Category Archives: Theatre Design

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 3, 2025

3 Replies

68 hours

**Finn, the old silver back cat of Hackney**

A bit of a lie in compared to recent times. A cuppa in bed and then it was time to firstly say goodbye to Mick who was on a booked train back to Scarborough, although a broken track north of Peterborough meant an alternative route and being over an hour late back. My morning was slightly more leisurely before catching a bus back to Stratford, then an Elizabeth line train to Paddington. Here I had quite a wait for my booked train, so I popped round to have a walk around Paddington Basin to get a boat fix.

Not one boat was moored in the basin, in fact I had to walk up towards Rembrandt Gardens before I got to see a boat other than the restaurant boats or those that are used commercially. I checked to see if there was anything suitable in M&S sad gits section, but there was nothing, I ended up treating myself to a festive sandwich and a salted caramel shortbread which is a serious treat nowadays.

My hosts Rachel and Geoff back in Chippy had insisted they would pick me up from the train at Kingham Station, the closest to Chippy. I’ve not done this route before, but it was very handy and with Rachel stood waiting for me meant I didn’t have to get soggy in the rain. A ten minute drive back to Chippy and I was headed for the theatre again.

**The illuminated Snowman means Gemma is in office**

Gemma was back with us for the week, my floor had dried well and despite it being the easiest floor I’ve ever painted at Chippy it got lots of lovely comments. A production meeting to welcome the new week was held, followed by a props meeting. A long list of makes, purchases went on the back of a door in the foyer, jobs allocated out to different people. Large proppy bits of dressing still missing from the list, it’s more important to get the props people use made and sorted first, we already had things to stand in for the dressing, hopefully these will get added later on, Hopefully!

Pond fogger experiments, food colouring, and lots of areldite filled much of the day, followed by panto equations. A swift glass of wine in the pub before returning to my digs to try to get the songsheet designed. My old laptop still in use for this as the new one doesn’t have the programs on it yet required. This made for quite a late night, the lack of programs has also made the delay to this Panto Postcard.

Tuesday, sadly I’d used an old version of the script to do the songsheet. Corrections were sent to me from John. Today we started the technical rehearsals. Yesterday lots of sound had been sorted, but more needed to be done so that the keyboard player (Musical Director) could hear and speak to the drummer, also so the actors could hear themselves sing, levels and extraneous noises needed to be worked on. This all took lots of time meaning there was lots of standing around for the actors and plenty of time for me to make more roses which will have built in lights. Notes were taken and passed on to those who would be doing the work. Paul busied himself on making items with electrics inside them, cogs and LED light bulbs, the bench in the technicians office was very full.

Wednesday, day two of the tech. More roses made and passed behind me for Gemma to add the lights into them. Min and Helen carried on busying themselves with the props, some items now starting to come through to the technical in all their finished glory. We got into the slosh scene without the Pippins, sadly not as far as John had hoped, problems with sound slowing down the technical rehearsal still. I headed home at the end of the day to rework the songsheet, coming up with two different versions, this meant I had an extra hours work at home despite an earlier finish to the day.

Thursday. 2D Chandeliers were finished being painted. It was only when one of them sat on the floor waiting to be hung that I could see that my trompe l’oil painting had worked. They got flown out to await their appearance later in the show. During lunch breaks I’ve been working on the band surrounds to tie them in with the backdrop. White, yellow, then orange, a bit more orange before I could start to paint in the roses. Not quite the same technique as with boat roses, but they came out quite a good match to those that are printed elsewhere on the set. More technical rehearsals, we got to the end of Act 1, returned to the start of the show when the Pippins arrived to tech them into the show too.

I had a list of jobs to do in the evening, but instead we spent an age getting everything on the laboratory bench working. John and Amy chipping in new ideas when we could see everything working. A few new items needing to be purchased and more things requiring arelditing down.

Friday. Oh, Panto technicals go on and on! Today most of the food was added into the show. The table we’d had made last week now filled with a feast of culinary delights. Polystyrene balls were threaded onto wire, hoping to add an extra something to the set for a scene, all whilst the technical continued on stage.

Saturday. What should have been the last day of the technical rehearsals, but putting the feast into the show with large costumes for the Pippins took an age, it’s really rather complicated. The day was then spent jumping ahead big chunks so that all the scenes with the Pippins in could be teched, we managed this apart from the finale! I spent much of the morning painting a part painted painting, hope I left enough unpainted.

**Time and distance calculations required**

By 2pm the actors were broken, but the technical team kept on working. Adjustments to the chandeliers were needed, some tidying of the portals up ladders. John did some speed and distance tests with two of the quieter characters. Then as people started to head home I managed to put the finishing touches to the floor with some gold lines and a coat of glaze to protect the final swirls. I still have a few bits I’d like to do to the set, but it’s now at a point where it looks finished, well apart from adding a LOT of roses everywhere!

Sadly by 6pm nowhere in Chippy would sell me less than 500 grams of mince, I’d fancied cooking up a bolognese sauce, but I really don’t want to be eating the same thing every day for the next week. So I opted for a pizza with extra toppings and actually managed to get a second sock cast on whilst watching the first episode of Game Of Wool, not too sure what I’d have come up with in 12 hours trying to knit a tank top.

Meanwhile in Scarborough, life for Tilly hasn’t been quite so boring. Somewhere in the house she found a mouse and took it to play with in our bedroom in the middle of the night. It has since been seen in the living room, but that was a few days ago and Tilly seems to have forgotten about it. Maybe it’s had enough of being a playmate and found a way out of the house!

During the week I’ve had some sock shots sent to me. Thank you for sharing your feet, it must be the cooling weather than has encouraged people to pop their socks on for a photo.

**Aristotle Bridge moorings almost empty**

Sunday. A much needed day off. I joined the Geraghty zoom, started to type up this postcard, then headed for the S3 bus to Oxford. Should I head into Oxford or alight in Woodstock to have an explore and something for lunch. Mick and I visited Blenheim Palace after the first year of working on Chippy Panto, but I’ve not looked round Woodstock. I decided that what I actually needed today was a boat fix, so I stayed on the bus and hopped off early at the stop closest to Aristotle Bridge. Only two boats moored up at the far end of the moorings. Since we were last here there are electric posts, it would have been a good place for Oleanna to loiter whilst I was working, however I think (I didn’t check the signage) the moorings are 2 days all year, so Mick wouldn’t have been able to loiter for long.

I walked down towards Jericho, the ditch alongside the towpath full of water, then Sheep Wash channel looked quite full the Thames would almost certainly be on red boards. Every boat I walked past was familiar from our winters on the South Oxford Canal. I nearly felt like tapping on roofs to say hello to them. At Isis Lock a boat was just going down in the lock. The chap picked up a rope and walked along the bank towards the pontoon, they’d be winding and heading back up the lock onto the canal again, the red lights on the board flashing away warning of the level and strong flow on the Thames.

I had a walk up to look round some shops, checked the menu at the Cosy Club. On Broad Street there was a Christmas market, lots of food and things to buy. I then headed to Pitt Rivers Museum that sits at the back of the Natural History Museum. A wander around the main exhibits, then extra time spent admiring a display of quilts from Hawaii. Symmetry, landscape and nature all featured in them.

I headed back through Jericho looking for somewhere to eat, but ended up back at the Cosy Club. I’d had a nice meal there two years ago and hoped for similar. Sadly there wasn’t a table in the restaurant but a high stool in the bar. I ordered a burger as I was bored of chicken and the only fish dish had coconut in it. The novelty of having a bowl of gravy with my burger was interesting until I realised that the burger was rather dry without it. A mediocre meal, that I’d hoped would be a treat. Never mind.

Back to Chippy on the S3 no view this time as it was very dark. Another episode of The Game of Wool was watched. It’s okay, but I doubt I’m going to be chomping at the bit to see who wins. Back to work tomorrow.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 delayed train, 1 storm, 435 holes in the theatre, 28 roses, 3 paintings, 3 molluscs, 1 mouse, 2 many days of tech, 1 evening off, 1 pooped designer, 3 versions of the songsheet, 2 buses, 32 familiar boats, 1 favourite museum, 2 Christmas presents bought, 4 added to a list for me, 1 disappointing burger, 0.5 of a sock knitted, 1 major store having stolen my rose idea!

**John Lewis has a far bigger budget than I do!**

Panto Postcard 2, 2025

Panto Postcard 1, 2025

2 Replies

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.

The Hunt For Oleanna. 21st October

Scarboreugh / Redhill Marina

The last week has whizzed by. It hasn’t taken us long to get back into the swing of house living. The first veg box arrived with giant onions and a whole lot of fresh organic goodness, the cauliflower did us for three tasty meals it was so big! After the first couple of days Tilly has gone into her house hibernation and is asleep most days until 3pm when she deems it is time for her evening dingding!

I’ve packed up a box of painty stuff to head down to Chippy ahead of my arrival. Constant phone calls from the set builder keeps me on my toes, plus messages from the props team and production manager, there are days when I hardly get chance for a peaceful walk around Scarborough.

On Sunday we managed a walk down to the seafront, a charity run taking place. The bridge to the Lighthouse is currently stuck in up mode so right now you can’t do a loop around the harbour. But the donkeys are still on the beach, maybe they’ll get time off when half term has been and gone. By Monday our colds were deemed no longer contagious, so we had a visit from Frank. He was on good form and talked to us for about an hour over a cuppa, we hardy managed to get a word in edgeways!

Today we were on a train at just gone 9am, heading southwards to East Midlands Parkway. Train timetables are such that we’d arrive at York just as the train we want is leaving, if the two trains connected it would save an hour on our journey, but such is. So we at least get a view of the North Sea and the Humber on our way via Hull and Sheffield, a route we are quite familiar with. The train goes through Goole where we’ve moored for the last few winters, it’s just a shame that we still have another two hours to sit on a train to reach Oleanna this winter. Our next trip down may well be by car.

Sat right under the cooling towers of Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, East Midlands Parkway is an odd station, the steps up from the platforms have been there a while, but look like they are washed down everyday. The waiting rooms are large, a cafe, a big car park and then one of those roads off a motorway that seems to go to nowhere, except this one goes to the station and Redhill Marina. We’d both looked on Google to see if there might be a direct footpath, but no, the car park is in the way!

As we walked in we looked round at the boats on hard standing, no sign of Oleanna. Where was she? No sign of her out near what they call the hill where grit blasting is done. But time was ticking on, the marina cafe would be closing soon and it was a long time since breakfast. They had gluten free bread so we both had sandwiches and a large pot of tea to share. Very nice and reasonable. If we end up staying a night I now know I could have a very naughty, but nice, cooked breakfast as their sausages are GF.

Next we headed to see Mandy in the office to do the paperwork. She’d taken our money for lift out and hard standing before she’d headed on holiday. We’d left the form we’d been given on Oleanna and not filled it in in advance, so some of the boxes, like Boat Safety and Insurance couldn’t be filled in as the information wasn’t at our finger tips, so we’ll have to send them via email. I missed all this as Jamie called from Dawlish to check heights of windows and positioning of braces for panto.

So where was Oleanna? A chap driving a JCB was tasked in helping us find her. We’d been warned that the marina is a working environment and you certainly have to keep an eye on where you are walking, the ground is lumpy and not the tidiest of places. The chap pointed to Oleanna’s pram hood, there she was. We now just needed a ladder to be able to climb aboard. A wooden one was found for us.

We’d forgotten to take our sack barrow and the Brompton to the house with us last week, and my painty long handled small roller pole can now go back to being just that rather than a mooring aid for chains round armco.

Whilst Mick checked everything was okay with the solar etc, I got the tape measure out to calculate how long a hook up cable we’d be needing if we want to plug in. The nearest board worked out to be 37m away! Our current hook up cable is 10m. However the board we’d been pointed towards didn’t have a suitable spare outlet for us. A look around gave us another option which was maybe a few more meters away. Is it worth spending the money on an extra long hook up cable? It will mean the router can be put back on and Mick can keep an eye on everything and should it become really cold the electric heating would be able to kick in.

I emptied and filled all the damp traps around the boat. Cushions were lifted and cupboards opened to help with airflow. Mick tidied the roof, bringing in anything that might get blown away.

An inspection of Oleanna’s hull. She was last out of the water in 2021 when she was blacked, she had new anodes added then. The old and new ones, looked to me to be in a similar state to each other. We’ll see what other people think nearer the time to her repaint about them. Back in 2021 large areas of blacking came off with the jet wash, not being able to get her grit blasted back then, the chaps did as best they could grinding off any 2 pack that was loose. Today there were areas that could have been better, but I personally had been expecting worse. We could also spot areas that were missed when the top coat was applied four years ago, the coats underneath go grey after a while. When Oleanna is repainted she will be fully grit blasted, then 2 pack blacking is applied everywhere, not just to the hull and base plate, but also the cabin sides. This time she should have blacking that lasts that bit longer as it won’t be painted onto any mill scale.

**Everything left open for air circulation**

A final check to see if she was happy where she was, she’s still smiling, with her red lipstick! All covers poppered down, I gave her a pat as we walked away. Mick will be down sometime over the coming weeks to check on her, he may well stay over as the journey is quite a long one.

The door to the painters workshop was closed, aromas of paint coming from their extractor. Either they were busy or they had gone home for the day. We opted to send Tom an email and headed back the twenty minute walk to the station.

Free reading matter was picked up at the station, but I only looked at the pictures and hunted through Vogue for the fragrance samples I remembered as a kid, Vogue was the only magazine my mum got. Yes there are still samples, in slightly different format.

Up to Sheffield. We managed to get ourselves seats on the train to Scarborough which was good as there ended up being not much standing room left, but by Hull the train had thinned out, by Scarborough we were the only ones in our carriage. Unfortunately there were trespassers on the line so our train was delayed. Then at Bridlington we were delayed further as ahead there is a stretch of single track and we had to wait for the south bound train to arrive before we could carry on north. We were guaranteed to be shouted at by Tilly when we got home, she did not disappoint, WHERE’S MY DINGDING!!! You said you might be a bit late but it’s over twenty seven cat naps late!!!!

0 locks, 0 miles, 4 trains, 1 delay repay applied for, 1 cat home alone, 2 cobs, 1 large pot of tea, 1 form still to be filled in, 1 hunt for Oleanna, 1 wooden ladder, 8 cooling towers, 1 bazar station, 2 hours before return, 2 mini socks, 1 very hungry cat.

Packing Onto The Stern. 13th October

Trent Lock to Redhill Marina

This mooring hasn’t been so enticing to Tilly this time around, maybe there are no friends left from our previous visits recently. She still managed a few minutes out on the towpath before returning to snooze in front of the stove.

**Quite picturesque, just a worry with the proximity of the weir!**

Breakfasted we made ready to push off. Not far today, but a move we couldn’t put off. This morning was a bit misty, but the cooling towers were still in view, just the tall chimney disappeared into the clouds. We turned left towards the River Soar. There has been a small cruiser sat down towards the weir for some time, it looks well settled, engulfed by its own island of pennywort.

**Oleanna’s last lock of the year and in her current livery**

Soon the red hill comes into view, then the houses built on stilts to be above flooding, then a few boats, then Redhill Flood Lock. This, even though we’d only be going straight through it today, would be Oleanna’s last lock for this year.

There was no gap outside the cafe or marina offices, so we breasted up next to a boat and went to see if anyone was in the office. Mandy was away on holiday, we’d paid in advance over the phone last week, but Graham would be about somewhere. Mick rang the number on the door, an old chap answered, asked lots of questions, maybe this was the owner. He’d let Graham know we were about.

By now a boat had pulled off from in front of the cafe, so we nudged along and tied as close to the bank as we could, the bottom being a touch too close to get right in. Graham came over to say hello, asked if before we left if Oleanna could be winded to face the slipway, then she could be bow hauled onto the trolley and pulled out by tractor. Sadly we won’t be around to see that.

**Oleanna is likely to sit in the shadow of these towers for a while**

After a bowl of soup and finishing off some bread from the freezer we walked up to see if we could say hello to Tom who will be giving Oleanna her repaint. Our slot is still some time away, but we thought we’d just let him know we were here now. However Tom had headed off early today, much better than watching paint dry.

**If dog’s are not allowed off lead here, then cats most certainly are not allowed out!**

No shore leave for Tilly and time to start packing things up. It’s always hard to know where to start. Knitting and socks first. I still have so much yarn! Then I moved onto work things, digging out bits that had been stored under the dinette and in cupboards. I don’t think I’ll get the chance to return to Oleanna before I head to Chippy so I need to be thorough.

Usually when we move back to the house Mick heads off to pick up a van from Scarborough, by the time he’s returned I’ve got quite a lot packed that goes straight into the van, then more packing can happen. This time is different.

***I’m going to stay here and guard Oleanna***

We needed to pack as much as possible, the stern under the pram hood was filled with boxes and a few bits ended up in the cratch too trying to equal the weight out, then the dinette started to fill up. We stopped when it was time for some food. More still to be done in the morning.

***There’s stuff down there that needs packing!***

Tilly quite enjoyed it all, getting to places she’s normally not allowed. The SECRET PASSAGEWAY!!! Then she tries to help by checking what is stored under the bed and being in the way of us lifting the lid. There’s nothing in here yet! The holdall soon filled up. Hopefully we’ll have enough Ikea bags, boxes and crates for everything!

During the day I’d had numerous messages about panto frames, a constant stream of whatsapp from the props maker, then more from the production manager, two ideal chairs that were to be picked up this week had been sold to someone else! Grrr!!!!

Chilli from the freezer tonight, it is almost empty, just one crust of bread and one bread roll left.

0 locks, 0.6 miles, 1 left, 1 flood lock, 2 bowls of soup, 6 ikea bags, 1 holdall, 1 empty space beneath the dinette, 1 quizzical cat, 1 hour in the passageway, 1 last night onboard, 2 lemsips before bed, 1 cat caravan hiding in the cratch.

https://what3words.com/birds.comically.sleepers

Fizzing Sinks. 12th October

Trent Junction

Trent Junction was shrouded in mist this morning. It got worse as the hours went on, the sailing club opposite becoming a misty blurr by mid morning. No rush to do anything today. Mick was still snotty, but improving and so far, fingers crossed I’ve not succumbed to it. Papers were read in bed as the white mist enveloped more of our view.

Brandy snaps, Potato bobbing, underpass trees, contrary jasmine and frying pan discipline were subjects on the Geraghty zoom. Some people had views of the sky, others didn’t.

Chicken sausage sarnies for breakfast, not as good as a pork banger, but a more healthy treat from the freezer.

I spent much of the morning going through what flora we’d be needing for panto. So many roses and after the near mutiny a couple of weeks ago I’m hoping there will be enough money in the budget for what we need. I put together a long email with links and off it went to the Production Manager, fingers crossed.

Over the weekend Chippy posted a video across their social media with quite a nice view of my model.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1D8BXXUZQ1

Emails about props started whizzing around again today, so hopefully things will get cracking.

Oleanna’s sinks needed some attention, a clean out of the pipes. A few days ago I bought some bicarb of soda and white vinegar. Reading up about it, you pour the bicarb down the plug hole, then add a similar quantity of vinegar. Pop the plug in and leave it for a while before rinsing everything through with a kettle of boiling water.

I had a go at the bathroom sink first. The bicarb took a bit of persuading to go down the plug, then adding the vinegar created an expected frothing, plug in quickly. I then took the shower plug to bits, cleared out all my hair, then did the bicarb and vinegar trick. This of course on the shower would only reach the section before the gulper pump. It was left to fizz, hoping it was doing what it’s meant to.

An hour later I returned to the bathroom, kettle poured down the plug hole and pump turned on. Well I’m not convinced it’s done much other than a chemical reaction, but it was fun watching the frothing!

**The end of Harrington Mill from the footbridge**

Time for a walk, somewhere I’d not been recently. I opted to walk up the Erewash to Long Eaton Lock. Here a footbridge spans the canal, but to reach it you have to literally walk around the houses to find it. Along Milner Road are a series of single story mills. These mills superseded the larger multistoried lace factories that are across the canal. The large factories were driven by steam and had built in fire breaks and staircases on the outer walls should a fire break out. These smaller factories from around 1903 had DC powered motors to drive the machinery.

Across the bridge into West Park. This is a huge park which gradually expanded through the decades, it started off at 17 acres in 1905 and by 1949 it had expanded to 127 acres. Long Eaton is prone to flooding, so the park is used as a flood plane capable of holding 67 million gallons of flood water which can then be slowly released into the Trent. The flood banks make for a nice walk around the southern side of the park.

I then walked down snickets (ginnels, alleyways). More factories passed and quite a selection of graffiti, the best artist being Soap. Then down towards the river across fields close to Sawley. I chanced walking across the golf course, only one shout of FOUR! I think aimed at me, I had waited quite a while and hoped to be out of all possible areas of golf balls. I didn’t get hit, so that was fine.

Back along the river bank to Trent Lock, the cooling towers looking quite majestic in the lowering sunshine. I came across an article the other day in the AJ about them. The Twentieth Century Society had applied for them to be listed, but sadly their application was denied.

Back at Oleanna there were more props emails to look at whilst I put together a roast pork slop, the last left over pork, onion, red pepper, mushrooms, and tomatoes, brought up to heat and then popped on the stove top. A long chat with Lizzie up in Crick and then the final episode of Blue Lights was watched. Now just have to catch up on Bake Off and start Riot Women.

**Sun setting at Trent Lock for the last time this year**

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 slow morning, 3 freelancers emailing away, 300 plus roses, 26 garlands, 1 box tissues blown, 2 sinks fizzed, 1 not so bothered cat, 99 minutes brisk walking, 1 nearly empty freezer, 1 last cooling tower sunset.

Kind Tissues. 11th October

Trent Junction

I took over the tea making duties this morning, one mug actually being Lemsip. The fire was stoked up and a shopping list put together. Mick stayed in bed for a snooze, I headed out to stock up on tissues that would be kind to noses and more cold drugs, plus a Saturday newspaper.

A couple of boats had moved off this morning from above Trent Lock, they’d been there on the 2 day mooring with all the other boats for getting on for at least two weeks. Maybe we’d move up ourselves, but with Mick full of cold we opted to stay put. Tilly stayed by the stove all morning but ventured out later on.

**Samuel Clegg’s Arts and Crafts house, click photo for more info**

I’d got boat jobs on my list for today, but with a snoozing Mick I postponed them until he was awake in the afternoon. Yesterday when mooring up I felt like something was missing. Where was the rosemary plant? We’d had it when mooring up at County Hall Steps as it got moved into the cratch to avoid being blown away by Storm Amy. Neither of us remembered moving it to get the hook up cable out from a welldeck locker when in the marina. Where had it gone? Maybe one of us had lifted it out of the cratch for some reason, or maybe an opportunist had picked it up when we’d stopped for soup the other day. That’s two plants down this year, the Thyme hadn’t liked being in Leeds and totally gave up when I re-potted it. Have to put some herbs on my Christmas list!

***I’ve used this outside all up now, can I have a new one?***

More links came through for pieces of furniture for panto, then some light fittings. Some perfect chairs and a choice of tables. Then a very long email from the props maker who has been very quiet since our four hour long meeting a few weeks ago. They’ve not got started yet for one reason or another, which is a touch worrying. But then they are only contracted to do a weeks work prior to rehearsals starting. I’m really hoping props don’t become bum squeakingly worrying!

The latest trailer for panto is out with a nice view of my model in it. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1D8BXXUZQ1

With Mick now up and about, blowing his nose still, I could get on with the autumn job of cleaning the window frames out. Normally this requires a touch of gardening as seeds green things have taken hold, but today there were only a couple of blades of grass. The fluffy strip the glazing sits on normally is quite gunky, however since the summer has been so dry this was not the case.

Each window came out, had a good clean on both sides. The grooves they sit in were hoovered and washed out and then the most important job making sure all the drain holes were clear. Ten year old cotton buds are bent to get through all the holes. It’s amazing just how much York silt we still had on the starboard side. Tilly got a touch confused when one window was lying on the sofa, The view wasn’t as good as I remembered it!

Stir fried chicken with noodles, followed by crumble and custard. The next pair of socks are nearly completed.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 cold Mick, 1 newspaper, 2 boxes tissues, 2 lemsips, 49 brisk minutes, 7 windows cleaned, 2 kitchen still to do, 1 level mooring required, 2 chairs, 1 table, 1 flurry of emails.

Autumnal Crumble. 10th October

Beeston Changeline Bridge 19 to Trent Junction, again

A morning call from the set builder for panto interrupted my morning stretches. This was followed by several photos being sent to me, the workshop down in Dawlish in full swing making market stalls, there’s always a market or town square in Panto Land.

I walked up to the water point as Mick brought Oleanna. An angler had set themselves up on the service mooring. I explained that we’d be wanting to fill with water and needed to moor exactly where they were. They’d been down on the river when a sluice had been opened and got soaked, so they’d decided whilst drying off to come onto the canal. They moved up and Oleanna could pull in to fill up the water tank and make use of the elsan.

In yesterdays Boaters Update from CRT, there had been a section on Customer Facilities. Essential facilities, water points, rubbish, elsan and pump outs are set to have a boost over the coming seasons with a £4.5 million investment to standardise and improve them across the network. However, ‘Facilities that fall outside of the essential provision include showers, public toilets, washing machines, and tumble driers. As part of Phase 2 of the policy review and implementation, we are offering boaters and user groups the opportunity to lease and maintain shower and toilet facilities. Excluding the small number of showers and toilets where we have already received an expression of interest, and some toilets at key visitor destinations, all other non-essential facilities will be closed from Monday 3 November. Essential facilities housed in the same buildings as closed toilets or showers will remain available.‘ This will save the Trust around £2 million a year.

The majority of boaters now have showers and toilets on board, many have washing machines too, so other than having to top up and empty your tanks more often it really shouldn’t be that much of a problem for many. However, there are the few especially on older boats, who do not have so many home comforts. Coal boats, their boats are pretty basic and the nature of their jobs is dirty. Kat on NB Bargus currently only has one shower along her coal run, from 3rd November she won’t have that unless it is adopted by local boaters.

A boater moored in the winding hole asked if they could borrow our hose when we’d finished filling up, his hose didn’t reach up to the tap. We gave him a top up whilst I set the lock, his engine not working. Shame there wasn’t room for his broken down boat on the other side, but then that seems to be filled with either engine problems or long term health issues, there seems to be an epidemic of such things around Nottingham!

One cruiser has moved off the lock landing on the river side since we were last here, so at least it is easier to pull in to drop and pick crew up now.

Onwards up stream. Quite a grey chilly day out on the river. One of the houses on the south bank looks to have been recently underpinned, if that’s what you call it. New big I beams hold the house up hopefully high enough to be out of danger from flood waters.

At the shallow section Mick avoided us scraping the bottom as we’d done heading down stream, the current pulling us across towards the warning sign, the cruiser still tied to trees on the offside.

As we came in towards Cranfleet Lock we could see a boat was waiting below. We’d seen this boat yesterday moored at a very cautious distance away from Castle Lock in Nottingham whilst the crew went to set it. The number of fenders (possibly 20) suggested that they are always cautious no matter what. A boat came out of the lock, then we joined the cautious boat.

I chatted to the lady as we filled the chamber, they have travelled all over, this summer they’d been up the Chesterfield, half way and then to Lincoln. It was only as the boats were leaving the lock that I twigged the boats name NB Pretty Amazing Grace, we’d shared West Stockwith Lock with them when we headed to Cromwell. They are headed back to base now for the winter.

Up towards Trent Junction was popular today as I walked ahead. I called Mick to suggest he slowed down in case there was no space for Oleanna, he’d be able to pull in short of the railway bridges as there was space there. But I was able to give him the go ahead as I rounded the slight bend and could see a big gap, the space with a view that we like. We pulled in, opened the doors for Tilly. Soon Mick realised that there was a wasps next in the bank, thankfully there was enough space to pull back so we weren’t right alongside it.

The Thank you for coming home! Dreamies pot became empty. Just what was I going to do?! Thank goodness it has just been my birthday, the pot magically filled up. Catnip flavour, Brilliant!

This afternoon many lock flights around the country have reopened to help boaters get back to their home moorings after the drought this summer. Come November the winter stoppages will start and many canals will close again. The South Oxford remains closed at present, a window of opportunity later in the month. Here’s hoping those who need to move have enough water to do so as there is little rain in the forecast at present.

As I cooked our Szechuan pork this evening photos of furniture for panto were coming through from the Production Manager, it seems there is far more choice around Bristol than I’d found around Chippy. Hopefully a few gaps are now being plugged.

There was a tupperware of frozen blackberries in the freezer that I’d picked when on the Chesterfield so I made those into a crumble which will provide us with pudding for a few nights, custard already purchase back in Nottingham.

As we caught up on this weeks Traitors, Mick was blowing his nose, more frequently than normally. Looks like we’re in for a cold, here’s hoping it’s not covid!

2 locks, 5.5 miles, 1 full water tank, -1 boat, 1 soggy angler, 4 hours improved shore leave, 1 full pot, 2 stalls, 1 blackboard, 1 kitchen dresser, 1 table, 2 chairs, 1 list of props,1 dish of autumnal crumble.

https://what3words.com/verse.beans.focal

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.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna