Perhaps combining fire and copious quantities of alcohol was never going to be a good idea. Whatever, things got a little out of hand for one or two people at the climactic final founders’ day 25th anniversary party.

Mild mannered Matt Gooden went from this…

To this…

And then there was the letting off of fire extinguishers, the raiding of the bar and the ultimate, unfortunate Torching of The ‘Burning Dan’ effigy. This had been strictly forbidden but the revellers were not to be denied their pagan ritual. A fracas ensued but I’m happy to say we had no hospitalisations or incarcerations.

Things were a lot more subdued the next morning as we prepared for the return home to London.

Tired but happy…

On day 2 we had a number of short presentations from a diverse and eclectic list of speakers. They included environmental thinker and statistician Professor Bjorn Lomborg, speaking about climate change, strategist and blogger Russell Davies talking about the stuff that surrounds us, artist Bob Van Dijk talking about making clothing for flies on bikes, Andrew Shoben of Greyworld talking about art in public spaces, a dominatrix, a guy who talked about rabbit genitalia and sex with dolphins, and many more whose names I can’t remember just now, but they were great, too.

Then it was off to the seaside for yet more brutally punishing drinking. We had a rather scary Wicker Man-style effigy of Dan that had been constructed outside the bar:

‘Burning Dan’ you see – geddit?

Entertainment for the evening was provided by Reggie Watts…

And Lemon Jelly. It was a bit of a big night.