It is a rare
occasion when all our family are all together. Even at Christmas we tend to
have three out of four families at best ( I’m including ourselves ) Geography
is a major problem with Martin and family in N Yorkshire and Alison and family
in Surrey at Guildford. Frances and ourselves are roughly in the middle in West
and East Midlands.
We started to
plan early in 2017 for a gathering. The long gestation period allows time for
folks with busy lives to do some forward planning. It was Martin’s suggestion
that we combine this gathering with a visit to somewhere interesting. His
proposal was the National Tramway museum at Crich in Derbyshire. He is very
interested in railways and the like as is Alex. He knows I’m interested in
technology so I wasn’t surprised by his idea; indeed I welcomed it. Alison however
with a long journey up from Surrey decided that to have a meaningful amount of
time required starting early which her family do every day so she elected to
come direct to Beechcroft.
We duly met
up a Crich. Annette and I arrived first and as we were well ahead of our agreed
rendezvous time set about exploring only to return quickly to the entrance as
Martin arrived. He and Lindsey and kids had stayed near Leeds overnight We then set off in search of coffee which we
were drinking when Frances and gang arrived. Alison, children and Debajit were
joining us at Beechcroft after their long journey.
Essentially
the museum is shaped like a ball and stick. The ball part houses the sheds and
exhibitions while the stick is a tramline which runs for maybe a mile through
an old quarry which houses the whole centre. After coffee we set off up the
line to find a picnic spot. Martin and Lindsey professed themselves full after
their hotel breakfast. While the others went on the forest walk I looked at the
outdoor display of mining equipment then rode back down to the workshop
display. After a brief look around trams through the ages and more rides we
left to go back to Beechcroft.
I was amused
that the trams had conductors issuing tickets in a manner and with machines suitable to the date of the tram. In a sense
these were dummies as all the trams operating were free. On arrival we were
issued with an old penny each for our initial fare and then the general idea
was that we just exchanged tickets every ride. Most of the conductors were young
volunteers who just issued a ticket anyway. One conductor had a rack of
preprinted tickets. I last saw these in London in the late fifties.
It is ironic
that having dismantled trams in the past now they are being brought back at
great expense in some cities. It remains to be seen whether completely new
concepts like Hyperloop catch on.
After all the
children had run around we had a meal together. Because we were 14 in all we
had put a garden table to extend our dining table. Alison and Debajit were
staying at the village B&B but we then had to sort out sleeping
arrangements for the rest. Frances and Matt had their children on air beds,
Ellie had Annette’s work room and Nate had the bunk bed room. Lindsey, Alex and
Ellen were in the garden cabin on airbeds while Martin erected a bivouac in the
garden sleeping on his camping mattress. We didn’t particularly want this
arrangement as we had sofa’s going spare but it was Martin and family choice.
We managed a scratch
lunch after haggling indecisively over a
venue for 2019. We plan to rent a house and include Ronnie and Rajiv, Debajit’s
boys. To meet everyone’s requirements this has to be at the end of August so is
likely to be a problem as we want a long weekend.
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