Great to get out and see some friendly faces....
On the way to brekkie I heard a telling statistic which was that there are only 100 villages in the whole of the country which don't have a War Memorial (ergo that weren't affected by deaths after WW1).....one can only imagine the impact on small communities that were stripped of local characters.
By chance I arrived at the Chalet seconds after the others, so the banter started early.....and continued through brekkie with tales of a Fish Slice ( you'll have to ask Duncan when you see him).
Nice to know that folks were still expecting 'the Captain' to denote leaving times etc to allow us to rock up on time....which most of us did. @Tony, sorry matey, i thought you'd just got held up getting out of that junction, didn't realize that you had a car issue. ( Although the subsequent suggestion of using a clutch cable instead of a throttle cable seems to make sense
)
On arrival at Stopham I thought i'd park considerately - leaving a nice dry space for the kits....wrong move. Once on the slightly sloping verge the Saab was going 1 way only, toward a hedgerow. Luckily Matt had a rope and 'Pa' towed me out ( sorry folks of Stopham for creating an unsightly rut in your pristine verge).
The welcome we received was as ever warm, and reminded me why we go to that particular place to commemorate. Time is taking it's toll on those that have served, but good to see many familiar faces - and how good of them to thank us for our attendance. A pity that numbers were a little thin from our side....I hope that next year we are back to full strength and give them a 'show', they do so appreciate it.
Guys, always a pleasure....