» Water, boats and all that floats

The herring queen festival
My brother bought a midlife crisis boat called the Moondancer it is currently moored in Felling in Gateshead
One intrepid morning we set off from friars goose with plans to sail up to Edinburgh.
The weather was fine ,sea state moderate to good & the wind was mostly blowing in the wrong direction , but hey two out of three ain't bad.
We planned on the first leg of the trip to get to Eyemouth.
Once past Blyth & Amble a boat with a big fin under it like Moondancer can't get in to any little harbour on the way, there just isn't anywhere.
What should have taken about 10 hours took us 18 hours we had the motor on for the entire journey we arrived in the dark in a thick fog barely missing the Hurkas ( a nasty sharp sticky out bit )
The weather turned and a storm blew in .
We were trapped in Eyemouth for two weeks.
It seemed rather sinister we were trapped in some where called Eye Mouth next to somewhere even scarier called Stabbs Head in the middle of the Crowning of the Herring Queen.
I worried about my virginity
.The herring queen fest is the border Rievers version of the Wickerman film but with more fish & fighting.
This was the most surreal experience I have had since the time that lobster ate my face.
The out going herring queen and all her sandeel posse meet the new queen in the square and all dressed in fishing nets they duke it out with halibut.
The winner gets crowned by macreal man.
For the next year the queen gets the first fish from every catch and an unlimited supply of winkles.
You can google it and see the herring queens over the last century

www.eyemouthherringqueen.org.uk/listings.php
(Sat 3rd Nov 2012, 10:22, More)

» Nativity Plays

Lord save us
My wife is a primary school teacher and every year throws out some gems.
Last years fav......JC & the robber dude had been lolly popped and one kid piped up dont save Jesus save The rabbits (Barabus)
(Sat 28th Mar 2009, 1:05, More)