Following our break a couple of weeks ago, I got the car serviced and we were off on another working weekend.
Leaving the shop on Friday, we travelled up to the Midlands to stay with Sandy’s brother so that they could go to the Woodman to listen to the folk music.
Saturday was a peaceful day, I used the opportunity to purchase a new camera after a nameless friend of mine left my old one on the shore where waves broke over it, and it has never worked since. Learning from my mistakes, I purchased a cheaper one as they get badly abused on my travels. As the technology moves on so quickly, when this one fails they will be even better.
We only travelled to Bewdley that evening to attend a meeting on pike fishing organised by Des Taylor at the Black Boy. Des puts so much time into supporting fishing and his local town and never seems to get appreciated for all his efforts. He had arranged for us to have five minutes to talk to all the attendees about Angling Heritage and our aims. It is the first time that we have tried this and we were heartened by the results.
We were unable to stay for long due to family commitments and missed Nigel Williams talk on sink and draw pike fishing.
Sunday was a bit more hectic. We attended the Vintage Tackle Fair organised twice yearly in Redditch, the home of fishing tackle. It was nice not to be governed by a tight time schedule for a change and meet a lot of friends under one roof. The atmosphere is always great at these events and we can drop books off, purchase others and see what ephemera is on display. I was sorely tempted to purchase one of Roger Still’s Hardy Zane Grey reels but we are saving for another trip to India and I would have finished in several pieces if Sandy knew!!
We also met Andrew Field, the float maker extraordinaire. He kindly sent us a gift with “Keith and Sandy, River Reads” written on the float under the varnish. The workmanship is superb as the photograph shows. His website is http://www.lureofthefloat.co.uk/about.html
We also met Keith Elliott on the Classic Angling stand. This is the best journal relating to vintage tackle and the history of the sport, so if you are interested in angling’s past, take a look at his website www.classictitles.com.
From there, we travelled across country to Northamptonshire to get set for recording Recollections V the following day. Pete Reading had driven Dave Steuart up and dropped him off at Bob Church’s house as they are old friends prior to joining us for the evening meal and planning the next day. We stayed at Highgate Hotel and were impressed by the staff which couldn’t do enough to make sure that everything was set up and comfortable for Bob and Dave.
The interview on the Monday went to plan, with Pete Reading guiding the conversation in an unobtrusive way. What a fantastic day to meet angling icons and hear them talk about their lives. Things are so different today. This interview will become Recollections V so if you want a copy, don’t hesitate to contact us as they will be allocated quickly.
Dave brought along his old video equipment which he kindly donated to Angling Heritage. Dave and his wife Kay used to make films and he also brought along a couple of his videos to make a great display when the museum is set up next year.
We drove Bob home at the end of a tiring but satisfying day, little did we know what the next day had in store for us tomorrow.
We got up and headed to breakfast, not realising that it ended earlier in the week to weekends. Fortunately the obliging staff sorted us something else so we didn’t leave hungry.
When we got in the car, we found Bob’s mobile which he must have dropped the previous evening so we returned it to him managing to follow his directions from the previous evening.
As we drove down his road I heard a scrape on a speed hump, shortly followed by a deafening roar from the car - the exhaust was blowing! A quick inspection showed the exhaust had fallen completely in two in front of the silencer. No wonder it sounded like a Sana Pod dragster.
We drove around Northampton scaring the public until we found a garage. They looked at the exhaust and spent the next hour or so trying to find a replacement part. Due to a design change, the exhaust on my Audi isn’t the normal one having a single pipe. All their supplier would say was that he would send one which MAY do but we wouldn’t be able to return it, and it would be nearly £300. After more efforts, we asked them to wire it up so that it would stay together and we would run for home; 250 miles with a deafening noise.
I had arranged to go pike fishing with my friend John in the afternoon, so by then we decided to cancel the fishing, put ear plugs in, turn the radio to full blast and go home. The only saving grace was that we could sing to the music at the top of our voices and the exhaust drowned out the discordant notes.
Three hours later, we made it home and rolled into our local garage who confirmed that the exhaust was obsolete and our only solution would be to buy an Audi one, which may have to come from Germany and as I write this diary entry, I am still waiting for confirmation.
PS one was found in the Midlands and all is now well - but we are £600 poorer!!!