CIBC Rally 2014 Samuel Barlow, Alvecote

Over the weekend the Cutweb Internet Boating Club held its annual rally at The Samuel Barlow Pub which is situated at the end of Alvecote marina.

The Rally commenced on Friday 19 September although some boats had been moored First Arrivals

  there several days previously. The first members to arrive actually got there Thursday evening. Most boats were moored end on to the bank in the lay-by

As we arrived we were asked to pick up the Black Pig and bring her over to join the others, so we breasted up and turned both boats through 90° and brought them in backwards against the others.

Most of Friday was just spent welcoming old friends and getting to know new ones, in the evening we had a session of furniture rearrangement in the pub where most of us gathered for a meal and of course a few beers. Some of the attendees were unable to get their boats there and we had two camper vans as well as some members staying onboard other member’s boats. Some members even drove over just to spend the Saturday with us.

Saturday morning started drizzly but improved as the morning wore on, this was just as well as we had a walking treasure hunt through Pooley Fields and up to the Visitor Centre a round trip of about 2 miles including a climb to the top of the old slag heap, now an SSSI to the Gnomon. Thankfully it stayed dry for this and wasn’t too warm for the exercise involved. Only one pair managed to achieve 100% and that was Graham and Brenda but a majority of the people found most of the clues and I think enjoyed it and regardless of their score everyone won a lollypop. It was quite amusing watching people looking for clues.

During the afternoon the fun continued with a knockout Boules Tournament organised by Steve in the car park, thankfully there were not too many cars arriving to disrupt the proceedings. Teams of two were selected at random using a pack of cards and then we were all into it.     

Following this things really hotted up with a Conker battle canal side. By now the weather had deteriorated a little into light rain and we were considering holding it inside, but the thought of bits of conker flying everywhere made us decide to head for under the balcony at the front of the pub. However right on cue the weather bucked up again and we played on the grass. Neil did a grand job drilling all the conkers that had been gathered that morning and Brenda was “conker monitor” for the afternoon.

There were a few injuries so maybe all the Health and Safety spoil sports are right as Steve and I received some good bruises to our forearms from the conkers when we failed to connect with the opponent’s conker, it may have helped if we had not been wearing short sleeved  shirts.  Again eventually a winner was confirmed.

 Steve’s Arm

As usual we had our afternoon tea party, but this year instead of on the lawn we had it on the veranda overlooking the canal. There was a good spread of cakes and savouries with plenty for everyone, including the day visitors who didn’t have facilities to brew up or cook.

 

The Samuel Barlow gave us the entire top floor for the weekend so in the evening that was where our entertainment took place. We had an excellent three piece band  called The Triskel3 with a gent on guitar and the ladies playing electric Fiddle and Cello  plus penny whistle and bongo drum, as well as all three singing. They did a lot of their own material and were very listenable.  They are also on Facebook. Although there was a dance floor I didn’t see anyone get up to bop.

During the evening we had the dreaded raffle run by Peter and Margaret on their very first rally, we really need more help like this. All the prizes were wrapped so no one knew what they were, Peter would grab a prize and Margaret would get someone to draw a ticket. You won what you got and no one was allowed to say draw it again. One person who will remain nameless got 6 prizes.  I think the raffle raised about £100. I announced the results of the treasure hunt, making sure every one ended up with a lollypop.

Also Andrew presented John with his wooden gong, Ken had made two of these, one for Andrew in recognition of his video of the Jubilee Thames Pageant and for John for his efforts as the most enthusiastic waving. 

The Samuel Barlow laid on a lot of pork, rolls and salad during the interval as well as vegetarian bits for the non carnivores.

Sunday morning came and we were all upstairs for the auction, I managed to only buy two jigsaws, the ones that have hundreds of bits, not the ones that cut wood. I think that must be a record for me.
We had a new auction team who  all lived up to their names, Mr. Flog-it, Mr. Log-it and Mr. Drop-it.
Glen Flog-it, the Auctioneer was presented with his certificate of training and competence before we started.

To keep track of the sales we had Graham Log-it, and doing Glens old job and all the running was John Drop-it, who definitely lived up to his name, thankfully it didn’t break.  Left  Mr. Log-it, Centre Mr. Flog-it and Right Mr. Drop-it

There were a few proxy bids from overseas, and I expect the goods will be delivered to the successful bidder in good time.

Come lunch time we were down in the bar for a slap up Sunday Lunch, some of us with more sense didn’t order the home made chocolate dessert, I could hardly move after the first course (thank goodness I don’t like chocolate pudding) The afternoon was spent lounging around talking while it was all digested.

In the evening we had the quiz set by last years winners with questions from how much does President’s boiler weigh to how do you identify a Little Egret and saying its white and flies is not good enough. I am very pleased to say that we had a worthy winner who will be setting next years quiz and I am very pleased to announce that we came a respectable third out of four teams. We have enough to do without worrying about that.

We had a selection of well behaved pets including dogs, cat, tortoises and Cockatiel, I didn’t see the last one but I did hear it.

Monday morning came and it was time to go home, some had to leave last night and of course those who only came for the day were gone. People slid away when they wanted to and most of the boats had gone before we were about. The morning started cool with a nice mist rising off the water but it soon warmed up. We were almost last to leave around 10 30 am.