‘RAF Martin’ reports from the last ever Wilts & Berks Steppingstone Lane Bridge Easter Canal Camp... again... The Final “One more Steppingstone Lane Bridge Easter Camp will do it” Honest!
Wilts & Berks Canal the roving reporter duly called, Monday morning appointment on site, assuming the world hadn’t ended, or Cambridge hadn’t taken over Oxford or the missing cat had been found! No really, it was a local interest item of the dedication and skill of volunteers working tirelessly to enrich amenities for the residents of Oxfordshire and beyond, a tea time show winner. Saturday: the best laid plans of mice and Bungle: ‘the van keys are with Vodaphone security’, a bemused security guard later and no keys, a ‘wakey wakey’ call ensues, Bungle arrives with keys, and we were off and running! Home for the next ten days was Watchfield village hall, (a little disappointing, this) along with a number of local groups at various times of the week. At least the hall has a lot going for it in the quality of accommodation and close proximity to site. With the 2nd WRG van en route from the north west, young James (aka James I) being the first arrival by train had to endure not only
All photos by John Hawkins
How many times do you spend on the weeks up to and after a bank holiday, vacation or a camp in the height of a drought or the warmest temperatures ever recorded and then when it’s time to play, you get the wettest and coldest daytime figures every recorded in living memory? The last ‘one more camp will do it’ Steppingstone Lane Bridge Easter camp was a case in point. There is no high enough praiseworthy verbiage that can compliment the valiant group of Navvies who withstood all that nature could throw at them with an esprit des corps, humour and a work ethic second to none; as the leader and ‘token local’ I thank you all. Thursday morning before start of camp, text message from the WRG ‘Controller’: “You’re going on the radio, they’ll be in touch soon”. So with the office door closed and ‘In-conference’ notice up I mocked up some cue cards from a hastily emailed HQ press release and some Wilts & Berks Canal Trust literature, conducted the interview over the phone, mentioned the salient points, and voila: a five minute piece on the tea-time show on Radio Swindon 105.5. My boss texted me: he’d heard the piece, and “no wonder I couldn’t get hold of you earlier”! Friday before camp, text message from the WRG ‘Controller’: “You’re going on TV; BBC Oxford will be in touch soon”! Wiped brow as I’d kept the cue cards,
Camp report
Kerb-laying in progress
page 9