Fri 18th September
Huddlesford
There was an early mist and a heavy dew this morning.
Early morning
James walked to the Junction for a welcome pack. It was too
early for the programme, as they hadn’t been delivered. He was given the rest
of the welcome pack by Eric and Doreen Wood from Whittington Wharf, whose boat Cre-Dal-Wood
was moored by the footbridge. We sang
in their garden during the 2005 Mission to the Heart.
He walked back to meet Hazel who had gone in the other direction
to the Co-op in Whittington. It is not
easy to walk quickly at events like this as there are so many people to talk
to. First there was Lion Star, with its BCF sticker, with Sarah and
Berni, whom we met at the Taft last year.
Then there was a man who was trying to persuade the smoke
from his fore to up the chimney instead of into the cabin and out of the
windows and doors. He was using a long piece of barbed wire folded in three to
scour the chimney, but there was a blockage low down. James left him trying
another long tool, a pole with a flat end to scrape with.
He met Hazel coming back with the shopping, so he never
visited the shop. As we passed a second time the man with the fire challenge
had resolved it and smoke was coming up through the chimney again.
We chatted to Heather and Gordon who were moored behind us
on Sentinel. Heather was making colourful knitted rag rugs.
Heather
Rag rug
We had heard informally that there would be a jam session in
the club later, so we had an afternoon zzzzzzz.
David and Mary arrived from Fazeley on Kew, and
headed for their designated mooring. Then they walked back to Gabriel
for a chat and a cuppa.
James went a spoke to Barbara on Ampere to see if she
knew anything about the jam session. She had been here last year, so knew what
to expect. It seemed that no-one was really running it, and we should just turn
up ready to participate.
There was a lovely sunset later
Sunset at Huddlesford
In the evening we went to the clubhouse, picking up a
programme from Eric on the way. In the club we met BCF friend Peter Ekins who
kindly bought us drinks. The jam session was dominated by some ukelele players,
and they wanted everything played in the key of C. This made some songs very
hard to sing. Barbara was there with her accordion, and the man from the cheese
boat was playing a guitar. It was very
crowded, but a lot of fun. David and
Mary came in for a while but there were no seats so they left again.
Sat 19th September
Huddlesford Heritage Gathering
A pleasant dry day.
We took two chairs and a table up to Kew for the use of any
passers-by. Richard Alford was
there. We went on the site and met BCF
members Roger and Pam McLelland, also Peter and Pam Ekins.
Boats moored near the
junction
It was interesting to hear one of the bands play “Long Way
Down”. We have never heard anyone else sing it. Another band was Claret, who run the folk club in Hopwas. It was
good to see them perform, as opposed to running the club.
The cruising club were offering hot dogs and burgers so we
had a burger at lunchtime, and wandered round the site.
Romany caravans
Classic cars
On the way back to the boat we saw BCF boat Puteri Intan
moving past - Derek and Edwina Wallace. We also saw Thistledown moored
up but sadly we didn’t get to know them – John and Veronica Potter, also BCF,
although they have no sticker.
In the evening we took our trolley with music stands, guitar
stands and songbooks, in preparation for the service in the morning.
We had a meal in the marquee and listened to another band.
No boating today
Sun 20th September
Huddlesford Heritage Gathering
The central heating didn’t start this morning as the
batteries were low. We didn’t run the engine yesterday.
We went with our guitars and song files to set up with PA on
the field. Tony the PA man was there to help us get plugged in. Our extra
musicians arrived with little time to spare to run through anything or have a
practise, so it was straight in with three or four warm up songs, and the
service itself began at 9.30am.
We did not have time to catch up with anyone afterwards as
we were packing up instruments. We were invited to Peter and Pam Ekins boat March
Mole for drinks, and it was good to spend some time with them.
We had a burger from the BBQ and listed to Homity Pie for a
while, before taking our trolley back to the boat. There we ran the engine and fed Hugo.
We went for a meal in the Plough with David and Mary. There were several other boaters in there.
The food was good, but perhaps a tad pricey.
There was a good cider – orchard pig.
We went to the boat club for another music session, with
Barbara and Malcolm and the man from the cheese boat. It was not so crowded as on Friday, and it was possible to sing
and be heard. And we could choose
sensible keys to sing the songs.
No boating today. No photos either.
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