Mind you, I followed the Portland 1st thread last year with great interest, it looked fabulous & I hope it goes from strength to strength. A good job well done!

Nancy, many thanks for your advice about the Getaway. Charlie replied to me with the same info about prices & I realised that I was probably trying to organise our budget a bit too far in advance!

Thankfully we won't have a problem with instruments on airplanes as long as Richard packs his harmonicas in the hold luggage. They tend to confuse the security scanners and were intensly scrutinised on the way in to Ireland a few years ago when there had been some troubles. I can't play any instruments, I used to say that I wasn't at all musical but people just laughed. I tend to concentrate on the song too much to even attempt to multitask *grin*

And I had been wondering about weather and food & the demon drink (we've heard the site is 'dry', that panicked Richard a little) and about whether we needed to take bedding etc, so your info is very useful. I still can't find last year's Getaway thread & I'd been hoping to check that for any useful info.

I am really, really hoping that we will get to the Getaway (and Portsmouth) & sing with as many lovely, crazy Folks as possible!

Thanks again for advice and help!
Hil
I've previewed this post but I bet there are some typos!