Hyw Worldwide

This page records meetings, get-togethers and general celebrations what have been taking place all over the world but which have a connection with those who are fans of Hywel Simons. Please feel free to e-mail your event to webmaster@hywelsimons.co.uk and we'll put it up here.

Sitting on the chair are Daisy, Sophie, Brid and Benny. Sitting on the floor is Austfan.

I often get asked by ‘newbies’ how this all came about. To answer everyone’s questions at once, here is a quick run-down:

Right at the beginning it was a vague suggestion in an email to Austfan. It occurred to me that, given how horrendous the ending was and how upset most of us were going to be, it made sense to watch it all together, rather than in our separate pockets around Australia. We could meet up somewhere central and get to know each other (and share the pain of the loss of Hywel from our screens). She thought it was a fabulous idea, but we still kicked it about for a few weeks before I finally decided to post a message on the forum to see if there were any takers amongst the other Aussie girls. Sure enough, Jermmima and a number of them did (some of whom didn’t make it in the end).

It was decided that Melbourne was the most central, convenient location and before long a venue was decided. Austfan had done up a wonderful invitation and people had started booking plane and train tickets. Being a semi-professional caterer, I decided to make a meal an integral component of the evening (the ‘Hywelfeast’ of the ‘Hywelfest’) and after some deliberation about the type of meal to prepare, I decided upon a Thai banquet, as Hywel had publicly stated that he was just starting to get into cooking Thai food. The idea was to send him the recipes with a few photos and the like so he could be amused by our drunken antics, but hopefully try out the recipes at home and with any luck, enjoy the menu which was prepared in his honour.

So, venue sorted and menu planned, Austfan and I then discussed the issue of publicity for the event. We thought it was a pretty novel idea and that some journalist somewhere might like to pick up the idea and run with it. So we contacted our resident expert, Baxter, who used her expertise to knock up a press release marking the occasion. Sue showed it to Hywel at the charity cricket match at Bingley and he was pleased with it by all accounts, so away we went. Unfortunately, the best efforts of our press officer was to no avail, despite one journo indicating he was interested in actually attending the event.

And so on to Melbourne itself. At the last minute the venue was changed because Austfan decided her lounge was too small to fit everyone in – and it transpired that the penthouse that Jermmima, Lynne and Benny was staying in was ridiculously huge – so we moved it there. Attending on the night were myself and my 3 year-old daughter (who is almost as much of a Hywel Simons fan as me!), Austfan, Baxter, Jermmima, Lynne, Benny, Brid, Sophie and a friend of Austfan’s. Jermmima presented everyone with t-shirt transfers she had done commemorating the event, plus signed photographs for everyone that had been sent over from the U.K.

Cocktails were first on the agenda which Austfan and her friend made for everyone. I was in the kitchen, slaving away and very glad I had made a number of the dishes the day before, because there was no way it would have been ready to eat before midnight! Anyway, everyone sat down to watch The Bill (except for the slave in the kitchen) and after it had finished we ate. I believe the consensus of opinion was the food was good. After a quick scoff, everyone then headed downstairs to the internet café to log onto the chat and tell the U.K. girls all about our wonderful evening. Then it was back upstairs for a bit more to eat before the evening wound up. Hard work, but it was so worth it. We decided also to make it a yearly event and that the next one would be in WA. So roll on August 2004, I say!

The Last Supper

Before the Last Supper, the Australian Gilmore Girls had known each other only from emails and chat rooms. The themes of the conversation were always the same as we assured each other the same thing – we have never been obsessed by a television character before, we worked hard, we all balanced busy family lives with interesting fulfilling paid employment, we couldn’t understand how we came to be mesmerised by a fictional character in a soap opera.

What would be the last known sighting of Craig Gilmore had been the topic of discussion amongst his Australian fans for months. There had never been one final conclusion made as to what happened after Craig got clobbered, but we all agreed on one thing – we didn’t want to watch it alone.

So Chin said, why don’t we watch it together? And Austfan said, well, let’s do that – come to my place in Melbourne.

We came from all points of Australia to watch Craig get pulped with a baseball bat.

Jermimma and Lou Lou in Perth booked their flight and loaded the cargo section of their plane with Margaret River wine. Benny in Wollongong took the red eye seat on the train. Brid drove across rural Victoria, WPC Eiphos was just down the road and Chin strapped on her neck brace, knocked back a vetinery prescription of painkillers, hauled her daughter on her hip and drove over from the desert in South Australia. Baxter cashed in her frequent flyer points from Sydney. Invitations were extended to the UK Gilmore Girls who came forth with weak excuses about the twenty two hour plane journey and fifteen hundred pound airfare.

Jermimma, Lou Lou and Benny had very sensibly made their home in a rather swanky penthouse suite in the nicer part of Melbourne, and a brisk executive decision was made to change the venue here.

Austfan and Brid gathered enough raw ingredients to feed a Welsh Rugby Union team, Chin cooked what appeared to be a forty seven course Thai banquet in less than four minutes, WPC produced several cow’s worth of startling snowy coconut ice cream. Benny, meanwhile, had been nominated the bouncer and spent many of her waking hours rescuing Gilmore Girls unable to pick the complicated locks of the hotel’s excellent security section, Lou Lou maintained a dignified calm while privately ensuring no one’s glass was empty while Jermmima set about demonstrating what is actually meant by the term “princess”. The youngest Gilmore Girl (Daisy, aged 3) divided her energies being enchanting and indicating that it will probably be her who has our backs to wall when the revolution comes.

But no quantity of wine could blot the distress and wailing when Sergeant Fabulous Elbows bought down the hospital curtain in his last scenes.

It was so distressing that we all got together the next day to watch it again. And again.

By the time we were leaving we all agreed on two other things – that Luke ought to be ashamed of himself and that we should get together in a year’s time and do it again.

Meanwhile we’re all still emailing each other, still waiting for August and still buying lottery tickets in the vain hope we can crash the UK Craigathon.

Do you have Memories of Melbourne? Any other get-together? Do you want to share them with us? Email webmaster@hywelsimons.co.uk

I guess it started in early 2002 when I sat riveted to The Bill, worrying about Uncle Bob Cryer, wondering if he would live and if so, whether he would be back. Not having an internet connection at the time, I had no idea that a gorgeous young Welshman by the name of Hywel Simons was about to take his place on the show. And so on came the next episode….

Yum, I thought the first time I saw him, he’s pretty cute. Then he came out to the relief and I thought yay! cute new Sergeant is gay as well. Then he gave Vicky Hagen an absolute bollocking and I was absolutely hooked. Anyone who hates Vicky Hagen on sight is someone after my own heart…

And so the series wore on and I fell more in love with him with every passing episode. By about November that year I reconnected to the internet and my first order of business was to find out as much as I could about this gorgeous man called Hywel Simons. I joined all the news groups, fan listings, yahoo and MSN groups and ate up every piece of information voraciously. And then, one day – by accident – I discovered the Craig fan fiction.

Well, that really started it. From there I got linked into the (what was at that stage new) Hywel Simons site and met a whole lot of other women, including other Aussies, who were as passionate as I am about Hywel the man, as well as enjoying the stories written about his lovely character. It even got me into writing myself and through that I have met so many incredibly talented and interesting women – one of whom, Nadine, I consider to be my best friend in the world. And the other friends I have from the world of HS/Gilmore – the original ‘Gilmore Girls’ Anna, Austfan, Mima, Lynne, Sophie, Benny, Brid, plus the other wonderful women I have met along the way – Sue, Tracy, Gill, Babs, Bev, Jen, Clare, Val, Fred, Fionalynne, CAF, Dee, Jacks….[I knew as soon as I started naming people I would get into trouble in case I forgot anyone]. You know who you all are.

And that is really ‘Hyw’ he has changed my life – I am fulfilled by the writing, warmed by the friendships and enflamed passionately by the presence of a certain Welshman on our screens in glorious ABC repeats. Now we just have to get ‘The Man’ to come Down Under and I’ll be well chuffed…

It is true. He has changed my life. It’s completely different from how it was eighteen months ago. It might have been those big brown eyes, or that sexy Welsh voice or just the appeal of a man in uniform. But it wasn’t. Well, not entirely. It was something about his and Scott Neal’s sensitive portrayal and electric performance of the relationship between Craig Gilmore and Luke Ashton, the anguish, the hesitancy, the vulnerability, the anger, the denial. I just wanted more. I scoured the Net and discovered Craig/Luke fan fiction and the fascinating and mysterious people who wrote it. And I started to write. And I loved it. It was so different from the sort of writing I’d always done for work. I wrote stories about Craig and Luke and I exchanged e-mails with other writers and entered a whole new world. I’ve started to write other things and I’ve begun a course on proofreading and there is now a completely different and exciting dimension to my life. And really, it’s all down to that gorgeous Welshman.

How little I realised about eighteen months ago, when I got so into the storyline of Craig Gilmore and Luke Ashton, how much it would change my life.

I have always wanted to become a professional writer, but in the interim, at my mother's insistence I did a degree in Computing and made a reasonably successful career in IT. However, the obsession about creating fiction has never left me, not that she wanted it to, my Mum just wanted to make sure I could look after myself until if/when the writing career materialised.

After getting completely hooked on the Gilmore/Ashton storyline I began corresponding with others who were similarly hooked and also wrote a couple of stories which seemed to be well received which in turn brought me into contact with some absolutely wonderful people and some very odd ones too!

After long and arduous adventures, I ended up taking other people's Craig/Luke fiction and putting up on the website which I helped create along with Margaret and Julie.

Margaret, Julie and I went our separate ways but I remained to edit and post the fiction, a task which has grown and grown and grown. And what wonderful stories are being turned out by people all over the world too! It is an honour to be the intermediary.

I can honestly say, eighteen months ago, I knew the basics of websites, as I tested them in my job, but I never imagined I would be running several of them together.

I have learned a lot, both about people and about writing. I have been brought into contact with people I probably would never have met in any other circumstances, which would have been a tragedy. I think also, with the practise gained I also write better, or at least my agent thinks so!

I have a very busy but very rich life of managing websites and fiction, and I owe most of it to Hyw!

I started taping The Bill the week Gina started. As I was going to be out that evening, and I liked Roberta Taylor, I wanted to see what she was going to be like. I kept on taping the episodes, as it was a tendency of mine to watch and do other things at the same time -- namely cross-stitch -- so that if I missed something I could re-watch it later.

The episode that really started everything was of course the episode of THE KISS. I had my grand-daughter (9 at the time) staying over while her mummy went out and as per usual I was stitching and she was watching. As they leant into one another, to kiss, her little head shot around and she shouted, 'Nan.'

Of course my head shot up, and what did I see -- the most wonderful thing I've ever seen! When she'd gone to sleep I re-watched and watched over and over again. I've never seen such chemistry on film before or since. I was hooked.

Like some of the other girls I searched the internet for sites about the lovely Hywel Simons, and then eventually was directed to the save site, (www.savegilmore.co.uk) where I found the fiction. I devoured what there was available. I had no way of knowing that the two sites had only recently been set up.

I wrote to Zamper and Pete, two of the people who wrote and then to Sue who was always most helpful. It was, however, Pete who encouraged me to write, so it's his fault really. He has become a very dear friend, and edits everything for me.

It has been a great pleasure to meet everyone from the sites, and I love talking to everyone in the chat room. Now I'm looking forward to meeting more of you in March having already met Clare and Dee with a meeting arranged with Val for later this month.
Thank you all for giving me back my life! I am a totally different person to the one I was before Hywel joined the Bill. He is the most talented actor I have ever seen.

Bebe

It’s how he’s changed all our lives, not just mine. That a character in a soap opera can bring together so many people, hook up people between Perth, Cornwall, Yorkshire, Sydney, Bristol, Melbourne, Ireland, Wollongong and London can only be testament to the actor who made the character live and breathe for us.

And the writing! The same character has inspired people who have never written before; people who now have one, four, six stories under their belt. Their stories draw comment and support from readers and other writers alike and encourage others to try their hand. Best still, a lot of us have gathered confidence from our first attempts and have started writing different pieces, non-fanfic stories.

That’s how he’s changed us; made us more confident of our abilities and made us more willing to go out there and take a chance and try something different.

Although there are many good and obvious results from being a fan of Hywel, (fan fic, ‘meeting’ new people etc) one consequence I had not foreseen was travelling to parts of the country I’d never heard of before.

Yes, I admit it, my geography is so poor I had never heard of Colchester let alone had any idea where it was.

I decided to throw caution to the wind and travel to this distant and exotic place, Colchester, while

I had the chance. Especially given the Aussie girls long term plans to entice our lad to the other side of the world and never let him go. (And who could blame them?)

There were undoubtedly excellent reasons for choosing June 14^th but alas my tiny, muddled brain is unable to recall a single one.

Being lazy and bone-idle I must confess to being still unable to drive and, then as now, too busy swooning over hot Welshmen to continue learning.

So with my rudimentary geography slightly improved I set about booking train tickets over the net while allegedly working (sorry boss!). Happily the train Internet site had a much better grasp of geography than I did and only tried to sell me tickets to the wrong place, on the wrong day, four or five times at most.

Sadly the Mercury Theatre staff has a very unconventional approach to customer service, they were efficient, prompt and polite.

Soon the day was upon me and, in anticipation of a 3-hour train trip to Euston, I downloaded ‘Breakthrough’ by Jacks onto my Revo palmtop.

All went well until I arrived in Euston, hot from the train and hotter still from reading the first fifteen chapters of ‘Breakthrough’ in one sitting, for the ‘short connecting train’, which took 90 minutes and cost £15!

Still, undeterred I dragged myself to the terribly pretty little cottage at which I was staying.

Okay, I staggered ten metres to the taxi rank, collapsed in a heap and was deposited at the B & B by the sleepy and confused taxi driver who couldn’t understand why I expected him to know how to get to the address I gave him. He explained that he had only lived and worked in Colchester for the past ten years and couldn’t be expected to know where anything was.

On June 14^th Colchester was full of uniformed policemen. In the space of two hours wandering around I counted sixteen constables.

Sixteen! Wandering around with their shirts half unbuttoned, wearing sunglasses and eyeing up girls.

(Blonde girls in sundresses that is, not jeans clad, bespectacled, red-headed girls like yours truly.)

I never did find out what was going on with the mass turnout, perhaps they had heard about Hywel at the Mercury and feared a riot.

I didn’t meet Hywel, although a very odd couple in the theatre offered to take me back stage but I’m afraid that I was too much of a wimp! I have no problem queuing to ask for an autograph but actually having a conversation is beyond me. You can see how I burble on when I’m writing, imagine what I’m like in person.

It was very atmospheric in the theatre. Dark and eerie but the set projected a sense of fragility as if we were watching a world gently destroying itself.

Hywel was playing Baron Tusenbach, an honourable, loving and idealistic man who dreams of making something of himself through hard work and skill rather than a mere accident of birth and of making a life with Irina.

The Baron’s scenes were full of poignancy and unspoken emotion and it was impossible not to be drawn into the scene, not to feel for both Tusenbach and Irina even as you may have smiled at their shared naivety.

I cannot speak for anyone else, of course, but by the end of the first act I was watching Tusenbach, not Hywel and not Craig.

Having heard about Hywel appearing in "Three Sisters" at Colchester and, at that point, being involved in another Hywel Simons website, as well a fan fiction site, I decided I would join the joyous throngs and go and see him tread the boards.

I had worked at the British Telecom R&D centre at nearby Martlesham Heath for a year so I did know the direction to take, also there was an old colleague from those days living in Colchester with his wife and new baby, so I decided to look them up as well.

It was a lovely, sunny day and a pleasant drive down from Yorkshire. I checked into my hotel, then got changed for the evening performance and met up with the others.

What can I say? He's a lovely bloke, a real gentleman, pleasant company and very accommodating. He spent quite a while talking with us before leaving with his colleagues to have a meal.

We were also lucky enough to speak to him again the next evening after the show, but only very briefly this time. Again, despite wanting to spend time with a relative who had travelled to see him, he still gave of his time to allow us to take photographs of him and get autographs too.

He's an actor who is very talented and at the same time humble enough to wonder why we're all following him around the country to see him in whatever role he appears, and a really nice human being to boot.

When I was thinking of a holiday, I picked Cornwall so that Clare and I could meet up, thereby killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Thursday arrived, and George and Clare picked me up from my hotel. They took me on a whirlwind sightseeing trip across Cornwall to their home in Par.

I was made very welcome and George gratefully went upstairs to use their computer while Clare and I drooled over our man having a fight with Des and then the episode from that morning . He looked so good in his white shirt!!!!

After a break for a lovely lunch, Clare and I had access to the PC after George had gone out. Then it was back down to more Craig! Later after George had returned, they took me back to the hotel in time for dinner, picking up their lovely little boy, Richard on the way.

Babs and I had a fantastic day talking and laughing together. It was great being able to chat with somebody who shares the same interests as me! It was wonderful meeting up with Babs at last. We've been exchanging emails as friends for several months now, and our meeting has only confirmed to me that we share a really special friendship.

I can't wait for the Craigathon, not only to see Hywel on stage, but to meet everyone else and hopefully to forge some new friendships. Not to mention of course seeing Babs again.

It was an early start for me -7.30am from home to catch the local bus to Leeds City station for the 8.08am train to Manchester.I was familiar with the first part of the journey as my daughter is at uni in Manchester and I arrived there in an hour.I was relieved that I did not have to change platforms (as Piccadilly station is huge) but not so pleased to find that there was a 20min delay on the Southport train.For you Aus girls this is typical of UK trains! It was a lovely spring like morning by now and the 65 min journey to Southport seemed to go very quickly.

As I went through the barrier I recognised Babs waiting to meet me and we hugged like old friends! It seemed impossible that we had never actually met before as I felt I knew her so well! This greeting seemed to set the tone for the day and we started talking then and never stopped! First she took me to her "Office" (the cafe in Woolworth's where she does all her writing) and she really does have her own table!!! We had a lovely coffee and talked some more --a certain Welshman and a certain kiss featuring quite a lot in the conversation!

We then decided to go back to Bab's and after a short bus ride arrived at her lovely flat.She made me so welcome. We first watched that morning's UKGold TB episode which was set in the pole dancing club. We screamed at Craig's interest in the pole and also at his expression when the woman wanted to get to know him better!!! Fantastic!

Bab's then made a lovely lunch (the risotto that Luke gives Craig in "Spring into Summer") and we started looking at all her Craig/Hywel pictures on the computer. She also played me the CD that Sophie had made with the "Coldplay" music as a backing and I thought it was great!

Next we returned to town and went back to "the office" after checking the time of my train home. We had more coffee and I met some of Bab's friends (both staff and customers) She is very well known!

Sadly it was soon time for me to leave but as we said our farewells we were both so glad that it was only just over a month until we next met. (Babs is staying with me in Leeds on the nights before and after the Craigathon) I had a brilliant day - full of laughter fun and real friendship. It's so good how the Gilmore site has brought so many of us together like this as we share our passion for our lovely man. Long may it continue and thanks Babs I had a ball!!!!

Saturday 21^st of February my husband John and myself were attending a wedding of friends of ours in the Cotswolds. Last year I happened to mention this to Gill who said we'd be more than welcome to stay with her for a few days afterwards, as we were so much closer to the Isle of Wight in the Cotswolds than up in West Yorkshire, where we live.

So, on the Sunday, we travelled South to Lymington and got on the ferry. Gill had given us wonderful directions so in no time at all we were drawing up outside her bungalow.

Gill made us both very welcome in her home from the word go, we brought the luggage in and some wine which we had brought with us. Gill opened a bottle of champagne and we continued on drinking and laughing and talking. Before the bubbles took effect we had a quick look at a problem on her computer which was easily solved then we had a lovely dinner together, gobi alloo, and a black-eye bean and mushroom dish, both of which were fantastic together with vegetable rice and naan breads. We all carried on talking and laughing before calling it a day and retiring for the evening.

The next day, Monday, we had arranged to have lunch with an old friend who lives on the island, Frank Maher. (However, that didn't stop us watching that morning's episode of The Bill on UK Gold.) Before we went to Ventnor Gill very kindly gave us a trip around the island. You wouldn't have believed the weather! Beautiful blue skies and sunshine, it was glorious.

We drove down to the pub where we had arranged to meet and caught up with Frank just before he got to the door.

Frank worked for many years as a stuntman and stunt coordinator in films and television. He is retired from stunt work but is still involved in movies. He now writes scripts, which is useful as he was giving Gill and myself some writing tips.

We had a very enjoyable afternoon sitting in The Spyglass in Ventnor chatting away together. All too soon it was getting on for seven o'clock and time to go. We gave Frank a lift home and then set off back to Gill's. After such a large lunch it was a light dinner and then checking out emails and the site news and watching more Craig on video, John making the best of the situation with a few glasses of wine!

Tuesday we were all heading towards the ferries; Gill to Cowes and us back to Yarmouth. After we watched out for any Craig sightings on television, of which there is never enough, we said our goodbyes and arrived at the ferry terminal in plenty of time, even managing to get an earlier ferry then the long drive back to Yorkshire.

It was a wonderful weekend on the island, great company, lovely spring like weather and sunshine and it was even better putting a face to a name. Thanks for looking after us so well Gill, we really did enjoy it and look forward to meeting up again for the Craigathon.

Sue and I set off from Leeds at about 3pm and after good journey (despite going round the Nottingham one way system 3 times!!!) eventually arrived at the theatre. We met up with Kethni and her dad and then had a good meal in the theatre restaurant.

The play started at 7.45 and I know that Sue is reviewing it for you all but I just want to say how great it was and how much I enjoyed it. All the cast played their parts well especially Hywel who seemed to be on stage most of the time. (Not that I'm complaining at that!)

After it had finished we made our way to the bar in the hope of seeing our man and after a short wait- there he was!! He looked so much younger than I'd expected and was wearing a baseball cap! Sue spoke to him and he remembered her from Colchester and Bingley and was happy to come and meet the competition winners. I was also introduced and got a handshake!! He was so nice with Beth and Kethni and had his photo taken with them. He then started chatting to us all and I'd expected to be a quivering wreck but he was so friendly that we all relaxed and were able to chat to him very easily. We talked about "The Bill" and he told us that he would go back if he was asked!!! He keeps up with the gossip from Roberta Taylor and Simon Rouse who are friends of his.

He talked to Beth and her dad about Wales and said that he would like to learn Welsh. He talked to me about Leeds (where I come from) and about the Gower area of Wales where I have spent lots of holidays and which he knows very well.

Sue then asked him if he would sign some photos for us and he was very happy to do this and asked especially after the Australian girls! (See he does care!!)

Kethni and her dad had to leave then and a little later so did Beth and her dad. Sue and I stayed a little longer as he seemed happy to chat with us. Sue then asked if she could finish her film so I was able to have my photo taken with him but I couldn't persuade Sue to have hers taken!!!!

As we left he gave me a hug and a kiss!!!!. Poor Sue had a very bad cough so he kissed her hand!

It was a wonderful evening and the fact that we were able to meet him and chat to him for so long was the "icing on the cake" He is a really great guy and he seems amazed by the fact that so many of us care so much about him.

Sue and I drove home( or was that floated!) and arrived back in Leeds at about 12.40 am.

Competition winner Beth with Hywel Val, Hywel, Beth and Kethni (competition winner) Val and Hywel

We would also like to say a huge 'Thank You' to Stacey Arnold and all at Nottingham Playhouse for their kind donation of the theatre tickets. Thank you guys!

Hywel is lovely as ever, seemed to recognise my face and gave me a hug and a kiss immediately. Very happily talked with us all, Val, Kethni, and Beth, and Kethni and Beth’s fathers too, was free with the kisses as well.

He also knew that myself and several others run a new fan website through his agent.

We also told him that we, as managers of the new site, had made a conscious decision, given the way he likes to keep his private and public life completely separate, that we only hassle his agent for any information, to which he replied, “Good for you! Thank you.”

He knows about the fiction, doesn't give a damn about it and is in no way shape or form upset about it. And he would love to go back in The Bill. That was a completely spontaneous remark, no prompting from anyone.

He also very readily agreed to come out between the matinee and evening and have a coffee with us all on 27th, No probs there. He just asked me to drop him a note to remind him. I also admitted to him that I ran the fiction site and he didn't seem in the least surprised or upset by it. In fact he says he has had a look, “Dipped his toe in the water,” was his exact phrase. It isn’t something he wants to read - I would have been surprised had he been - but it doesn't upset him and he really doesn't mind it.

Beth was soooo sweet! He really did make an effort with her once he heard her accent as well. He was asking where she went to school and what she was interested in. She was so nervous at first but he really made an effort to get her to relax, despite his own nerves. By the end of it she was eating out of his hand, even her dad was impressed with him.

Kethni is lovely and so is her dad. Again, he made an effort to get to know them and talk to them.

We also talked about fiction and I said that quite a number of us were wanting to be professional writers, not sure what he thought about that one as there were a number of people talking at the same time.

He told us he’d had lunch with Roberta Taylor and both her and Simon Rouse are agitating to get him back in The Bill. I do so hope they are successful with that one.

So chaps, we can rest assured that Hywel knows that I am connected with his new website and the fiction site. He was a little confused as to why there were two ticket winners there, so I explained that Kethni had won the tickets from Margaret’s site and Beth had won them from ours.

After an hour and a quarter, we decided to leave and give him some time with his pals. One other thing he did mention was that he started to get terrible stage fright when working at Colchester.

Also that he got the fizzy wine we sent over for this birthday and he was very happy with the bottle we brought that evening as an opening night present. He said, “What's this for?”

So I replied, “Because we wanted to!” to which he laughed and accepted the gift..

Despite having a four hour drive from Cornwall, George and I were actually the first to arrive at the cottage, soon followed by Tracy. After Sue, Babs and Val joined us; we drove to the nearest supermarket and stocked up on the necessities of life – food and booze!

Returning to the cottage we met Gill, and finally, while we were enjoying a very noisy, late lunch; Kethni and Mancsue turned up.

The rest of the first day consisted of a lot of talking, laughing and getting to know one another. Needless to say we watched some of the Craig/Luke saga on the box, which we finally managed to finish off on the Sunday morning before we left. I’ve got to admit that certain scenes were rewound more than once – which ones I’ll leave to your imaginations!

On the Saturday we were all up and ready in good time for our cross country trek, and set off in a two car convoy. Sue led the way with Mancsue, Kethni and Tracy; followed by Gill driving Val, Babs and myself.

George in the meantime was left to his own obsession – photography – and a friend, who’d come over to join him for the day.

Eventually arriving in Nottingham we parked near the theatre, and Sue left a note for Hywel at the stage door (as he’d previously requested) reminding him that we were in the audience.

‘Double Indemnity’ was an excellent production with a good cast. Hywel’s acting, as always, was exceptionally brilliant and he shone in the role of Walter Huff. His American accent sounded totally authentic and it was only afterwards that he admitted to us that his voice was beginning to get very tired and he was looking forward to his two day break.

As previously arranged we met up with Nadine and Dee after the matinee in the theatre bar, also joined very briefly by Judy. Soon afterwards Hywel joined us, generously sparing his time, although it was between performances and he was hungry. He sat laughing and chatting with us for approximately an hour, while at the same time signing numerous photos and programmes for our group. Hearing that Mancsue couldn’t join us in the bar because of the smoky atmosphere, he led the way outside so that he could meet her. Having been asked if he’d be willing to say hello to his many Australian fans on the site, with his permission Kethni filmed a short interview.

Following that he happily posed for photos with all of us, and then much to our delight gave us hugs and kisses all round before leaving us to get a much deserved meal.

Leaving Nottingham behind to return to the cottage; needless to say the mood in our car was positively euphoric: with the only topics of conversation being Hywel and the play.

When we finally arrived back, it was to discover that George had lit the fire as a welcome; although he did raise his eyebrows when I informed him that because of a certain kiss, one of my cheeks was out of bounds for the foreseeable future.

Once again that night, over another delicious dinner, the chatter and laughter were virtually non-stop and the general consensus was that the weekend was something we would all like to definitely repeat: although whether the star turn would be available for an appearance the next time was extremely doubtful.

Hywel Simons came across as a really friendly person. He seemed genuinely interested in all of us, wanting to know where we came from and passing on some extremely entertaining anecdotes about himself and various people he knew. From the moment he joined us in the bar, it seemed as though nothing was too much trouble to keep his fans happy. And believe me; Hywel comes across as nothing like ‘Grumpy Gilmore’ in real life. He was constantly laughing when he wasn’t talking, and in real life looks a lot younger.

Personally I can’t wait for either another Craigathon weekend, or even better, another chance to see Hywel either on stage or screen again.

Front Dore Kethni, Tracy, Babs Clare & George Sue K, Clare & George Babs & Val Sue, Babs & Val

Friday morning was an early one. Up at 5:15am as usual to start getting ready. Had managed to make Saturday's chilli the night before, so that was ready to go, as was the broccoli and stilton soup. Saw hubby off to work at 6:45 and continued to pack and get together all the things I thought we'd need, like videos, photos, theatre tickets and directions etc.

Val and Babs turned up, bearing lovely spring flowers after finding out the directions from a travel site were duff.

We packed up the car and set off. Conversation flowed on the three and a half hour journey down. We just had a little trouble when we got to the village, but after that there was no problem. The farmhouse was comfortable and spotlessly clean. It also had a TV and video in the lounge.

We met up with Clare and George at the place and Tracy then all went off to do the food shopping at a local supermarket. When we got back Gill had arrived. We got a late lunch together during which Mancsue and Kethni arrived. There was plenty of conversation and the laughter never stopped!

After watching Nadine's compilation video or rather part of it, we had dinner, then it was back to more chatting, drinking and video watching.

Saturday we were all up early getting ready as we needed to set off by 10:30am. Amazingly enough we were on the road in time and did make good time up to Nottingham once we got onto the motorways. Mancsue was navigating for me with Tracy and Kethni and Gill was following us with Clare, Val and Babs.

We got to the theatre, delivered the note to Hywel, at his request, had some lunch then moved the cars to a local multi-story car park.

The play has been getting better and better each time I've seen it and Saturday afternoon was no exception. Hywel is in virtually every scene and plays Huff to perfection; his American accent was flawless.

There were a couple of lines from the play which got reactions from us, but not the rest of the theatre. For example when Phyllis is saying to Huff; "You'll never know what it's like to have a man undress you with his eyes." At which point there was a gentle titter all the way along the row. Then, later on, when Lola asks Huff, "You do like me, don't you?" The line brought forth a predictable reaction.

All too soon the performance was over so we all retired to the bar. Unfortunately Judione had to go for her train.

A little later on Hywel came into the bar, sauntered straight over and sat with us. He was lovely, chatting, laughing and joking with us all, signing photos and programmes. Kethni asked if it would be OK to do a little video clip for the Aussie fans on the website, which he readily agreed to. He was most interested in what the people who had driven up from Hereford had been doing at the cottage which led on to him telling us about the filming the first episode of Roughnecks. He had lots of entertaining anecdotes to tell us. Then we went outside to take advantage of the daylight and to meet Mancsue who was having trouble with the smoky atmosphere. Mancsue who shall forever now be known as Sue Outside!

Hywel happily posed for photos and the little video clip, gave us all a hug and kiss then went off to have some well deserved downtime and food before the evening performance.

For us it was back to Hereford and the farmhouse. After a late dinner of chilli and rice we were drinking wine, laughing and talking in the lounge until very late. Some of us were watching episode one of Roughnecks and chatting at going up to three in the morning.

Sunday, unsurprisingly, was a later start. Breakfast and clean-up then off back to our respective areas of the country.

The drive home seemed to take so much longer and it didn't seem like more than two minutes since we were setting off.

Another Craigathon is definitely in the offing, but whether or not we'll get to see Hywel performing as well, is a different matter.

Dee, Kethni, Clare, Tracy, Val, Nadine Clare, Nadine, Val, Hywel, Clare, Nadine. Val, Hywel, Babs

The weather was dull, the skies heavy. But the company was sparkling and light- hearted. The road was long, and time was short. Spirits were high. Then, before we had time to take it all in, lights were low and he was in front of us. No more than six feet away. Less. Not a screen image but in reality. Totally recognisable, totally different. We had eyes for no one else, ears only for - not a lilting Welsh voice, but a completely convincing American one. How could he be so different and so much the same? How could so much be accomplished in so short a time? Sex, murder, betrayal, acceding to the inevitable.

And there he was. Different again. Smiling, excited, casual, relaxed. Talking, laughing, obliging, attentive. We were caught in the spell. And so was he. I like to think so. I like to think he enjoyed us, wanted us to be there, looked forward to seeing us again. That he was touched by our enjoyment of him. And I like to think we’ll all do it again and though it will be different, the elusive magic will be the same.

My weekend started at 10:25 the Thursday as I left Southport, by coach, on my way to Leeds to stay with Val, ready for the lift to Vowchurch early Friday morning. Val and I began our own Craigathon, watching the gorgeous man and drooling into our coffee.

Friday we were up bright an early and off to Sue’s house. Val left her car, and we piled into Sue’s jeep. We were off! With the aid of a route planner we were soon eating up the miles between here and Hereford. We had expected to be there first, but George and Clare had already arrived. They must have flown I think!!!!! As soon as we arrived, it was off with our luggage then we all descended upon the nearest supermarket to stock up with needed supplies.

Back at the cottage everything was off loaded, and soon Mansue and Kethni arrived. We had a great lunch of salad, cheese, and cold cuts, after which there was more drooling over our man, as we watched the compilation tape.

Dinner, beautifully cooked by Sue, was Coq au Vin with her Stilton and Broccoli soup for a starter. Gill had brought two fabulous puddings a crumble and an apple and almond delight. We were well and truly sated, but as I hadn’t slept the night before, I was tired and went to bed, thus missing any more Gilmore/Hywel chat.

Saturday we were up early: had breakfast, made our packed lunch, and then we were off, arriving in Nottingham in plenty of time for the matinee. The play started on time, but just before it did, I was able to hug Nadine and Dee, who had travelled, on the day, to Nottingham.

The play was excellent, and very true to the book. Hywel was on stage a great deal of the time. His timing and American accent was spot on, and before we knew it, it was over. We all decamped to the bar to see if he would be able to come and chat with us – Sue had left a note at the Stage Door at Hywel’s request.

We weren’t disappointed. He arrived, hair combed and wearing a lovely cream jacket, black shirt and jeans –not hat I was looking closely you understand! He was just so ordinary – no edge on him at all. He had us laughing when he asked if we’d been sitting near the front, to right of him. We were and he said that he’d thought as much by the sniggering at parts the general audience didn’t comprehend, such as Lola asking him if he liked her – now where have we heard that before?

He didn’t mind having his photo taken, and was sitting opposite me, so I had a good view of him. He said he was going out for a meal, but he still gave us nearly an hour of his precious time, signing our photographs, telling us funny stories and generally getting to know where we’d all come from. ManSue was outside away from the smoke, so Hywel said let’s go and find Sue outside – I guess you now have to change your name to Sueoutside. Hywel agreed to let Kethni do a short interview. He seemed to be quite nervous, but star that he is, he got through it. All too soon it was time for him to go, and my last sighting of him was his back view, as he walked away from the theatre in search of food!

Then it was back to Front Dore – the cottage -- and a lovely Chilli made by Sue, and of course wine. In fact Hywel had asked us if we would perhaps be having a little wine, and as a man we all chorused ‘a lot!!!’

Soon it was Sunday and we had to go back to reality. After clearing up the cottage and making sure that the kitchen was looking good, our lovely crowd began to drive off to their various homes. Soon there were just myself, Val and Sue left and we bade the owner of the cottage goodbye, and reluctantly set off home, wondering when we’d see out man again, and when we could have the next Craigathon. We arrive back in Elland to be greeted by Sue’s husband John, a lovely man.

My weekend finished today, Monday, as I arrived back in Southport having spent an extra day with Val and her husband Rob. Now then, where can we go for the next Craigathon?

A wedding anniversary present from my sister, consisting of tickets to the Wales v Italy game and two nights in a hotel, meant my parents were also going away this weekend and they very kindly offered to drop me off in Vowchurch before heading off to South Wales. This did mean that there was no one to look after Jessie, so we had to drop her off at the kennels before we set off – that give me the chance to check the end credits of The Bill episode on UK Gold, but unfortunately Craig didn’t make an appearance.

We got to Vowchurch without any trouble, but finding Front Dore was a bit harder and it didn’t help that the person we stopped to ask for directions wasn’t a local! More by luck than anything else we managed to find the cottage. Clare and George were already there and it wasn’t long before Sue, Val and Babs arrived. We then went to Tesco’s to do some shopping and when we arrived back at the cottage we discovered Gill had arrived and had started on the gin. We were beginning to wonder where MancSue and Kethni were, but they arrived as we were tucking into our lunch.

After lunch we put the 7-hour compilation tape of the Craig and Luke story on – and yes we did watch The Kiss several times! We only stopped once for the lovely meal prepared for us by our glorious leader Sue, before going back to watch the compilation tape.

The next morning we set off for Nottingham at dead on 10.30 a.m. MancSue, Kethni and myself with Sue in her car and Clare, Val and Babs with Gill in her car and it was a case of follow the leader all the way to Nottingham. Arrived there just after 1.15 p.m. and had lunch.

Hywel was of course wonderful in the play. His accent was flawless and his performance captivating. Some of the lines did prompt some inappropriate giggling from us and Hywel later told us he thought that it might be us and that he didn’t dare look our way in case it put him off!

All too soon the play was over and then came our meeting with Hywel. He had on a lovely cream jacket and looked absolutely gorgeous. He spent nearly an hour with us talking, laughing, joking around and generally having a great time. He is a true gentleman, modest, fun loving and it was very good of him to come out and spend as long as he did with us between shows.

Now for a few of the things that I remember about meeting Hywel. Almost immediately upon sitting down between Sue and myself he had spotted the big brown envelope under the table and was asking what it was. I took out my copies of the Colchester rehearsal photos and I loved his slightly embarrassed ‘Oh my god!’ when he saw the big one of him sitting with his hands behind his head. He then said he was thinking about lunch when that picture was taken!

He signed photos for everyone, including my Colchester ones, although he seemed a little worried about doing that but I assured him it was all right. Whilst signing he mentioned he had had a couple of auditions recently but didn’t get them. He also asked us if The Bill was any good at the moment, unfortunately we couldn’t give him an answer as we’re only watching the ones on UK Gold. He was a little surprised that he is in the ones being shown on there. After he finished signing he lead the way in the search for MancSue, whom he quickly renamed Sue Outside! After he did his video message to the Aussies and there were some group photos before he gave everyone a kiss and a hug and went off to get something to eat.

Kethni and I listened to the video clip to make sure the sound was OK and fortunately it was, but we were making plans to hunt Hywel down to get him to do it again if it wasn’t. Before going Sue decided to get a card for Hywel in which she wrote a message of thanks to him for coming out and talking to us. We all signed the card and then Sue took it the stage door so it could be handed to Hywel.

Just a few hours later we were back at the Front Dore where we had a lovely feast prepared by Sue. After some of us stayed up to watch the first episode of Roughnecks.

All too soon it was Sunday and time to go home. It was a great weekend and of course the icing on the cake was the meeting with Hywel himself. Hopefully we can do it again soon.

It was a brilliant weekend full of laughter fun and friendship. It was amazing how we all got on considering most of us had never met before. Obviously sharing our passion for our lovely Welshman helped us to forge links and it was so much better to be able to watch the Craig/Luke videos together and say what they meant to us. To watch THE KISS again (and again!) was just great!

Saturday was just so good. The play was wonderful again and Hywel's acting and the acting of all the cast was great. Even though I was lucky enough to have met him only 2 weeks before I was still amazed as he strode across the open area outside the theatre towards the bar to see us! How could this young looking, gorgeous man (and he did look gorgeous in that cream jacket!!) be Craig Gilmore whom I watched daily on TV? He wasn't though! He was Hywel Simons who was so friendly and relaxed with us. He was interested in us all and so funny as we told him about our weekend! He sounded as if he would have liked to have joined us!!! He didn't even know that he was currently on UK Gold each day so we told him to check that he was being paid for it! We then went to find "Sue Outside" after he had signed all our photos and doing the