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One piece at time episode 2


Degsy

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Arrived Camp Ramsbury to be warmly welcomed by David and Wendy Stevens (Clive and Neils parents) and Keith Brigstock(Head Honcho). The subsequent sequence of the evenings events are an almost complete blank but at some point I met Theresa Soley and Paul (Gannaway)? who along with David and Wendy were the Kennet Valley MVT organisers . For those who do not know the event was based at the original Camp Ramsbury which was a Nissen Hut encampment used by the 101st Airborne, the field is just behind the village school, a stones throw from the church and is possessed of an interesting degree of lean of which more later. In pursuit of a mythical Fish and Chip van my steps led me down picturesque lanes set with flower surrounded thatch roofed rustic brick cottages that seemed to be straight off the lid of a chocolate box.

What a culture shock it must have been to those young Airborne soldiers when they arrived in this picture postcard village. I never did find the mythical purveyor of Fish and Chips so it would have to be bread and cheese for supper but this was not to be for some itime as I was delayed

by a number of residents I encountered who were all very welcoming and excited by the prospect of RTV coming to Ramsbury and one who told me Iwas lucky to avoid the fish and chips as they were ''running in fat''.

Back at Camp Ramsbury I was very surprised to find that although the site had opened at Noon the field was still almost completely empty, a few people had arrived , parked a few caravans and vehicles and departed again.

Friday dawned early, depressingly grey to match my mood but the unfailing good humour and cheerfulness of Wendy, David and Keith quickly dispelled my gloom and a very pleasant morning ensued chilling out, drinking copious quantities of tea and chatting to many local residents using the footpath adjacent to where I was temporarily parked. Various re enactors and vehicles were now slowly starting to arrive including the first of the Don R's , time to move to another temporary parking spot to allow him to start setting up . I left him to it and started lunch (cornish pasty) courtesy of the local emporium and purchased whilst on another lazy perambulation of the village.Little did I know that my reverie and lunch were to be rudely interrupted by a meteorological disturbance.........it

p----d down. Keith had asked me to go to the fire station to tow a searchlight and generator back to camp, I could hardly refuse but after the previous evenings altercation and exchange of views I was hardly looking forward to the prospect with glee. Truck fired up all ready to leave when fate intervened for the third time in two days, this time in the form of the weather. Before I could make my exit the gateway became blocked with bogged down vehicles so the swb jimmy's legendary abilities were now put to the test removing the blockage.

 

 

To be continued.

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