From the Cruising Association – Kent Area secretary Clifford Mickleburgh.
Winter Warmers 2015 – 2016 [2nd Thursday of each month starting after supper at 8pm] both members and non-members are
very welcome and are held at:
The Dog & Bear, The Square, Lenham, Kent, ME17 2PG. Tel: 01622 858219.
The members usually meet for a drink and a meal prior to the talk … book direct.
Pub is part of the Shepherd Neame Group situated 8 miles East of Maidstone off of the A20 in the village square. The food is very good,
The staff are helpful and cheerful…
The Talk
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14th January 2016 Nick Ardley – A Barging Childhood and Beyond: The Story of an Essex Sailor. This talk will take you on a journey which began in the early 1950s: Nick’s parents bought a spritsail barge to live and go yachting on. She was the May Flower, built in 1888. As time went by, four children arrived, one by one. For Nick, his tale begins with a sail to St Katharine Dock at the tender age of six weeks! The trials, tribulations and joys of a barging childhood are looked at before, with time moving on, Nick leaves home, first, as an engineer officer at sea, then for married life too. His girl, a Midlands’s maiden, was soon introduced to the silt laden waters of the Thames estuary… |
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We then follow Nick and his mate on a passage around the east coast’s rivers between N. Kent and mid Suffolk aboard their Finesse
24, Whimbrel. As they wend their way, weaving in and out of muddy creeks, Nick especially watches as the world passes slowly by,
wondering… Once at anchor, we find that Nick is just as likely to continue exploring in a lug sail dinghy, sometimes ‘dragging’ his mate
with him, to search for the lost world that rests amongst so much of our salt, marsh and mud…
Well, if you’re available, then come along and join this experienced and friendly group for the evening, and my talk…