Category Archives: Theatre

2025… The Year Of Fools, Drought, NHS and Roses.

A round up of 2025, sit down with your favourite drink and I hope you enjoy.

January started out as December this year would end, us watching from afar the aftermath of a breach. January was the Bridgewater, December the Llangollen. We don’t tend to watch vlogs, preferring to read peoples accounts of their waterway journeys, but updates were watched on youtube from those affected, our personal experience of the Aire and Calder breach back at the end of 2020 had been far less dramatic.

January in the house was spent doing winter maintenance jobs. Three garden benches got a full make over, new slats and paint and a dining room got a colourful lick of paint just in time for the first lodgers of the year arriving. I had a second appointment with a physio about my knee that had given me serious problems last year, the new exercises were working, I ditched my stick by the end of January and started walking around Scarborough every day.

The start of the year it had been wet, but as I strode out the sun would greet me as I reached the beaches of Scarborough. I think this year I’ve visited the seaside more than I’ve done in the last 30 years of considering Scarborough to be my home.

In February Oleanna’s horns got replaced, she now has two tones rather than just one twice. Arrangements were made for future works at the house, carefully planned between lodgers. I joined a community group working on a giant mosaic, sticking glass tiles to brown paper, the final reveal not happening until August which I sadly missed. More walks around Scarborough, longer walks enjoyed on sunny Saturdays taking in both bays. Now I was walking too fast for Mick to keep up.

We visited boat painters, our short list gradually being whittled down. Dates, getting to the painters all had to be weighed up in our decision. One company actually rang to offer us a very early slot, but because of the Bridgewater breach and the end of winter stoppages we’d never have made it in time, plus we’d have ended up being homeless as lodgers were due to arrive at the house. After visiting the last painter we dropped back in to visit Tom at Redhill Marina to see how the boats he’d been painting on our last visit looked. We liked him, his work and a day later called Gibson and Kentwright to book our slot in Spring 2026.

John, the Artistic Director at Chipping Norton got in touch, would I like to do this years panto? This needed some thinking about, last year had been nice without deadlines for designs and we could concentrate on boating, but I’d really missed being part of a team and being a designer. I slept on it then said yes, if the show could be designed earlier in the year then we’d still be able to boat through the summer, hopefully get the best of both worlds. Cruise down to the South Oxford so I could commute to work during rehearsals then we’d make our way back north and arrive at New Year at Redhill to come out of the water and await our repaint. A good plan. But before that, the roof space needed clearing so things didn’t get damaged when we got a new roof on the back of the house. Friends needed meeting and I cracked on with a few paintings of Scarborough.

Mid March came, it was time to give the house a good clean and move back onto Oleanna making way for four lodgers to move in for a month. A new mattress arrived for Oleanna, only just enough headroom for Mick on our cross bed, but a far better sleep than the memory foam mattresses that came before. Back on board, we headed straight out of Goole for the New Junction Canal, pulling in at the first opportunity and letting Tilly have some shore leave once again. She knows where home is and I’m sure she now knows this mooring very well. She was gone for hours, straight back into boat life after a winter of hibernation and inactivity in the house. It felt good for us too.

Doncaster was our first destination for me to head off to do a couple of days work at Level in Matlock with Separate Doors Theatre Company.

Then we gradually made our way to Keadby to wait for the beginning of April, the tide and to meet the Strawberry Fools from Strawberry Island Boat Club who were kicking off the Fund Britains Waterways Campaign Cruises for the year.

Early on the 1st April, the flotilla of Strawberry Fools lined up to go through Keadby Lock onto the Tidal Trent, three boats at a time, turning up stream, southwards. Fog engulfed us for sometime, thankfully clearing as we came close to West Stockwith Lock where more boats were to join the long line all beeping our horns as we approached Gainsborough Road Bridge where TV crews and drones watched us. A great start to the years campaign. The spring tide got us all to Cromwell and off the tidal waters for survivors drinks on the bank.

The following day the boats stormed Newark Castle with a wall of sound before dispersing to several moorings upstream. The morning after we penned the boats up through Hazelford Lock and waved them goodbye and good luck, the majority of boats heading to London to sound their horns outside Parliament. We however turned back, our summers cruising planned to be further north.

Back up the country, down the Tidal Trent, pausing on the Chesterfield canal for a couple of days, across the Stainforth and Keadby, New Junction, Aire and Calder, River Aire, Selby Canal then the River Ouse to York.

Here we met with the London Leckenbys to celebrate what would have been my Dad’s 100th birthday back in his home city. We had a suitable feast, cruised down stream to show Andrew, Jac and Josh the top of our old family home from the river, Josh even had a go at the helm. A curry was also called for along with a visit to a pub which was frequented by our parents as we grew up (we mostly sat in the car with a packet of crisps or a chip butty!).

We were joined for a few hours by old family friend Diana and I got to meet with Philli a boat woman who had sponsored a pair of my Sockathon Socks. It was good to be back in York with our own home and have found somewhere new to moor meaning we could stay longer. We also managed a catch up with Frank over a pint and a pizza.

By now the lack of rain was started to affect the system and our planned cruise. The Leeds Liverpool, I think, was the first of the northern canals to close. The Ripon Canal soon followed. We were wanting somewhere safe to moor for a week or so whilst Mick headed off to oversee building works at the house, our options started to narrow.

We opted to head down stream, the tidal Ouse far more difficult to navigate with the outgoing tide due to the amount of debris in the water. Back onto the Aire and Calder we detoured to Goole to top up on diesel, then headed towards Leeds. A favourite mooring near Lemonroyd would suit us for a while.

A large badger hole proved a bit too interesting for Tilly, so we nudged ourselves up above Woodlesford Lock. Mick headed to Scarborough to wait for roofers, whilst I started to work on Panto and Tilly explored the area. Down south the Strawberry Fools reached their goal on the Thames.

May is full of Birthdays, Mick was allowed some leave from the house to celebrate his with a barbecue. Sketches for panto were revisited, the weather got warmer. Oleanna spent a weekend at Lemonroyd Marina whilst we had a trip to London for another birthday and to see Jane and Kevin who were over from Australia.

Back out on the canal, we opted to stay around Lemonroyd, hopefully far enough away from the badger hole! Mick returned to the house, Tilly sheltered from a touch of rain on her throne under the pram cover, I worked away model making for panto and headed out every day to walk round the nearby nature reserve.

The house roof was finished in time for a new lean to to be installed. My panto white card model was drawn up. New lodgers arrived at the house so all three of us were back on board in time to head into Leeds for me to catch a train to Chipping Norton for a day of meetings.

The weather was hot, along with strong winds in Leeds our plants suffered, above Office Lock on the Leeds Liverpool Canal more locks were being closed. Canal and River Trust were actively discouraging people from cruising up the River Derwent to the Pocklington Canal. The River Hull was closed due to collapsing banks. We’d find somewhere to go, sadly missing out on the main mission of reaching Beverley this year.

However, a return trip to York was on the cards. We opted for a different route and headed back to Goole, topped up again with diesel, then penned down Ocean Lock onto the Tidal Ouse. Back in 2021 we’d headed this way whilst escaping the breach on the Aire and Calder. This time the tide was very strong, we were going to beat our ETA at Selby and had to fight the currents going round bends.

A meet up with my best friend Emma, who was over from Sydney and a chance to meet her new fella was not to be missed. Mooring almost at the bottom of Emma’s old garden in York helped them find us before we had a lovely lunch on the Howardian Hills and a quick visit to Castle Howard for some chilled medication in a thunder storm.

We opted to stay in York. Mick having to find things to do during the day whilst I took over the boat with work. A trip to Headingly for a test match, bumping into his old friend Jeremy and a look at the trains in the Railway Museum. It rained in the Dales, the Ouse came up, we leant Jo and Brian from NB That’s It our Middle Level windlass and key, boats ran away, we checked levels and kept an eye on our ropes, we were fine.

July arrived. Where to head now? A station was needed for another meeting in Chippy. We retraced ourselves back down stream, the Ouse slightly emptier of trees this time, back to Doncaster a good station to head southwards from.

Thankfully there were only a few small aterations to my panto design required, the remainder of the summer could be spent boating, if only the water levels would let us! We headed back towards the River Trent, managing to say hello to our friend David at Bramwith. A few days were spent sheltering under trees of the Stainforth and Keadby, then there was time to explore Thorne more than we’ve done before.

Some Strawberry Fools were arriving back having managed to get through stoppages further south after crossing the Wash and cruising some of the Middle Level and the River Nene. We loitered for Sean from SPL covers to arrive with a new side for our pram hood, the original one had managed to sink into the depths of the Aire and Calder earlier in the year.

Temperatures were high, this wasn’t good. What lay between us and the rest of the summers cruise was Vazon Sliding Rail Bridge, high temperatures meant the bridge could not open for boats. We sat for several days and nights, getting up to chat to the signaller in the middle of the night. One night just as we were about to turn the lights off we got a phone call, the bridge would be opening, we needed to get dressed! A short distance travelled in the dark would mean we’d be able to do some boating again. We were soon cruising for the third time this year on the Tidal Trent, in a down pour of rain!

Surprisingly the Chesterfield Canal was open up to the limit of navigation. Oleanna’s crew had been there before, but Oleanna hadn’t, it was a must. We paused for a few days at the Retford and Worksop Boat Club, our Cutweb membership paying for itself within a few days. I walked whilst Mick headed back to Scarborough to do a turn around and for medical appointments.

A visit to Mr Straws House was enjoyed, locks worked through, towpath walks enjoyed as I sped ahead of Oleanna taking her time in the shallow canal. What a pretty canal, we were glad we’d come back.

The double and triple locks that lead up to the top may take a bit of working, but boy they are worth it. We headed straight to the navigable end before Norwood Tunnel only to find the moorings there full. One chap suggested we’d not have enough depth of water to wind, but thankfully we did and headed back to find another mooring for the night.

On our return journey we had visitors, friends Jane and James on their bikes came and helped us through a few locks. Then the same day Cath and Mark came for a nosy at Oleanna and a meal out in Worksop. Very good to catch up with everyone.

Back at the boat club they found space for us again so we could head back to Scarborough to do another turn around and watch the first night of Noises Off at the SJT. We welcomed new lodgers Liza and Stuart into our house, had a blood test, a dentist visit and headed back to Oleanna and Tilly.

Back out onto the Tidal Trent and onwards to Cromwell. Our timing couldn’t have been better, as we rounded a bend in the river, Cottam Power Station cooling towers came into view. I had just enought time to lift my camera before they came crashing to the ground. A landmark on the Trent now gone. I think we’d already made our minds up not to head towards the Oxford Canal, by now levels were so bad the canal had been closed from the summit to Banbury. We really didn’t want to risk getting stuck somewhere and not being able to get Oleanna to Redhill for her repaint next year. We’d take our time pottering about on the Trent and maybe along the Trent and Mersey Canal. The next day notices came out about further lock closures due to the drought, boats started to turn round, cutting their cruises short so they could beat the closures and return home.

Newark for a few days, then on to Hazelford Lock one of our favourite moorings, time for a barbecue sat on the big steps watching the sun set. Sounds idylic.

However, that night we got to test out the emergency servies and what3words at 2am. Mick had chest pains, 999 was called, two hours later paramedics arrived, tests were done, followed by an ambulance ride to Mansfield A&E for more tests, lots of waiting, then discharged after twelve hours with what was thought to be pulled muscles. A very lazy day followed.

We continued on to Nottingham, stocked up at Sainsburys and found a mooring near to Beeston. To celebrate Mick not having had a heart attack we treated ourselves to a meal at The Victoria. Always nice, just a shame that things weren’t really quite right with Mick.

Up to Trent Lock, rescuing a boater caught out by shallow water between Beeston and Cranfleet. We turned right, our plan now was to head to Burton on Trent on the Trent and Mersey. An ideal mooring at Shobnal Fields was grabbed so that I could head off to Dawlish to meet the set builder for Panto.

Brian arrived on NB That’s It, able to drop off our windlass he’d borrowed. He’d single handed it from Peterborough on the River Nene managing to beat all the stoppages by doing pretty long days, but now he could relax as rivers would get him back to Strawberry Island again. Coinciding with ‘in steam days’ at industrial museums is a rarety for us, but we managed it at Claymills Victorian Pumping Station, although the volunteers were tryng out some eco fuel rather than coal, they weren’t impressed with the amount of steam it produced.

The water tap at Willington called, the plan was then to wind and cruise up to Alrewas. A mooring was found with better phone signal for Mick to chat with his GP, an appointment already planned. He also wanted to talk to them about some patchy vision he’d been experiencing. Another phone call to an optician, it was suggested he should attend the nearest A&E. That night we made our way back into Burton to be closer to the hospital.

In the morning there was a second visit to A&E this year. A CT scan diagnosed Mick as having had a stroke. I brisk walked my way over to the hospital to find him being put in the back of an ambulance to head to the Royal Derby Hospital. Here there was 24 hours of lying and sitting in various parts of A&E (number 3) before a bed was found on the stroke ward. Thank goodness for a very good bus service between Burton and Derby. They wanted Mick to see an Opthamologist which didn’t happen, the weekend arrived and he was stuck. Then he just needed another ECG and drugs before he could come home, this took another night but thankfully after five nights in hospital he was discharged.

So many people offered help and support, thank you all so much. Thankfully now Mick had no symptoms and felt pretty normal. I kept a close eye on him. Kat on coal boat Bargus stocked us up with coal and diesel and we gradually made our way back to Willington for a moral boosting lunch with the lovely Susie Blake, she even got us tickets to see her show in Derby a few nights later.

Now we found ourselves kicking heels until our lodgers were to move out from the house so we could return, this was more to do with the lack of water in the network than anything else. Bridget and Storm came to check on us, bringing Rolo their new woofer with them. He was very well behaved, Tilly didn’t even mind him being onboard!

We took our time, pausing for a few days whilst storms blew over. I walked to Swarkstone Pavillion, down to the Trent and visited local villages. Next we wanted to check Oleanna could come out of the water earlier than planned, we headed to Redhill Marina to check things out, it would all be fine. We arranged a date to arrive.

We managed only one Heritage Open Day in September at Mills Dock Yard on the Erewash, some beautiful boats and suprising wooden cars on view. Then made our way back to Beeston to be close to a station again.

I had a couple of days at the Seperate Doors Making Tomrrows Theatre conference, watching workshops, listening to discussions and speakers. The mooring in Beeston isn’t so good for Tilly,a brick wall is hardly interesting for anyone! so we winded and headed back to Trent Lock to meet up with an old collegue of mine Jane, from my early days at the SJT.

Kat with Teddy and Bella came to top us up again before we headed back to Nottingham and further on to another favourite mooring above Stoke Lock. Here the mooring by the low wall was available, perfect for Tilly for a few days especially as she was to celebrate her 10th birthday there. However we ended up staying longer than planned, RCR were called out. It was suspected that our drive plate was about to give up. A few days later the engineer returned to replace it with a new one. All good to go!

Back up to moor at County Hall steps, Tilly wasn’t keen. But we wanted to make the most of being in Nottingham, visiting places we’d not been to before.

Our windlasses got used for the final time this year working back up into Nottingham where we took a mooring at Castle Marina for a couple of nights. A trip up to Scarborough to see our lodgers in the latest Alan Ayckbourn play Earth Angel.

Time afloat was now running out, back out to Trent Lock for a few more days before heading to Redhill Marina. Packing up the boat was a little more interesting than usual as we didn’t have the luxury of picking up a van the day before we were to move. Until Mick got to see an opthalmologist he wouldn’t be allowed to drive. So we called on one of those people who’d offered to help when Mick had his stroke.

Mark, Mick’s old friend arrived in a hire van to collect us and all our stuff. The move was done pretty quickly despite having to stop a few times to make Tilly’s journey more comfortable. We’d left Oleanna in the water at the marina, the following day she’d be put on a trailer and moved out onto the hard to await her repaint next Spring.

There were two weeks before I’d head off to work on panto. Phone calls from the set builder came thick and fast. There was time to unpack, see friends, or hybernate, Tilly chose the latter. We managed one trip by train down to find Oleanna out on the hard, she has a fantastic view of the cooling towers, but sadly no electric. We’d need to work on that one.

Mick got the all clear from an Opthalmolgist down in Derby a couple of days before I headed off to Chippy, so he gave me a lift. Whilst I was away working, Mick made up an extra long hook up cable for Oleanna. He had two trips down to attempt to get her hooked up, but for several reasons this wasn’t achieved, thankfully the solar was doing quite a good job of keeping batteries topped up. There was also a trip over to Wigan, where he and Paul Balmer of Waterway Routes helped Chris the Pink Hat Man up the flight along with the help of a CRT volunteer.

Down in Chippy I worked my way through the four weeks of rehearsals up until the show opened. I had chance to catch up with my cousins for Sunday lunch. Met up with Mick at the London Leckenbys for a night and checked on the moorings at Paddington Basin on my way back. I also had a day off in Oxford where I enjoyed a walk along the canal we’d not managed to reach this year, spotting many a familiar boats from previous winters there. My first week in Chippy the canal was reopened to allow people to return to their moorings before winter stoppages kicked in.

Finally on my sixth panto at Chippy it was lovely to have Marion and John (Mick’s sister) and Andrew and Jac (my brother) join us for press night. On his way down to see the show, Mick had fought his way through snow and headed to Oleanna to get her hooked up, unfortunatly the socket available turned out to be faulty!

Back in Scarborough I was pinned to the sofa for a while by Tilly, watching Inspector Morse as is now tradition. Walks along the beach and through the old town were enjoyed. We headed to Filey for a birthday party and unfortunatly ended up in our third ambulance of the year, with another A&E ticked off the list, fortunatly it was only a faint this time.

Mick made another journey down to Redhill, this time Oleanna was plugged in successfully, the electric heating could now be programmed to come on should the temperatures drop enough. He had a chat with Tom who will be doing Oleanna’s repaint, the boat ahead of us is also already on site too. We’re still quietly hoping someone doesn’t manage to get there in time for their slot so we can swap slots and get Oleanna back on the water earlier.

An appointment with a stroke doctor at Scarborough Hospital was had, results and images from an MRI in Derby hadn’t made it to Scarborough so the following week there was an appointment for one here. We now wait to hear what the doctor has to say.

The build up to Christmas kept us busy, our 23rd anniversay celebrated, decorations, cards and presents to make and buy. Hair cuts, the Christmas show to watch. Then a pre Christnmas Christmas with the London Leckenbys in York before returning to Scarborough and coming down with a lurgy which meant most of our festive plans had to alter.

New waterproof trousers, a Victron Smart Shunt and new mugs were all presents for boating. Frank was a lucky man getting his second Christmas dinner in a week. Now that new year is here we need to plan ahead for when Oleanna is going to be painted, windows, new solar and new curtains need thinking about, ordering and making. Hopefully the time will fly by and she’ll be back in the water before we know it.

**Us in sunny Scarborough on New Year Eve**

Plans for next year, well we know where we want to be in early June, we just hope we can get there by boat. Will we stay up north and be able to cruise the rivers and canals we didn’t manage to do this year? Or will we head southwards to find waters we’ve not cruised yet? We’ll have to wait and see, so will you!

So here are our final statistics for our boating year which ended up being cut short.

According to our Nebo link

Oleanna was underway for 173.53 hours. This is not a real indication of our movements, if we are stationary in a lock it does not count that time

Nebo link was on for 365.48 hours. Sometimes the Nebolink is turned on a bit before we set off, on occasions it is left on at the end of a day incase we decide to carry on, so this is also not a real indication of how long the engine was moving us

End Mileage. 712.725 miles

Distance travelled. 695.6 miles, don’t understand why the two figures are different most days, but I go with the end mileage

Average speed 3.26 miles. We were mostly on rivers this year

Average Maximum Speed 4.78. We were mostly on rivers this year

According to Canal Plan

Total Mileage 719m 3.75f 7 and a bit more miles than Nebolink

Made up of 152 miles 5.75 f of Commercial Waterways, 143 miles 4.5 f of Broad Canals, 61 miles 0.5 f of Narrow Canals, 78 miles 0.5 f of Small Rivers, 66 miles 6 f of Large Rivers, 200 miles 4.75 f of Tidal Rivers, shows how much cruising we did on the Tidal Ouse and Trent this year.

Total Locks 214 fewer than most years as we were mostly on rivers. This figure doesn’t include flood locks

Made up of 51 Large Locks, 98 Narrow Locks, although some of these were broad locks on a narrow canal (Chesterfield), 63 Broad Locks, 2 Locks on Major Waterways

Moveable Bridges 58. 4 were left open, 5 didn’t need to open as we went below them. Although those that didn’t need to open I think should have been 14 to include all those on the River Ouse. 107 vehicles were held up, another 23 when we worked Barnby Dun lift bridge for Mick on Amerouse.

Small Aqueducts 68

Major Aqueducts 6

Tunnels 2, that is 1.4 furlongs underground. I think this is a record for the least amount of time spent underground in a year.

0 Boat Lifts

629.4 litres of diesel. The cheapest £0.89 at Viking Marina, most expensive £1.10 at Kings Marina, total cost £639.26

265kg of smokless coal. This was 12 bags at a total cost of £190.50

2 x 13kg bottles of gas. Cost of £94.87 although we will need to replace a bottle as soon as we get back on board.

Other expenses £144.60. This included 1 starter battery, 1 excess payment for a new drive plate, 2 roller poles, 1 wee tank connector, Cutweb membership

£115.03 Mooring Fees and electricity whilst out cruising

2 Ambulances 3 A&E’s whilst out cruising

1 stroke

0 rain for months

706.85 miles walked whilst on the boat, nearly as far as we cruised! 9504 brisk minutes

Over £3000 raised by knitting socks for Dementia UK (over the last 3 years, 110 pairs) and I’ve still got more to do!

1 Panto design, 3567 pink roses

40 Boxes of Wine

30 Mrs Tilly stamps of approval moorings, she’s not letting onto how many friends!

419.8 engine hours

Phew, that new spread sheet has alsorts on it!

Thank you for joining us on our travels in 2025. We hope you’ll be back for more in 2026 and that the start to our boating year is sooner rather than later.

Watching. 21st December

Panto Postcard 4, 2025

57.25 hours

Monday morning we needed to attempt to catch up on ourselves and finish the technical rehearsal. The actors warmed up away from the stage giving the tech team some time to do more before we had to share the space. Time was taken to tech in two characters and we gradually made our way to the end of the show. Mid afternoon the Pippins arrived we could now tech the end of the show with them.

I took time to sit in the bar and do some flower arranging, well pulling plastic roses from bushes and replacing them with our paper roses. A lovely mixture of shades of pink was achieved before the bushes were handed back to Stage Management to be stashed somewhere on stage. Gemma had worked her way adding roses to other parts of the set so at least we’d get an idea of where more would be needed. The scenery was reset in the wings and behind the backdrop, then we did the first dress rehearsal. Mission achieved, we all retired to the pub for a well earned drink.

Tuesday. An early start as this afternoon photos would be taken during the second dress rehearsal, so more things needed to be finished. Blueprints were added to sliders. Gold lines added to the plainer parts of the set, things were getting finished on the set front. One mannequin had some attention given to it, so at least it wouldn’t look too bare in the photos. A very busy morning.

The dress rehearsal was photographed and filmed for use in a trailer. Sadly the mannequin that had started to be dressed ended up being used in a different scene by stage management, so a bare mannequin stood in full view for the photos.

The second dress is when the ushers are invited in to watch the show. This gives the actors an audience and the ushers chance to see when and what they will be involved in during the show. During the interval I headed down to find Suzanne in the stalls, she was my previous host in Chippy. Suzanne moved house about a year ago just that bit too far out of Chippy to walk to late at night. We had a very good catch up before the curtain rose for the second half.

Today, Mick had been up even earlier, catching a train down to East Midlands Parkway with the aim of getting Oleanna plugged in, a second attempt. He’d not left anything on the train this time and headed to see Oleanna. However! Time had been tight this morning and he’d had to hunt round for bike lights before leaving the house in the dark, he’d got all the way to the boat without the keys. This also meant he’d got all the way there having left the house unlocked. Thankfully Tilly had been looking after the house, so all was well back in Scarborough. Mick made use of the shore based facilities at East Midlands Parkway Station and returned home earlier than originally planned, Oleanna still not hooked up and fully winterised with freezing weather already arriving.

Wednesday. A morning to work on things, both on stage and in the rehearsal room. Some cuts happening to the script, a schools version of the show omitting a few bits to keep the running time down and make turn arounds easier on two show days.

I’d got a bit carried away with highlights on a signpost, so reduced them to make it easier to read the curly writing. The second set of sliders had their gold lines added, which was a bonus. More props were getting finished, but still quite some work to be done.

**Possibly my favourite production photo**

A crate was clad on three sides so it could be used in two different scenes, the paint needed some encouragement to dry for the show in the evening. First preview was done and dusted, still a list of notes to be worked through.

Thursday. Mick picked up the hire car a day early as snow fell in Scarborough. Several inches were to fall today, and his possible plan of a day trip by car to Oleanna didn’t happen, he and Tilly stayed inside in the warm instead of venturing out. In Chippy the weather was trying to do the same, but thankfully the snow wasn’t sticking around.

I was in early again to tick off jobs on the list. A mid morning props meeting was had with Gemma and Min to go through notes from the show last night. Priority jobs were set, others not needed, we still had bare mannequins on stage and a touch of shine was needed adding to Les.

**First night rose making at the back of the circle**

A slower afternoon for me, most of my jobs now crossed off my list and there being limited room in the post room where Min was now having to work meant it would be hard to lend them a hand. Before the show I checked on progress, hmmm?! I checked if Stage Management could live without the Act 2 mannequin until the interval, this was fine, great Min could carry on working on it until then. Well, except they said they were going to watch the show!

In the interval I popped backstage to make sure the mannequin was given to Stage Management. No sign of Min and no sign of any more work having been done on the mannequin, in fact it looked less complete than when I’d last seen it. I wasn’t happy. The jobs that had been high priority hadn’t been achieved during the day, not sure what had! I took myself outside to cool off, after all nothing could be done now. Technical notes after the show, then we worked through a few jobs.

Friday. Mick set off early in the hire car, escaping the snow in Scarborough and headed down to visit Oleanna avoiding the route over the Wolds. The 50m cable was laid out and plugged in. He visited the office to buy an electric card, however the card or card reader didn’t want to work. It was suggested he needed to find one of the chaps on site to sort it, but time was ticking by rapidly. The boiler thermostat was set and left to use LPG rather than electric, the hook up would need to wait for a fourth visit. He then set off to head to Chippy.

A few people were at the theatre when I arrived, Gemma heading off back to Bristol, Paul ready to fly in extra bits of scenery for me and Min doing their best painting things for the mannequins in the freezing cold garden. Once I’d finished on stage I leant a hand cutting things out, it would only save a bit of time, but would still be a help. Min worked through the school show early afternoon and we managed to get things on stage just about finished. However, I’d requested that the newest mannequin be painted quite brightly as I wanted it to stand out, but sadly it was now the same colours as the backdrop. I added some dark lines which thankfully did the trick.

Paints were seriously rationalised into a touch up kit. My painting kit packed up ready to be loaded into a car just as Mick arrived around 4pm. Painty Pip was leaving the theatre.

**Blue Boar fish and chips are better than those at Checkers**

There was time to head back to my digs, change and then head to The Blue Boar. Here we met up with Marion (Mick’s sister) and John, plus Andrew (my brother) and Jac. I’d not managed to have fish and chips at the Blue Boar on the first day of rehearsals so I had to have them today, better than those I’d had at Checkers.

All six of us sat in the balcony. I’m not sure how loud others were shouting during the show as my brother was being very loud indeed. Jac having grown up in Australia was relived that she wasn’t picked out for any audience participation. Family reviews came in quickly after the show. Marion and John said they were considering season tickets and Andrew asked if there were any tickets left for a show tomorrow. I think they enjoyed themselves.

**Night Night Chippy Theatre and thank you**

The Press Night party followed, a glass of fizz and pizzas all round. Lots of loud conversations and roses were handed over as gifts. A good night all round.

Saturday. At my digs my bags were packed and taken down the low steep stairs. Time to say thank you and farewell to Rachel and Geoff. They have been lovely people to stay with. With the car loaded we headed out of town to meet with Andrew and Jac at The Straw Kitchen in Whichford. Mick and I had been there after opening night for Cinderella two years ago and it needed to be revisited as it was such a good brunch. We pulled into the car park in the pouring rain a while before the cafe was due to open. Then several other cars arrived and people rushed in, blimey we needed to get a table so followed suit just missing the table by the log burner by a few seconds.

Lovely food once again and time to catch up better with Andrew and Jac. Very sadly at the beginning of the week they had to say goodbye to their cat Ziggy. When we’d visited two weeks ago she was looking quite frail and I have to admit that when I said goodbye to her I thought it would be for the last time. Very sad, I hope Finn their other cat is coping okay.

A quick look around the pottery next door for us all before we climbed into our cars to drive home in the rain. It had been lovely sharing panto with family for the first time. Thank you all for coming.

The rain stayed with us until we crossed the border into Yorkshire, then the sun did it’s best to welcome me back home. Drax Power Station sent out plumes of steam, not quite at full belt. As I opened the house door, Tilly walked into the living room quite nonchalantly, she then slowly allowed herself to be happy about my return. Once a roast dinner was popped in the oven I was pinned to the sofa. Tom is okay to sit on, but She has a far better lap!

Sunday. The usual Geraghty zoom, panto, prescriptions and boilers subjects today. A slow day of washing and pottering, getting the blog up to date. Then in the evening we drove to park outside my old house and walked up to Scarborough Castle in the rain. There was a chap singing with a backing track, a lady fire dancer and an LED dancer and wagons selling refreshements, we opted for hot medication as we were doing a good job of being chilled by the elements.

The main reason for being there was to watch a drone display to mark the 400th anniversary of Scarborough. Our friend Nick Lane had written the words and another friend Georgie Samuels spoke them whilst the drones danced in the sky telling the story of our town. A great thing to do, but we were very glad to get home to the warm and enjoy a Mac Cheese and sit infront of the fire for the rest of the evening.

Panto is now running through to 18th January. Meanwhile I will be sitting on the sofa watching Inspector Morse episodes for a few days and hopefully very soon we’ll have a more sucessful visit to Oleanna to get her hooked up and finally winterised. Fingers Crossed.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2nd and 3rd attempt failed at winterisation, 1 hire car, 4 inches snow, 1 tech finished, 2 dresses, 1 photographer in the way, 2 mannequins finally finished, 1 brother, 1 sister, 1 of each, 1 great brunch, 1 very soggy drive home, 1 cuddly cat, 1 drone show, 1 designer taking it easy for a while.

Panto Postcard 1, 2025

66 possibly 68 hours

Mick having been given the okay to drive again meant that instead of a seven hour train journey to Chippy we hired a car to get me and all my kit down to Oxfordshire for work. Tilly got really quite worried as I packed my bags, she stayed at arms length hoping that she’d not be bundled up into the cat caravan to move again so soon. She was safe though and was left with the magic food bowl for the night.

I’m staying at the Old Bake House again this year with Rachel and Geoff, I had one night here two years ago and remembered that you have to take care on the wooden steep staircase up to your room. However, this time I’m in the room that Jo (the old props maker) used to stay in which has a bath in the eves of the roof, I’ve had to ask her the best way to get in and out of it as on my first attempt I was worried I’d not be successful in extricating myself and end up being in the bath all week!

The drive down was okay, we dropped bits in at the theatre where the stage had been made ready for the get in and the stage floor was about to have it’s first coat of paint, then we headed for a curry. Two years ago we’d tried one restaurant which wasn’t that great, so we headed to Cafe Raj. We were the only people there, the occasional take away being collected, but they felt the need to put the music on to help create a bit of ambiance, which really wasn’t needed. The food was okay.

Then to the Blue Boar to meet up with Gemma (Production Manager), Chris (Production Carpenter) And Tom the sound designer, this year is Toms first visit to Chippy Theatre. Nice to have a chin wag and catch up with people before the morning.

**Louisa and Paul sorting out the print for the portals**

Monday, first thing was to put the model back together again. It’s been about three months since I last had to show the model so it took some thinking about. Meet and greet with the company and a cuppa, this was to be followed by the read through. I’d hoped to be able to attend this, but I was needed on stage sorting out the printed elements.

Somewhere between me giving the final approval for the print and it arriving at the theatre extra length had been added! Not ideal when things are meant to marry up on joins of existing flats! This was all quite a brain ache for us all. Model was shown to the actors and the costume designs shared too, then it was time to put my dungarees on and see if there was anything I could paint. Not much but I found things to occupy my afternoon.

Around 4pm the built parts of the set arrived in two vans. Jamie the builder had come for a nosy and to talk things through. Everything had a base coat of paint on it, which is fabulous, it saves me several days work and getting in the way. The auditorium very quickly filled up. Time for a drink with the actors then the tradition of fish and chips. Unfortunately the Blue Boar was packed, it was half term, you could only eat if you’d booked, so we all ended up at the burger van instead.

Tuesday, I opted to finish painting the largest pieces of scenery for the castle. This was achieved in the day along with a few other bits and bobs. The portals were hung and Gemma, Chris and Paul did their best to get things aligned with the print. They did as well as they could, I may have to go up a ladder and add a few extra lines if things annoy me and I have enough time to do so.

In the afternoon sliders were taken out into the garden, which then became a paintshop as I sprayed them with a darker blue towards the edges. These will get some gold lines too at a later date when things are more complete.

The traditional fish and chips had to happen today, so Gemma went to see if she could book us a table at the Blue Boar, they were booked up again! Thankfully though Checkers could accommodate us, the fish and chips not quite as good as I remembered them at the Blue Boar, but at least we’d managed to get some.

**Paul, Louisa, Toby, Gemma, Chris and me**

Wednesday, I moved onto working on some of the walls. Min the props maker officially started, although they’d been around for the last two days. I’m very used to Jo turning up with a car load of props already made or partly made on her first day, so I was a little surprised with just a lot of stuff that arrived that still needed to be worked on.

**Spiking the set, putting down marks on the stage**

Places to fly things were put in the rig, large trucks were made for bikes and early afternoon we worked through the show marking on stage where everything should go for each scene and trying to work out where it would all go when not on stage! A larger shoe horn will be required this year.

**Health and safety chat before we showed off the set**

Mid afternoon the Pippins (local children who form the chorus) joined the actors in the auditorium for a health and safety chat and then we ran through the set, showing everyone what each scene will look like. Well nearly as much of it still needs the painting to be finished. Stage Management were mob handed and the scene changes seemed to go really well, here’s hoping it stays that way when they are down to a team of two on a show. Gemma and Chris headed off back to Bristol and Bath at the end of the day now that everything was more or less on site.

**Props labelled, even the ones that didn’t need it**

Thursday. I’ve been trying to walk around the houses to keep up my brisk minutes on the way into work. Today I walked round almost to where my previous digs have been before in Chippy. It was nice to walk down Spring Street again, but I was disappointed that there were very few Halloween decorations outside a house by the theatre, they normally really go to town.

**Wall finished, just waiting for roses**

From now on rehearsals are on stage. I managed to get a second piece of wall finished, just one more to go, but that was buried behind a lot of stuff. Rehearsals require props, many appeared labelled to within an inch of their lives, crates and trays labelled with options, I could relay information to Min who has set themselves up with a workshop in the foyer. Props for a photo call needed to be prioritised. The attic storage was gone through, more items labelled.

Once the actors had finished for the day there were a couple of hours to be able to work on things on stage before finishing at 8:30 to grab something to eat and make it back to my digs, eat and be ready for Traitors by 9. I’m not so sure I’ll manage to get home in time next week though.

Friday I discovered that the Co-op sad gits section can have ribeye steaks in it! I opted for a wild mushroom risotto, which was very nice. I’ll be popping in on my way to work in future to see what I can get cheaply.

The choreographer and I set things out on a lab bench before rehearsals started. I had a go at making the giant rose to hang on the proscenium, but the yoga matt I’d bought turns out to be too thick and it’s turned into a Rugby player kind of rose, I need to rethink it. Props were requested and sent into rehearsals, not many the actuals yet.

**Anna, Louisa, Paul, Jack down the front and Toby who got rather hot in his costume**

It being Halloween, the theatre crew had opted to dress up. We had the Cat in the hat (Paul) and the Kitten in the hat (Jack his son), not sure who the others were meant to be, but that’s because I’ve not watched certain films. We did have a moment when the cat got stuck in a truck, but we managed to get him out again.

Instead of going out trick or treating I ended up spending what was left of the day hunting round the internet for fake food only stopping when I heard the clock downstairs chime midnight. Not what I’d planned on doing with my spare time, but someone had to do it.

**Yep the bucket fits! Amy the Choreographer**

Saturday morning was spent trying to find suitable ingredients for the slop scene. I managed to get lots of brisk minutes in walking from one end of town to the other to buy cocoa.

The actors were in for the morning. The set was wrapped up in plastic to help protect it should the slop in rehearsals get flung a bit too far. Buckets were tried out for size, overalls put on, then all slop was let loose! Quite a mess and quite a spectacular effect was achieved, I won’t tell you about it as I know some of you will be seeing the show, but it had us all in hysterics.

With the stage to ourselves for the rest of the afternoon, roses were flame proofed, I put first coats on the lab bench and table, things were tidied up for photos on Monday. Then I concentrated on getting the band surrounds to match the back cloth. This was all very simple on the model, a bit of paint followed by some water. Now it is all 25 times bigger I needed to use a sponge to try to match them. A good weeks work.

Sunday, a lie in, a bath now I know how to get out of it. A walk down to where I think the old station used to be. The Geraghty zoom included Goldie and the Gingerbreads, the Beckhams and avoiding trick or treaters. Unfortunately last night my laptop hinge gave up the ghost which means my camera doesn’t want to work, so I joined audibly instead.

Then at 12:30 my cousins Ian and Sally arrived to pick me up and drive out to Great Tew to the Falkland Arms, a lovely thatched pub with a lot of beer jugs hanging from the ceiling and an open fire, all very Cotwolds. We were joined by their two daughters Jenny and Sam. A very good Sunday lunch was enjoyed by all, Sam and I making the most of the gluten free extras we could have, all washed down with a couple of glasses of wine. A very lovely afternoon with the family. This is now the third year in a row we’ve managed to get together, we must try to get my brother along next time.

Meanwhile in Scarboreugh, Tilly is having to cuddle up to Mick every night and has spent sometime inspecting our neighbours washing and the inside of our tumble drier. The 50m cable Mick thought he had doesn’t seem to exist anymore, so more has been purchased. Weeds have been chopped up and the brown bin is full for collection. Annie our lodger has moved in, she was nearly joined by another actor at the beginning of the week, but that didn’t need to happen in the end.

Nearer to Chippy the South Oxford Canal opened up to boats on Monday. During the seven days the locks down to Banbury have been open 178 boats passed through the Claydon Flight. We’re very glad we’d not tried to get down to Banbury now, as much as it would have been nice to be home at the weekends we would now be stuck.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire car, 0.75 socks, 1 pair delivered, 1 awkward bath, 1 blue floor, 3mm not 15mm, 1 butch rose, 200 pretty roses, 300 foam roses, 4 rose bushes, 2 vans of set, 3 windows finished, 2 walls finished, 1 visit to the kebab van 1st fish and chips, 1 baby, 164 brisk minutes, 34.84 miles walked, 5 Leckenbys out for lunch.

Toilet Roll And Tinned Spinach. 8th October

Castle Marina and Scarborough

A request from the set builders came in this morning that hadn’t been passed onto me a while ago, could I edit the drawings so they only had the pieces they were building? Yes, but I only had limited time, I did as best I could and emailed them back. Bags were packed and Tilly’s biscuit bowl filled to the top along with tonight’s ding ding being put out before 11am! Brilliant! Don’t eat it all at once, it’s got to last you!

We were headed for the station and a train to Sheffield then a following one onto Scarborough. A four hour journey, the same amount of time it takes one of our lodgers to do door to door Scarborough to Brentford and we were only travelling from Nottingham.

As we passed the Humber Bridge sand banks could be seen, the tide was out. Hull Paragon Station is a dead end, so the train here heads out the way it came in requiring a change of seats to get the best view of the North Sea near Bridlington.

We walked to our house, lodgers busy doing a matinee of the latest Alan Ayckbourn play Earth Angel. I checked in with Frank, we opened mail, pulled out various bits from upstairs upstairs, then headed to the SJT to Eatme for a meal before watching the show.

Mick opted to have a steak and ale pie with roast potatoes whilst I had one of their burgers. This now seams to be what we do when we attend a show at the SJT, not a bad tradition, just so long as we don’t do it too often!

Before the show there was enough time for me to walk back to the house to collect Mick’s pills that he’d left, timings of one of his new drugs had been impressed on him by Derby Hospital. I was back in good time for the show.

Earth Angel may not sound like a barrel of laughs when you read the blurb about it. Gerald’s wife has recently passed away, at her wake neighbours fuss over him, but who is this stranger in their midst? He seems nice enough, but what are his motives? Should Gerald’s family be involved. What ensues is amusing observation, division, trust, mistrust, grief, social media, speculation becoming reality. It made for a very good evening’s entertainment. If you are around Newcastle-under-Lyme or Bowness where it is heading, it’s worth a visit to the theatre to catch it on tour.

Post show we caught up with our lodgers, Liza and Stuart along with Liz and Sue, sadly the bar wasn’t open so it was a chat in the foyer before we all headed off home. It had been a long day for them all, tomorrow will be even longer with two shows plus a talk back after the second show. Another good visit to the SJT.

**It’s a long time since I’ve seen SO much Andrex!**

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 trains, 1 taxi, 85 brisk minutes, 4 walks between house and theatre, 1 caravan, 2 lodgers, 1 SM, 1 production manager back, 1 more missing message, 1 props assistant, 2 pedalling videos, 1 pie, 1 burger, 2 beers, 91st Ayckbourn, 1 Tilly left in charge.

Trams And Trees. 6th October

County Hall Steps

My turn today for a flu jab, sadly I don’t get a free one, too young. Last year I opted for a jab as we had David staying at the house and the Christmas show company in Scarborough were passing something round that I really didn’t want. Best to keep on with it as I’ll soon be mixing with numerous people in Chippy.

I marched up into the city centre, a mile and a half away to the chemists Mick had been to, I’d managed to book an appointment yesterday. A sit around for a while before I was seen and a complimentary blood pressure check was thrown in, well I’m over 40 so they get offered. Then back through town. A far more direct route was found than Google had been offering me.

**Standing in This Place by Rachel Carter**

Mick had tried calling Castle Marina on Saturday to see if they might be able to accommodate Oleanna for a couple of nights, he’d even filled out a mooring request form on line. Tumble weed. He had a go at ringing them again this morning and finally had luck. We were found on their system and quoted £19 a night including electric. He booked us in. Our other options had been to moor on the towpath in Beeston, or to have spent a couple of days going up the Erewash Canal to Langley Mill. Oleanna has yet to go up the Erewash, but we’d rather not be on a schedule and have spare days should there be any problems with levels.

**We’ll need a bigger bag than this when we go away!**

Over lunch we put the rest of our plan into action, booking train tickets, theatre tickets, checking there’d be room for us and booking a table to eat. Now we just had to decide what to do with the rest of the day.

The Justice Museum? Some art? It was a lovely warm day so we opted to stay outdoors.

We walked up stream to catch a tram to the other side of Nottingham, hopping off at the High School stop. This is very close to the uphill entrance to the Arboretum. I’d downloaded a PDF guide to the special trees so we knew where to find them as we sauntered around.

**A very nice place to sit in the sunshine**

The Arboretum is the oldest park in Nottingham, opened in 1852 by Mayor, Mr W Felkin and the Sheriff of the Borough, Mr Ball, in front of 30,000 people. It has a collection of over 800 trees some of which date back to the parks opening day. Today it is very popular with students, Nottingham Trent University more or less surrounding the park.

Way back in my twenties I applied to Trent Poly to do Theatre Design, in fact I applied two years running and was rejected twice. I don’t think I could talk the Trendy Bollocks* they wanted. I wonder where I’d have ended up had I been admitted. Have to say the day after my second interview I had my second interview at Croydon College (they’d offered me a place the year before), a more practical course. As I walked into the interview the course leader and scenic tutor welcomed me back and I realised I’d only wanted to go to Trent because it was still in the north! I’m quite happy they rejected me now.

**Quite a few of the trees have lines round them, what’s this about? Anyone know?**

In the park there were 36 trees for us to spot, all with signs by their trunks so it wasn’t hard. They ranged from a Red Oak to a Pagoda Tree to an Armenian Hawthorn to an Indian Horse Chestnut and possibly the oldest tree in the park the Cut-leaf Alder which is nearing its end, no leaves to show us today.

There’s a band stand, which had its shutters down. A Chinese Bell Tower with canons facing out to each corner. A fruit and Nut garden still in its early stages of growth. The Aviaries. Here it took us a while to see any birds. Locals donate birds which are cared for by the park staff. There were four of five Cockatiels with their blusher pink cheeks. The circular Aviary is Grade 2 and was built in 1892. Not only did birds inhabit the aviary, but there were famous visitors to the park, Henry the Goose and Cocky the Cockatoo who was brought to the gardens to amuse the children, a local paper reported his death at the alleged age of 114.

This morning I’d had the set builder of panto call and this afternoon there was yet another set of proofs to approve for the printing. I went through them with a fine tooth comb, raising a couple of questions. Either I’m not making sense, or the company have come from a very different background to theatre so the language is different between industries. Hopefully soon, very soon they’ll press the big red PRINT button.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 trams, 1 jab, 2 high, 1 cupboard to another, 98 brisk minutes, 2 interviews remembered, 1 trip coming together, 0 chocolate, 0 crumble again, 0 soup again, 36 trees, well 800, 4 canons, 1 final email?! 2 plates of creamy cabbage chicken pasta.

*Trendy Bollocks. A line from the play Beautiful People by Neil Monaghan, produced in October 2002 at the SJT.

Up For Bargus. 27th September

Trent Junction to Sainsburys Nottingham.

Tea in bed, then we were up and dressed and heading out with bags of rubbish and a windlass each. Rubbish disposed of we then sat by Trent Lock. Kat had said she’d be leaving Sheet Stores at about 8:30 and she had a boat to visit before she’d arrive at the lock, it was now a little after 9, we didn’t have long to wait for NB Bargus’s bow to come into view. We lifted paddles to fill the lock. My phone rang, Kat hadn’t found the boat with two mermaids, where had it gone? It turned out it was also below the lock on the river towards Sawley.

**Teddy and Bella a little chilly this morning on the stern of NB Bargus**

We worked Kat, Teddy and Bella down the lock onto the river, then met them alongside Oleanna. A top up of diesel, still at £1.01 a litre and two bags of excel coal, thankfully they were at the right end of Bargus. A chap came along wanting a gas bottle, as Kat had passed him above the lock he’d just run out. Then the owners of the boat with mermaids arrived with their dog, they curtailed their walk and headed home to wait for Kat. I suspect we won’t see Kat again this year, she’s headed back to the Trent and Mersey and hoping to get up the Coventry, Glascote and Atherstone to supply boats. CRT are hoping to open the locks for a week maybe a bit longer at the end of October to help businesses and also so that boats that have been stuck get back to home moorings before the winter stoppages kick in.

A day or so ago a notice had been put out by CRT. The Grand Union will be opening for a window of three weeks, but the south Oxford may only open for a week if there is sufficient water to do so. We’d already decided to not head that way for me to go to work on panto. We’d be able to make it to Marston Doles in time for me to start work, but then Mick would likely get stuck somewhere, so it’s not worth it. We’ll keep kicking our heels around the Trent for a bit instead.

**More breakfast was required back on the boat**

Breakfast. A treat felt in order, so we headed to the Lock House Tea Rooms to see what I might be able to eat. Have to say we were a touch disappointed that they didn’t do a breakfast. They did do bacon or sausage cobs and they had gluten free bread. We ordered one each and a cuppa. A few bites and they were gone, so we returned to Oleanna for a couple of slices of toast to follow.

Sailing boats were going back and forth as we got ready to push off, a narrowboat headed down Cranfleet Cut, we’d be along to join them in a few minutes. It took a while for a gap in the sailing boats and then for Oleanna to wind, she really wanted to cling onto the high wall, but we got there in the end.

Today Cranfleet Lock had four volunteers on duty, mob handed. They waited for us to arrive, something needed picking up out of the water, volunteers ran to their shed and got a grabber, nowhere near long enough to reach whatever it was. It turned out that they’d dropped a pen! Well they’d not be getting that back. Down we descended, our lock partners led the way out onto the river, a little chap occasionally having a go at steering, no wonder they were zigzagging as he couldn’t see over the roof at all!

This river section now very familiar, we’ve been along it now four times in about five or six weeks. No boats stuck on the sand bar, however we could hear Oleanna scraping over the top of it! At Beeston Lock landing, the narrowboat had moved off leaving just enough space to pull in for one boat, the remainder of the pontoon was still full with over staying boats (if you can class them as that as they shouldn’t be there in the first place). I have had a reply from CRT after I’d sent them my photo of the landing, they are of course aware of the boats.

**CRT are aware of these boats, hard not to be really.**

Dad and son from the boat ahead walked up to the lock to set it. I walked over their stern to go and help leaving Mick and Oleanna to hover. Mum and daughter came along too. Something was said, son ran screaming back to the boat, this was the start of the running! What followed was a seriously stressful time at the lock for me and possibly Mum and Dad. I’d stupidly crossed over the bottom gates and the daughter wanted to do the same. Both kids were wearing buoyancy aids, this didn’t stop them from running round the lock. Their dog ran back and forth as Mum now was left on her own with the kids climbing onto gates, winding paddles, running, watching from under gate beams. I did my best to keep calm, Mum did a better job, I suspect she’s used to it. This was their first lock and the kids were just so excited! Thankfully it was soon over and no-one had fallen in or been crushed and we were all back on our boats.

We carried onwards towards Nottingham. The pennywort stretched across the canal. One cruiser had managed to collect a large clump of it around their prop, so they were doing their best to free themselves, we pushed a large patch away with our bow for them. It always takes longer than we think to reach Castle Marina. A space was found, mooring rings as always with useless spacing for us.

With a shopping list in hand we aimed to do a biggish shop quickly. However when we got back to the boat and everything was stowed I suggested we stay put for the day. Our plan had been to reach County Hall Steps on the river, that would take at least an hour, we’d not be letting Tilly out anyway today as she was having an enforced rest day for her limp. We opted to stay put, after all we’ve not minded staying here before and some of the boats that had made us feel uneasy a month or so ago had moved on, leaving their rubbish behind mind!

A walk was needed. I plotted out a route that would hopefully have me back long before dark, up to the cathedral, round the castle and back along the canal. I found a footpath that took me up the hill on the other side of the canal. Here there were vast posh houses, the road markings blue not yellow! I’d entered the Nottingham Park Estate. I walked past about twelve tennis courts. Came across a road called Tunnel Road, this had to be investigated as I could see houses high up above.

Tunnel Road is a Grade 2 listed tunnel that was carved out of the rock to give access, quite an entrance, to The Park Estate in 1855. Carved through sandstone it was to give access to horse-drawn carriages from Derby Road. It is 125m long and has a section open to the sky in the middle to give ventilation and light, here a staircase climbs up around to reach Ropewalk and Upper College Street. The incline ended up being too steep for horses and carriages so a different route into The Park was found for them.

**I didn’t fancy climbing all those steps**

I walked round some more seriously posh streets, past the Nottingham Playhouse, found a very steep set of steps that brought me down to near the castle and then followed the tourists down the hill further to pass Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem pub then the canal and Oleanna. Mick had popped a couple of potatoes, double wrapped in foil in the fire box of the stove. I then popped some left over chilli in a pan, got it up to simmering temperature on the hob and then moved it over to the stove top to carry on bubbling away whilst the potatoes finished cooking inside. I get pleasure from cooking on and in our stove in the cooler months of the year.

2 locks, 8.3 miles, 1 cat on sofa rest, 2 bags coal, 76.4 litres diesel, 1 coal boat helped down, 1 scraping along the bottom, 2 hyperactive kids, 17 pennywort rafts, 1 box of wine, 1 plan changed, 1 thinner rope required, 105th pair of socks cast on, 49 minutes brisk walking, 1 hill climbed, 125m tunnel 2 steep for carriages, 2 jacket potatoes.

https://what3words.com/whips.hurry.coins

Jelly Webb. 25th September

Trent Junction

Time to look at Saturdays newspaper puzzles with a cuppa in bed. Tilly was given shore leave, after breakfast we had a quick tidy up and sweep through. The boat in front of us had backed up to the water point, would they be coming back to the mooring or heading off afterwards? Mick went to ask, they were heading onwards, so we could pull up to the end mooring, within reach of the tap for our hose. Only thing was that Tilly was out and about and we’re not allowed to move the outside with her in it.

Thankfully she appeared quite quickly when called and obliged by heading inside. We then pulled Oleanna along towards the water point and improving the view of Ratcliffe Power Station in the process. As soon as we were back onboard Tilly hopped off and vanished again, I only just had chance to warn her that the outside had moved by a bit more than a boats length, she most probably wasn’t listening anyway!

A little while later a voice could be heard outside. Jane Elliot Webb had come to visit. Jane was working at the SJT when I started in 1996, I hadn’t realised that we’d only been there for one season together. When the Stephen Joseph Theatre opened in 1996 (in it’s new home the Odeon), it had two auditoria and had required more members of staff and funding. The staff increased, hence me getting a job, but the funding didn’t. It had been decided to not compromise the opening season due to the amount of funding, but it did mean that quite a few members of staff were laid off in the autumn, Jane and myself included.

I went off to paint panto at Watford Palace Theatre, with Lizzie (NB Panda), and Jane went to work at Nottingham Playhouse. I ended up returning to Scarborough, but Jane whilst doing a few other things found herself working at Nottingham in Stage Management. I really thought we’d both been at the SJT together for longer. Plenty to talk about over a cuppa on board, we have quite a few friends in common.

Lunchtime. Time to get Tilly back so we could go out. I called. I walked up and down several times calling. Mad Cat Woman caused people to stop and ask if I was looking for a dog or a cat. I called again. Tilly was given three chances to return to Oleanna over half an hour, I for one was getting very hungry!

Her bed and Escape Pod were put out on the stern hatch, rear doors left open, the ones into the cabin locked. We headed round the corner to the Lock House Tea Room for lunch. We’ve only once left the boat when Tilly’s been out before, we really don’t like doing it, but she was seriously showing us up!

Tuna jacket potatoes and a round of sandwiches were accompanied with more cuppas and conversation sat outside the Lock House in the bright sunshine. What a beautiful day, no real need for jumpers in the sunshine. What a lovely time we had catching up, thank you for visiting us Jane and we’ll make sure we let you know when we’re passing again.

Back round the corner, we’d been gone for maybe an hour and a half. Would Tilly have come home? Had Tilly got confused with the hire boat that had pulled in behind us earlier, where we’d been moored first thing? That hire boat was just coming back and heading back towards Sawley. I could just make out the shape of two pointy ears through the pram cover. She was home.

A severe telling off was given to me! HOW Dare you leave me in the outside with no means of getting inside! No one to open the doors for me!!

She got a severe telling off too. Where have you been?! Some self catering obviously has been happening. When I call, I call you for a reason! You really showed us up!!!

Tilly was grounded for the remainder of the day!

New proofs from the printers came through. All correct apart from the Front Cloth. They’d not needed to do anything to the front cloth as I’d already stretched it to the right size, they’d stretched it even more. Pooh! An email was quickly fired off, but most probably arrived as they were heading home for the day.

Time for a walk. I opted to walk up the Erewash, cross over on the footbridge by Mill’s Dockyard then walk through the golf course. Plenty of people in the driving range and I had to pause a couple of times to check if I could cross without getting hit by balls. I then carried on walking towards the B6540. The route along the top of flood banks giving me great views of the power station.

Reaching the road I wanted to turn towards Sawley but on my side of the road there wasn’t a pavement. The traffic was very busy heading towards Long Eaton, but thankfully someone spotted me and waved me across. However not too much further along the pavement ran out on that side! I had to cross back over again. This meant an even longer wait until a bus gave me space to cross.

Along Sawley cut, past all the moored boats, down to the locks, then across the river with the railway line and back along the river bank. All the time the sun was getting lower in the sky, all the time photos were needing to be taken. What a stunning evening, back to Oleanna for Walsall Schnitzel (Turkey Schnitzel) with tomato spaghetti.

0 locks, 0 miles, 29 years ago! 6 months, 1 bottle of red, thank you Jane, 2 jackets, 1 round sandwiches, 3 cuppas, 1 very good chin wag, 1 AWOL cat!, 0 stowaway, 50 brisk minutes walk, 1 lovely sunset.

Aerial Chase, Making Tomorrows Theatre, Day 2. 23rd September

Beeston, Aspley Basin, Huddersfield

An all you can eat breakfast at Aspley, I double checked it wasn’t going to contain any gluten, thankfully their hash browns were okay, bacon a little bit dried out, but it was the thought that counted. Most people were away from the hotel before me, heading to participate in Well Being hour at the theatre before the days work began. Instead I walked up the hill via Sainsburys’ to get myself something for lunch.

Many of the same faces as yesterday were about, plus some new ones, some people having travelled from Glasgow, some from Kent. Todays proceedings were hosted by Nicky Priest, an actor, stand up comedian, advocate for autism conditions, oh and wrestler! A short performance by Dark Horse choreographed to music by Loz Kaye mentioning everyone who has worked and taken part on the Making Tomorrows Theatre projects.

Key note speaker was Tim Crouch, an experimental theatre maker, actor, director. He rejects realism and invites the audience to help create the work he does. With the aid of some photographs and one prop he got his audience to think out of the box, the first image actually being of a cardboard box. What else could that box be? Give it to a child I could become a car, rocket. I’d seen him pick up an orange at breakfast he placed it on the stage. What was it? What could it be? We were all wrong, it was his dog. But what did his dog look like? We were all asked to imagine what it looked like, was it sitting, sleeping scratching some annoying flea. If we’d imagined a Golden Retriever then we were wrong and quite boring! His style of theatre doesn’t require input from designers, as my job is taken over by the audience each creating their own unique surroundings, characters in their heads. I once had an argument with a director about having some part cutaway doors in a theatre in the round, this was so they could be left open and the audience sat next to them would be able to see the play. He wasn’t having it, he needed full double doors, he wasn’t willing to trust that his audience could fill in what I had left out. Tim Crouch wouldn’t have had even the partial doors, the door frame, the room! A very interesting man.

Protagonist George Webster followed. George is a BAFTA award winning presenter of CBeebies, he’s an actor, author and public speaker advocating for disability representation, he is also a member of the Separate Doors National Ensemble. He posed questions on how learning disabled and neuro divergent actors could and should become part of the main landscape. How could the industries of theatre, television and film become more inclusive.

Panels answered questions, panel members posed questions. A very thought provoking day. The quote Tim Crouch had used ‘No one is free until everyone is free’ is very true whether it be about race, disability, or anything.

As the conference drew to a close, there would be time to chat more to everyone, but also there was a three hour train journey back to Beeston. I checked the times of buses back to Brighouse and the connecting trains, I had 25 minutes, time to say my rushed goodbyes and head off. A shame I wasn’t included in the company photo, but many of the National Ensemble had already left too. What a fantastic two days it had been.

Back in Beeston, Tilly was bored, still! Mick got on with installing the new Victron gear, I’ll let him explain a bit more about this.

Mick here. Technical stuff coming up. If you get bored skip the next four paragraphs.

For some time, in fact for a few years, I’ve been thinking that our 24 volt100 amp domestic alternator isn’t up to the job of fully charging our LiFePO4 batteries. The alternator doesn’t output the 28.4 volts required to get the batteries up to full capacity. It seems to stop short at about 27.5v leaving the batteries liable to “under voltage over charging”. This is where the individual cells can become over charged even though the voltage doesn’t reach the point where the battery management system (BMS) cuts off the charging when the cell is full. I do wonder if this is what caused one of our original LiFePO4 batteries, as supplied by the boat builder, to fail. About 21 months ago we suffered an alternator failure and I did wonder if the replacement from Beta Marine would work better, but it made no difference.

The system we had, as installed by the boat builder, was such that the alternator charged the LiFePO4 batteries directly and the 24v lead acid bow thruster bank was wired in parallel with them via a voltage sensitive relay (VSR). I had considered getting a Mastervolt Alpha Pro alternator charge regulator and indeed I had contacted the boat electrician Ed Shiers to get him to come and fit one. But we never seemed able to find somewhere suitable for him to come and visit us at a suitable time for both of us. I had considered fitting one myself but it involved taking apart the alternator and I wasn’t confident of doing this. Then last winter a new product was launched by Victron: a battery to battery charger (B2B) that was capable of taking a 24v DC input and providing a regulated 50 amp 24 volt DC output. This was capable of being programmed with a LiFePO4 profile specifically to charge our batteries properly. It was cheaper that the Mastervolt and as no tinkering with the alternator was required I could do the job myself.

So while we were at the house last winter I ordered a Victron Orion XS 1400 from 12 Volt Planet. I have bought stuff from them before and they have always been quick and reliable and apparently have good technical support, although I’ve never needed their advice. While Pip was away for 2 days I decided to install the B2B. I ran in the necessary cables on day one. In my career as a telecom / IT technician I only ever had to deal with thin wires (just lots of them!) and big thick chunky copper cables are not my idea of fun. But I got the cables in and terminated them with the required lugs at each end. I mounted the B2B in the electrics cupboard with the thinking that it would be cooler in there than the engine bay. The next day I connected everything up. So now the alternator is connected directly to the lead acid bow thruster bank and the B2B sits in between the alternator and the LiFePO4 bank via a fuse. I programmed the B2B with the LiFePO4 profile and changed the settings in the BMS so they would match the B2B. All the correct lights came on on the B2B and I started the engine. After the programmed 60 second delay the B2B went into “bulk”charging mode and the batteries started charging properly.

It all seems to be working well with the batteries charging quicker than they used to. I have still to connect the B2B up to our Victron Venus GX monitoring system. I need to shift the GX to the left because the USB socket is too close to the wall of the electric cupboard and I can’t plug the plug in. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow.

At some point in the afternoon, someone on an electric bicycle came whizzing along the towpath, Mick thought they may have been doing 30 to 40 mph. They wore a balaclava hat and hood. What had they done? Up above them they were being followed by a Police helicopter! I wonder if they caught them? Or was the bike too nimble for the police on the ground to be able to catch them?

**Front seat on the bus back to Brighouse**

My train journey back to Beeston went with only slight delays which were helped by delays to the connecting trains. Then a walk back to Oleanna in the dark to be greeted with the smell of dhal being warmed up for our meal tonight. It may take me sometime to download my photos, I really hope I’ve something that will be useful for illustrations.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 more trains, 1 bus, 9 ensemble, 2 panels, 5 provocations, 76 replies, 1 orange/dog, 1 high speed aerial chase, 1 Victron Orion XS 1400 installed, 1 afternoon of regretting that chicken last night, 1 cosy boat with a cat on my lap.

Making Tomorrows Theatre. 22nd September

Beeston and Aspley Basin, Huddersfield

Alarm set too early, I was off the boat at 6:45 and very glad of my three warmer layers as the first frost had landed overnight and mist hung over the canal. Have to say I wish I’d brought a hat with me.

Today I was headed to Huddersfield, 3 trains and a rail replacement bus from Brighouse to Huddersfield as the station there is closed for a month during upgrade works. The journey was good although I’d forgotten to sit myself on the correct side to watch all the locks on the Calder Hebble go by. I can report that the new rail bridges near Mirfield are still under construction.

**Brighouse the quickest route to Huddersfield today**

On my second train of the morning I realised I’d left my fully charged camera on the dinette! My phone is fine for photos but the zoom is not great. Maybe I should see if I could buy a cheap camera, after all my journey was partly with the aim of taking photos.

I zoomed round any possible shops on my way down to the Lawrence Batley Theatre having no luck what so ever on the camera front. But I did manage to arrive at the theatre just about bang on time as the events started.

Making Tomorrows Theatre Conference was taking place over two days. I’d been invited by Vanessa Brooks the Artistic Director of Separate Doors to observe, absorb and take photos which I’ll then use to draw some illustrations. These will be included in a book about the Sail Makers project that the conference was to be the culmination of. I attended the Producing Making Tomorrows Theatre days at Level near Matlock back in March and had a day at the Directing Tomorrows Theatre back in 2023

Today theatre makers, directors and producers had been invited along to observe and to take part in rehearsals using the Silent Approach, this gives a level playing field to all actors no matter what their ability or disability. The Separate Doors National Ensemble were being directed by the guest directors when I arrived. Chrome framed chairs arced round the stage, there was music composed for the play and conference by Loz Kaye, gongs were hit, packets of snacks fell on the floor, fans were fanned, people ran and took off paragliding under the direction of Angela Gasparetto. It was good to see everyone again and be in a room of such incredible concentration.

The Artistic Director of Northern Broadsides Laurie Samson joined adding some text into the work, choreographers from LMP dance encouraged movement during workshops where an albatross was hunted down with a bow and arrow.

**Rehearsals using the Silent Approach**

Plenty of time to chat with people in breaks, Questions and answers taken later, a sociable drink, chance to say hello to Marianne from Mikron who had come to see what this was all about.

Meanwhile back in Beeston. Mick did quite a lot of clothes washing and managed to get it dry on the whirligig. Then he turned his attention to some preparatory work for installing a Victron Orion XS1400 battery to battery charger. What did Tilly do? Well she just got very bored! Beeston is rubbish after all.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2025/riot-women-trailer-sally-wainwright

A long and rewarding day in Huddersfield, the conference day ending with an hour of conversation between Dr Judith Johnson and Sally Wainwright who you are more likely to have heard of, the writer of Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax. Sally considers herself as autistic, the doctors don’t agree with her, they are wrong in her point of view. She talked about her 4 Maine Coon cats. She touched on projects she is currently developing, one with Sarah Lancashire. The cat was also let out of the bag regarding her next TV series Riot Women, BBC1 Sunday nights, starting in just a few weeks time although the BBC seem to be keeping it quiet at the moment.

Afterwards and another glass of wine later a group of us headed to find some food, The Ladz seemed to be a good call, similar to Nandos, but cheaper. I suspect I may regret my choice, it was tasty and really rather crunchy and also possibly not gluten free! Accommodation was at the Premier Inn at Aspley Basin, sadly my room overlooked the car park rather than the basin. A glass of wine before working my way through numerous emails to do with panto. Maybe I should have brought my laptop with me! Oh well.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 trains, 1 bus, 3 layers not quite enough, 1 tote bag, 1 baseball cap, lots of people to say hello 2, 1 camera on the dinette, 178 photos taken, 156 blurry, 1 live stream, 1 pork sandwich, 4 Maine Coons! 3 glasses of wine, 1 glutenous loaded fries, 5 panto emails, 1 stir crazy cat, 1 appointment in December.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna