Category Archives: Family

Soaking Kathleen. 7th April

There was time for MIck to whip up a cooked breakfast before the Geraghty zoom this morning, it did mean that we’d be eating it whilst we chatted to everyone. Subjects covered, canvasing, folk, endive and sparkling ash leaves.

Late morning we pushed Oleanna back over to the other side of the little notch as we were expecting little legs again this afternoon. It was hard to move across as the wind was pinning us to the side. I managed to get a rope around a bollard at the bow, then we used the Andy method (springing off) to force the stern across against Kathleens best efforts. We soon discovered that on the east side of the notch we’d managed to get ourselves tied up so as not to be buffeted about so much, the west side we’d not been so sucessful!

We pottered away the morning and by mid afternoon squally showers were whisking around. Mick confired with our prospective visitors who’d planned on a visit before we all headed out for Sunday lunch. Instead we’d meet a car at the next road bridge and get a lift.

Full water proofs didn’t manage to keep us dry for the five minute walk to meet Anne, sorry for leaving you with soggy seats! The Moorcock would have only been a 20 minute walk according to Google, although it would all have been uphill, glad we’d not done that in the rain!

A large table had been reserved for us at the end of the pub and we were soon joined by Ruth, James, Penelope and Daphne. There was Vocation beer on tap, so for the second Sunday in a row I had a pint of Heart and Soul a nice GF brew. Roast pork, beef, sausage and chips plus a chicken nuggets and chips were ordered.

The pork almost certainly didn’t come off a joint, most probably steaks roasted in the oven. Crackling had been mentioned on the menu and this was brough on a seperate plate. I suspect this had been cooked in an air fryer. It looked like it should be good, but I have to say it was a chewy disappointment. However we were there to enjoy being with family which made for a lovely late lunch.

James offered to do bathtime and leave us to chat for longer. This meant that some of us, Mick and myself could have pudding away from younger eyes who’d already had some chilled medictaion at lunchtime. A huge slab of chocolate fudge cake each. Ruth ordered an expresso martini for her treat, but they were out of these! She was very disappointed.

There was a little lull in the rain, just long enough for a Sunday selfie before we climbed back in the car and made it back to the canal. Goodbyes and hopefuly it won’t be so long before we see everyone again.

Rain set in on our walk back to Oleanna. We decided to push back over the notch and whilst doing so we got another very good soaking! The stove was lit, coats and jeans hung up to drip dry.

Earlier in the day a message had been put on one of the facebook groups, a boat was looking for someone else to share the journey into Manchester. I made contact, a second boat with crew would make it a lot easier even though we may have extra crew for the final push. They have yet to cross the summit and our current schedule will mean we are still ahead of them. But with the current weather forecast, we may not be moving very far due to another storm. If they’ve any sense they won’t move either.

Today marks the seventh anniversary of moving on board Oleanna in Sheffield. Oleanna was very shiny and new then, she’s showing her age now, still in desperate need of a wash and polish, the rain isn’t helping this. Time for a toast to mark the occasion.

0 locks, 2 pushes across the notch, 2 car rides, 2 very soggy walks, 1 last bag of coal, 4 pork, 1 beef, 1 sausage and chips, 1 chicken nuggets and chips, 2 slabs of chocolate fudge cake, 2.5 pints, 1 lovely meal with family, pair 14 finished, 50 years since Abba, 7 years onboard Oleanna.

Finding The Needle. 5th April

Nieces. 4th April

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Warland Lower/Upper Locks to Bent House Lock 46

A drier start to the day, but chilly! We had our breakfast then started to make ready to head up Lock 35, swing the bridge and enter Lancashire ready for 11am when our booking was to cross the summit. As we were rolling the covers up a CRT chap walked towards us, windlass in hand. It was only 10am, but they were ready when we were. Brilliant.

We both stayed on board and let Billy and Richard work the locks for us. Up Warland Upper Lock, we then crossed the border, Billy welcoming us to bright side! Oleanna has been in Yorkshire for just over six months and now finally we’ve escaped, a few weeks later than originally planned.

Up ahead at Longlees Lock 36 another chap emptied the lock and pushed open the bottom gate for us whilst the other two chaps closed up behind and walked up to meet us.

**Richard to the left, Billy the right, Summit straight on**

Up we rose to the 600ft that the summit pound sits on. Grey overcast, slightly damp in the air, gloves a necessity, we could see our breath! Brrr!!!

As we pootled along the summit pound, streams cascaded off the hillsides. A toot of a horn as the CRT chaps passed us in their van waving, they’d reach the other side before us to unlock West Summit Lock 37.

Currently to help reserve water you have to book to cross the summit of the Rochdale, there are slots for 2 boats each way, today we were the only boat to cross. Billy said they’d been at the summit from 8am, sorted water levels out down on the west side so they really didn’t know why there was the 11am time to cross. An hour to sort levels would be sufficient. So those boats we’d seen yesterday had most probably come over the summit early on.

I stayed on board to go down Lock 37 then stepped off when we reached 38 time to warm up and lend a hand, Billy and Richard would be with us for a few more locks yet. Ahead of us down the big hill into Manchester there is a section that earlier this week had been emptied by vandals, a group of CRT employees were busy running water down to where it needed to be, hopefully by the end of today it would be back in navigable order.

The three of us leapfrogged each other, one going ahead to set the next lock leaving two to lift paddles and open and close gates. Time to chat. Richard used to work as stage crew at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, his son works on Coronation Street in the props department and Billy had a nice holiday in Scarborough last year.

Locks 40 and 41 have narrowed so will only take one boat at a time, no problem for us today as we were on our own. The intermediate pound I remembered from five years ago was low, we’d cautiously let water down to enable our crossing. As 41 filled the chaps confired, Richard ran water through 40 to help the low pound. It still seemed very low to me when he lowered the top paddle, two huge blocks of stone lower than where the water mark suggested normal height was. It was easily passable.

Our last passage down here we’d encountered another low pound, well more like an empty pound! Today we were told we’d be fine, the levels would have sorted themselves out by the time we got there. The chaps helped us down 41, they got a call, they were needed at Lock 51. We waved goodbye and thanked them and off they went in their van to help someone else.

A few days ago they’d been called out to help a boat heading up from Manchester. They’d found them a pound to moor in and told them to stay put overnight and they’d return in the morning to sort the levels out ahead of them up to the summit. That same day they were called out at dusk as the boat had continued uphill and had run out of water. If only the boat had stayed put, it would have only meant sorting the levels out once not twice.

Considering we’d not had enough water in a pound behind us, we all of a sudden had too much. Water flowed over the top gates straight to the other end and over the gates there too. So much water! This made opening bottom gates a hard job, patience for levels to equalise required. Maybe another bum against a lock beam would have helped, but despite there having been several walkers now there were none! We waited and eventually I could feel a touch of movement, phew!

We carried on down the next few locks. Billy had said that our preffered mooring near Littleborough was occupied by two boats this morning. So we tried pulling in before we reached there on a nice wide stretch the railway set back from the canal. Sadly there was not enough depth even at several feet away from the bank, we carried on resolving ourselves to mooring below the next lock, close to the railway where Tilly would have to stay inside.

But hang on! I zoomed in on the little notch by Lock 46. Unless the two boats were very short, they must have left this morning. Brilliant! Our chosen mooring was available, we pulled in on the far side from the lock, a field, geese and leaves from a cauiflower for company. Tilly approved and vanished for quite sometime.

A grade three hair cut was long overdue, so we set up the towpath barbers making use of the bench by the lock. There he is again! Smart once more.

Messages were sent to Ruth, Mick’s niece, who gathered her daughters together to come and find us. With little legs expected we decided to push over to the other side of the notch making getting on and off the boat safer. Tilly was called back onboard and we pushed over. A quick tidy up and then a peek over the bridge to see Ruth, Penelope and Daphne walking up to meet us.

Penelope isn’t quite 5 and Daphne just under 2. It was quite exciting to be on the boat, Tilly was spotted in the hedgerow and then we did a guided tour. Of course rocking the boat was an exciting thing that had to be explained, especially why Penelope couldn’t make it work but Mick could. We had a lovely hour with them all and look forward to seeing them again in the next few days. You might be looking forward to it! I’ll be behind Tom’s pillow if anyone wants me.

Once they were gone we decided to push back over to the field. Tilly having just claimed the tree by the lock hopped on board, then hopped off again just as we pushed off. Panic! Why were you moving the outside with me in it !!?!! Only one thing for it. Speed maths, correct footing and ‘Don’t you DARE Tilly!’ laaauuuuuunch! Plenty of spare leapability, maybe even a cats length.

A mousakkish was put together from some bolognaise sauce we had left over, the stove lit. The second sock that I’d frogged was finished and the first toe of pair 14 was cast on, it’s a bit wierd knowing how far into the year we are by weeks.

11 locks, 2.54 miles, 2 helpful CRT chaps, 1 helpful volunteer, 600ft, 45ft lower than the Huddersfield Narrow, 2 much water, 3 foot down, 1 notch, 1 happy cat, grade 3, 1 niece, 2 great nieces, 1 hiding cat, 27 weeks 2 days in Yorkshire, 1 long leap, 10 years to the day of owning NB Lillyanne, 10 years of being boat owners, 2 glasses of wine each to celebrate.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/bhQxDnGtSqdGjtGD7

The Smell Of Rain. 1st April

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Hebden Bridge to above Holmcoat Lock 14

There will be a few days whilst we adjust to the clocks having sprung forwards, waking when you wake doesn’t tend to adjust very well, so we were a touch late pushing off this morning.

Rain is now pretty much the norm and we dressed appropriately. Across the way a couple were being shown round a boat for sale, they came across as being very new to narrowboats. A bit further along there was a touch of boat moving happening. The Bronte Day boat was moved into the stubby arm, then a very familiar boat moved up and the cruiser we’ve been following pulled in behind. Did the cruiser have a problem? Was he having to return to work after the weekend and had found himself a mooring until he could move his boat again.

The familiar boat had been spotted yesterday. NB Petrichor* had been one of the boats moored below Hurlesdon during the first lockdown in 2020. The chap onboard, spent his time signwriting his boat, it took two coats until he was happy with it, it’s certainly holding up well. As we pootled past we both waved, the chap stood inside and waved back, not sure he recognised us, maybe I should have moved our yellow bicycle from the Tour de France onto that side as this was the man who’d designed it. A shame not to have chance for a chat.

Onto the water point, our tank depleted somewhat, the pressure wasn’t so good so we sat down and enjoyed a Hot Paw Bun whilst we waited, very good toasted.

**I suspect if you did this lock at 3am you’d still get gongoozlers!**

First lock of the day Blackpit Lock. Despite the rainfall we still managed to get a crowd of gongoozlers watching. I do love some of the theories people come up with. Today’s was that if we filled the lock up too much then it would force the bottom gates open! I made sure I stopped when the levels were level and pushed the top gates open to avoid the bottom gates failing.

I’d hoped to get a good photo of the mills along the next stretch, a possible painting, but they weren’t how I’d remembered them, not so picturesque, the rain wasn’t helping.

A couple more locks, was this next stretch the location used in Happy Valley when Tommy Lee Jones was on a narrowboat? A hunt round the internet later on found the Wandering Turnip who gives a guided tour of the area. We’d for some reason always thought the scene had been shot along this stretch, but it turns out we were very wrong and had passed under Bridge 5 coming out of Sowerby Bridge. It also turns out we’d bought some broccoli in one of the locations a couple of days ago.

Onwards and upwards, this will be the theme for the next few days. At just about every lock we had soggy gongoozlers. A couple ran to watch, one of them from Germany asking if they could help, I asked them to help with the top gate whilst I walked on to the next lock, they were very happy to oblige.

Pulling in at Rawden Mill Lock the canal was shallow. Five years ago this pound was even shallower. We had difficulty getting into the side and ended up enlisting passersby to give me a hand to jump onto the bank. Thankfully today that wasn’t needed.

The offside of locks were very muddy, at the bottom gate it looked to almost be ankle deep just where you needed to stand to wind the paddle back down. Extra care walking round locks was required today.

Two young ladies at another lock, one had never seen a lock in action, the other grew up near Saltaire and has helped push gates at Bingley. Then a couple who normally are on their motorbikes, but had opted for a canal side walk today, everyone helped with gates and chatted away.

Our aim for today was to reach a mooring where Tilly could have some shore leave. A small playground alongside the canal just after Lock 14 caught our eye, the railway and road a distance away too. The depth in places was shallow but we got moored up in the end.

Tilly took one look out of the backdoors and turned round to request I stopped it from raining. She tried again and suceeded in heading through the wire fence and into the play area. This is where you can go to learn woodcraft, I didn’t need any tutelage, I know all about trees!

A late treat cheese lunch as we dried off, the stove was built up ready for some jacket potatoes and settled down for the remainder of the day. Of course now we’d stopped so did the rain!

A lengthy phone call with my brother catching up on news from Hackney and then some frogging of a pair of socks. The ankle had become too tight with colour working, so I had to frog it down to before the heel turn. This will mean I fall slightly behind on my pair a week, but I’d rather every pair fits their sponsor and anyway I’m sure I’ll catch up with where I should be.

*Petrichor is the smell of rain. The word comes from the Greek words ‘petra’, meaning stone, and ‘ichor’, which in Greek mythology refers to the golden fluid that flows in the veins of the immortals.

As part of our Nebolink subscription we get a monthly report from them, listing all our journeys along with a map of where we’ve been. Though it might be interesting if I included these. So here’s where we travelled in March.

6 locks, 2.3 miles all of them soggy, 1 full water tank, 1 cruiser moored, 1 lockdown buddy, 27 gongoozlers, 6 helpers, 1 woodland playground, 1 cat amused for a while, 1 catch up, 1 missing Tara! 1 sock frogged, 3 treat cheeses started and yes the Wensleydale is very yummy!

https://maps.app.goo.gl/EneEghDzTjemD59K8

12 Stamps And Some Of The Good Stuff! 31st March

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Hedbum Bridge

The towpath was a touch quieter this morning, were people still in bed having not put their clocks forward? We got cuppas ready and settled down for the Geraghty zoom. At 10:05 no-one had showed apart from us, 10:10 still no-one else. Were we the only ones to have sprung forward? No last week when we’d only bobbed into the zoom they had decided that as so many people would be away doing other things today there was little point, they’d just omitted to tell us. Oh well!

Before Mick was allowed to get the bacon and eggs out I needed certain things from the galley. Time to make some Hot Paw Buns. I tried a bit of an experiment and added a couple of extra grams of yeast and a teaspoon of Psyllium husk to see what effect that would have. The gooey mixture was left on the top shelf to rise for an hour whilst we had breakfast.

Tilly had another go at liking Hebden Bridge, but it didn’t last long and she resigned herself to sleeping for much of the day.

I also decided to take one lot of rising out of the process of making Hot Paw Buns. So I mixed the fruit and spices into the gooey mass. Prepared the marzipan balls for inside and then rolled out a long sticky sausage to cut into twelve which in turn had their centres added and were rolled up into balls. All popped on a baking tray to rise again. Sadly the top shelf isn’t big enough for the tray so they took up space on the table.

Yesterday we’d omitted to buy some potatoes to go with our duck this evening and a visit to the cheese shop had to be made. Mick stayed onboard to hang up some washing. The Co-op was closed, the bakers open (however no queue today), Nisa and One Stop shops were both open and so was the cheese shop!

Now what on earth to buy? I chose a couple and then a third as the lady started to serve me. The third wedge of cheese I required a bit of assistance with. I wanted some proper Wensleydale cheese. In the 70’s Mum used to buy whole Stilton and Wensleydale cheeses, wrapped in their muslin. The top would be sliced off and kept to act as a lid and WO betide anyone who went in for a scoup! Slices cut into wedges were the only way cheese was consumed from these huge beasts of cheese. They kept exceptionally well. For a few years Father Christmas used to give me a small version wrapped in muslin, creamy but rather crumbly, my favourite cheese long before Wallace and Gromit were even a glint in Nick Parks’ eye.

**…there’s a duck window display competition**

This last Christmas I bought a small muslin wrapped cheese from Hawes dairy, sadly it was the modern version of Wensleydale, a disappointment to be honest. Today I wanted some of the good proper stuff! Yes they had Hawes, then there two more to choose from. I asked which was the better one. The mature one was wrapped in plastic, not a good sign so I opted for the other (when I get them out to eat I’ll let you know which one it is). This one had dark muslin, it’s been aged and turned and turned. The lady offered me a taste, but there was no need I could see this is what I was after. She agreed with me and commented about how so many people thought that Hawes Wensleydale was the true cheese, ‘but that means there’s more of the good stuff left for those who know!’

Back at Oleanna, marzipan paw prints were cut out and added to the buns. Mick was sent off for a bottle of cider to make gravy for the duck and some red cabbage had cinnamon, cloves, balsamic vinegar and sugar added to it to slowly cook on the stove top. The buns went in the oven with a tray of boiling water on the shelf below for the first ten minutes, covered in foil for the last ten minutes, then were left to cool having a sticky glaze added. The smell far better than the previous buns I’d made. Once cool enough we both enjoyed one with some butter melting into them.

**Hot Paw Buns cooling just enough to eat**

A much better bun, even Mick said they were better than the Bakery bought ones. My tweaks to my recipe had improved them and omitting a third rise I think had helped also. I’ll have to find time to amend the recipe page.

Late afternoon we had someone to meet. Alexandra Mathie is an actress I’ve know since the mid 90’s and she was one of the first people to be a lodger in our house in 2021, she lives here in Hebden Bridge. She has just returned from Sheffield having played Rebecca Nurse in The Crucible (review here). We sat and caught up on news of mutual friends and future plans over a pint at The White Lion for an hour. I’m not sure how long she and Angie have lived here, but she says that it simply isn’t the same. The town has become a destination for hen and stag does and on summer evenings the town isn’t somewhere they’d choose to go anymore. We’ve certainly heard the rowdy lads heading to the station over the weekend. It was so lovely to see her and there was an added bonus of gluten free beer on tap!

This evening we’ve enjoyed our Lidl duck. Not as good as those we buy for Christmas, but that was to be expected. A very full plate of food followed by a few chunks of Easter Egg. Tomorrow we’d best start working off the calories and carry on climbing up the valley.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2kg potatoes, 3 treat cheeses, 1 bottle cider, 12 paw stamps, 1 snoozy cat, 2 chocolate eggs, 1 Alex, 1 changed Hebden Bridge, 1 duck, 2 very full boaters.

Ruth Geraghty née Chignell.

4^th February 1924 – 14^th December 2008

Mick here writing this post.

My mother Ruth Geraghty (née Chignell) would have been 100 years old on 4^th February 2024.

Ruth was born in Hessle near Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Her mother was Katie Chignell (née Netherwood) and her father Philip Chignell.

Philip was the organist and choirmaster at All Saints Parish Church in Hessle and had spent all his life in working as a musician. He started aged nine as a choirboy at St Georges Chapel school in Windsor during Queen Victoria’s reign and took part in many Royal occasions including the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 1887. He became an organist at various churches around the country before settling in Hessle in 1901. Philip and Katie met in 1911 while they were both taking part as singers in a six month long World Tour as members of the Sheffield Choir. This tour took them round the world by ship and train, starting in Liverpool in March, across the Atlantic to Canada and the USA. Then across the Pacific to Hawaii and onto New Zealand. Australia and Tasmania followed and then South Africa before returning to Plymouth in October. They married in 1912. They were a very musical couple and produced a very musical family. They settled at Philip’s home at number 19 The Weir in Hessle.

John Chignell was born first in 1916 followed by Henry (1918) and Stephen(1922). Ruth was the youngest and the only girl in the family. She went to the local primary school in Hessle then onto the Boulevard School in Hull. At this time Ruth and her friend Marian took an interest in bell ringing and with one or more of their brothers would tour the local area on bicycles visiting various bell towers and taking part. Days out with friends were common. She had by now picked up the nickname Trigo.

**She even had a narrowboat named after her!**

Ruth was at the Boulevard in 1939 aged 15. When war broke out the school was to be evacuated to Scarborough. The day for evacuation came and she said her goodbyes to her parents and brothers in the morning and headed off to school and the unknown. By mid afternoon she was back at 19 The Weir. She refused to be evacuated, finished with school that day and came home to be with her family.

One by one her brothers all went off to war. John and Henry within the first few weeks and Stephen a couple of years later when he became old enough. But Ruth stayed in Hessle for the duration. She was a big comfort to her parents who had the great worry of Henry being posted as missing and then becoming a POW in Germany. John and Stephen were both posted overseas at times and were also a concern to the family back in Hessle. Ruth was often to be found helping in various local canteens which had been set up to try to boost the morale of visiting military personnel in the area. She was also a keen violinist and many evenings would be spent playing violin sonatas, her on the violin and her father on the piano. She would also be found singing in her father’s choir at All Saints Church.

Hessle is only about 4 miles from Hull and its docks. Hull took a pounding during the blitz and Hessle took a number of direct hits. But 19 The Weir and its occupants survived.

During the war Ruth had started “seeing” local lad Peter Geraghty. (https://oleanna.co.uk/2022/06/03/peter-geraghty-3rd-june-1922-13th-september-2002/) Peter was from Hessle and was a bomber pilot at RAF Pocklington. Ruth must have heard planes flying over Hessle and wondered about “Her Peter” in one of the bombers heading to Germany and war.

In 1945 Henry had returned home from POW camp after a five year absence. Ruth had gone to meet him off the last train into Hessle that day having not seen her big brother for all those years. Her other two brothers also returned home and the family was once again complete.

Ruth had taken up a secretarial post at an insurance company in Hull, but I suspect her heart wasn’t in it. Married life beckoned, Ruth and Peter got married in May 1947.

By then Peter had become a commercial airline pilot with British European Airways (BEA) based at Northolt Airport just outside London so they set up home there. Daughter Christine was born in May 1948, followed by Marion in 1950 and Anne in 1952. So a busy time for Ruth looking after a young family. But she still found time for music and was selected to join the Royal Choral Society as a soprano. She performed in many concerts at the Albert Hall under the conductor Sir Malcom Sargent.

**Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting. Ruth behind to his right**

Ruth and Peter moved to Ealing in West London in 1953, at the same time as BEA moved from Northolt to Heathrow. A bigger house was required and there was a good new primary school, St Gregory’s, in Ealing for the children.

I came along in 1958 followed by my little sister Kathryn in 1966. Ruth had become a Brown Owl in one of the local Brownie packs. My sisters had all been Brownies and it was common for me, a four year old boy, to don a brown jumper and go to a Brownie meeting and take part. I suspect there were child care issues!

Ruth continued with her musical life. She joined the Ealing Symphony Orchestra playing in the first violins and took part in many of their concerts. There were many evenings at our house when three other musicians would arrive and a string quartet would take place in our front room. All of us children were encouraged to take part in musical activities and we had outings to various concerts and musical events in London. At school I had taken up the bassoon and the piano. I played bassoon in the Ealing Junior Music School and I also obtained music O Level when the time came.

Ruth continued to take a big part in the local Girl Guiding movement taking Brownie packs on holiday and Guides on camps. She became a District Commissioner for the Ealing and Hanwell District.

**Anne Mick and Marion in the Chester Gardens back garden**

Family life continued. Ruth organised many family summer holidays, often with her brother Henry’s family sometimes on the South coast. Henry and his wife Gill had a caravan and they would set up in a caravan park, whilst we had a holiday home somewhere nearby. Henry and Gill had four children and with all of us we made a good holiday party.

**Mick Kath and Christine in the front garden**

In 1977 Peter retired from British Airways. Three of their five children had moved out from the family home and on to further education and careers. Life quietened down a little. Peter was a keen golf player and Ruth occasionally would play a round with him. They would also go on holidays to watch amateur golf tournaments around the country. Peter had a lifetime concessionary travel benefit with British Airways so there were overseas holidays to Africa, Canada and Europe. But Peter wasn’t a great one for flying as a passenger so UK holidays were more common.

Ruth enjoyed train travel very much. Once a year she would arrange with her brothers to meet up in Llandudno where they had spent childhood holidays with their Grandma.

**Outside her maternal Grandmother’s house near Llandudno**

In about 1985 Ruth and I each purchased a British Rail All Line Rail Rover. Over the course of a week we travelled from London to Thurso in the very north of Scotland, over to the Kyle of Lochalsh, onto the ferry over to Skye, another ferry to Malaig and down to Glasgow. Over to Hull via the Settle to Carlisle line. Ruth always enjoyed visiting Hull and Hessle and there were still many family members. Then we travelled to Llandudno, Shrewsbury, Llanelli, Bristol, Exmouth and Plymouth before heading back to London.

In 1967, when I was aged 9, Ruth and I had a day out on the Underground on the very first day of operation of the brand new Victoria Line. Very exciting!

Ruth continued her violin playing with the Ealing Symphony Orchestra and her Girl Guiding District Commissioner duties. She became a Governor of St Gregory’s School where all her children had attended, here she also helped with teaching the violin and music in general.

She also helped out at other schools. Youngest daughter Kathryn was at secondary school and relates the following story: Cardinal Wiseman’s production of Oliver! There was no school orchestra, so they hired in some kind of military band. God knows where from. Anyway, Mum wanted to play, so she was a guest 1st violin with them for the show, and I imagine enjoyed herself enormously.

**Henry Ruth John Stephen in the 1980s**

I moved out from home to pastures new in 1981 followed by Kath later in the 1980s so the nest was empty after 40 years. They stayed on in the big house at 8 Chester Gardens for another ten years or so, then moved to a very nice two bedroom flat nearby.

**Retiring from the Ealing Symphony Orchestra 27/11/2000.**

By now Peter was suffering from Parkinsons disease and life slowed down a lot. But Ruth still managed to get out a bit. She took part in meetings of the local Trefoil Guild, consisting mainly of retired Guide leaders and Commissioners. There was a school nearby and every afternoon in the summer Ruth and Peter would head out to get ice creams from the van parked at the school gate. Ruth had a sweet tooth!

Parkinsons took its hold on Peter and he passed away in 2002 aged 80. Ruth had also by then contracted the same disease but carried on in the flat on her own for a few years.

But eventually she succumbed to Parkinsons and moved into, a care home nearby. Peter’s BA pension contributed handsomely to the costs.

She had many visitors while at Downhirst, both family and friends and much reminiscing was carried out. The staff looked after her well, but I’m sure she missed Peter and her active life. She never complained about her lot and stoically carried on being cheerful right to the end.

She passed away on 14^th December 2008 aged 84 and is still much missed. We took her ashes back to Hessle and scattered them on the Foreshore in the shaddow of the Humber Bridge. A suitable resting place for her.

Thanks to Anne, Kath, Marion and John for help with the photos.

2023 A Sociable Year

A long post, it’s the annual round up.

January, we sat waiting. Waiting for a new alternator to arrive, for the River Trent to come out of flood and then for the canal to defrost sufficiently for us move. This meant Pip doing work on the boat instead of in the house, this made for smelly days and a very cold workshop under the pram cover.

After almost three weeks we were on the move again having to navigate through thick fog, navigational aids helping us not to bump into the banks! Ahead of us in Yorkshire was a troublesome swing bridge, closed to boat traffic. Our plans had to change, we arranged to moor up in Newark and head back to Scarborough by van. Chin rubs nearly made the longer journey better, but I really don’t like the outside moving SO fast!

Four days later we were back on board, the bridge ahead was now open. Tides were checked, locks booked, cupboards stocked for a few days cruising. Winter cruising can be so so pretty, yet so so chilly. A display by the Red Arrows as we left Torksey kept us amused and a defrost was very welcome when we arrived at Keadby. After four days cruising we were moored up in Goole and walking to catch the train back to Scarborough.

#unit21 in Huddersfield kept Pip occupied for much of February. Then it was time to give the house some TLC in between lodgers. A back bedroom got a makeover just in time. Mick had trips to see Oleanna, a jobs list left with Alastair and the covers headed off for some much needed mending. Tilly was kept busy checking out the neighbours, they stay inside so I get free reign of their outside!

April arrived along with two lodgers, it was not possible to do more work on the house, Pip chose to knit socks instead. Dementia UK her chosen charity this year. Donations of yarn came from dyers and Pip’s needles started to click away, keeping up with requests. 15 pairs knitted and her target met.

May, visits were made to Oleanna preparing her for cruising, these were interspersed with visits from family, delivering socks, getting the house ready and starting work on the design for panto. On the 9th of May we loaded a van and returned to life afloat. Tilly the happiest cat once she was back onboard! A day later we set off heading west. Leeds for a few days for Pip to head to Matlock for work and then a wonderful visit to see 93 year old Betty in Harrogate.

Working our way up the Leeds Liverpool Canal, locks and the new stupid swing bridge much lighter work with two boats. Our favourite canal with wonders of the waterways, friends on route, Mick’s birthday and a trip to Bowness to see the latest Ayckbourn play. We managed a night on our favourite mooring on the network sadly it was too windy to enjoy the view with a barbecue.

Up over the top, we teamed up with NB That’s It, thankfully descending the Wigan flight in a window between vandalism and blown cills that have hampered the flight this year. Then along the Bridgewater Canal, panto designing whilst on the flat. Through Preston Brook Tunnel and onto the Trent and Mersey turning right onto the Middlewich Branch.

Back on lockdown ‘Home’ waters we cruised the Nantwich pound, 5 hours 13 minutes including a lunch and shopping stop, back in 2020 we’d spent 80 days here. We cruised southwards on the Shropie joined for a day by Carol and George from WB Still Rockin’. Laura and Alison from NB Large Marge joined us for the ascent up the Wolverhampton 21.

Through Bumingham and on to Lapworth and then Hatton where we had an extra pair of hands from Jane, who hopefully now has her own narrowboat. A well deserved burger at the Cape of Good Hope with Emma and David, then a lovely evening with Lizzie (NB Panda) at The Folly, it was turning out to be quite a sociable June.

Oleanna wiggled her way across the summit of the South Oxford, very familiar water to us. Despite the sunny weather and us cruising most days our batteries were not happy, turning themselves off overnight! Diagnosis was required, we pulled into Cropredy Marina to plug in and run tests. One of our three batteries was dead, bad enough but thankfully nothing more. Once a panto meeting had been attended we could move on, except there was an emergency closure at Banbury Lock. C&RT worked hard to get the canal open as quickly as they could, thankfully our hold up wasn’t too long.

We met up with the crews of NB Azzura (Liz and Mark) and NB Perseus (Julie and Simon) both Finesse boats, had a visit to London for Andrew’s birthday. Then had a rendez vous with Paul and Christine and enjoyed a good catch up onboard NB Waterway Routes.

Down to the River Thames where we turned upstream onto waters we’ve only cruised once before. Such a lovely stretch of river, sadly with fewer moorings now. We sped up to Lechlade where we took up residence for a week so that we could attend a get together at Pip’s cousins which coincided with the Royal International Air Tatoo in Fairford. It was great to be with family on a jolly occasion.

Work took over for Pip as we made our way back down stream to Oxford, Cinderella had to go to the ball and the model needed to be finished. Then we sauntered our way back northwards. One day had us meet up with Frankie NB Discovery, NB Dusty the local coal boat and Graeme on NB Misty Blue, it was good to catch up with Graeme and hear of his adventures since we’d seen him last year.

A trip for us both back to Scarborough to do a turn around of lodgers, see a show and pick up post. Mick would have to return the following weekend to swap bedlinen over again, this time by train from Rugby. Stand still budgets and inflation required Pip to do more work on panto so her days were kept busy reducing Cinderella’s carriage from £2000 to £400.

Stoppages around the network meant we had only one real route we could take to head back north. We winded and climbed our way up to the Leicester Section. Here we met up with Ken and Sue NB Cleddau at Houdini’s Field sitting out till way after dark. Then a small detour to Welford to meet up with NB Panda and Lizzie for an evening before we continued our way north.

Another detour to Market Harborough before Leicester where North Lock had a badly leaking cill which required a crew of C&RT chaps to force the bottom gates open, booked passage was required, this meant we got a few days to enjoy the city whilst we awaited our turn.

Sadly by now the lack of water on the Chesterfield Canal meant the top end of the canal was closed, no point in rushing up the River Trent for a return visit. In Nottingham Pip’s little toe had a kerfuffle with a cupboard necessitating a visit to the drop in centre for her little pinkie to be realigned. This meant Pip had to hand the windlass and key of power over to Mick for the last locks of the year.

Downstream on the River Trent, stopping at all our favourite moorings. Pip’s knitting needles came out again to knit more socks for Dementia UK. We had a trip into Lincoln along the Fossdyke Canal, we actually managed to finally visit the Cathedral this time!

Tides were not helpful for the rest of our trip north so a couple of days at West Stockwith was needed, but that did mean we’d be sharing the tidal waters back to Yorkshire with NB That’s It whom we’d met earlier in the year.

There was time for a catch up with David as we passed through Bramwith, a jaunt up to Doncaster and then finally along the New Junction and onto Goole where a space had been found for us in the marina. A train ride to Scarborough to pick up a van and see the latest show before packing up the boat again for the second time this year.

Planned works at the house then went very smoothly. Scaffolding arriving the day after we arrived, new windows later in the day with four carpenters and two days later the decorator who was to give the house a much needed new coat of paint outside.

Mid October Pip moved to Chipping Norton for a month to work on panto, Mick and Tilly left to welcome a new lodger for the Christmas show in Scarborough. Panto was as much work as normal with the addition of Pip getting covid after the first week of rehearsals. The show opened to toe tapping audiences and many many bananas, getting great reviews. Mick had a days trip to London to support boaters who had gathered outside the Houses of Parliament for a Fund Britain’s Waterways rally.

Back in Scarborough Christmas came early with a visit from the London Leckenbys at the beginning of December, they hadn’t been to Scarborough for ten years. A few more house jobs have been done but a list has been compiled for the new year along with those on Oleanna. We’ve had a lovely Christmas, catching up with Scarborough friends, Tilly has slept lots, we’re lucky to see her before 2pm most days! I’m just resting for when the outsides start changing again.

Don’t worry Tilly the count down has started.

This year our plans changed all because of an invite from Pip’s cousins. We travelled our favourite canal, cruised many familiar waters , visited ‘Home’, climbed trees and pounced, caught up with many boating friends and made many new ones along the way. One very sociable year.

So our vital statistics for 2023 according to Canalplan are

Total distance of 805miles, 2.25furlongs and 436 locks.

There were 121 moveable bridges, of which 33 are usually left open; 151 small aqueducts or underbridges and 16 tunnels – a total of 6 miles, 5 furlongs under ground and 7 major aqueducts.

This is made up of 244 miles, 1.25 furlongs of narrow canals; 251 miles, 5.5 furlongs of broad canals; 69 miles, 1.5 furlongs of commercial waterways; 95 miles, 4.75 furlongs of small rivers; 57 miles, 3.75 furlongs of large rivers; 87 miles, 1.5 furlongs of tidal rivers; 185 narrow locks; 223 broad locks; 28 large locks.

Although according to Nebo we did

815.09 miles and 431 locks! Hmm maybe my maths isn’t so good. But then we only started using Nebolink in August, tracking our every move rather than just on our phones.

470 engine hours, 789.8 litres diesel! Ouch, having to run the engine to top the batteries up on an evening didn’t help with this, 150amp hours down to 100, 3 gas bottles, 120kg coal, 19.5 litres oil, 2 oil filters, 2 fuel filters, 1 shower mixer, 1 domestic alternator, 1 set new engine mounts, 1 overnight guest, 3 packs Dreamies, 1.5 packs Bonkers, 39 friends, 6 brought in, 34 Mrs Tilly stamps of approval, 34 pairs of socks, £1132 for Dementia UK, 2 shows, 9 lodgers, 10 supermarket deliveries, 33 boxes wine, 1 toe, 6 months cruising, 3 boat mover sightings, 209 posts, 184 likes, 9,503 visitors, 31,309 views!

Thank you for following our journey during 2023. We have a plan for 2024, but there are several invites and a rendez vous with some New Zealanders. Will we stick to our plan? Have to alter course to fit everything in? Wait and see, we’re already counting down the weeks to being afloat again.

Cushions In The Closet, Have We Peaked Too Soon?

Has it really only been two weeks since I got back from Panto land? It feels like a lot longer, but then it also only feels like yesterday!

**Now where did we get up to last year?**

There has been the obligatory Morse watching whilst being pinned to the sofa by Tilly. Four episodes including, in my opinion, the best one, Masonic Mysteries where Morse is framed for the murder of a friend and no matter which way Morse turns there is another surprise for him.

**Tilly has kept a close eye on my yarn tension**

More socks have been knitted for Dementia UK. Not sure exactly how many pairs I’ve knitted this year but it’s somewhere over 30 and my fundraising page has just topped £1130! Thank you everyone who has donated and I hope those of you who have a pair of socks have cosy toes. At some point I’ll update the page I set up for my Sockathon, there’s quite a few pictures to upload.

**Cards of the Christmas and other varieties printed, scored and folded**

Boating photos from this year have been whittled down, a short list of about six presented for final vetting to Mick and Tilly for our Christmas card. Would the old printer upstairs upstairs be up to the job though? With a full set of new cartridges and a morning spent assisting the paper into the printer every couple of sheets the card factory got to work.

The first veg box since my return contained a lovely looking bright orange squash. What to do with it? I hunted round for a couple of recipes and decided to try two out, both requiring roasted squash. So the whole squash was roasted in one go and then divid up for the two dishes, Mushroom and Squash Lasagna and Squash Winter Herb and Crispy Butter Bean Pie. The latter involved three bulbs of garlic which were cooked before being added into the mix. Both will be made again, the pie for a special occasion as it takes a while to cook, but was very tasty. I’ll add links to the recipe pages.

One evening I was invited to a reading of a play that a local lady is hoping to produce. Earlier in the year I’d been approached to see if I could give some advice on it’s staging, but without a script this was impossible. It was nice to meet some new Scarborough faces, but the best bit was walking down to the top of St Nicholas Gardens and looking across the bay to the harbour where numerous boats had their Christmas lights up.

When we moved back to the house from Oleanna we brought all the dinette cushions with us. The covers desperately needing a wash or maybe even replacing. The seat cushions that we sit on the most have also lost most of their cushionness, so I measured them up and placed an order for replacements. The dinette makes into a bed, so any cushions apart from the one that isn’t normally out have been replaced with new firmer more suitable foam. We also had an odd cushion which we have never really understood why it existed, why hadn’t it been added onto one of the back cushions? This and the wedge shaped cushion that goes into the corner have now been made into one piece. Having just written this I don’t understand why it is wedge shaped and not just rectangular, I’ll have to look at it when the cushions go back on the boat, then remember for next time. At the moment I have a few samples of fabric but the final discission hasn’t been made. This will be a project for the new year.

**Look who popped up as a screensaver. On the Marsworth flight back in our yellow days.**

Why have the cushions gone in the wardrobe? Well a certain Second Mate/Thug has been enjoying clawing the old cushions, thankfully the one which has been affected the most is being replaced! I can’t help it if I have to find myself things to keep me occupied when the outside doesn’t move every day!!!

Mick has just about sorted out his planned upgrade to Oleanna’s batteries. Doubling Oleanna’s amp hours, but will there be enough room for him to be able to move them indoors? A visit in the next couple of weeks is on the cards to check on her and have a measure up.

**It’s handy having quite a stash of yarn in the house**

During November I’d joined a knitting challenge for Dementia UK, soon I was running out of things to knit! Mick just so happened to ask where his winter hat was. Ah that might just still be on the boat! Emergency hat knitting, this ended up being two hats one inside the other for extra warmth.

Then preparations for Christmas were started, the London Leckenbys were heading up to join us for a pre-christmas meal. Normally we don’t put decorations up for another couple of weeks, but because they were coming we had to get busy.

Last years boat Christmas tree has just about survived the year after a repot with some human made compost, so this has been brought in. But a bigger tree was really needed for the living room, where would we be able to get one from without a car? Nowhere that we found would deliver and the nearest veg/florist didn’t look like they’d be stocking any. One option left, a trip to Sainsburys with our trusty bike as sherpa.

Over several days Mick busied himself in the garden putting lights round bushes. I headed to the snicket to give the ivy a trim. Two wreaths were put together with lights and on the first day of December our decorations were up and illuminated!

Christmas baking. A batch of some rough puff pastry was made, a new recipe I wanted to try out. Then some Lebkuchen, these are my current favourite Christmas biscuits, especially when you poor the heated butter, treacle and maple syrup onto the spices, qworrr!

Christmas shopping this year has meant a walk down to the harbour, thankfully on a very nice sunny day before the snow arrived. I’d placed an order online and been told to ring the doorbell by the bow of a ship! I was taking ‘Buy it off a boat‘ to the next level. The doorbell was nowhere to be seen but thankfully a couple of people were stood on the bridge. My order arrived at a side door, the chap having to climb slightly up a harbour ladder to pass it to me safely, the tide was out at the time!

The coal man arrived along with snow and hail, Scarborough having a dusting of the white stuff just in time for the London Leckenbys arrival.

It has been at least ten years since the London Leckenby’s have visited us in Scarborough, us having lived on boats for much of the last ten years. This trip would also be their first by train, Andrew normally drives them up, but he’s still recovering from his stay in hospital. Quite a bit of work was needed to sort trains due to strikes and engineering work. Tickets were booked with only a couple of days to go. At Kings Cross they loitered for the platform to be announced, confirming the advanced knowledge we’d given them. Also knowing which carriage was likely not to be reserved helped, so they headed straight for it and thankfully got seats on what became a very very full train.

**Nearly as good as my Mums Yorkshire Pud**

Sausage rolls on arrival, sorry Frank forgot to take a photo! Then an afternoon lull, a walk to the beach not taken up as the pavements were really quite slippy. We caught up on their news and then got going with our Advent Saturday joint of roast beef with all the works. I’ve almost mastered gluten free Yorkshire Puddings so that my Mum wouldn’t know the difference. She’d certainly have been pleased that we had a slice each as a starter with gravy (not with the meat!) helped by the veg being a little reluctant to brown up.

Crackers were cracked, wine drunk, plenty of food eaten. Pudding, a warm Dorset Apple Cake accompanied by some Wensleydale Cheese, not quite ‘Apple Pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze’ but very nice and worth repeating.

A lovely time was had by all. It was really lovely having them back in Scarborough.

Sunday morning and it was time to check that their return trains would be running. Well Transpennine Express did what they seem to do best and cancelled their first train. Mick came up with a couple of options for them. Their return journey was going to be 5 hours rather than the 3 on the way up, due to engineering work. It was decided that they’d head to the station and catch an earlier train, either to York where they could loiter in the pub, or to Hull where they could catch their the train earlier on it’s journey than planned. This meant quite a quick breakfast and exchange of presents before a cab arrived to whisk them back to the station.

Almost 24 hours in Scarborough, we wished them a good journey and wished Josh good luck for his forthcoming interview for University. I’ve got my fingers crossed for him as I’d like to visit the very good chilled medication shop we visited last summer when on one of the Great Ouse tributaries. Their journey back changed again due to more cancellations, they had a good journey around the country arriving in London ten minutes earlier than originally planned.

Sunday evening Mick and I headed out for what has now become our annual Chinese meal. Crispy aromatic duck a necessity to mark 21 years of us being together. A lovely way to round off the weekend.

It feels like we’ve already had Christmas now. The big day isn’t for another three weeks!

Have we peaked too soon?

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 snow showers, 5x50kg bags of coal, 2 veg boxes, 1 squash, 2 celeriac, 1.8kg top rump, 15 Lebkuchen, 1 Lasagna, 1 pie, 20 sausage rolls, 2 trees, 4 stars, 100m of flotilla lights, 1 bored cat, £1132, 30 plus pairs, 4 Morses, 2 wreaths, 4 new cushions, 3 weeks early, 21 years.

You may notice a couple of changes to the blog. Firstly the blog roll, this had stopped rolling as bloggers posted their posts, so we’re trialing a new plug in, not quite as clear as the old version sadly. Secondly Mick has added code to the blog to hopefully change the default colour of the writing to black without me having to change every paragraph each time I write a post. This was done with assistance from Copilot. I hope it works!

Panto Postcard 4, 2023

49.5 hours

Sunday, I actually managed to have a lie in! By the time I’d made my breakfast I realised the Geraghty zoom would be half-way through, I joined and it was lovely to see everyone. I then had a leisurely morning before wrapping up against the rain to walk up to Checkers for lunch.

In the past Checkers had a good reputation and I’d imagined the pub would be heaving, but not today. Glen at the theatre yesterday had mentioned that there was a new landlord so possibly a new chef too. A table had been reserved, which was in the glazed dining room (a touch chilly), not one of the cosy side rooms. Soon I was joined by Ian my cousin who lives in Fairford near Lechlade. Back in the summer we’d arranged to meet up when I was in Chippy. Recently a date had been chosen, sadly this also coincided with a mammoth singing of the Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall, so Sally and Sam were not able to join us. However Ian had been left to tend after the Leckenby zoo and was more than happy to meet up and chat away for a couple of hours.

Sadly the food didn’t live up to my expectations. We both opted for Pork, I requested a gluten free one (no Yorkshire Pudding). When they arrived the poor person serving us, on her second ever shift, explained that they were both gluten free. Well one of them should have been but the other should have come with a Yorkshire. It took quite a while before it was explained to us that they had no Yorkshires! We opted for a dessert which was okay, but certainly nothing to write home about. A shame as a pub like this should have Sunday roasts to shout out about. But what more than made up for the food was a good long chat with Ian. Our families, the plane he’s building and how long he’ll be able to have it in England as it’s registered in France.

A lazy afternoon followed, doing my best to recharge my batteries before the final push of panto. Bake off was caught up on, a blog written and some sock knitting for Dementia Uk.

Monday. Jo was back, she’d spent the weekend fixing bananas together, hundreds of them! During the day bits of the show were worked on by the actors, the composers were about doing notes and we continued working on the set pieces the statues got a bit more shading as they’d looked a touch anemic under the lights.

Early afternoon we were joined by the Pippins, time for the first dress rehearsal. This went well, some tightening up of scene changes to be done, but that’s quite normal, sadly my statues still looked amenic time to give them more shading.

**Costumes still being added every day**

Tuesday. Another dress rehearsal, but first more work on set pieces.

Days like this involve working whenever the actors are not on stage so through their breaks, so meals are eaten in the dark of the auditorium. Problematic scene changes changed to nearer the end of the show, a few things still array in the interval change. At the end of the day John had one note for me regarding the scene at the end of act 1, this has a lot of dressing which had been left to last. Things still needed working on, it showed, they were next on the list. A final chicken and chips from the burger van was deserved.

**This didn’t end up being my final visit!**

Wednesday. In early to paint t-chests, logos had been stuck on boxes last night, extra bananas were added to stands by Jo, she’s now an expert with the yellow bendy things.

I’d wanted colourful lanterns for the set, a couple of weeks ago the crafting group in the theatre had started to make some for me. Empty 2 litre water and lemonade bottles had been covered with lighting gel and cut out black paper, a bulb inside and they resembled colombian lanterns. Local schools had also been invited to make some, these were smaller versions. Sacks of them arrived and the little red shades on the balcony fronts were exchanged for them, the rest then used around front of house. If you come to see the show look up in the bar and you’ll see the kids handywork.

Preview 1. What would the audience make of the show? What would the actors make of it too? I believe only one of the company has been in panto before, many of the actors had not even seen one before starting rehearsals. I sat next to Mariana the Assistant Director who originates from Columbia, her only experience had been last year when she was invited to watch Dick Whittington.

**The new shed now well and truly used**

Earlier in the day John had mentioned to the actors that the audience would be made up of Scouts, Beavers and mostly Brownies. Brownies?! The company were a touch surprised that there would be an audience of brown people watching them, more surprised that John was pointing this out. It took a bit of explaining to them about Brownies.

Blimey the audience were noisy! This is an understatement! Next to Mariana sat friends of one of the Pippins, who got the majority of the sweets during the song sheet! They were so loud Mariana covered her ears for much of the show. What a baptism for the actors. Mariana asked if it was always like this, well no, it was one end of the audience spectrum they could expect to have.

Thursday. Final bits to do. Butterflies were painted, their strings shortened for safety, Jo had finished yesterday evening, so the props jobs were split between me and stage management. Thankfully yesterday I’d got the balance of shading on the statues just about right and Nathan the Lighting Designer had found a good colour for them too, Hercules now had his own special colour.

My paints were reduced to those that may be needed for touching up during the run, everything else was tidied away. My possessions packed up, then finally I had finished painting things. Time to change into my civies.

Mick arrived with a hire car. We loaded it, did idiot checks around the building. New cocktail glasses needed to be shown to John, then a prop failure needed sorting, so I left Mick to load the last of my possessions and move the car round to my digs for the night. Last minute sewing and sticking was required, all done with just enough time for a glass of wine to be enjoyed before the show.

What a difference in audience from yesterday. Far far quieter. They enjoyed the show, Tony was a little bit reluctant to join in mind, but Tom made up for it! At least on the first two previews the cast had had both ends of the spectrum of audiences, hopefully from now on they will get a reaction somewhere in between.

Notes after the show were given, just a couple of small jobs needed doing which could be left with stage management. We headed to the pub, hoping there’d be some food available, but sadly the kitchen was closed. Mick and I headed to another pub and the story was the same there too, the burger van got our custom, one last portion of chips before returning to have drinks with everyone at the pub. Final farewells were had.

**My Chippy home for the last four weeks**

Last night at Suzanne’s, a final tidy up and pack on Friday morning. Chance to have a final chat before handing my key back and starting to head for home. First things first, breakfast, well brunch. We headed to The Straw Kitchen at Whichford Pottery a short drive north. Suzanne had recommended it and Louisa from the theatre had worked there at one time.

We were their first customers to arrive and selected a Super Brunch each. Mick had his with a homemade muffin, mine came with GF toast.

Wow it was very tasty! A bit of a shame that we wouldn’t be able to visit again easily. Afterwards we had a wander around the pottery shop where local ceramicists sell their wares. Some very nice items, but a touch too expensive for our pockets. Then we had a look outside where giant thrown outdoor pots would cost even more, several thousands of pounds, but the skill and strength to throw such pots is immense.

I’d considered trying to visit Andrew in London on our return journey, check in on him after his stay in hospital. But the extra hours of driving would have been unfair on Mick, so we headed northwards instead. The journey took a while longer than expected, a lorry having crossed the central reserve on the M18 and traffic for no obvious reason elsewhere.

At just gone 4pm, Scarborough was getting dark, the silhouette of Tilly could be made out in one of the bay windows SHOUTING!!! It took a couple of seconds for her to realise who I was after being away for four weeks FOUR WEEKS Do you know HOW many big sleeps that was?! Tom is alright, but he’s not She!

Partially unpacked we made use of the car and did a big shop, then put some clean clothes on and walked up to the Stephen Joseph Theatre for our friend Jaye’s party. This was to celebrate her receiving her state pension, she’d decided to spend it on having a party.

Most of our Scarborough friends were there, sorry not to see you Ali. A suitable surprise cake had been organised by Duncan for the birthday girl. A lovely evening, after a couple of drinks we headed back home, it had been a long day for Mick and an even longer four weeks for me. Time to cuddle up with Tilly and recover.

Panto Postcard 3, 2023

101.25 hours in 8 days

Saturday, first day back. Glad I was aware that the front door to the theatre doesn’t get opened until nearer 9am. Just walking in to work felt like I’d done enough for the day!

A walk round to see how my stand-in painters had done whilst I’d been away for five days. They’d most certainly helped to keep things moving in the right direction and the trickiest piece of furniture and the time consuming pattern on the rostra had been drawn out and was awaiting colour. Thank you Tim and Imogen for your help.

In the morning the cast with the Pippins did a stagger through of the show, scene changes happened and mostly were achieved in the time there was. It may have just been me post covid but it felt a little under energy. I strongly suspect other members of the company had had covid, as I was the only person to have taken a test I was the only official case.

The afternoon I spent starting to colour in the rostra whilst lighting happened on stage. The lights needed focusing, Nathan the Lighting Designer ( who normally works at the National Theatre) was speedy and not concerned at leaving a few lights till Monday. The advantage of him wanting to see a show in Stratford meant that the stage was actually cleared for the first time in five years at 6pm and was mine to start painting the floor.

In previous years I have worked until the floor was painted and had two coats of glaze before heading home in the early hours. Originally I’d planned on getting ahead over the previous few nights , but being ill this hadn’t happened. I drew out the design, then quickly realised that doing everything would take me far far longer than the time and energy I had. So for the first time ever I altered my design, simplifying it. A tidy up of the base coat was needed and I laid in the base colour for leaves before calling it a day.

Sunday. I don’t normally do Sundays, but needs must. I’d painted the model back in June/July time and luckily remembered how I’d painted the big leaves, I needed to recreate them for the floor. I did a try out on an area which would be hardly seen and soon got the hang of it. It took 6 hours to paint the leaves in, glad I’d amended my design!

Poor Paul had to be called in to get the heating going so that the paint would dry quicker, the office staff who were in keeping me company sadly didn’t know where the controls were. Abby by the evening brought her work from her chilly office to sit in the now warming auditorium. A coat of glaze then time to add more colour to the rostra before I gave the floor a second protective coat.

By 8pm I’d achieved the days mission the floor was finished and I’d cracked on with the rostra, sadly not finished, but getting close. During the day I’d received the news that my brother was in hospital with a lung infection. Quite a worry, but the hope was that once his oxygen levels were improved he’d be allowed home.

Monday. Today a week after testing positive I had a negative test result for covid. I still felt very weary. Gemma joined us today, The drummer who’d arrived on Sunday started to learn the songs, kicking more life into them. The rostra was finished, I dabbled some flowers onto a town flat finishing that also. Lighting states were plotted, flashing lights and blackouts not helpful to my wobbly brain, but thankfully Nathan was considerate and left me with some light most of the time.

Tuesday, the musical director and drummer moved into their area on stage. Microphones were set up around them and then a sitzprobe was started. This years panto has two composers, today it was Becky Applin’s turn to hear her songs with full musical accompaniment, some wonderful ballards. The Pippins joined later in the day and added their voices to the songs.

Wednesday and it was now the turn of Eliane Correa the second composer. Her numbers are full on big numbers, a saxophone and trumpet being added. Wow what a sound! The MD needed reigning in a touch as he was adding a few twiddly bits to the songs which didn’t appear on the dots in front of him. At one point as I was trying to work in the wings I had to close a door on the brass section so that I could hear myself think!

In the afternoon we started on the technical rehearsal. This is when the lights, sound, set, costumes, props and actors all come together to create the show. Tech’s can take some time, today we only had the adult cast and managed to get through the big opening scene and into the next one. Time for a few jobs to be done on stage afterwards and then some of us headed to the pub, my first glass of wine in over a week. Maybe I shouldn’t have had so much as it set my recovery from covid back by a few days.

Thursday. More technical rehearsals. Time to find jobs to do in the dark. The carnival clock was painted up, Jo the props maker joined us and rattled through the props notes, still plenty more jobs to be done. We just about reached the end of the first act before the Pippins joined us for a late afternoon session. This meant going back to the very beginning and working through all their scenes three times, so that each team of kids got a go at everything. The evening was spent sorting problems out and drilling holes for fairy lights.

**Andrew in hospital a couple of days ago**

News came through that my brother had returned home, unfortunately whatever he’d originally had Jac and Josh now were suffering from. The medics opinion though was that they’d be really unlucky to end up with a lung infection like Andrew.

Friday. For the last three days I’d been coming in early to get some paint on the archways that make up the main part of the set after the portals. An hour and a half with few people about was used well and soon the archways looked how I intended them to and no longer just white. Gemma and I spent time adding greenery to the town and then the archways, this still needed flowers adding, but that would gradually happen.

More teching, grabbing meals quickly at the ends of the actors sessions so as to be able to work through their breaks. Food and paracetamol keeping me going. Mechanisms for the second clock were worked on, extra dancers tried out, adjustments required to their feet. More jobs found that could be done in the dark of the auditorium.

Saturday. Time to finish off the technical rehearsal with the full company in the building. Mission accomplished, final number teched admittedly without costumes and my extra bits. Even when the actors had left, the songs, now more bright and lively still echoed around the theatre.

Lanterns the office staff have been making were flown. White blobs were added to greenery. a few problems solved before the theatre went very quiet. Time for the technicians and crew to head home and leave me to get on with catching up on the painting front. Glenn the Front of House Manager stayed to make sure I was alright. Crates were painted, flowers blobbed, but there are still more to colour up.

By 10pm Glenn offered to stay later if I wanted to, but by now I’d had enough. There will still be time to get other jobs done next week between dress rehearsals and notes. Still plenty to do but now it was time for a rest.

**Tom’s legs will have to do as SHE has deserted us!**

In Scarborough Mick considered putting outdoor lights up on the gable end, he bought a string long enough. But sadly there were no cable ties in the house to fix them with and the following day the chaps arrived to remove the scaffolding.

Mick has been working on plans for some electrical upgrades to Oleanna, but is also planning a trip to London this coming Tuesday. At 14:11 there is to be a rally of boats on the Thames outside the Houses of Parliament where they will blast their horns to raise awareness about the funding cuts to Canal and River Trust. Mick will be joining a group standing on West Minister Bridge supporting the boats below. If you haven’t already please sign the Fund Britain’s Waterways petition. I hope the weather is good for the event and that there is a good show of boats.

https://www.change.org/p/fundbritainswaterways?source_location=search

Finally a big Thank you for the donations to my sock knitting. Progress is much slower this week than last, but I am managing to do at least 30 minutes a day, just £60 short of my new target for the year.

https://www.justgiving.com/page/pip-leckenby-1677835197682?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%2Fpip-leckenby-1677835197682&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=pfp-share

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna