Richard Bannister

For the last two years I've visited Oakwood Theme Park in August with the European Coaster Club, and I'd have liked to go again this year but the club dates didn't suit me. Instead, therefore, I made plans to drop in with some friends on the way back to Ireland after a fabulous weekend of singing with the Rivelin Singers at Wells Cathedral. Those who are musically inclined can find some of the singing from the weekend on on YouTube.

The park offers discounted admission tickets via their web site, but these can only be bought with a UK based credit card. The staff member I spoke to about this was distinctly unhelpful, telling me that my only alternative was to purchase higher priced tickets at the gate. The fact that I decided to go anyway despite this appalling bad customer service demonstrates that the park has a captive audience among those taking ferries to Ireland.

As two members of our group had never been to the park before we began by doing a loop around all the major rides. Poor weather meant that the park was largely deserted, allowing us two laps on each coaster with no wait at all. Megafobia, the Bobsleigh, Treetops Coaster, Speed, Plane Crazy, Brer Rabbit, and Spooky 3D were conquered over a period of just over two hours. The main event was as always riding Vertigo, and as we had five people I was able to fly twice back-to-back.