And I'm Telling This Story, In a Far Away Land....

Today has been magnificent.

The sun has shone, my cold has retreated back up my nose, I don't even have a headache from the Whisky. I saw my boy last night on Web Cast, my man is away up a hill, and my baby has just done the shopping with me, and been thorough unentertained by my driving skills (which involved driving very badly past two very attractive police officers 3 times, so that SHE could get another look at them; apparently I didn't give way to the driver who had right of way).

I had to get a new tyre this morning, so it was necessary to get up sharp and hit the town. I dropped the car in the capable hands of Mo and Bobby and headed up the hill to see me Mam at the Cruising Club.

The Cruising Club has been a part of my life since I was 4. Mum took over as the Secretary / Treasurer then and so, the Cruising Club became a part of every day life in the Henderson Household. I doubt there was never a week, when at least 4 or 5 Cruising Club members came to the house to discuss berths, memberships, keys, or burgees.

The first time someone asked me for a Burgee, I thought with horror that my mum had sold the budgie (yes, the same one who died of shock after the hair dryer incident).

Hey Ho, I digress. In the early days, the Cruising Club had the run of the whole inner basin. It was a ramshackle but well loved club, with it's base in "the bethel", a large diesel fumed filled workshed. The boats were a mix of fishing boats, Cruisers and Dingies. There were very few, if any Sail Boats.

In 1976 all hell broke loose. The British Docks Authority sold the Inner Basin, as it was, to a damn posh chap by the name of Robin Knox-Johnson, and there ensued a major fight to retain some of the basin for the Cruising Club and it's membership.

I had thought about this blip before, and I was going to tell you a story of the shenanigans which followed, and the fighting, and the legal arguements which went all the way to the Houses of Parliament, and I figured it would be okay - because the majority of parties to the activities were deid! Hmmm.

Today, was the lift-out. This is what the Blips shows. There are 100 boats in the space allocated to the Cruising Club, in what is a sixth of the space they originally had their 40 or so boats. Look at the participation. Boat owners descend upon the Club house - the womenfolk set up shop in the kitchen; rolls in sausage, and bacon, and even doublers! Home baking, soups and Coffee! The men, and to be honest some of the women, don hard hats, hi-vis jackets and go about the task of moving 50 or so boats, from the hard standing back in to the water.

It is amazing and inspiring to watch. I have seen this happen for over 30 years now, and it is always the same.

Anyways, to get back to my tale. As I kept out of the way, and danger, I wandered around to the far side of the basin, and kept an eye on the activities, and snapped a few shots from afar, and a older man who had been admiring the boats, and the work, came up and said "which boat is yours".

"I don't have a boat, I'm Babs' Daughter" (Everyone knows me as Babs' Daughter, or Sonny Henderson's dochter).

The man smiled in surprise and said "hello, I'm ....." and I nearly rolled back off my stone and fell in the water, cause here, in front of me, looking very distinguished and very much the gentleman was one of the ring leaders in the "let's get the posh lads away from our basin".

How astonished was I to see him! He came and sat down beside me and we laughed for over an hour about "the old days", he told me stories, of things I hadn't been aware of, and recounted tales to me, that I had heard in hushed whispers. We talked about folk who are all gone now. It was a lovely hour.

Eventually, I said, "come on, come on round and say hello to mum". So we wandered amiably round, and I pointed out people he might have known.

He left the club after the fight was won. The fight had gone out of him, and it wasn't fun any more. He's retired now, and is pondering over a new boat. He had come down to take a look to see if the club was still as social, and I think - given the level of activity today, he could see it was.

As I pulled him through the door to say hello to mum, she stood for a moment, her brain obviously ticking over, and then the penny dropped.

What a lovely surprise to the day!