My Year in View with The Crew! at OneTrueMedia.com

Well... what a year its been... lots of laughs along the way. Merry Christmas to a fantastic bunch of ladies! Here's to 2011!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

PV Crew Chrimbo Cracker... at Port Vale FC! (part 1)

Well another great weekend with the girls.

Friday. Chez Pearce.Arrived in Liverpool bang on time, thanks Ryanair! Had me jeans on with a fancy-pants pair of heels... Cary looked at me shocked as I come teetering across the road in em!! After my explaination she understands - no room in my bag for big heels - well not if I wanted to get the Mickey Finns in! AHA! Good plan, Stan....

Nice chilled out afternoon, pop down to the shops to get a few bits, spot of lunch in Subway (official food of the PV Crew!) where I get a case of Subway Tourettes...nightmare! We then nip round to Mand's for a brew... Back at Cary's she cooks up a fine feast for dinner - Curry night with all the trimmings. YUM! A few glasses of vino, followed by a few Voddies, followed by a few Cock-Sucking Cowboys! Well we were pacing ourselves!
So much for our early night, after putting the world to rights, watching an OLD OLD Interview of Rob being back home in Burslem, we pick out the landmarks where we've been and laugh as Rob is on the pitch at Port Vale... telling Cary I bet she will be on there tomorrow night she chuckles! Bit of Electric Proms, big screen lickable... LOVELY! Then some random chat about Phoenix Nights taglines, Max & Paddy (Paddy & Max) and misheard lyrics where we google one thing and end up with the complete opposite! (yes it WAS rude!)

Fast forward - well only a few hours later mind - to Saturday morning. Cary heads to the hairdressers for a spruce of her do (not that it needed it!) I'm up and about where Mal puts on a bacon butty and a brew - thanks Mal!
Cary returns looking fab and offers me some orange wee - AKA Berocca... Keeps us going for the day of course and we're in fine form. Cary goes to collect Mand, gathering a few bits and bobs together and then Ash arrives to drive us to Stoke.

When we get to Stoke, we have a rendezvous at Subway... (see, told you its the OFFICIAL food lol) where we find Lou and Shelley already chilling after a nice sub! Cue lots of hugs... Paula is in touch - her train has been cancelled. WTFoof Board!
However the is another due very soon and shes only around 15-20mins behind schedule... not so bad after all.
Subway munched - we head to the hotel next door for a swift half in the bar... Debs joins us not long after (cue more hugs...) and then last but by no means least Paula!! yay!! We're all ready for the off so we hit the road and make like a banana and split.

On our way to Burslem and Tunstall.... The glamour that is the George hotel... 
Now we love the George hotel, I've said this before its a bit Fawlty Towers but its OUR Fawlty Towers! Getting checked in and sorting the rooms, the girls convene in the bar (where else) for a glass or two of vino.
Once we get our keys, we head up to sort out our Secret Santa's. We get the booze out, Mand has the novel idea of bringing a BOX of vino (good girl!) so along with the Voddy, bottles of Magners, Bulmers, Baileys, Rose and Mickey Finns we crack open the box!
The next hour is spent swapping cards, presents, goodie bags and of course the annual PV Crew Secret Santa! Gotta love it!

Checking the time, we try and cram in a quickie in the Red Lion. Well its tradition at this stage, wouldn't be a visit to Burslem without a trip over. So we do, but we are on a mission to ensure we get back for the taxis. We head into the pub and the barman from June is still there - laughing his head off as we walk in with boas and halos! The rest of the customers arent sure what to make of us! Lots of laughter and banter for the next 45mins... and a quick beverage before we head back to the George to get ready. As usual we stop traffic crossing over and get lots of beeping horns and shouting - well they're not used to 8 angels crossing the road! I order two taxis to collect us at 7.15 and of course at 7.25 we head downstairs to find the taxis have buggered orf! I call them back and ask em to send a minibus - the minibus arrives and In true PV Crew style, we cram 8 into a 6 seater... well its only up't road!

Arriving at Port Vale its like we are coming home. The girls who hadn't been before were not sure what to expect, so Lou, Paula, Debs and I lead the way up the stairs to the Executive Suite for the festivities. The door staff inform me we are on table 6 so imagine the face of the old guy on table 6 when we bound over towards him! pmsl!! I think his missus had a heart attack at that point!
I quickly find out we are actually on table 4 and we take our seats, start a kitty and get settled.
The food starts to arrive and as usual there is plenty of it and its great quality. We spot Keith across the room and we give a hollar - he heads over to acquaint himself with the new (and old) PV visitors. The night starts well by him calling us his special VIPs and continues much along that vein when we are treated like royality! But more about that in part 2!!

PV Crew Chrimbo Cracker... at Port Vale FC! (part 2)

So we are all sat around table 4. Vino and other drinks are flowing. Getting stuck into the grub, we find that its as tasty and yummy as before. I drop the salt cellar, which knocks my Magners into my dinner. WHOOPS! 5 second rule applies, and as Debs passes me a clean plate I salvage the turkey, roasties and the pigs in blanket (within 5 seconds!) Lucky theres enough veg and spuds on the table to fill the most hungry vegetarian so I'm sorted!
Running out of Cranberry and Gravy, the staff are quick to come and top us up... they are so lovely at the Vale and nothing is too much trouble. In fact, when Shelley hints that she would like a Yorkie, I ask Keith are there any spare and he heads into the kitchen before returning with 2 of em!!


How we managed to fit in dessert after the starters and all the food I'll never know but we did... and Debs and I made a run for the Spys (minus the coffee) which were munched throughout the night! We managed to get Keith to stick Rob on the tellybox for us - with Wand Erection and lots of cheers at the end of the performance around the function room - but mostly from table 4 ;)
DJ throws on a few tunes and Abba are getting ready - Keith comes over to ask us do we want the tour... well it would be rude not to!


So 1st stop - the trophy room and the Directors Lounge. A few more trophies and a bit more crystal in the cabinet since last time! Keith always gives us the low down and stops for a few piccies too!

Next stop - THE SEAT! We head into the stand and Keith throws on the floodlights! In the Directors seating area we plonk our backsides on Robbie's seat... More pictures and madness... the poor seat, I can only use one word here - VIOLATED! The seat has never seen so much action, the Laydees convene one by one to take their pew... the throne as it was called a couple of times that night!!

It's all action as the Crew take to the stands...
Keith thinks it hilarious, he can't believe the antics... well wait a minute...
This is the PV Crew... we are on hallowed turf, back home....
He then rephrases and says he can believe it! He wouldn't expect anything else infact!
He takes our antics in great spirits though and is happy to give us all the time to "take a load off" and plonk our arses in Rob's seat!
Wonder if the Crew will get to a match when Rob is home at a match... was a discussion that was had over a few shandies ;)

Next stop - THE PITCH! As we make our way along the players tunnel we convene for a team shot. Keith and Nick are happy to oblige as press photographers! Thanks Guys!
We head outside and the cold air hits us. Cast my mind back to the night before at Cary's place where we are watching that DVD documentary of Rob from 1999 and he's mucking about on that pitch! So we brave the cold air and head outside... the groundsman has cleared all the snow which is piled up at the side (no underground heating I bet, they're only League 2 yaknow!) and a ground sheet it placed strategically on the side of the pitch for us to convene on! Well we don't want our heels on the sacred turf!
So we strike a few poses, Shelley gets her legs into places we never realised she could!!! Brilliant!! Lots of laughs as we head inside and pass the Home Team dressing room...

Hang on a minute Keith, we are the Home Team... well I mean we are the PV Crew after all. Taking a minute to consider, he agrees and says "well Rob has been in those baths too so would you like to head in?!?"
ERM of course we would... so he gets his keys back out of his pocket and we head into the dressing room... some of the Crew jump in the baths... Shelley takes some time to get a bit of physio... I move the tac-tics board around... Paula plays with the balls (EASY!!!!) tis good fun!

Thanking Keith for our grand tour, we head back upstairs to the function room where we get another round in. Abba are on stage and we take a few minutes to catch our breath and chill as they get few a couple of slow songs... as they move onto more cheesy songs, we have a little boogie to Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia and Thank You For the Music!
They were OK but they weren't Robbie, were they?? And they were no JK as Robbie either!
As they left the stage, the DJ kicks off and we waste no time in getting our requests in. Robbie. Take That. Bon Jovi. Robbie. Take That. Kings of Leon. Robbie. You get the idea...

Cue lots of dancing, busting moves that MJ would be jealous of!! A few more drinkies and we get the staff involved... Shelley takes a shine to Sam's hat and gets that off him!
Cary takes a shine to Keith's flashing lights and gets them... Keith heads back 2 mins later with some new PV lanyards for us - seeing as I lost my last one tying the PV Crew banner up at Soccer Aid, Wembley I was glad to get a new one! Coming close to locking up time, the DJ plays Rule the World and we take to the floor and have a right good group hug! We're all psyched up for the tour now more than ever and decide we need another drink to calm us down! However the bar is closed :(

Keith says to give him 10 mins to get rid of everyone and we are good for another drink... or two....
Before we can say "lock in" we are getting more drinks and having some choons on to sing to! Mand has a power snooze but soon wakes up and gets her 2nd wind... In his error, Nick gives me a Southern Comfort and Coke for Cary instead of a Southern Comfort and Lemonade... Keith says to take it and Cary decides to waste not, want not....! NICE!
Nick and Keith come and join us as the rest of the staff head home after a long shift - thanks guys for taking great care of us xxx
We're sat round singing, Debs is drumming the table... Keith gets us all a couple of drinks in (thanks Keith) and Nick remembers why he didnt stop late last time pmsl!!
We have a good catch up, Keith says we have to go back before next Christmas and it's something to think about! It really is like going home when we go back to the Potteries... we always get a warm welcome and especially at Port Vale where it all started!

Its about 3.10am and we decide to go back to the hotel... Keith orders 2 taxis for us but upon heading downstairs we find out that the fog has dropped in and the taxis are not too quick to come and collect us. We convene on the main desk in the foyer, which Keith tells us used to be the Customer Service desk in the shopping centre up Hanley duck! Paula and Cary decide to get behind it to give us some "customer service" and a sing song of "9 to 5" starts!
5 more mins and still no sign - so with Keith finishing locking up, Nick gets on the case to chase them and within about 10 mins our chariots await... We bid our goodbyes to the guys and head back to the George where we jump into our PJs and decide to have a few Cocksucking Cowboys before bed.
Lou cranks up the lappy and with the miracle of WI-FI she finds the performances from Take That and Rob that were on TV earlier in the night. What a way to end the night, singing The Flood, downing shots in our jammies and laughing at all the fun we had earlier that evening!
We hit the hay about 5am... and are awake again at around 8.30. Yes we are mad! Well you can't miss The George Brekkie... This time we had juice and glasses!
Fresh tea! and the brekkie wasnt bad either! Lou even got mushrooms pmsl!!
Cary, Shelley and Mand never made it down for food - WTFood board! That WAS a first! Getting packed up is always fun, even though I always give out half of my case I always end up taking more home... thanks so much for my cards, treats and pressies girls! Feather trail has hit the George again... from the reception up the stairs, to each of the rooms and even in the bathroom (dont ask!) They love us though so we always seem to get away with it *snigger*
Making our way downstairs we hand in our keys and the Receptionist asks us where we were till 3.30 as the Night Manager commented on our late arrival... when we say Port Vale she couldnt believe we got a lock in at the footie ground.. her final words were "you girls know how to party!" and she wouldn't be wrong!

We head back to Stoke train station, where one by one we head on our travels back home... but not before lots of hugs and Christmas wishes outside. Mand is straight off for a Subway having missed Brekkie, Shelley gets one for the train and Ash and Cary follow them over the road.

Another cracking weekend girls. Brilliant. The only things missing were the Shads & Rena... but they were there in Spirit...!! Merry Christmas to you all and can't wait for the next one!