Meet the Alphabetties! Mothers finishing final weekender problem

As new mothers nearly 30 years ago, they bonded over stretch marks, sleepless nights and potty training.

Joy Gill, Sara Bundey, Anne Woolley, Jane Laitt and Sara Gemmell, who met through their NHS antenatal group, quickly became close friends and, when their babies became toddlers, the five women decided to escape motherhood for 48 hours by jetting off on a girlie weekend to Amsterdam.

But it was during a repeat trip to Barcelona the following year that they hatched a plan – to work their way through the alphabet, and the globe, leaving the children in the care of their husbands for one weekend each year.

Next month – 26 years after that first trip in 1998 (and 13 children, one grandchild, a divorce, a global pandemic and even a book later) their quest will finally come to an end, when the five travel to the island of Zante, in Greece.

Joy, 61, of Timperley, Cheshire, told the Mail: ‘I can’t remember who said it first back in the late 90s, but we worked out we’d done A and B and decided it would be a great idea to do our own A to Z.

‘We’ve booked Zante for September. We’d have loved to go to Zanzibar but …..well, it’s a long way for a weekend!’

The gang, who nicknamed themselves the ‘Alphabetties,’ first met while pregnant with their first children at an antenatal group at Timperley Health Centre in 1995. Coffee mornings soon developed into drinks and dinners out, and they flew off for their first girlie weekend three years later, in 1998.

Joy, who has written a novel loosely based on their adventures, said they had to be creative with some of the letters. After Barcelona, they took in Champagne in France, Dublin, Edinburgh, Faro in Portugal, Glasgow, a Health spa, the Iberian Peninsula (Puerto Banus), Jerez in Spain, Kinsale in Ireland, and sailing the canals on a Long boat.

For M they went to Malaga in Spain, followed by Nice and Orleans in France, Palma in Majorca and London to see the Queen.

They then jetted off to Rome, went down South to see Sara Gemmell – who had moved to Cornwall – and then to Tavira on the Algarve.

U took them to Udine, just north of Venice in Italy. For V they went to the Maltese capital Valetta, and after a pause for Covid, travelled to Wales.

‘X was always going to be a problem,’ joked Joy.

‘So, we decided it was a number – the roman numeral for 10 – and that year we took our husbands with us to the Cotswolds.’And for Y the women went to the former Yugoslavia, Croatia.

‘Ok, so a couple of the letters are a bit tenuous,’ she added. ‘But we’ve had enormous fun.

‘We try to take in a bit of culture, but never at the expense of a nice square and a glass of wine!

‘We’ve had many memorable moments along the way.’

Joy said it was hard to pick a favourite.

‘We always loved the ones with sunshine and Amsterdam was wonderful,’ she said. ‘We took in everything that city had to offer. We went to a ‘show’ and we had ‘cakes.’

‘We took a segway trip in Rome which was great, and we ended up dancing on the deck of the narrow boat we went on in the Midlands.

‘We all had a go at steering with limited success and ended up in a sandbank at one point, but it was fabulous.

‘Orleans was probably the most disappointing spot. Once you’ve done Joan of Arc there isn’t a lot to see …and it rained all the time.

‘And the year we went to Dublin was just days after 9/11- we didn’t feel like letting loose really.’

Joy, whose husband, Bill, is a global information security manager, started to write up what the Alphabetties had done every year ‘because I didn’t want to lose any of the memories.’

‘On our first night at the next destination, we’d read out what we got up to the year before,’ she said. ‘It would stretch to eight sides of A4.

‘Once we got past M I realised I had enough to make a novel.

‘I’ve changed the names, but the girls know who they are!

‘It covers all our ups and downs and triumphs and sadnesses. I’ve added a bit of drama, there are some fictitious plot lines in there.

‘But I’ve tried to convey the fun and support and love these women have for each other, as their children grow up.’

 

Joy’s children Alice, 26, and Robert, 29, are now grown up and she has retired from work as a local government planning officer.

She said the book was emotional to write and admitted she was nervous about giving it to the other four to read when it came out earlier this year.

One of them promptly broke down in tears.

‘I was petrified when they read it for the first time,’ Joy said. ‘But thankfully we’re still friends.’

The book, The Alphabet Tour – The Early Years, is available to buy on Amazon for £7.99 or by e-book £3.99.