Despite six years of retirement, I am still a lover of Bank Holiday weekends. The pace of life seems to slow right down and everyone appears more relaxed and happier.
We started our August Bank Holiday with the Moonlight Walk, and as the Summer holidays draw to a close, this weekend often not only brings sunshine, but also brings a festival of music in the car park of our local pub, just 5 minutes walk from home, it would be rude not to attend 🍻
This year we had a slight dilemma as Southern Brave Ladies, our The Hundred team, had reached the final of the competition, and the match was being played on the same afternoon 🤔.
Compromise was going to be key.
With the festival, highlighting local singers and bands, starting at 12, we strolled down grabbed a pint and a table to wait for the Besties to arrive. Being early birds, we acquired some of the comfy chairs, rather than the benches or hay bales, and secured a great view of the stage. We don’t often purchase commemorative glasses, but this year those on offer were perfect as they gave us a complete line up of the day. Very clever idea.
The Besties joined us and the talented Jess opened proceedings. Her beautiful voice filling the air as she sang and danced across the stage. She entertained us for 3/4 of an hour as the seats, benches and bales filled with revellers arriving to enjoy the atmosphere.
As she left the stage, the bbq was lit behind us and the next band prepared themselves. We’ve not really listened to skiffle bands before, so the next session was going to be a new experience for us. Oh what fun. Playing well known songs, they soon had the crowd, clapping and tapping their feet.
Dark clouds rolled across the skies, offloading a few drops of rain. The odd brolly popped up, but the band kept playing, and the crowd kept clapping and tapping.👏. For their final song they invited a lady from the audience (obviously known to them) to join them on stage to sing. A fabulous hour of music and entertainment 🎶🎸
Other friends joined us and took over our table, as the time had come to depart, the Besties heading to join their family at their local pub’s weekend festival and us to stroll home to watch some cricket.
🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏
Southern Brave vs Northern Superchargers – SB had only lost one game during the competition (which just happened to be the one we went to watch 🙄) and being top of the table, automatically went on to the final. Northern Superchargers finished 2nd & were in a play off with 3rd place Welsh Fire. As rain stopped play and the match was abandoned they were lucky to progress, unchallenged, into the final.
Now here we were with SB heading into bat first. It was not a great start losing a wicket 2nd ball with just 4 runs on the board 😬. The 2nd wicket then fell on the 13th ball with a mere 8 runs scored. A quarter of the way through and we still only had 28 runs. This was our 3rd consecutive final and it was sadly looking at going the same way as the other 2 😞.
There was a long, slow partnership between Danni Wyatt and Georgia Adams, adding a further 67 runs before the next wicket fell. But they kept plugging away, despite a few more wickets falling, there were a few boundaries and they ended their innings 139/6. Not as bad as we had thought earlier in the match, but not an unbeatable score.
As SB captain Anya Shrubsole led her team out onto the field for the last time before retiring from the game, we had everything crossed she would end her career with a win.🤞
NS had a similarly poor start to ourselves, with 2 wickets falling in the 1st 9 balls for just 13 runs. Was it to be SB’s year 🤷♀️. Quarter of the way through their innings the scores were almost level. They matched our run rate throughout the game, but their wickets began to tumble. After 65 balls there was only around 10 runs between the teams, but SB tightened their grip in the field and the wickets continued to fall. NS were running out of balls and batters. With 7 balls left and 34 runs needed, SB claimed the final wicket and with it the match 👏👏
🏆 A well deserved result after a fabulous championship 🏆
🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶
Buoyant we headed back to the party down the road. Knowing it would now be packed to the rafters, we had grabbed our camping chairs on route. Turned out to be a smart idea as we set up camp beside our friends.
The queue to the bar stretched out of the door and almost to the car park, despite 11 staff being crammed in behind the pumps. Everyone was very patient and as the hubby rejoined me, pints in hands the next band Dead Calm had started to play. A few members of the crowd had found their dancing shoes and were having a bop. The volume had been cranked up and it was hard to converse during songs, but the tunes were great and popular with the audience. A fabulous hour of music, catering for every taste, flew by so quickly.
During the next break another good friend joined us, having spent the afternoon at the local Pride 🏳️🌈festival. When Urgent Orange took to the stage, belting out their range of Punk, New Wave, Mod and Ska covers, she made us feel old as, being born in the decade after us, she wasn’t familiar with many of the songs 😲. The majority of the remaining crowd obviously were as the dance floor filled and having been partaking from the bar since midday, most were singing their hearts out too.
Another hour of great music and we were done. 8 1/2 hours of entertainment and a few bevvies, makes a couple of grandparents ready for home and a cuppa, so we said our goodbyes and took the short stroll back up the hill.
Congratulations to Donna, Jade and their hard working team at The Harrow on another successful Harrowfest
🎭🎭🎭🎭🎭🎭🎭🎭🎭🎭
The final day of the Bank Holiday was a day of two halves. We spent time with the twinnies eating savaloy and chips, on the beach, dodging seagulls, who love nothing more than swooping down to grab a bag of chips. Safely consumed we ambled along the prom towards the White Rock Theatre.
As a birthday gift we were taking them to watch Barmy Britains, part of the Horrible History shows. When our tickets were scanned the lady seemed shocked that we’d booked seats in the back row. She’s never taken 10 year old twins to a show before 🤣. We had chosen them so that if a tall parent sat in front of them, they’d be able to stand up, without annoying anyone else. However it turned out to be an excellent choice as I have never been to a theatre with such fidgety kids. They were up & down, jiggling from side to side, legs across each other, and sitting on the backs of their seats. Fortunately with four clear rows in front of us & no one either side of us, they weren’t annoying anyone but us.
The show itself was a lot of fun. Two chaps, playing dress up, taking us through the history of the Kings and Queens of England. We heard tales of tragedy at sea, how William the Conqueror defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings and about two young men who had broken into Buckingham Palace, one attempting to see Queen Victoria and the other Queen Elizabeth 11.
It kept me & the hubby amused with their funny songs, sung in a variety of voices, the jokes and pretend farting 😲. With all the fidgeting I thought the twins had been bored, but as we left the theatre they told us they had loved it, laughing at the jokes and songs as we walked back to the car. They were again full of the stories and songs as they related the visit to Mum & Dad when we arrived home.
Good choice Nan & Granddad
🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤
Our final destination was to the Besties neck of the woods and another afternoon of music and cider 🍺. One of the bands we’d seen the previous day took to the stage for the entire afternoon, with a completely different repertoire and taking requests from the audience.
The mobile pizza van was open and parked immediately behind us, how could we not be tempted to partake of a delicious pizza and cheesy garlic bread. 😋
With the speakers a little quieter, we could enjoy listening to the music, in the warmth of sunshine and still have a nice chat, whilst also catching up with villagers we knew as they passed by to collect their own pizzas.
Perfect relaxing end to a busy and enjoyable weekend
Bank Holidays are all about family, friends, music and laughter.