Donington '91

I've always been a Rock and Heavy Metal fan, ever since hearing and seeing Status Quo and Judas Priest on Top of the Pops when I was about 10 years old. I still can't stand 'Pop' music and the way things have been going in the last 10 years, I never will.

When I was younger, we (that's me and some of my mates - Jambo, Chris, Marty Dave C, Mo, and others) used to travel every year to the Monsters of Rock Festival at Donington, near Derby in England.

The first year we all went, we had managed to get ourselves booked into the Four Poster Guest House in Castle Donington village itself, just about a mile's walk away from the gig. A cracking wee Guest House run by a wee woman who would have done anything for us. It was fantastic.

Anyway, on the eve of the gig we could hear music coming from the gig site, and being curious we got ourselves a carry-out and headed off into the darkness to see what we could see. I had a few tins of beer, as had everyone else except for Jambo, who had a 1 gallon container filled with Lager, Cider, Blackcurrant juice, vodka, and whisky - in fact there was nearly everything in it! If we had it, some went into Jambo's "Demon Brew"!

On the way to the site we were careful not to finish the carry-out, except for Jambo, who took it into his head to polish off his "Demon Brew" while calling us all "soft, Northern poofs" for not wanting to help him finish it. It tasted foul, so there was no chance.

Apparently they were doing a wee sound-check before the gig, and testing out the PA and speakers and the lights. We went along , had a good look and then headed back. Nothing interesting was going on (no sign of AC/DC or Metallica!) but on the way back to the village, Jambo sets off in front and is soon lost to our view. We weren't worried as Jambo was always doing this sort of thing. He can be very impatient at times, but we knew we'd see him back at the guest-house.

It was pitch dark and we were walking along a single track road with a verge and hedging along one side, just drinking our carry-outs and having a laugh. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot something lying in a ditch under a hedge beside the road - looked like someone's T-shirt - so I went over to have a closer look…..

And there, fast asleep, was Jambo. His empty bottle of "Demon Brew" beside him and his clothes covered in mud.

"Here lads, come and have a look at this" I shouted, only to see Jambo rising from the dirt like a pissed Phoenix rising from, well, some dirt, with a big grin on his face shouting "Ha! Got you all! Surprise…..!" and staggering up onto the road.

To this day he still insists that he was waiting in the ditch to surprise us, and that we all fell into his cunning little ploy.