Monday 1 December 2008

July / August newsletter

Sorry for delay in getting this on the blog, it slipped through my net!!

Steve

PIKE & EEL BOAT CLUB NEWS

JULY/AUGUST NEWSLETTER


HEMINGFORD WEEKEND
We had a fantastic turnout for the Hemingford Weekend, 14 boats made the trip from their respective Marinas and we enjoyed the glorious sunshine, which made such a huge difference to the weekend.
Some of us travelled to St Ives on the Friday evening and met up for drinks in the Dolphin before dining at the Chinese restaurant.
On Saturday we awoke to beautiful blue skies and set off for Hemingford, staggering our departure times so there was a minimum amount of waiting at the lock. The moorings on the common were nearly full although Dave and Di Mole and Pete and Viv McIntosh had managed to bag two spots, there was ample room on the EA moorings, and so by the time everyone arrived we were able to moor up with only a few boats having to raft on.
The afternoon was spent lazing on our boats or by the riverbank, while some of us took a trip to the local watering hole, which was very pleasant.
Saturday evening we strolled over to Hemingford Abbots to the Axe and Compass and 35 of us sat down to dinner. The meal was very good but it was so hot and steamy that some of us found it difficult to do the large platefuls justice. Most of us went and sat in the garden afterwards and remarked how lovely it was that we could still sit outside at 11 O clock at night and not feel chilly.
A few night owls had a swift drink sitting around Peter’s boat when they got back, while the rest of us headed for bed.

Sunday morning dawned another lovely day and at 11 we launched 13 dinghies and headed off up the backwaters, it was quite a sight and drew many a glance from people on the bank, I think we upset a few fisherman along the way too. Everyone agreed it had been a lot of fun.
Janette had devised two quizzes, just in case it was wet, some of us spent a few hours puzzling over the quite difficult clues but we were no match for the Purvis family who won both and were presented with two bottles of wine, just going to prove that four heads are better than two.
In the afternoon many drifted away, some back to their Marinas others to start holidays and true to form after 3 fine days we had a thunderstorm that’s the English weather for you.

Thanks to Janette for writing the next three reports.


FISHING COMPETITION
On Saturday 9th August, Andy Purvis arranged a fishing contest for PEBC
Members. The response, at first was quite poor, however as the day approached everybody became excited at the idea and a total of 24 actually took part.

The prize was to be a cup and the entry fees. A couple of days prior to the event Mike Webber said he would like to donate a ladies cup as it had become apparent that quite a few ladies were anxious to take part, even if they had not fished before. So the competition took place as a Ladies and Gents challenge.

The weather was not too bad at the start time of 10.00 am, but by the time l.00p.m. arrived the wind had got up and the rain had commenced. At this point some people had given up as they had not caught a single thing and were also cold.

After four hours, the competition ended and the weighing in commenced. To our surprise the overall winner was Debbie Kiddie with 8 ¾ lbs, she won the Ladies Cup a bottle of wine and the entry fees, totalling £48, which she kindly donated to the club. Mike Webber was next with 6 ¾ lbs and received the men’s cup. Next was Colin Harris with 5 ¾ lb, he was give a PEBC key ring. A junior guest member Hayden had a very good result with 6 ¾ lb and won some chocolates, donated by Rachel Purvis.

Everybody agreed it was a really good day and lots of fun, especially those who were complete novices and want the event included in next years calendar. There were also plenty of tales to tell later from those whose fish had escaped and those that just missed the large pike!

Due to the heavy rain it was decided to cancel the BBQ.

Incidentally, the two winners were tutored by Brent Kiddie (who has fished for England) and if anybody would like to have some lessons in pole fishing, please contact Andy so that this can be arranged with Brent.

Finally, we would like to thank Andy Purvis for all his efforts in organising this event.


WEDDING OF DAVID AND ANDREA - SAT 16th AUGUST 2008
The Summer of 2008 has been extremely wet and a wash out for galas & events across the country so all week eyes were focus on the daily weather forecast for the 16th August predicted to be heavy rain. We have been very lucky at the ‘Pike’ for had we taken notice of the forecast, we may have cancelled several functions, but in fact the sun shone on most occasions. What did we have in store we wondered? Would the weather affect our efforts and contribution to the wedding of club members David & Andi

Friday was a pleasant day and members arrived early evening to erect the three marquees to house everybody attending the Saturday evening reception and make plans for the next day. It was quite breezy and so it was necessary to provide plenty of anchorage to the marquees, as we did not want them taking off!

Saturday arrived, we could not believe our luck, no rain and a warm and pleasant day and so we assembled the tables, leaving friends of the couple to complete the electrics and decorate the marquees. However, this was held up, as the couple could not find their car keys. It was then they discovered their car unlocked in the car park. Everything was still in place inside and they were convinced it had been locked on Friday evening. Later it was established that their room at the ‘Pike’ had been broken into and money and a mobile ‘phone had been stolen, with presumably the car keys. This was very upsetting but the couple carried on with their duties and the end result was three delightful marquees decorated in very effective purple drapes & ivy. The tables were decorated in the same colour scheme with confetti and balloons and the scene was set for the evening reception/ entertainment due to start at 7.00 p.m.

At Midday, the wedding & a family reception took place at Slepe Hall Hotel, in St Ives. All those who attended then proceeded to Waite’s Quay where five boats were waiting to transport the guests to the ‘Pike & Eel’ at Needingworth. At approx. 2.50p.m.the boats arrived at St Ives lock which was operated by the E.A. assisted by club members and proceeded through the lock. At the other side of the lock a flotilla of PEBC decorated boats were waiting and as the bride and groom came out of the lock, (their boat decorated by a flower garland made by Lynda Fensome) they were greeted by ‘Congratulations’ sung by Cliff Richard and played through a loud hailer from a CD on the Commodores boat. The procession then carried on to the ‘Pike’. Fortunately there was very little traffic on the river due to a spillage at Hermitage Lock, which held up the oncoming boats until the oil was disposed of. When they arrived at the ‘Pike’ the guests disembarked and more photos were taken. The bride looked extremely elegant and composed in her beautiful white wedding dress and the bridesmaids looked very pretty in purple. At this point everybody went for a well-earned rest!

David planned to have a welcome drink on each of the tables at the evening reception, but unfortunately this did not meet with the approval of the ‘Pike & Eel Hotel’ who were manning the bar and so it was decided that the wine bottles be given to the boats in the flotilla so that members could socialise prior to the commencement of the activities, which they did! The German red wine ‘Dornfelder Rotwein’ which David had provided proved to be very popular and it seems very potent, especially to those people that had not eaten! In fact some of them had taken their first glass or two at the lock in St Ives.!! The Jazz Band commenced the evening with lively music and everybody rushed to get changed, some slower than others due to liquid consumption!

The evening went extremely well, with two sessions from the Jazz Band, a very nice buffet provided by Diane Preece (the Hog Roast Lady) and later a disco and karaoke by Steve Mead. There was a mixture of Dave & Andi’s family, friends, boaters from the Marina and the PEBC, all dancing and thoroughly enjoying themselves. We had the usual Delilah and even the club song, ‘Bobbing up and down like this’ complete with the proper music. All agreed that it had been a lovely day and David & Andi were very happy and agreed it had certainly been a memorable occasion for them and that they had also been blessed with good weather. The rain did eventually arrive in the early hours of Sunday morning when all were safe in bed and quickly went away at dawn.

Unfortunately several members had to retire to bed early on Saturday evening & missed some of the celebrations as they felt unwell (I wonder why) in fact one had to wait an hour for a taxi and spent the time in the armchair in the toilet block (he must have been unwell to have sat in that). The wine was of course blamed for their condition, which also included loss of memory!!

Sunday was a busy day removing everything. Thanks to Andy Purvis & Ben who came with a trailer and transported the tables/chairs and marquees from and to the store, this is very heavy work. Thanks too, to everybody that contributed to erecting and dismantling the marquees, loading the trailer etc. The many hands on Sunday certainly made light work! Special thanks to Steve & Liz Mead & friends for their splendid disco/karaoke. Liz had made a karaoke programme especially for the occasion and put in a lot of work in its preparation.

I think everybody will agree it was a lovely wedding and a very memorable weekend and we cannot wait to view the photographs on the website.

Sunday afternoon saw David and Andi going off on their boat for a honeymoon, amidst lots of hooting and the music of ‘Congratulations’ once more.




JUDES FERRY – BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND 23-25 AUGUST


Friday 22nd August, John & I travelled to Ely by boat for the commencement of the Bank Holiday weekend event to Judes Ferry. It had been decided that we would spend only Saturday evening at Judes Ferry and travel on to The Ship at Brandon Creek for the Sunday evening. However, these arrangements had to be altered as it was later found that Upware Boat Club had booked the whole of the restaurant at The Ship and so a decision was made to travel to the Five Miles Pub at Upware.

On Friday evening, we had a very enjoyable meal at ‘The Cutters’ and were joined by Colin & Lia, John & Gloria Bevan and David & Andy Adamson (the honeymooners).

Saturday we waited in glorious sunshine for Peter & Dianne to arrive. They had spent Friday taking the top off their partly refurbished boat and making it watertight. They left the ‘Pike’ at a late hour and headed for the The Lazy Otter, where we understand, they moored up in the dark beyond the GOBA moorings, which were full. One can visualise Dianne jumping off into the unknown! At midday we were ready to journey to Judes Ferry, unfortunately without John & Gloria, as she was taken ill. The main river was very busy and we travelled in convoy at a reasonable speed, so as not to upset the fishermen, however we did seem to incur the wroth of some rowers. At first we could not understand why they were shouting abuse at us, then we realised that Steve Fell from Cambridge Boat club was overtaking our convoy at considerable speed, oblivious of the rowers! After a very pleasant journey down ‘The Lark’, only one incident reported here when we were again told to slow down (which we had already done) by a gentleman waving a roller in the process of painting his hull. Peter named him Mr Dulux! At Judes Ferry we were met by Martin & Sally Dixon who had come by car and spent some time with us. Later in the afternoon we decided to launch our dinghies towards Mildenhall but had to give this up as Peter who has a long shaft on his outboard, kept picking up weed. We then decided to venture up Lee Brook as this had been partly cleared of reeds and had not been previously accessible. We travelled for quite some way, stopping from time to time to unravel the loose reeds from the props until we were not able to carry on. At this point we think we must have been nearly at Isleham. On the return journey, Peter ran out of petrol and had to be towed by Colin. It was all good fun! When we arrived back at Judes Ferry, Eric and Marianne had arrived and so eight of us spent the evening, eating and drinking in the Pub.

Sunday morning was forecast to be heavy rain and so it was! We cast off ready to go to Upware, safe and dry in our boats, or so we thought. We had not gone more than ten minutes when Eric’s boat decided to overheat (he had developed some problems on the way down and had to keep stopping, he thought he had a blockage somewhere)
and he was stopped broad side across the river and Peter had run aground! John& I towed Eric to the lock whilst Peter re-launched himself. When we got to the lock, who should we meet but Ray Gardiner (newest Pike member & an E.A.man), who assisted us whilst we transferred Eric vessel to Colin’s & Lia’s boat as they were going back to Needingworth. Colin dropped Eric off at Ely Marina for repairs. Some time later we (two boats by now) arrived at Five Miles only to find it full. However, Ray had anticipated this and given us instructions of where to moor through the lock. These were delightful moorings. Even the rain had stopped and it was lovely warm sunshine. Later we were joined by Brad, Georgina and Lauren who had had a ‘blow out’ in their car on the M11 whist travelling to the ‘Pike’ on Saturday evening. The emergency service could not remove one of the wheel nuts so they took them & the car to Needingworth on a recovery truck in the early hours of Sunday morning, when they were later able to get the matter resolved and a new tyre purchased. We also saw David and Andy again and Mark & Lorraine. Nine of us ate at the Five Miles Pub, as Gloria had recovered and they both joined us again, for another pleasant evening.

Monday morning Peter & Dianne left early for Needingworth and related some hairy incidents at ‘Brownhills’ due to the windy weather. Brad, Georgina & Lauren left later and John & I went on to Cambridge and then back to Ely Marina, as we where not returning to the ‘Pike’ until after the Bowling event on September 6th.

Everybody agreed that they had enjoyed themselves. It was not without incidents of course, but this is all part of the fun of boating!

Janette (Pisces)

BOWLING ELY
The weather forecast for the weekend was dreadful, torrential rain and strong winds, just the kind of weather you want for a leisurely trip down the Old West!! Steve and I decided to bite the bullet and set off for Ely on Friday, which during the day was not as bad as they predicted. The trip was not uneventful though, as coming out of Brownshill, Steve lost drive on the Port engine, so we went all the way on one, which actually doesn’t make a lot of difference along the Old West.
We met up with John and Janette who were already in Ely having stayed on after the Judes Ferry trip and we moored together on the Green. John had booked a table in the Cutter that evening and we had a very pleasant meal until the heavens opened and a thunderstorm raged outside. Janette was worried about the dogs as they usually try and bury themselves under the carpet, so we drank up quickly and decided to brave the monsoon, it was actually quite funny as we paddled our way through two or three inches of water to get to the boats, Janette’s shoes still haven’t dried out.

Saturday dawned a bit brighter but we had a couple of heavy downpours and apparently the river at the Pike had risen by about 15 inches and was flowing very fast, lots of people decided not to risk coming down by boat and getting stuck at Ely, which proved to be a good move (we were there for three weeks in the end) so everyone travelled by car which was a shame, the weather scuppered us yet again.

Twenty-five of us sat down to a meal and then we sorted into teams and began to bowl. A few of us had the same problem as last year with lanes breaking down, Andy managed to get two strikes and his pins were already knocked over. It was good fun though and John and Mike nearly did a Frank Spencer by following their ball down the alley, which was very funny.
Claire was determined not to get the wooden spoon this year and she didn’t, that fell to my husband Steve who got the lowest score and was awarded a packet of Skittles sweets, which was very appropriate. Brad won the bottle of plonk for the highest overall score and Naimh had the highest children’s score. Well done to both of you.

Thank you everyone for supporting the event by driving, it’s not quite the same as attending by boat, but hopefully next year! We keep saying that don’t we?








NEW MEMBERS
We welcome the following new members to the club

Danny and Chris Danson Spindrift 11
Richard Tipton Indulgence
Pete and Viv McIntosh Nevenco
Michael and Elaine Denman Dee Cee
Ray Gardiner and Tina Callear Derriere

Colin and Anthia Harris have sadly decided to give up boating after 30 years and are selling their boat Tradewinds, however we are delighted that they wish to remain social members, so we will be seeing them at some of our functions in the future.



FORTHCOMING EVENTS

St Ives Weekend incl. Dinghy trip September 27th
Laying up Supper Slepe Hall October 11th
Halloween/Bonfire Party Chalet Bar November 1st
AGM and Lunch Pike and Eel November 30th
Christmas Drinks Pike and Eel December 14th

We have a stock of Navy Shower proof Jackets and White T shirts if anyone is interested.

Georgina will paint a framed picture of your boat from a photograph incorporating a back setting from another Photo at a cost of 75 pounds. Make good gifts.

In the future we will be attaching the calendar of events every time we send a newsletter out, so everyone can keep up to date with club events.

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