Hopwas to Polesworth Mission part 2: Glascote to Polesworth

Wed 24^th June

Glascote to Amington

At 8am we had our team meeting in a garden backing onto the canal. Access was up a ladder. Jean was our hostess, a friend of Peter’s for many years.

8am meeting in Jean's garden in Glascote

Bill and Babs came past. We have met them a few times before.

The team were all assembled at Glascote, and the line of boats was quite impressive. The list was as follows:

 

Tumzul Cloud - Don & Celia

Trinity – Henry & Lin, plus Jack

Gospel Belle – Peter & Lin, plus Elaine

Loch Rannoch Hire boat – David and Carole

Piglet – Alan & Joan

Remus – Sue & Eric

Kew – David & Mary

Gabriel – James & Hazel

Essence – Adrian & Chris

Jubilee – John & Jan

Solar Kingfisher - Peter

Mistol – Rob & Tricia

Ultreya – Chris & Diane

Chyandour – Stephen & Gwyneth

By car – Richard Alford

  

Moored at Glascote

The fleet

We attended the Methodist lunch club, and James gave his testimony, which resulted in tears of emotion. We sang Father’s Love.

We moved on down to Amington, where we attended a quiz at the Gate Inn, put on by the local church. Although we tried to invite some others to join our team, we ended up with BCF teams separate from the church teams. Although it was fun, it did not contribute to the mission.

Quiz time

0 locks, 1 mile

Thu 25^th June

Amington

Our 8am meeting took place in an area of park adjacent to the canal.  We decided we needed to lower the song keys as we had found it difficult to reach the top notes in the early morning!

 8am Amington prayer meeting

 

 We said farewell to Adrian and Chris Dann as they left on Essence.

Alan Dewhurst gave us a lift to the Elim church to entertain their lunch club. We sang several songs with bits of testimony in between. This was much more successful in our eyes than the previous weepy experience at the Methodist Church.

In the evening we had a team barbecue

No boating today

Fri 26^th June

Amington

Our 8am meeting was again in the park. We discovered that we had not brought our guitar stands. The local vicar came past and took part.

We had a lot of children visiting the boats again, and some of our team took assemblies in the local schools.

Some went to the field where the Amington Fete was to take place, and were prayer walking in the rain.

We heard about the gunman in Sousse, Tunisia, shooting people on the beach.

No boating today

Sat 27^th June

Amington to Alvecote

Once again our 8am meeting was in the park. Again we had no guitar stands.

 8am at Amington

The main focus today was the Amington Fete.  It was hot and sunny

We had a strong team to set up the stalls and games, while others were standing by the boats, showing people around and chatting to them. We also

had boat trips and cream teas.

Setting up the BCF gazebo

In they come

Watching the displays

Frog racing

A visit from the mayoress

Arresting the frogs

 

Boat trips and cream teas

We had a burger and an ice cream before departing early for Alvecote. We needed to get to the Samuel Barlow to clarify the arrangement for us providing entertainment in the evening. There was talk of us being upstairs in the function room as a private meeting.  We explained that we wanted to sing to members of the public in the pub, and not squirreled away in an upstairs room.

We met Brian and Anne from W Anchor, last seen in Stourport.

Moored at the Samuel Barlow

Jubilee moored round the corner, and Kew came alongside.

We had a meal in the pub which was very good.  We used our big guitar stands as we realised that the small ones were missing, presumably at the Elim Church in Glascote.

We sang eighteen songs altogether, with John and Jan playing with us. People were listening, and we were able to communicate.

Peter and Lin made a good contact and have been invited for a meal to talk further.

0 locks, 1 mile

Sun 28^th June

Alvecote to Polesworth

We had no 8am  meeting, because we had an early departure to Polesworth.

We were able to empty cassettes before setting off in light rain, mooring by the recreation ground.

The rain stopped before we walked to the Abbey for the 10am service. Then we had coffee in the refectory, where we discovered that there was to be a “bring your own food” barbecue.  We all called in at one of the two small shops in the village to buy something suitable.

 In the refectory at Polesworth Abbey

We had lunch and a snooze on the boat, before returning to the abbey for a garden party.  There were tombolas and cake stalls, and it looked like something out of Midsomer Murders.

Midsomer Polesworth

This was followed by “Songs of Praise” which consisted of a talented chap on a piano playing a verse or two of favourite hymns, hoping that someone would know the words.

Later we had our own final team communion service in the playing fields.

Final team communion

0 locks, 2 miles