Saturday 26 September 2015

Huddlesford Heritage Gathering


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.

Next week: Further on down the Coventry Canal, heading for the Ashby, looking for paint suppliers and someone who sells Owatrol.

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