Dear Fellow Boots N Blisterer,

I honestly cannot believe that I am sitting here typing this…I’ve thought long and hard about what to say, how to phrase it. Something I didn’t think I would ever get the opportunity to say…(I can hear many of you, including Joe saying, “Yes, yes Emma…get on with it”)…but it’s so important to Robbie and I, and I know for you, but I’ve let you down, I can’t think of any kind of clever or unusual way to say it…. other than;

WE DID IT. WE GOT THE CRYSTAL BOOT!!YES THAT’S RIGHT…. BOOTS N BLISTERS IS LINEDANCER MAGAZINE’S CLUB OF THE YEAR 2002!!! Most of you will already know, and hopefully you got a Thank You card, with a photo of ‘Our Boot’, but just in case, (and even if you did) Thank you all. Each and every one of you make Boots N Blisters what it is…that’s not just the noisy ones or the more experienced dancers, it’s the youngsters, the not-so-youngsters, the quiet ones, the spectators the drinkers! the crazy ones, the shy ones, those who are there every day of every week, and those who can only make it once in a while, those who have been paid up members of Boots N Blisters since day one, and those who have never joined on an official basis, but come to the club and join in with all the fun and laughter. YOU are all Boots N Blisters, and it’s thank you to all of you. Without you we wouldn’t be Boots N Blisters, and we certainly wouldn’t be UK CLUB OF THE YEAR!….So yes it was a little tinsy bit long winded, but you know me…I have to have my say!

We got 2003 off to the best imaginable start, on Friday 10th January with a brilliant night at our Dulwich venue, starring The Glenn Rogers Experience. Glen and Les Evans were absolutely fantastic. The night was electric, the crowd were unbeatable, and we had The Best Time! It put me, and I gather many of you, on a high that got us through the two-week break we then had from the club. Well, almost. I gather from lots of your gripes that you missed us, but was glad to hear that quite a few of you had got out and about to other clubs and classes, and even more pleased that you’d still come back!

Our first day back was not so different to normal, or so it would appear! It was a Wednesday evening in January, nothing memorable about the weather, well not for me. I don’t think that it was even particularly cold. Most of us were rather rusty after a two-week break, I certainly was. And the majority of you didn’t take the blindest bit of notice that there were three visitors in your midst…two of whom were wearing ‘Crystal Boot T Shirts’. Everyone got on with the business of what they were down there for…. dancing, learning, catching up on the latest gossip, and possibly enjoying a beer or two. The majority didn’t even seem to notice Robbie’s and my nervous disposition. Just as well really, I suppose, because those three visitors were the Linedancer judges, and they were there to see you all enjoying yourselves, and not being on your best behaviour, as you may have been had you realised. Anyway, the night was quite normal, Robbie forgot some of his steps, I did the same, some of the members did too, as I say a normal night… with the only difference being that after they had been announced, the judges chatted with, and interviewed (in a small way) many of the members…and took photos. (You can see these by clicking on www.linedancermagazine.com then view photos, and scroll down to Boots N Blisters Jan 2003…a bit of a rogue’s gallery if you ask me!)

The night was over before long, and all the members left on a high. While I kept beating myself up, thinking, “…if only I’d done this, or if only I’d done that”…as you can imagine, I drove Robbie around the bend. Actually, after a day, he classified our home a ‘Crystal Boot Free Zone’! …So that was that it wasn’t to be mentioned again!

There wasn’t any time to be thinking about ‘what could have beens’, as the Friday following that 31st Jan, wasThe Late Late New Years Party~Hoots Man It’s Hogmanay (Just A Wee Bitte Late) As our Late, Late New Years Party fell the weekend after Burns Night, we couldn’t miss out on that…having been such a great success last year, we decided to push the boat out, so to speak, and combine the two! Madness I hear you say. And you are quite right!…I have to say I had to question my own sanity when I saw the photos!

The evening kicked off pretty much like any other at Boots N Blisters, apart from the fact that the majority of people were wearing tartan. I had customised a pair of pyjamas from the clan Marks & MacSpencer, (nothing flash, just removed the legs, and made a sash with the excess material), Tim wore a full length Stewart Tartan Kilt, (yes full length, as in to the floor…or nearly!), and Beverley wore a matching long length Jacket. They did look like a pair of bookends! Jan wore what could only be described s a tartan pelmet…with legs like that they should never be hidden, and Alan wore a tam-o-shanter the size of a dustbin lid! Robbie, who no longer possesses a kilt, for fear I make him wear it, allowed me to kit him out as a McDonald version of brave heart (and with some of the comments I got from the girls, I am going to have to keep my eyes on him!) There was tartan in every shape and form that you can imagine, and it made for a bright and colourful evening.

At about 9.30 I was piped in…giant haggis in hand, (I won’t tell you what I was wearing by then, for if you weren’t there you’ll have to wait ‘til next year), and after parading it around the room, Robbie performed the ceremony of ‘Addressing The Haggis’. There was Haggis, neeps and tattees for all, washed down by a dram of whisky. We then all retuned to the serious business of dancing that is until just before 11. At 11pm exactly we re-lived the chimes of Big Ben, pulled our party poppers, and danced to Auld Lang Sine. It was the start of the New Year for us! And what fun we had!! (Finished with a 12 minute Highland Fling (never to be repeated!) by yours truly, at midnight!

The Friday following that was pretty normal, or as normal as it can ever be with you lot. Followed on Friday 14th February, with The Alternative Valentines Ball. Alternative because, this was the Valentines celebration where you didn’t need a partner, but if you had one, then they were more than welcome! It was ‘Dress To Impress’, and everyone did just that.

It was a fantastic night…though I say so myself. We were entertained by the brilliant, and completely bonkers, ‘Thrillbillies’. They kept us more than amused, with their madcap sense of humour and brilliant mix of music. The buffet was devoured, and it gave me great pleasure to present all the girls with a single, long stemmed carnation, and the guys with a little parcel of chocolates. In fact, I had made far too many, and there was enough of said parcels for the girls too. We were down on numbers, due to baby-sitting commitments and the like, but you would never have believed it by the atmosphere in the hall…and the noise!!

Anyway, it was hailed such a success by those present, that we decided there and then to do it all again next year…exactly the same, but hopefully with more people. So you can get that date in your diaries now…Friday 13th Feb 2004!

The weekend following that will go down in history…well for us anyway! At around 11pm, on Saturday 22nd February, Boots N Blisters was awarded the Crystal Boot, for UK Club Of The Year! There is an official video of the momentous occasion, which I will be taking orders for (priced at around £12), so if you are interested let me know. (If you can bear to sit through my acceptance speech that is!) Robbie meanwhile was keeping everything running smoothly at the club?! Apparently the Guinness was flowing smoothly anyway.

Having returned to London with Our Crystal Boot, all that there was left to do was to celebrate. So on Friday 28th February we threw a party that, hopefully, if you were there, you will be able to remember for a long time to come.

The evening started pretty much as usual, apart from, taking centre stage, back lit, on a glistening copper plinth, stood THE crystal boot! It looked magnificent, and luckily, we managed to get a couple of photos of it as it looked.

After about an hour and a half, myself, and ‘The Boots N Blisters Babes’ dressed Mardi Gras style repeated the parade of honour that we made the night after the awards in Blackpool (check out Linedancer April and May for photos) (At Blackpool we had missed the official parade, and they took such pity on us, that they allowed us to parade by ourselves…as you can imagine I loved every moment!!)

I then unveiled the surprise buffet, and later in the evening, the ‘Boots N Blisters Babes’ presented everyone with a glass of Champagne. We toasted Boots N Blisters, and hopefully gave you all the thank you that you deserve!

What better a note to finish on than that?

Until the next time, On behalf of Robbie & myself,

Adios Amigos

Emma x