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battles and even mythologi­ cal duelling between the Gods, writes Gabrielle Fagan, but most of these paled in comparison with the task of convincing my teenage daughter that we really ought to explore the history of this beautiful Greek island. It’s a brave woman who attempts


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Party brings in £1,600 for the Poppy Appeal


raised more than £1,800 for the Royal British Legion annual Poppy Appeal. Organised by the Chat­


A


burn and District Branch of the Royal British Le­ gion, the event took place on the Sunday afternoon nearest to Armed Forces ■ Day - June 26th. The branch comprises


the villages of Grindleton, Waddington, West Brad­ ford, Bolton-by-Bowland, Sawley, Rimington, Down- ham and Chatburn. This year's event saw


guests chatting with friends, drinking wine and listening to Alan Amos playing summer


CHEESE and wine party held' in Grindleton


sounds helping set the


. garden party mood along , with the sunny weather. Sales tables included


new books donated by Simon Hayhurst, cakes and produce donated by friends and members of the branch, and lots


- of plants donated by Shackletons. Organiser thanked


local businesses who donated prizes for the raffle and tombola: Chat­ burn Post Office, Ribble Valley Supplies, Dugdales Builders Merchants, Mad About Beauty, Scis­ sor Sisters, the Beauty Boutique, Cosgroves, Dawsons of Clitheroe and Roy Porter's of Chatburn, who provided the cheese.


m TOP LEFT: Three families enjoying the afternoon in Grindleton.


ABOVE: Organiser Mandy Brennan, second left, with friends and supporters of the Chatburn and District branch of the Royal British Legion raising funds for the Poppy Appeal.


•


LEFT: Alan Amos provides the entertainment at the Chatburn and District Royal British Legion event.


BELOW: Joanne and Keith Hughes with Veronica and Nick Millwood. BOTTOM LEFT: David and Rita Webb with Fred and Barbara Bradshaw. BOTTOM RIGHT: Janet Gilmour, Doreen Balshaw and Ida Clough.'


to prise a sun-worshipping 17-year- old away from a pool, and suggests instead a worthy programme of sightseeing and exploring a fascinat­ ing historical and archaeological location. At the mere mention of the "C" word - culture, not clubbing - she raised her sunglasses, stared in disbelief and uttered the dismissive words: "Err, hello, I thought this was supposed to be a holiday!" Heated discussions ensued as we


lazed in the glorious surroundings of five-star Aldemar Royal Mare Village in Hersonissos on the island’s north coast. Suddenly, I could understand the stress suffered by Greece’s poor politicians negotiating with the EU to save the country from bankruptcy. But, secretly, I could understand Sarah’s stubborn reluctance to leave this spot, which is surprisingly idyllic despite being only a half-hour taxi ride from the airport and Crete’s capital, Heraklion. The resort’s attractive blond brick


and white washed buildings are ar­ ranged in the elegant style of a Greek village, and the effect is enhanced by decoratively tiled roads and tranquil landscaped gardens. Our ground floor V|P suite - bedroom, lounge and luxury bathroom - opened onto a secluded private pool shared with two other families. Every morning we ate breakfast


in the Candia restaurant with its huge open-air verandah overlooking two outdoor pools. Freshly cooked pancakes are a speciality and there are also plentiful bowls of fresh fruit and low-carb treats for those on a healthy diet. A visit to the three-floor spa is a


must and it boasts a huge seawater thalassotherapy pool and a wide range of treatments, although our therapists were rather brusque. Lunch afterwards included locally caught fish at the Albatros restau­ rant overlooking the beach. While my daughter topped up her


m m m t im W. m


tan, I sampled the sports facilities, which include squash, table tennis, mini-golf and volleyball. My tennis lessons (42 euros for 45 minutes) were held at the impressive clay court tennis centre, which is regu­ larly visited by international players. In the evenings a spacious main


restaurant offered an extensive buf­ fet menii, with a three-course meal around £25 a head and wine £8 a glass. On a couple of evenings we took a 10-minute taxi ride to the local town Hersonissos, eating at tavernas and paying around £15 for three courses, and £7 for a bottle of wine.


RETE has suffered its fair share of conflict over the years with invasions,


Finally, I resorted to bribery to


persuade my daughter to leave our relaxing sanctuary. She agreed to join three excursions in return for a shopping trip and a visit to nearby Malia, the clubbing capital of Crete and a mecca for British youngsters


who flock there each summer for 24- hour partying. Fortunately, our first outing was


the Cretan antidote to a teenage sulk - a lively Jeep Safari trip up into the mountains. Our Liverpudlian guide, Robert regaled us and our fellow travellers - backpackers to pension­ ers - with ’’bite size’’ history and ' humorous anecdotes. The dramatic island landscape


includes stunning mountain ranges, dotted with caves and gorges, which are home to an endangered species - vultures. We spotted the rare bearded vulture, which can fly ' at speed and use its 10ft wingspan to kill a goat by knocking it off the hillside. Fortunately, it didn’t fancy a stroppy adolescent for lunch! !nland, the island is said to include


around 35 million olive trees, one of them possibly 5,000 years old. Extra virgin olive oil earns more for the island than tourism. We drove along rugged roads, through carpets of wild flowers and breezes headily scented with aromatic herbs, fennel, sage and basil, all growing wild. We partially escaped the heat in


the largest forest on the island, fol­ lowing a winding route littered v/ith roadside shrines honouring accident victims. Luckily, we saw the extraordinary


sight of a goat standing on top of a tree before lunch at a hillside cafe. Otherwise I might have blamed Raki, the famous Greek fermented wine that we had consumed! Apparently, herds of wild goats "cri cri" roam this area, part of the fertile Plateau of Lasittii, all of them agile enough to climb trees and nibble foliage. It’s impossible to ignore the wealth


of Greek mythology, and we descend­ ed hundreds of steps to go deep into' an enormous-and awe-inspiring cave filled with stalactites and stalagmites that legend relates is the birthplace of Zeus, father of all the Gods. Our safari day - costing 70 euros


per person - was a brilliant awaken­ ing to the natural beauty and legends of Crete, while a boat trip to the tiny, rocky island of Spinalonga, Greece’s main leper colony for half-a-century to 1957, was a fascinating insight into social history. A boat excursion, costing 52 euros,


began from Agios Nikolaos, a port which also has a huge lake that was


once deemed bottomless and where at the end of the Second World War the occupying Germans dumped tanks and armaments before fleeing. Nowadays, streets lined with chic cafes, restaurants and shops make it a charming, cosmopolitan place


to visit. Once you’ve made the hour cross­


ing (it’s six miles from the mainland) arriving at Spinalonga is eerily like


L -T„ stepping into the ghostly past. Much


of the settlement inhabited by the unfortunate lepers - around 1,000 were transported there over the years - still stands and some of house interiors are recreated in period. A best-selling novel, "The Island",


by Victoria Hislop, about the colony has made the "island of tears", as it is known locally, internationally famous and it now attracts around 30,000 tourists per year. Visiting the cemetery and the tiny candle-lit chapel is enormously moving. Even the noisiest tourist is hushed by the atmosphere. Its poignant serenity was in


complete contrast to Heraklion, the commercial heart of Crete, where we hunted "designer" label bargains in heaving markets before visiting Knossos, three miles to the south. This vast archaeological site is the village where Sir Arthur Evans, then director of Oxford’s Ashmolean Mu­ seum, found proof that the mythical ancient civilisation of Crete really existed. He.named them Minoans after their well known king, Minos. What remains today is a complex


maze of rooms, ruins and intriguing glimpses of artefacts and frescos. Go early in the morning or late in the day to avoid heat and crowds. The final part of our bargain


remained - a visit to a culture-free zone - Malia, which certainly lived up to Sarah’s expectations with seem­ ingly endless discos, "English" bars, fast food and long, sandy beaches. Teenage bliss! So mother and daughter found


harmony at last. The two’’C’’s- cul­ ture and clubbing - seem an unlikely holiday cocktail, but they mixed together rather welll


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