ONE of the best trips we had was to the Isle of Wight in the mid 1980’s where we stayed in a smart hotel which even had a pool and sauna!

We had a good bunch of youngsters with us including the Club’s own comedian, Adrian Harvey, who kept us well entertained.

With us also was John Glover who always had a non-stop selection of jokes to rattle off. So much so that on one occasion with several people quietly playing cards and Don Teague, deeply absorbed in a pool game, Don threatened to silence him with his cue.

We actually had a match arranged that year but not sure of the result. That was also one of the years that Jon Guy came with us.

After we’d all been out to watch the game in the afternoon and explored the town in the evening Jon decided he wanted an early night and sneaked off to bed. Everyone else was in the hotel bar.

Anyone who knows Jon will know that he mimes a classic imitation of Freddie Mercury. So a couple of the lads, Dave Blanch and Ian Grinney, went up to his room, woke him up and insisted he got dressed and come down to entertain all the lads and other guests in the bar.

Someone found a classic Freddie record on the jukebox and Jon imitated him better than Freddie himself!

In the early 80’s the Club arranged a couple of trips to Jersey and at least one year played a game against, I believe, the “Jersey Anglos”.

Most people travelled by plane from Exeter but Cyril and Dave Leyman and “Will” Tucker caught a ferry across and which turned out to be a very rough trip.

This was Bill Hole’s first ever flight on an aeroplane and he was very nervous.

Ian Grinney told him to sit in the plane next to him and he’d look after him. Half way across Ian admitted to Bill that it was his first time as well.

We won the football match 5-4 but the weather was not good.

Phil Hands, then only a teenager, went to chest down a high ball and the wind was so strong when the ball hit his chest it knocked him over with him landing flat on his back in the mud with everyone again in fits.

Dave and Ian once again had a good afternoon on the horses and won a couple of hundred quid between them – a lot of money in those days.

Later in the day Ian lost his wallet with his winnings still in it. Luckily thanks to the honesty of a young lad he managed to retrieve it at the police station.

Ian contacted the lad to thank him and give him a tip but stayed in contact with him for several years.

With the money they’d won they both bought presents to take home to their wives – that was in the days of duty free sales in the Channel Islands and things were cheap but subject to custom charges if over the limit.

After the return flight home on arrival in Exeter they had to declare their purchases at customs.

Blanch had bought wife Monica a nice necklace which he hid by wearing home around his neck (suited him!) whilst Ian “forgot” to declare his purchases, including a clock and other memorabilia, on which there were heavy duties.

The customs officer checked his suitcase and as a result imposed a hefty fine. His purchases were confiscated and sent to the Customs Offices in Plymouth where Ian had to subsequently drive weeks later to collect them.

“Whilst it wasn’t a true Club Tour Ian Grinney, Dave Blanchford, Tony Elston and John Gillard went together to the World Cup games in Spain in 1982 with the English fixtures centred in Bilbao.

"Their accommodation was in a village some way out of the City. One afternoon they were in the hotel bar watching other teams play when Blanch felt a necessity to visit the toilet in his room.

"Having obtained his room key from reception Dave went to his room which he was sharing with Tony. Whilst sat on the toilet he noticed there were no washing items on the sink and then found his wardrobe empty and his ancient case, secured with string and under the bed was missing.

"So he ran back to the bar and shouted to Tony Elston ‘Tony, Tony us’ve been robbed!’.

"This immediately caused chaos as everyone else in the hotel bar and staff raced back to their rooms to check if they’d also been robbed.

"Only after everyone else found their rooms were ok Dave realised he’d been given the wrong key and he’d gone to the toilet in the wrong bedroom.

"A few days later all four went to St Sebastian and finished up on the beach where there was a big barbecue party going on in a marquee.

"At the end of the day three of them caught a taxi back to their village but couldn’t find my brother John so left him to make his own way back.

"Next morning John’s bed was still empty but he did turn up eventually having walked all the way back from the coast a distance of some 10 or 12 miles.”

England won all three of their qualifying games against France, Czechoslovakia, and Kuwait.

(recalled by Ian Grinney!)

A few years later we went to Hayling Island just east of Portsmouth for a weekend. It was not one of the most memorable trips ever as it turned out to be not a very lively place, especially in March.

Memorable moments of the weekend, recalled some 30 years plus later, were Adrian Harvey and Steve Grinney getting thrown fully clothed into the swimming pool and Jon Skinner entertaining all singing “New York, New York” solo on the stage.

Subsequent tours later in the 1990’s were organised by Alan Matten to Bristol, another trip to Bournemouth organised by John Skinner, where a football match was also arranged at Bournemouth’s Dean Court ground as well as a long trip up north to Blackpool and a game played at Bloomfield Road.

Over the years we had some great fun, well-behaved – well mainly - and some great memories created.

In recent years the end of season tours have been organised by skipper Dave Lee and he has recalled these as follows.

“After a few visits to UK destinations, including Newcastle, Bristol and Bournemouth, the last three tours have included three-night getaways to Benidorm, Albufeira and most recently, Marbella.

The lads managed to fund pretty much the whole trip by saving up throughout the season, thanks to a pretty substantial match day fines list, which includes things such as dirty boots, arriving late and even crashing your car.

The trip to Benidorm turned out to be a rather entertaining affair, with 14 lads making their way across to sunny Costa Blanca, however, after the team spent 47 hours in The Bulldog, the assistant gaffer at the time got stuck on a rodeo bull in the early hours of the morning and subsequently missed the 8am flight home, and only 13 returned!

Albufeira gave the lads a chance to experience the picturesque Algarve and it turned out rivals Newton Spurs had also planned the same trip.

After a fiercely contested game down on the beach, a first-half hat-trick from Kenny Ord sealed the win, however Si Durrant had to be rescued from the sea, after getting tangled up in some buoyancy aids. Once the lads got Spurs in the bar after the game, Credi demolished their opponents, sinking shot after shot and easing to a much deserved win.

Marbella was perceived to be a bit more upmarket, but this didn’t seem to bother veteran goalkeeper Lee Waring, who managed to get so drunk in a rooftop bar, he fell over and took out two giant fire heaters and a table of drinks.

He also proceeded to get his hair braided and donned an infamous Lemon coloured shirt, which can be seen down at Crediton Museum should you wish, all-in-all an eventful few days for the vertically challenged shot stopper.

Marbella was also the birth place of club legend and mascot Tim the turtle.

Timothy currently resides in the clubhouse and was an integral part of the trip, popping up at every location with the lads, and rumour has it, he also managed to out drink tour virgin, Ollie Snow.”

Chris Gillard