11:00am Wednesday 11th April 2012
By Anne Bell
SHOCKED families with young children had to dive for cover when a fight broke out at a Charmouth camping site on Easter Sunday.
As holidaymakers enjoyed an evening’s entertainment in the clubhouse at the Manor Farm Holiday Centre, a man stormed through the room and tried to attack the singer.
A chair and glasses went flying and tables were shoved out of the way as horrified visitors tried to stop the fight and at least one man ended up with a bloodied face.
But management and staff at the site were praised by guests for the way they dealt with the incident, calming distraught youngsters and shocked parents.
The singer, Sean Scannell, continued his performance, despite being badly shocked after the unprovoked attack.
Stunned holidaymaker Michelle Hammond, from Hampshire, said that she and her husband and two children were enjoying the entertainment when a man went up to the stage.
“Several of the residents and fellow campers tried to stop the fight, but it still ended with someone with blood on their face and furniture thrown around,” she said.
“It looked as though a man, who might have been connected with another group in the bar, had approached the stage to ask for a request, but then he went to hit the singer in the face.
“Then this guy threw a chair across the room and it just missed hitting a small child. Then people moved to restrain him; there was a scuffle and tables got shoved around – one of my children got separated from us and was in the middle of it.”
“There were lots of families there that night with some children left traumatised and in tears. But the staff were wonderful and the singer came back on to finish the evening.”
Bar manager Louise Herbert said that in ten years at Manor Farm this was the first such incident she had had to deal with.
“It was completely out of character for our site – it is just not commonplace here.
“It was nothing at all to do with Sean and after he gave a statement to police he came back on stage and joked that his next song would be ‘I Predict A Riot’.”
A Dorset Police spokesman said that police were called to Manor Farm just before 9.30pm on Sunday evening to reports of a fight where one person was punched in the face.
The attacker was described as being 18 to 20 years old, 6ft tall, with a shaved head and was wearing a grey top and jeans. Anyone with information about the incident should call police on 101.
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